Poll mode driver integration into dpdk

1. Poll Mode Driver Integration into DPDK

2. Introduction
Intel DPDKisa software librarysetwhichallowsvendorstoaddtheirNICor PCIdevicestouserspace,
whichinturn isusedby enduserto enhance the performance of dataor packetprocessing, Multicore or
CustomASICrunningas PCIcard can have dedicatedPCIe channelforRXan TX. Bridgingthe Gap
betweentwoviaPoll Mode Driverallowszerocopyinterface.
Thishelpsx86 DPDK applicationstospendmore resource with usergenericorcustomapplication,while
processorintensive Inspection,IPSec,Decryption,TCPproxy, Cachingetc…can be run on Multicore or
ASICplatform.
Abstract
Thiswhite paperexaminesvarious stagesinvolvedindevelopingacustomPMD intoDPDK branch for
multicore offloadASIC.Use case isDPDK IDS-IPSwithencryptedSSLtrafficdecryptedviamulticore.It
alsosummarizesvariousapproachesanditsbenefitsandpitfallsexploredbefore implementingthe final
solutiontoo.
Issue
DPDK hasa specificsetof PMD solutionlikeIntel,Chelsio,Cisco,Emulex,Mellanox,Qlogic,Broadcom
etc… For networkaccelerationoroffloadingthese are limitedtofunctionalitysharedfromvendor.For
vendorspecificoffloadinglike IPsec,SSLor legacyprocessingthese cannotbe used. Onlypossible
solutionistoconnectphysical betweenDPDKAccelerationMachine withVendorHWviaNetwork
Physical connectionslike Fiber,Ethernetetc…
Followingreasonscanadverselyaffectperformance
1. Extra overhead toadddedicatedSoConcustom FPGA,ASICor multicore.
2. Framesnowneedextrapathprocessingcomingfromaddedinterface.
3. Overhead,delay,jitterandpacketlossacrossphysical medium.

3. 4. Checksumandvalidationneedtodone one the framesagain.
5. Increase inoverall latencyperframe.
Solution
By addingthe customPMD intoDPDKenvironmentvendorscanmake use of the followingadvantages
1. Low overheadandhightransferinterface,boththese canbe mergedintosingle entity.
2. No modificationinexistingDPDK& Multicore/ASIC/FPGA Applications.
3. Can make use of Multicore/ASIC/FPGA as Line card, Load Balancer, Top of the Rack intelligent
white box.
4. Intel DPDKcan use the other NICcards alongwithnew PMD runningforMulticore/ASIC/FPGA.
5. SavesNICsloton platform.
Application
Future Roadmap
 Implementmulti packetqueuefor10G performance andSRIOvcapability.
 Productrelease asintelligentTORswitch(IDS-IPSonDPDK& Load Balancer,SSLproxyon
multicore/ASIC/FPGA).
Conclusion
Utilizingexposure on multicore,ASIC,DPDKwe were able builtcustomPMD specifictothe problemin
hand.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
NIC to NIC PCIe
480
745
150
273
780
944
220
473
MBITS/SEC
PACKET SIZE
Performance Comparision
64 byte RX 64 byte TX 1500 byte RX 1500 byte TX