Metering
Meters are attached directly to flow entries. Each meter can have one or more meter bands. Each meter band specifies the rate of the band and the way packets are processed (DROP or DIFFSERV). OpenFlow metering operation is similar to ingress rate limiting in a QoS operation.
A meter table consists of meter entries. The counters in the following table are available in the meter entry.
Meter Entry Counters
| Counter | Description |
|---|---|
| Meter Identifier | A 32-bit unsigned integer uniquely identifying the meter. |
| Meter band | A list of meter bands, where each meter band specifies the rate of the band and the way to process the packet. Rate and burst size are based on the line rate of the data traffic in contrast to the information rate. |
| Counter | Number of packets processed by a meter. |
Packets are processed by a single meter band based on the current measured meter rate. The meter applies the meter band with the highest configured rate that is lower than the current measured rate. If the current rate is lower than any specified meter band rate, no meter band is applied.
Each band type contains the following meter configuration parameters from the controller:
Meter Configuration Parameters
| Configuration Flags | Supported by ICX |
|---|---|
| OFPMF_KBPS | Yes |
| OFPMF_PKTPS | No |
| OFPMF_BURST | Yes |
| OFPMF_STATS | Yes |
The metering system supports the features in the following table.