Improving Network Performance in Multi-Core Systems

White Paper Improving Network Performance in Multi-Core Systems
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Intel® Network Controllers
In addition to the technologies discussed in the previous section,
the Intel 82575 Ethernet Controller and the Intel 82598 10 Gigabit
Ethernet Controller have unique performance-enhancing features.
For example, both controllers use Intel® I/O Acceleration Technol-
ogy (Intel® I/OAT) to optimize bandwidth by redirecting header
processing and improving memory access to packet components.
As a result, these controllers are among the fastest available today,
especially when run on multi-core processor-based platforms.
Intel® 82575 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
This controller is a PCI Express*-based, dual-port, Gigabit Ethernet
controller with four transmit and four receive queues per port. It
supports multiple queues, RSS, VMDq, and MSI-X. In addition, it can
offload IP processing and checksumming, and it can perform TCP
transmission segmentation.
For more information, see www.intel.com/design/network/
products/lan/controllers/82575EB.htm
Intel® 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
The Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller is a PCI Express-
based, dual-port, 10-gigabit Ethernet controller, designed for
very high-bandwidth needs. It has extensive support for multiple
processor cores and is intended for use on large systems, such as
enterprise servers, processing appliances, and in embedded appli-
cations. It provides 32 transmit queues and 64 receive queues per
port. For virtualization, it offers 16 virtual machine device queues
per port. To provide maximum throughput for these queues, it has
a 512 KB receive buffer (which can be subdivided into eight indi-
vidual packet buffers) and a 320 KB transmit buffer (also divisible
into eight packet buffers). In addition, the controller offloads tasks
from the host such as TCP/UDP/IP checksum calculations and
TCP segmentation.
For more information, see www.intel.com/design/network/
products/lan/controllers/82598.htm
Next Steps
Intel’s market leadership in processors and research leadership in
high-bandwidth network controllers give it the ability to create
networking components that optimize the delivery of network
packets to applications. In a world that increasingly relies on the
network for real-time or near real-time data delivery, Intel control-
lers are strategic components needed for high-performance
platform designs.
For more information on Intel networking products, go to
www.intel.com/network or contact your Intel representative.
Figure 2. Multiple queues, RSS, MSI-X, and VMDq working together
in a multi-core system
MCH or VMM
LAN
Dual GbE
Port 1 Port 1
CPU or
VM 1
CPU or
VM 2
CPU or
VM 3
CPU or
VM 4