Netronome

Netronome Whitepapers

 

Network I/O Challenges of Data Center Virtualization

Fundamental changes are occurring in the data center; and these changes will have dramatic and lasting effects on how we think about designing computer networks and hosting platforms.  In previous years, servers simply acted as application hosting devices.  Owing to the explosion of multicore CPUs and virtualization, the server now needs to look more like a hardened network element with the ability to perform extensive networking and security processing. A missing element in these designs is the server’s I/O. IT architects need to consider how to link virtualized network infrastructure and virtualized server platforms without degrading performance.
Download the Network I/O Challenges of Data Center Virtualization Whitepaper

Developing High-performance Embedded Network Security Applications

A Heterogeneous Multicore Processing Approach
Today’s network and computing infrastructure is of critical interest to all aspects of our lives, from business and commerce to personal entertainment, and even national security. These vital communication systems share a couple of important characteristics: they require massive amounts of bandwidth to support our insatiable appetite for IP-based services and they require mechanisms offering visibility into all data protocol and application layers to ensure network security. Unfortunately, the network appliances commonly hosting security applications have failed to keep pace with improvements in network performance.  However, a new heterogeneous multicore processing architecture can scale to support tomorrow’s throughput needs while providing the ability to see deeply into network traffic.
Download the Developing High-performance Embedded Network Security Applications Whitepaper

40 Gbps Regular Expression Matching For Network Appliances

As networks evolve to 10- and 40-Gigabit Ethernet, network appliances requiring regular expression and signature matching at these speeds are in need of a platform that meets the application and bandwidth requirements.  Many appliance manufacturers are frequently confronted with the decision to integrate regular expression capability via specialized hardware or leverage multicore x86 processors. While both processors are capable of executing the task, the common underlying problem remains network I/O.  This paper addresses network I/O challenges and offers a heterogeneous architecture solution that combines the 40-Gigabit processing power of the NFP-3240 Network Flow Processor with the general-purpose processing capabilities of Intel x86 CPUs.
Download the 40 Gbps Regular Expression Matching For Network Appliances Whitepaper

Understanding Network I/O Virtualization (IOV)

And its Application in the Data Center and Network Infrastructure
As network servers, appliances and equipment are virtualized at the CPU level, they need an underlying I/O subsystem that is also virtualized. The IOV-P, built into Netronome’s NFP-32xx Network Flow Processor family, provides an ideal solution for network I/O virtualization. Although the speed with which vendors will adopt SR-IOV for such virtualization may vary, Netronome intends to lead the pack by building flexibility on top of SR-IOV, while focusing on networking applications. This paper discusses this new class of network I/O virtualization architecture and its role as a key ingredient in virtualized systems. As described, network I/O virtualization results in an efficient virtualized environment providing high-performance, security and low-power utilization.
Download the Understanding Network IOV Whitepaper

The Evolution to Network Flow Processing

Enabling the Deployment of Intelligent Networks at 10G and Beyond
To enable service providers and network equipment vendors to meet the high-performance challenges, a new multi-chip, multicore heterogeneous processor architecture is required. In this architecture, a Network Flow multicore Processor (NFP), optimized for L2-L7 processing, works in conjunction with one or more general-purpose multicore CPUs. Designs based on this architecture will allow equipment providers to deliver high-performance, flexible and field-programmable systems that enable service providers to generate more revenue per user over a longer product life cycle. This paper discusses this new class of flow-processing architecture and its role in the new heterogeneous multi-processing architecture.
Download the NFP Whitepaper

Scaling Network Appliance Performance

Netronome Flow Manager and Netronome Flow Engine -- Solution Overview
To overcome network appliance performance issues, Netronome has developed hardware and software components that allow both ISVs and end users to accelerate network packet capture and filtering applications. Netronome’s solutions provide a combination of hardware acceleration with an open application programming interface (API) for packet classification, zero-copy drivers and libpcap load balancing.
Download the NFM-NFE Whitepaper

The Depths of Netronome Deep Packet Inspection

Netronome has extensive DPI research and development experience and numerous DPI deployments based on our existing IXP and IA designs. This intellectual property will be extended to our new NFP-32xx-based network flow processors, NFP-based acceleration hardware and associated software components. Combining this experience with the performance and integration enhancements done on the NFP-32xx, DPI applications can now become more intelligent in high-bandwidth environments. 
Download the DPI Whitepaper

Standardized but Flexible I/O for Self-Virtualizing Devices

In this paper, Netronome proposes a more flexible alternative to SR-IOV that requires less hardware support from the device. The key insight is that SR-IOV makes use of many standard PCIe features and primarily adds a hardware-based (virtual) function enumeration mechanism. Our software-configurable virtual functions do not require such a hardware-based configuration space; they are implemented by a device driver. This software solution provides more flexibility, as it does not have to conform to the restrictions imposed by SR-IOV.
Download the SR-IOV Whitepaper

Scaling Security Application Performance with Intel® QuickAssist Technology

An Overview of Performance across Intel® Architecture Platforms, including Intel® EP80579 Integrated Processor and Netronome Accelerated Solutions
Considering the ever-increasing need for PCs and servers to have accelerated I/O throughput for optimal performance -- especially in high-performance and mission-critical server environments, coupling the ubiquity of the IA with standards-based Intel® QuickAssist Technology-powered PCIe acceleration from Netronome provides a solution for the most-stringent application performance constraints. Netronome offers the only solution that meets the customer requirements in the high-end (price, performance and functionality), allowing Intel to offer a uniform IA-based solution for entire ISV product lines.
Download the Netronome/Intel QuickAssist Whitepaper

Intelligent Network Applications for 10 Gbps and Beyond

This whitepaper focuses on the requirements for next-generation network appliances in intelligently processing traffic for the growing real-time, interactive and transactional applications. We define the term “intelligent networking” to encompass the needs of these applications.
Download the QPI Whitepaper