Pica8 Operating System
PicOSTM
IT Business Drivers
 Enable rapid service creation in order
to grow topline revenue
 Extend automation and common tools
across teams, including cross training
to bridge operational silos
 Drive technology alignment opportunities
by leveraging supply chain best
practices across functional areas
Open Networking Value
 Networking now follows the open supply
chain as the server industry
 Bare metal hardware ecosystem and
standards are maturing, driven by the
Open Compute Project (OCP)
 Hardware-agnostic Linux based network
software is transforming network
economics and innovation just like
the server side of the data center
 Foundational and fundamental for delivering
a unified view of automation and policy
driven networks with the best economics
Linux
Switching
Routing
Mangement
Security
OpenFlow
Linux
Single OS Drives
Operational Efficiencies
Hardware Abstraction Layer
Leverage Linux Tools
customize, optimize
Multiprocess OS
Process traffic
abstracted from
underlying hardware
PicOS – Three Editions to Leverage
 Leading OpenFlow 1.4 support through OVS 2.0
 Deliver true seamless migration to SDN through
CrossFlow mode (Layer-2 / Layer-3 and OpenFlow
simultaneously)
 Leveraging OpenFlow to control MPLS, GRE, NVGRE
or VXLAN tunnels, delivering on the promise of open
programmability
 Support for all major OpenFlow controllers (for example:
OpenStack Neutron ML2, OpenDaylight, Ryu)
 Rich OSPF and BGP protocol stacks integrating into
existing spine / leaf architectures
 IPv6 routing protocol support (OSPFv3, MBGP)
 Multicast PIM support
 NAT (depends on ASIC support)
 VXLAN network virtualization (depends on ASIC support)
 PicOS Bundle
Linux
Switching
OS
Routing OpenFlow
Features Included
Required PicOS Editions
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Pica8 Support
Pica8 provides world-class support and services to help our customers and partners fully leverage
the power of open systems. We provide a full range of support services that include access to our
Support Portal and online support tools 24/7/365, advanced RMA for selected hardware ecosystem
partners, and onsite support for customers. We want to ensure our customers and partners can
quickly and easily manage and troubleshoot solutions from Pica8. For more information, visit
http://www.pica8.com/support/
A base configuration starts with the Linux Switching OS package. For additional functionality,
select either the Routing or OpenFlow Editions, or the PicOS Bundle depending on your use case.
 Network operation system using user space standard
Debian Linux environment
 Leverage vast array of standard Linux tools as a
common management and operations framework
 Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) functionality coupled
with ONIE delivers a true bare metal to application
environment
 Rich Layer-2 protocol stack with MLAG, seamlessly
integrating into existing architectures
 Full Layer-2 & Layer-3 ACL support
 IPv4 & IPv6 Static Routing
PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS SUPPORTED
Pica8, Inc.
Corporate Headquarters
1032 Elwell Court, Suite 105
Palo Alto, California 94303, USA
650-614-5838 | www.pica8.com
© Pica8, Inc., 2015. All rights reserved.
Produced in the United States 2/15.
Pica8 and PicOS are trademarks of Pica8, Inc.
Pica8 and PicOS trademarks are intended and authorized for use only in countries
and jurisdictions in which Pica8, Inc. has obtained the rights to use, market and
advertise the brand. Pica8, Inc. shall not be liable to third parties for unauthorized
use of this document or unauthorized use of its trademarks. References in this
publication to Pica8, Inc. products or services do not imply that Pica8, Inc. intends
to make these available in all countries in which it operates. Contact Pica8, Inc. for
additional information.
Layer 2 Features
• Jumbo frames up to 9,216 bytes
• Provide non-blocking wire speed
L2 switching
• Flow control
− IEEE 802.3x for full-duplex mode
− Back-pressure flow control in
half-duplex mode
• Broadcast, unicast, and multicast
storm protection
• IGMP snooping, up to 1K groups
• VLAN support
− IEEE 802.1Q VLANs
− 4,094 VLANs
− Port-based VLANs
• Spanning Tree
− IEEE 802.1D STP
− IEEE 802.1w RSTP
− IEEE 802.1s MSTP
− Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST)
• Link aggregation
− Up to 48 trunk groups
− Up to 8 ports per trunk group
− IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation
& LACP
• Port mirroring (many-to-one)
• Port security
• LLDP
• Q-in-Q
• Multi-chassis Link Aggregation (MLAG)
• MLAG with Spanning Tree support
• VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP)
support
• 802.1X support
Layer 3 Routing Features
• ECMP: 32 next hops
• ECMP resilient hashing
(depends on ASIC support)
• RIPv2
• OSPFv2
• OSPF/ECMP
• BGP-4
• BGP-4/ECMP
• VLAN routing
• VRRP
• IP routing
• DHCP-relay including DHCP
option-82 and ARP inspection
Layer 3 Multicast
• PIM-SM
• IGMPv1/v2
• VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP)
support
• 802.1X support
IPv6 Layer 3 Routing Features
• RIPng
• OSPFv3
• MBGP for IPv6 NLRI
• IPv6 routing
Security
• User/password protected system
management
• L2/L3/L4 ACLs
• TACACS+ AAA
• SSHv1/v2
• SSLv3/TLS v1
• DoS attack protection
Quality of Service
• IEEE 802.1p-based CoS
• 8 priority queues per port
• DSCP-based CoS
• Policy-based DiffServ
Network Management
• Command line interface (CLI)
• Telnet and SSH remote login
• Centralized control plane policing
and filtering
• SNMPv1/v2c
• AAA Radius support
• IPFIX (NetFlow) / sFlow
OpenFlow Implementation
• Based on Open-vSwitch (OVS) 2.0
• Compatible with OpenFlow 1.4
specification
• TCAM Flow Optimization for better
scalability and performance
• Web interface / GUI for OVS
configuration
• Interoperable with RYU, OpenDaylight,
Floodlight, Trema and NOX
• OpenFlow encapsulation: L2oGRE,
L3oGRE, NVGRE, PBB, VXLAN,
MPLS (depending on ASIC support)
• Network Address Translation
(NAT) depending on ASIC support
Operational Programming Tools
• Automate PicOS installation via ONIE
• Auto provisioning with scripting
capacity (Zero Touch Provisioning)
• Debian 7.0 Linux distribution
• Modular PicOS: Service daemon
for L2/L3 Mode and OVS Mode
• Standard Debian Based package
upgrade (apt-get)
• Extensible CLI with Scripts and APIs
• Configuration Commit / Check / Rollback
• C/C++, Ruby, Python, Perl
• Configuration Management: Puppet,
Chef, CFEngine (user-installed)
• Support for 802.1ag Connectivity
Fault Management (CFM) is
incorporated in PicOS OVS /
OpenFlow mode.
• VLAN push/pop operation in an
MPLS action
Standards Compliance
• 802.1D Bridging and Spanning
Tree Protocol
• 802.1s Multiple Spanning Tree
Protocol
• 802.1w Rapid Spanning Tree
Protocol
• 802.1p QOS/COS
• 802.1Q VLAN Tagging
• 802.1X Port-based Network Access
Control (PNAC)
• 802.1ah PBB (MAC in MAC)
• 802.3ad Link Aggregation with LACP
• 802.3ab 1000BASE-T
• 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet
• 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet
• 802.3ba 40 Gigabit Ethernet
RFCs MIBs
• RFC 1157 SNMPv1
• RFC 1212 Concise MIB definition
• RFC 1213 MIB II
• RFC 1215 SNMP traps
• RFC 1256 ICMP router discovery
• RFC 1493 Bridge MIB
• RFC 1573 Interface Evolution MIB
• RFC 1643 Etherlike MIB
• RFC 1901 Community based
SNMPv2
• RFC 1905 Protocol Operations for
SNMPv2
• RFC 1906 Transport Mappings for
SNMPv2
• RFC 1907 Management
Information Base for SNMPv2
• RFC 1908 Coexistence between
SNMPv1 and SNMPv2
• RFC 1997 BGP Communities
Attribute
• RFC 2021 RMON2 probes
• RFC 2096 IP Forwarding table MIB
• RFC 2233 The Interface Group MIB
using SNMPv2
• RFC 2439 BGP Route Flap Damping
• RFC 2545 Use of BGP-4 Multiprotocol
Extensions for IPv6 Inter-Domain
Routing
• RFC 2665 Ethernet-like Interfaces
• RFC 2796 BGP Route Reflection –
An Alternative to Full Mesh IBGP
• RFC 3065 Autonomous System
Confederations for BGP
• RFC 3392 Capabilities
Advertisement with BGP-4
• RFC 4893 BGP Support for
Four-octet AS Number Space
• Pica8 Private MIB