Implementation of an extensible component router

With the rapid development of the network technology, it is increasingly important to dynamically upgrade router's software. In this paper, the authors propose new software architecture applying to component router. The novel feature of the architecture is the ability to dynamically load and configure extensible components at run time. Each component implements one function such as packet classification, packet scheduling and routing protocol etc. We design a simple Component Router Configuration Language (CRCL) to configure and manage the router. The Component Router can be configured in according to per network flow. At present, a prototype system based on highly efficient router operating system (HEROS) has been finished.