Turbo V4
NetF1 includes a high performance implementation of TCP/IP protocols and RFC implementations based on IPv4. This replaces the network stack provided with the OS and transparently provides a full-featured and highly concurrent alternative for a wide variety of connectivity applications for embedded devices. Included is a core set of functionality such as support for multicasting, IGMP v2, DHCP, and run-time configuration support through a BSD-style sysctl facility along with a system-wide MIB tree for ease of management. Special attention to modularity within the core stack makes it possible to scale out any functionality not required by the application, as well as replace CPU-intensive functions with hardware equivalents (hardware acceleration) implemented in an ASIC, FPGA, or network processor.

Hyper V6
With the IPv4 address space depleting rapidly, there is an accelerating move to adopt the new version of IP, IPv6, in embedded applications. Besides the 128-bit address space (as opposed to the 32-bit address space of IPv4), IPv6 also has important advantages, such as a simpler header format, better option and extension support, provisions for security and QoS management, and easier address auto-configuration. NetF1’s robust, fast and standards-based implementation of IPv6 enables embedded network applications to exploit the improvements in quality of service, security capabilities, and reliability inherent in this new technology with minimal integration effort. Overloaded routing systems can immediately leverage the routing memory space efficiency of IPv6 along with the extended address space available to it. NetF1’s IPv6 is as much as an order of magnitude faster than other embedded implementations. Full support for IPv6 security is available via TeamF1’s V-IPSecure add-on IPsec/IKE module.

IPv6 Features
In addition to supporting standard V6 networking protocols such as ICMP6 and Multicasting, NetF1 supports all the required features for an operational model as prescribed by the IPv6 related RFC standards.

NetF1 hosts (non-routers) support the following features:

• Formation of interface identifier, link/site/global address generation from supplied prefix.
• Neighbor Discovery Algorithm.
• Site Renumbering/Link Address change processing.
• Multicast Scoping/Anycast addressing Support.
• Basic and Advanced Socket Extensions for new application development.
• ICMP Error message processing support.
• Router Solicitations.
• Security (IPsec) using V-IPSecure.

NetF1 routers support:

• IPv6 packet forwarding.
• Static Route entries to be configured into routing table.
• Solicited/Unsolicited advertisements through 'radvd' module.

IPv6 Extension Header Support
NetF1 supports the following four IPv6 extension headers:

• Hop-by-Hop options header.
• Destination options header.
• Routing header.
• Fragment header.

Support for security extensions are available by using NetF1 with TeamF1’s V-IPSecure product.

V4 to V6 Transition Support
Since most of the Internet and supporting routers are currently based on IPv4, NetF1 provides built-in support for various transition mechanisms which allow the IPv6 stack to co-exist with IPv4 implementations. It enables the use of a dual-mode stack which handles both IPv4 and IPv6, as well as provides for a tunneling capability in which IPv6 packets can be tunneled through IPv6-unaware networks encapsulated in IPv4 packets. This gives embedded developers the ability to add support for the next version of Internet Protocol while maintaining backward compatibility with the current IPv4 standard.

Virtual Routing Capabilities
"Virtual routers" are multiple logical router instances running on a single physical router system. By modularizing and isolating the different instances of the routing functionality, and dedicating separate resources of the physical system to each logical instance, each virtual router can run independently as a full-fledged router with its own set of routing protocols. The NetF1 virtual router framework replicates the networking stack up to the IP layer including data structures such as RTCaches, Route Tables, interface lists and packet receive queues, to achieve complete segregation of user data. Each router instance is thus individually controlled and is isolated from the other instances. Further, the TCP/IP processing for each router instance is delegated to a specialized logical software module copy making it an ideal fit for custom hardware off-load applications, such as hardware-based packet forwarding in carrier-class applications. Virtual routing support within NetF1 can be enabled for both IPv4 and IPv6, and combinations of the two can also co-exist. Third-party protocols including OSPF, BGP, and MPLS can run seamlessly within the virtual routing framework, attached to specific virtual router instances.

Debugging / Trace Support
NetF1 provides debugging support for application developers in the form of "show" routines and a trace library. The "show" routines keep track of, and display statistics for various protocols such as TCP, UDP, ICMP, IGMP, IPv6, etc. They can also be used to monitor the status of important tables such as multicast, neighbor discovery, and ARP caches. The trace library gives a view of function call sequence and execution time taken for each routine. Tracing is enabled through the use of special macros to instrument the code with configurable resolution, so that the run-time view of the network stack execution can be captured in the form of a dynamic snapshot to a buffer that can be analyzed later. The flexible sysctl interface also allows for convenient control and observation of the stack characteristics.

Binary Compatibility
All standard network applications such as Telnet, FTP, and HTTP servers that run on VxWorks using POSIX standards are binary compatible with NetF1, and can run without recompilation. Since the interface to the network stack is provided by means of standard sockets within VxWorks, all custom socket-based applications also run without modification. Enhanced features within NetF1 can be activated through the use of special NetF1 APIs. Further, NetF1 is binary compatible with VxWorks binary END drivers and does not require driver source to be available. With minor modifications, older BSD-style drivers may also be used with NetF1.

Management Framework
Configurable parameters in the various stack layers can be dynamically set using a sysctl() call, while their default values can be specified at compile time. NetF1's internal viewable and controllable functions is organized into a Management Information Base (MIB) tree with hierarchically named sysctl variables corresponding to the various OIDs. The list of variables available through this interface can be configured in at compile time. Sysctl handlers can be used to retrieve and set values of sysctl variables. Via this interface, NetF1 can be hooked up to any SNMP agent built into an embedded networking application.

Customization Flexibility

• Available in full-source format.
• Run-time configurable through sysctl interface.
• Easily hooked up to SNMP agents.
• Customization hooks and callouts.
• Unwanted components can be scaled out.
• Choice of buffering schemes.
• Choice of threading models.
• Designed for future hardware acceleration.