Software Architecture for a Lightweight Payload Signature-Based Traffic Classification System

Traffic classification is a preliminary and essential step for achieving stable network service provision and efficient network resource management. While a number of classification methods have been introduced in the literature, the payload signature-based classification method shows the highest performance in terms of accuracy, completeness, and practicality. However, the payload signature-based method has a significant drawback in high-speed network environments; the processing speed is much slower than that of other classification methods such as the header-based and statistical methods. In this paper, we describe various design options to improve the processing speed of traffic classification in designing a payload signature-based classification system, and we describe choices we made for designing our traffic classification system. Also, the feasibility of our design choices was proved via experimental evaluation on our campus traffic trace.