HP Labs Technical Reports

User Space Protocols Deliver High Performance to Applications on a Low Cost Gb/s LAN

Edwards, Aled; Watson, Greg; Lumley, John; Banks, David; Calamvokis, Costas; Dalton, Chris

HPL-94-59

Keyword(s):

Abstract: We address two issues in high-speed networking: how to provide Gbit/s networking at low cost and, how to provide a flexible low-level network interface so that applications can control their data from the instant that it arrives. We describe the Jetstream Gbit/s LAN, an experimental, low cost network interface. Jetstream frames contain a channel identifier so that the network driver can immediately associate an incoming frame with its application. Applications can then control how their data should be managed without the need to first move the data into the application's address space. Measured results show that both kernel- and user-space protocols can achieve very good throughputs in excess of 200-Mbit/s.

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