Barefoot Networks, Inc.

Mon Jed Liu

Jeongkeun Lee

Han Wang

John Nathan Foster

Robert Soule

Cole Nathan Schlesinger

Steffen Julif Smolka

William Hallahan

A method for verifying data plane programs is provided in some embodiments. Because the behavior of a data plane program (e.g., a program written in the P4 language) is determined in part by the control plane populating match-action tables with specific forwarding rules, in some embodiments, programmers are provided with a way to document assumptions about the control plane using annotations (e.g., in the form of 'assertions' or 'assumptions' about the state based on the unknown control plane contribution). In some embodiments, annotations are added automatically to verify common properties, including checking that every header read or written is valid, that every expression has a well-defined value, and that all standard metadata is manipulated correctly. The method in some embodiments translates programs from a first language (e.g., P4) to a second language (e.g., Guarded Command Language (GCL)) for verification by a satisfiability modulo theory (SMT) solver.

Data plane program verification

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Mon Jed Liu