Subject: Re: [arch-d] NIC Offload Affect

From: Joe Touch <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:54:39 -0800

Dave Crocker wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> on processors etc.  what I am concerned about is 4 years from now
>> 100GbE.  will our architecture sustain what it needs to on a host or
>> embedded software system.  So when we add shims and new layers and new
>> processing that has to be called out from the stack that has performance
>> cost. Keeping the deering hourglass and the middle not bulging is I
>> think very important.
> 
> I suspect that the on-/off-board question merely makes it easier to
> think of issues to focus on.  So it's not so much that it creates
> special problems, but perhaps it gets us thinking about thinks with some
> better focus.

Two observations:

	- weren't we worried about this back with 100Mbps?
	(and didn't this take care of itself?)

	- on/offboard processing is a pendulum that swings every
	5 years or so; the problem is that off-board processing is a
	win only if the processor there is as fast (or faster) than the
	CPU, and CPUs leverage commodity development easier

Bandwidth faster than the end system can use ends up being used for
trunks until the end system catches up. As to getting data into the
endsystem, it ends up needing to look more like a network itself (see
the NetStation and Desktop Area Network research of the early 1990's).

Joe

_______________________________________________
Architecture-discuss mailing list
[email-masked]
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/architecture-discuss