Re: [dpdk-dev] [dpdk-announce] DPDK Features for Q1 2015

[Luke Gorrie <luke@snabb.co>]

Hi Tim,

On 22 October 2014 15:48, O'driscoll, Tim <tim.o'driscoll@intel.com> wrote:

> 2.0 (Q1 2015) DPDK Features:
> Bifurcated Driver: With the Bifurcated Driver, the kernel will retain
> direct control of the NIC, and will assign specific queue pairs to DPDK.
> Configuration of the NIC is controlled by the kernel via ethtool.
>

That sounds awesome and potentially really useful for other people writing
userspace data planes too. If I understand correctly, this way the messy
details can be contained in one place (kernel) and the application (DPDK
PMD or otherwise) will access the NIC TX/RX queue via the ABI defined in
the hardware data sheet.

Single Virtio Driver: Merge existing Virtio drivers into a single
> implementation, incorporating the best features from each of the existing
> drivers.
>

Cool. Do you have a strategy in mind already for zero-copy optimisation
with VMDq? I have seen some patches floating around for this and it's an
area of active interest for myself and others. I see a lot of potential for
making this work more effectively with some modest extensions to Virtio and
guest behaviour, and would love to meet kindred spirits who are thinking
along these lines too.