

These factors and more can cause increases in packet rate, packet buffer utilization, or a huge amount of new connections per second that lead to the dataplane CPU reaching a critical level. These management protocols are used for monitoring and for command-line interface (CLI) access.A number of factors can cause the dataplane's CPUs to spike or continuously run high: a sudden increase due to the implementation of a new service or resource, or a buildup over time due to added connected networks, segments and hosts. Examples of protocols processed in the management plane include Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Secure FTP, and Secure Shell (SSH). The management plane: The management plane is used to manage a device through its connection to the network.In the data plane, there could be features that could affect packet forwarding such as quality of service (QoS) and access control lists (ACLs). The data plane: The data plane is the forwarding plane, which is responsible for the switching of packets through the router (that is, process switching and CEF switching).In distributed architecture platforms, routing protocols, and most other protocols, always run on the core CPU in the RPs or Supervisor engines, but there are other control plane protocols such as ARP, BFD, and ICMP that in some distributed architecture platforms have now been offloaded to the line card CPU. In centralized architecture platforms, the general-purpose CPU manages all control plane protocols. In short, the control plane is responsible for maintaining sessions and exchanging protocol information with other router or network devices. It consists of dynamic IP routing protocols (that is OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, and so on), the RIB, routing updates, in addition to other protocols such as PIM, IGMP, ICMP, ARP, BFD, LACP, and so on. The control plane: The control plane is the brain of the router.Ivan Pepelnjak has a very nice graphic as well as more specific information on SDN:Ī router is typically segmented into three planes of operation, each with a specific and clearly defined objective: Utilizes the control plane to make packet drop determinations.Utilizes the control plane to forward onto the destination.System configuration, management information.Likewise, control plane protocol s do not typically have any visibility into the applications running over the network, or how the network may be affecting application performance. For example, routing protocols may only be able to determine the best path through a network based on static metrics such as interface bandwidth or hop count. While these control plane protocols scale very well, and provide a high level of network resiliency, they pose limitations. These protocols determine the optimal port or interface to forward packets ( that is, the data plane). Examples of control plane protocols are routing protocols, such as Open Shortest Path First ( OSPF ), Border Gateway Protocol ( BGP ), and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP).

The control plane is an element of a router or switch that determines how one individual device within a network interacts with its neighbors. Traditionally, network architectures within corporate and government networks use network devices that combine control plane and data plane function s in a single device, typically a router or switch.
