SAI/PINS support for programmable ASICs

[sandee...@bytedance.com]

Hi,

While gathering info, I came across some presentations and documents such as this.

1. SAI-GPE:

https://github.com/opencomputeproject/SAI/blob/19ba5116264829d3a7b933212ab6bd0d977a3a55/doc/SAI_Proposal_Generic_Extensions.md

1. SAI pipeline enhancements with Pre Ingress ACL and MyMAC Station Stages and Enhanced FEC Mode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_Q8aw2fUSI

https://146a55aca6f00848c565-a7635525d40ac1c70300198708936b4e.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/images/c8c3ea4cc54cf6ab1550bbe0425c04ac5c30326e.pdf

3. PINS:

https://opennetworking.org/pins/

By looking at 1. And 2. I understood that we can program a pipeline using Generic programmable extensions and ACLs can be programmed such a way that packets can be made to  match the tables that we program.

From the SAI pipeline diagram in 1. It seems to me that there are a couple of fixed components before "extensions" namely. "Parser" and "Decap".

Questions that I have:

1. Is SAI pipeline flexible(Now) when it comes to programmable ASICs such as Tofino? For ex: If I were to have my own packet-format then the "Decap" component in the SAI-GPE pipeline would unnecessary for me. In this case, can I get rid of the Decap block?
2. Would you help me with any other documents in this area ie. SAI/SONiC support for Programmable asics ?

Appreciate your help!!

Thanks & Regards,

Sandeep