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Everything about Data plane

Router architecture

In routing, the data plane, sometimes called the forwarding plane or user plane, defines the part of the router architecture that determines what to do with packets arriving on an inbound interface. Most commonly, it refers to a table in which the router looks up the destination address of the incoming packet and retrieves the information necessary to determine the path from the receiving element, through the internal forwarding fabric of the router, and to the proper outgoing interface(s). Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: Data planeA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Implicit electric field conjugation: Data-driven focal plane controlInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Visibility Algorithms in the PlaneThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: Debugging the data plane with anteaterCited 161 times
  5. Go sideways: Control planeA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Forwarding information baseA closely related topic

đź“– Definitions

Noun The part of a network that carries user traffic, as opposed to those parts handling network topology and signalling.

🗂️ The subject at a glance

  1. Contrast to control plane
  2. Issues in router forwarding performance
  3. Forwarding information base design
  4. Distributed forwarding

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

đź“š Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

đź”— Related topics