1 Vector Packet Processing
2 ========================
6 The VPP platform is an extensible framework that provides out-of-the-box
7 production quality switch/router functionality. It is the open source version
8 of Cisco's Vector Packet Processing (VPP) technology: a high performance,
9 packet-processing stack that can run on commodity CPUs.
11 The benefits of this implementation of VPP are its high performance, proven
12 technology, its modularity and flexibility, and rich feature set.
14 For more information on VPP and its features please visit the
15 [FD.io website](http://fd.io/) and
16 [What is VPP?](https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP/What_is_VPP%3F) pages.
21 Details of the changes leading up to this version of VPP can be found under
27 Directory name | Description
28 ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------
29 build-data | Build metadata
30 build-root | Build output directory
31 doxygen | Documentation generator configuration
32 dpdk | DPDK patches and build infrastructure
33 @ref extras/libmemif | Client library for memif
34 @ref src/examples | VPP example code
35 @ref src/plugins | VPP bundled plugins directory
36 @ref src/svm | Shared virtual memory allocation library
37 src/tests | Standalone tests (not part of test harness)
38 src/vat | VPP API test program
39 @ref src/vlib | VPP application library
40 @ref src/vlibapi | VPP API library
41 @ref src/vlibmemory | VPP Memory management
42 @ref src/vlibsocket | VPP Socket I/O
43 @ref src/vnet | VPP networking
44 @ref src/vpp | VPP application
45 @ref src/vpp-api | VPP application API bindings
46 @ref src/vppinfra | VPP core library
47 @ref src/vpp/api | Not-yet-relocated API bindings
48 test | Unit tests and Python test harness
52 In general anyone interested in building, developing or running VPP should
53 consult the [VPP wiki](https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP) for more complete
56 In particular, readers are recommended to take a look at [Pulling, Building,
57 Running, Hacking, Pushing](https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP/Pulling,_Building,_Run
58 ning,_Hacking_and_Pushing_VPP_Code) which provides extensive step-by-step
59 coverage of the topic.
61 For the impatient, some salient information is distilled below.
64 ### Quick-start: On an existing Linux host
66 To install system dependencies, build VPP and then install it, simply run the
67 build script. This should be performed a non-privileged user with `sudo`
68 access from the project base directory:
70 ./extras/vagrant/build.sh
72 If you want a more fine-grained approach because you intend to do some
73 development work, the `Makefile` in the root directory of the source tree
74 provides several convenience shortcuts as `make` targets that may be of
75 interest. To see the available targets run:
80 ### Quick-start: Vagrant
82 The directory `extras/vagrant` contains a `VagrantFile` and supporting
83 scripts to bootstrap a working VPP inside a Vagrant-managed Virtual Machine.
84 This VM can then be used to test concepts with VPP or as a development
85 platform to extend VPP. Some obvious caveats apply when using a VM for VPP
86 since its performance will never match that of bare metal; if your work is
87 timing or performance sensitive, consider using bare metal in addition or
90 For this to work you will need a working installation of Vagrant. Instructions
91 for this can be found [on the Setting up Vagrant wiki page]
92 (https://wiki.fd.io/view/DEV/Setting_Up_Vagrant).
97 Several modules provide documentation, see @subpage user_doc for more
98 end-user-oriented information. Also see @subpage dev_doc for developer notes.
100 Visit the [VPP wiki](https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP) for details on more
101 advanced building strategies and other development notes.
106 There is PyDoc generated documentation available for the VPP test framework.
107 See @ref test_framework_doc for details.