Marvell Blogs

Marvell Blogs

January 13, 2025

Marvell Continues to Elevate SONiC with BYOC

By Ravindranath C Kanakarajan, Senior Principal Engineer, Switch BU

Marvell has been actively involved with SONiC since its beginning, with many SONiC switches powered by Marvell® ASICs at hyperscalers deployed worldwide. One of Marvell's goal has been to enhance SONiC to address common issues and optimize its performance for large-scale deployments.

The Challenge

Many hackathon projects have focused on improving the monitoring, troubleshooting, debuggability, and testing of SONiC. However, we believe one of the core roles of a network operating system (NOS) is to optimize the use of the hardware data plane (i.e., the NPUs and networking ASICs). As workloads become increasingly more demanding, it becomes crucial to maximize the efficiency of the data plane. Commercial black-box NOS are tailored to specific NPUs/ASICs to achieve optimal performance. SONiC, however, supports a diverse range of NPUs/ASICs, presenting a unique challenge.

We at Marvell have been contributing features to SONiC to ensure optimal use of the underlying networking ASIC resources. Over time, we’ve recognized the need to provide operators with flexibility in utilizing ASIC resources while reducing the platform-specific complexity gradually being introduced into SONiC’s core component, the Orchagent. This approach will help SONiC operators to maintain consistent device configurations even when using devices from different platform vendors.

BYOC

During the Hackathon, we developed a framework called “BYOC: Bring Your Own Configuration,” allowing networking ASIC vendors to expose their hardware capabilities in a file describing intent. A new agent transforms the user’s configuration into an optimal SONiC configuration based on the capabilities file. This approach allows ASIC vendors to ensure that user configurations are converted to optimal ASIC configurations. It also allows SONiC operators to fine-tune the hardware resources consumed based on the deployment needs. It further helps in optimally migrating configurations from vendor NOS to SONiC based on the SONiC platform’s capability.

SONiC with BYOC Framework

Potential Impact

This project benefits various members of the SONiC community:

  • Operators: Simplifies adoption and deployment across different vendors and allows fine-tuning based on deployment needs.
  • Platform Vendors: Optimizes the use of networking ASIC resources and facilitates onboarding new ASICs without modifying core code.
  • Developer Community: Results in cleaner code and demonstrates the power of disaggregation and open interfaces.

Future Steps

Marvell plans to create a working group with other networking ASIC vendors and SONiC operators to define use-cases requiring SONiC customization. The goal is to integrate these into the BYOC framework benefiting the entire SONiC community. The orchestration working group will then clean up platform-specific handling in the Orchagent code.  After that, BYOC can be available to all community members.

Ravindranath C Kanakarajan is a senior principal engineer in the Teralynx switch software group. 

# # #

Marvell and the M logo are trademarks of Marvell or its affiliates. Please visit www.marvell.com for a complete list of Marvell trademarks. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

This blog contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future events or achievements. Actual events or results may differ materially from those contemplated in this blog. Forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including those described in the “Risk Factors” section of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents filed by us from time to time with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and no person assumes any obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Tags: sonic, SONIC NOS, SONIC Hackathon, network switches, teralynx

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Accelerated Infrastructure is the Foundation of AI