24 x 10Gb SFP+, 6 x 100Gb QSFP28, Packet Broker

PB-APP: packet broker as a containerized application

PB-APP runs as a container on AsterNOS rather than as a separate operating system, so the switch retains its Enterprise SONiC L2/L3 stack while adding dedicated traffic-orchestration logic. Configuration, rule management, and visualization are handled through a Web UI with drag-and-drop policy workflows and real-time hit counters, alongside CLI, RESTful API, SNMP, Syslog, and Prometheus/Grafana integration for teams standardizing on existing O&M tooling.

Role-based port isolation

Each of the data ports is assigned one of four roles — Network, Service, Tool, or Hybrid — separating production traffic ingress, service-chained inline paths, and tool-facing egress on the same device. This isolation model prevents analysis traffic from being reinjected into the production path.

Deep multi-tunnel parsing

PB-APP decapsulates GRE, VXLAN, GTP-U, MPLS, ERSPAN, IPinIP, CFP, and PPPoE tunnels, then matches inner-layer 5-tuple fields for filtering and load-balancing decisions — supporting visibility into overlay and mobile-core traffic without an upstream decapsulation step.

Multi-dimensional precision ACL

Ingress and egress filtering spans L2, L3, L3V6, EX, EM, and EMV6 rule types, matched against 5-tuple, VLAN, MAC, port range, TCP flags, VNI, DSCP, and inner/outer IP fields, with any combination of fields supported per rule. Rules can be reprioritized, searched, and batch-managed from the Web UI, with hit counters tracked per rule and per policy.

Traffic replication, forwarding, and load balancing

Matched traffic can be mirrored (local SPAN, RSPAN, or ERSPAN to an L3 port), replicated to single ports, LAGs, or combined port+LAG groups, or forwarded/dropped by ACL match. Hardware truncation to 128 bytes reduces the volume sent downstream. Four LAG modes — Flexible, Static, Weight, and Standby — distribute output across tool ports, with custom hash keys, symmetric hashing, and configurable hash seeds to balance probe bandwidth.

Nanosecond timestamping

PB-APP appends packet-level nanosecond timestamps using IEEE 1588v2 PTP synchronization, giving downstream analysis tools a common time reference for performance profiling, security auditing, and fault demarcation.

Passive and inline deployment

The PX206P-24S-M supports both passive mode, tapping SPAN/RSPAN/ERSPAN sources without sitting in the data path, and inline mode, where the packet broker sits directly between core and edge devices to chain traffic through IPS or firewall tools — reducing the optical transceiver count required for a comparable dedicated-appliance deployment.

Architecture & performance

• 1.09 Tbps throughput; wire-speed L2/L3 processing at up to 600 Mpps

• Port configuration: 48 × 1/2.5/5/10G + 6 × 100G (or 24 × 25G) + 1 × 10G CPU management port

• Shared forwarding tables, packet buffer memory, and flexible shared TCAM resources

• Cut-through switching; dynamic load balancing for elephant-flow distribution

Forwarding & virtualization

• L2/L3 wire-speed switching and routing engines; FCoE forwarding

• Virtual overlay networking: VXLAN-GPE, Geneve, NVGRE, GRE, SPB, TRILL

• Programmable header editor and NFV service function chaining via NSH

• Server virtualization: IEEE 802.1Qbg EVB and 802.1BR Port Extender

DCB, congestion & DCI

• Data Center Bridging: PFC, CN, ETS per IEEE 802.1Qbb/Qau/Qaz

• ECN marking with DCTCP and Phantom Queue support for advanced congestion management

• Universal gateway: single-pass bridging/routing across virtual network domains

• MPLS-based services — VPWS, VPLS, EVPN; EVPN/VPLS-over-GRE and Ethernet-over-GRE

Telemetry, openness & management

• Per-engine counters for telemetry and analytics; hardware-based OAM engine

• SDN / OpenFlow 2.0 support via multiple TCAM lookups and Marvell FPA software suite

• CPSS driver support; compatible with Prestera-CX/DX/EX APIs; SAI API support

• PCIe Gen 2.1 ×4 management interface