Target support
Protocol baseline
v2 uses the official P4Runtime protobuf definitions and a P4Runtime 1.3.0 protocol baseline. A target must implement the resources and RPC behavior an application uses.
| Feature | Protocol requirement |
|---|---|
Legacy PRE egress_port | Included in the 1.3.0 baseline. |
PRE byte-based port | P4Runtime 1.4 or newer, with target support. |
| Role-filtered Read | P4Runtime 1.4 or newer. The target defines and enforces the role scope. |
| PRE backup replicas | P4Runtime 1.5 or newer, with target support. |
The SDK does not negotiate these optional capabilities. Select the representation and operation supported by the target. The PRE guide describes port and backup fields.
Validation scope
SDK tests use controlled gRPC servers to check request fields, validation, returned values and stream behavior. BMv2 integration fixtures cover arbitration, pipeline operations, table matches, Packet I/O, counters, meters and legacy packet replication. Linux Ethernet tests check forwarding, counter increments, meter colors and replicated frames.
The integration guide lists the fixtures, required settings and individual tests. Optional suites require those settings. A skipped suite does not establish target support.
Stratum, Tofino-based hardware and other ASIC targets have not been tested in this repository.
Known BMv2 and PI limits
The following limits apply to the BMv2 1.15.0-2bdd0b7b and PI 5689c91 build used for local validation:
- Some valid 9-bit LPM values are rejected because PI checks trailing zeros against padded byte width. The 32-bit LPM fixture, and 9-bit TERNARY and RANGE fixtures, can be tested separately.
- RegisterEntry RPCs are unsupported in this build. Controlled-server tests cover register encoding and request behavior. Live register tests check the unsupported response.
- Byte-based PRE ports and backup replicas require newer target support. Live replication fixtures use legacy port fields.
- Named read roles can be accepted without enforcing role scopes. Controlled-server tests check that the SDK sends the configured role and preserves target rejection.
- Reconciliation of the bundled L2 pipeline's indirect counters can fail because PI restores counters using INSERT. See pipeline troubleshooting.
See the digest section of the integration guide for the target's acknowledgement lifetime behavior. SDK tests cover named subscriptions, cancellation and ACK validation independently.