Skip to main content
USENIX
  • Conferences
  • Students
Sign in
  • NSDI '12 Home
  • Registration Information
  • Discounts
  • Organizers
  • At a Glance
  • Technical Sessions
  • Poster and Demo Session
  • Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions
  • Workshops
  • Sponsors
  • Activities
  • Calendar
  • Hotel and Travel Information
  • Students
  • Questions?
  • Help Promote
  • For Participants
  • Call for Papers
  • Past Proceedings

sponsors

Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Microsoft Research
Silver Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
Media Sponsor
LXer

twitter

Tweets by @usenix

usenix conference policies

  • Event Code of Conduct
  • Conference Network Policy
  • Statement on Environmental Responsibility Policy

You are here

Home » Toward Predictable Performance in Software Packet-Processing Platforms
Tweet

connect with us

http://twitter.com/usenix
http://www.facebook.com/events/307418625975555/

Toward Predictable Performance in Software Packet-Processing Platforms

Authors: 

Mihai Dobrescu and Katerina Argyraki, EPFL, Switzerland; Sylvia Ratnasamy, UC Berkeley

Abstract: 

To become a credible alternative to specialized hardware, general-purpose networking needs to offer not only flexibility, but also predictable performance. Recent projects have demonstrated that general-purpose multicore hardware is capable of high-performance packet processing, but under a crucial simplifying assumption of uniformity: all processing cores see the same type/amount of traffic and run identical code, while all packets incur the same type of conventional processing (e.g., IP forwarding). Instead, we present a general-purpose packet-processing system that combines ease of programmability with predictable performance, while running a diverse set of applications and serving multiple clients with different needs. Offering predictability in this context is considered a hard problem, because software processes contend for shared hardware resources—caches, memory controllers, buses—in unpredictable ways. Still, we show that, in our system, (a) the way in which resource contention affects performance is predictable and (b) the overall performance depends little on how different processes are scheduled on different cores. To the best of our knowledge, our results constitute the first evidence that, when designing software network equipment, flexibility and predictability are not mutually exclusive goals.

 

Mihai Dobrescu, EPFL

Katerina Argyraki, EPFL

Sylvia Ratnasamy, University of California, Berkeley

Open Access Media

USENIX is committed to Open Access to the research presented at our events. Papers and proceedings are freely available to everyone once the event begins. Any video, audio, and/or slides that are posted after the event are also free and open to everyone. Support USENIX and our commitment to Open Access.

BibTeX
@inproceedings {180593,
author = {Mihai Dobrescu and Katerina Argyraki and Sylvia Ratnasamy},
title = {Toward Predictable Performance in Software {Packet-Processing} Platforms},
booktitle = {9th USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation (NSDI 12)},
year = {2012},
isbn = {978-931971-92-8},
address = {San Jose, CA},
pages = {141--154},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/nsdi12/technical-sessions/presentation/dobrescu},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = apr,
}
Download
Dobrescu PDF
View the slides

Presentation Video 

Presentation Audio

MP3 Download OGG Download

Download Audio

  • Log in or    Register to post comments

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Microsoft Research

Bronze Sponsors

Media Sponsors & Industry Partners

LXer

© USENIX

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us