Evaluation of ConnectX Virtual Protocol Interconnect for Data Centers

Abstract

Abstract-With the emergence of new technologies such asVirtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) for the modern data center, the separation between commodity networking technology and high-performance interconnects is shrinking. With VPI, a single network adapter on a data center server can easily be configured to use one port to interface with Ethernet traffic and another port to interface with high-bandwidth, low-latency InfiniBand technology. In this paper, we evaluate ConnectX VPI using microbenchmarks as well as real traces from a three-tier data center architecture. We find that with VPI each network segment in the data center can use the most optimal configuration (whether InfiniBand or Ethernet) without having to fall back to the lowest common denominator, as is currently the case. Our results show a maximum 26.7% increase in bandwidth, a 54.5% reduction in latency, and a 5% increase in real data center throughput.

A study of hardware assisted IP over InfiniBand and its impact on enterprise data center performance

“…The performance of SDP and IPoIB in a data center context for reliable connection based SDP and IPoIB has been evaluated by Balaji et al [4], where it was observed that SDP and IPoIB can have a beneficial effect on data center performance. The performance of combined Ethernet/IPoIB/SDP traffic via VPI for ConnectX adapters has been evaluated by Grant et al [7], in which it was shown that multi-port adapters running in IB and Ethernet mode simultaneously can be effective for increasing the performance of back-end data center architectures. All of this previous work differs from this paper in that it never considered unreliable datagrams for either IPoIB or SDP and never examined offload capabilities of InfiniBand network adapters.…”

“…As such, it provides a compromise between offering the feature rich high-speed IB network and the required legacy support for traditional data center applications written for IP-based protocols. This is a critical step towards the goal of converging high-speed networking fabrics and existing enterprise data center networking solutions in a single system, where cost effective Ethernet technologies can be supplemented with high-speed networks in order to increase overall data center performance [7].…”

“…As IPoIB is the interface by which socket based programs operate over IB, it is important to examine its performance in current data center environments to understand the benefits that might arise from future hybrid data center networking environments. Convergence efforts such as RDMAoE/IBoE [24], RDMAoCEE [5] and VPI [7] are already underway to combine existing high performance networks with Ethernet. A new set of standards referred to as Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) [11][12][13][14][15]17] has opened up issues revolving around providing advanced features over Ethernet networks.…”

“…This allows for the features of InfiniBand to be provided over an Ethernet network, including RDMA. The development of Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) [7] allows for simultaneous use of a single multi-port adapter that supports Ethernet or InfiniBand running independently on each port. This enables the use of multi-mode hot-swappable network solutions providing both native IB and Ethernet.…”