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+Hybrid ICN project: VPP plugin
+==============================
+
+The hICN-plugin forwarder
+
+## Introduction ##
+
+A high-performance Hybrid ICN forwarder as a plugin to VPP.
+
+The plugin provides the following functionalities:
+
+ - Fast packet processing
+ - Interest aggregation
+ - Content caching
+ - Forwarding strategies
+
+## Quick Start ##
+```
+From the code tree root
+
+(VPP installed with DEB pkg)
+$ cd hicn-plugin
+$ mkdir -p build
+$ cd build
+$ cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
+$ make
+$ sudo make install
+
+(VPP source code -- build type RELEASE)
+$ cd hicn-plugin
+$ mkdir -p build
+$ cd build
+$ cmake .. -DVPP_HOME=<vpp dir>/build-root/install-vpp-native/vpp/include/ -DHICN_INSTALL_PREFIX=<vpp src>/build-root/install-vpp-native/vpp/lib
+$ make
+$ sudo make install
+
+(VPP source code -- build type DEBUG)
+$ cd hicn-plugin
+$ mkdir -p build
+$ cd build
+$ cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=DEBUG -DVPP_HOME=<vpp dir>/build-root/install-vpp_debug-native/vpp/include/ -DHICN_INSTALL_PREFIX=<vpp src>/build-root/install-vpp_debug-native/vpp/lib
+$ make
+$ sudo make install
+
+CMAKE variables:
+- HICN_INSTALL_PREFIX -- set the install directory for the hicn-plugin. This is the common path to the folders vpp_plugins and vpp_api_test_plugins. Default is <vpp install dir>/lib
+- VPP_INSTALL_PLUGIN -- set the install directory for the libhicn_plugin.so. Defatuls id $HICN_INSTALL_PREFIX/vpp_plugins
+- HICN_API_TEST_HEADER_FILES -- set the install directory for the header files. Default is <vpp install dir>/include/vpp_plugins/hicn
+```
+
+## Using hICN plugin ##
+
+### Platforms ###
+
+hICN-plugin has been tested in:
+
+- Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (x86_64)
+- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (x86_64)
+- Debian Stable/Testing
+- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
+- CentOS 7
+
+
+### Dependencies ###
+
+Build dependencies:
+
+- VPP 19.01
+  - DEB packages:
+  - vpp
+  - vpp-lib
+  - vpp-dev
+  - vpp-plugins
+
+Hardware support:
+
+- [DPDK](http://DPDK.org/) compatible nic
+
+### Getting started ###
+In order to start, the hICN plugin requires a running instance of VPP
+The steps required to successfully start hICN are:
+
+- Setup the host to run VPP
+- Configure VPP to use DPDK compatible nics
+- Start VPP
+- Configure VPP interfaces
+- Configure and start hICN
+
+Detailed information for configuring VPP can be found at [https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP](https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP).
+
+##### Setup the host for VPP #####
+
+Hugepages must be enabled in the system
+
+```
+$ sudo sysctl -w vm.nr_hugepages=1024
+```
+
+In order to use a DPDK interface, the package vpp-dpdk-dkms must be installed in the system and the `uio` and `igb_uio` modules need to be loaded in the kernel
+
+```
+$ sudo apt install vpp-dpdk-dkms
+$ sudo modprobe uio
+$ sudo modprobe igb_uio
+```
+
+If the DPDK interface we want to assign to VPP is up, we must bring it down
+
+```
+$ sudo ifconfig <interface_name> down
+```
+
+##### Configure VPP #####
+The file /etc/VPP/startup.conf contains a set of parameters to setup VPP at startup.
+The following example sets up VPP to use a DPDK interfaces:
+
+``` shell
+unix {
+  nodaemon
+  log /tmp/vpp.log
+  full-coredump
+}
+
+api-trace {
+  on
+}
+
+api-segment {
+  gid vpp
+}
+
+dpdk {
+  dev 0000:08:00.0
+}
+```
+Where `0000:08:00.0` must be replaced with the actual PCI address of the DPDK interface
+
+##### Start VPP #####
+
+VPP can be started as a process or a service:
+
+``` shell
+Start VPP as a service in Ubuntu 16.04
+$ sudo systemctl start vpp
+
+Start VPP as a process in both 16.04
+$ sudo vpp -c /etc/vpp/startup.conf
+
+```
+
+## License ##
+
+This software is distributed under the following license:
+
+```
+Copyright (c) 2017-2019 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+```
+\ No newline at end of file