PLAN: A Packet Language for Active Networks

PLAN (Packet Language for Active Networks) is a new language for programs that form the packets of a programmable network. These programs replace the packet headers (which can be viewed as very rudimentary programs) used in current networks. As such, PLAN programs are lightweight and of restricted functionality. These limitations are mitigated by allowing PLAN code to call node-resident service routines written in other, more powerful languages. This two-level architecture, in which PLAN serves as a scripting or `glue' language for more general services, is the primary contribution of this paper. We have successfully applied the PLAN programming environment to implement an IP-free internetwork. PLAN is based on the simply typed lambda calculus and provides a restricted set of primitives and datatypes. PLAN defines a special construct called a chunk used to describe the remote execution of PLAN programs on other nodes. Primitive operations on chunks are used to provide basic data transport in the network and to support layering of protocols. Remote execution can make debugging difficult, so PLAN provides strong static guarantees to the programmer, such as type safety. A more novel property aimed at protecting network availability is a guarantee that PLAN programs use a bounded amount of network resources.