Flow caching effectiveness in packet forwarding applicati

Routing algorithms are known to be potential bottlenecks for packet processing. Network ow caching can function as a general acceleration technique for packet processing workloads. The goal of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of packet ow caching techniques in high-speed networks. The area of focus is the data distribution characteristics that lead to the effectiveness of caching network ows (connections). Based on a statistical analysis and simulations, the article sets the necessary conditions for the effective use of caches in packet forwarding applications. Public domain network traces were examined and measured for data locality. Software simulations show a strong correlation between the ow packet distance metrics and the cache hit rate.