On Mar 26, 2008, at 11:57 AM, <michael.dillon@bt.com> wrote:
http://docs.rodecker.nl/10-GE_Routing_on_Linux.pdf. He hit a wall at 700K pps and was using two dual core Intel Xeon 64bit 2.33GHz CPUs and 2GB of RAM in a Dell PowerEdge 1950.
Unless I am misreading this, he did not hit a wall. What he did was test a design that was scalable to multiple cores and show that the two core version could not go beyond 700k pps. The next logical question is how much more can you push with larger numbers of cores. The key thing is to use a recent Linux kernel that can share interrupts among multiple cores and to run it on a CPU using MSI interrupts. Since this was written up in January of 2007,
There are people who use Linux for load balancing who also are working on finding how well it can cope with 10G of traffic and they have some anecdotal evidence of 800k pps.
--Michael Dillon
If I just may share my opinion on this whole Software Router debate. Even if it is technically feasible to route traffic over a server, I would not hesitate to sound old-fashioned and state that it is not a server's main role, i.e. what it is designed for. Mainly, I would assume that you'd get the same Network I/O issues with small packets that Disk I/O you would notice in a strictly systems/ server environment. Most of all, Routing Equipment manufacturers offer more than a physical routing chassis, they offer Hardware and Software support and that I say, is essential - if you want open source in your routing devices, I'd suggest you pick Juniper, their OS is BSDdey - you'll love it, plus they will provide you with support, which good or bad, will be better than none in times where you'll be stuck with an undocumented memory leak of your favorite open source software routers. It is not about making it work, it is about having it work -all the time-, even if it is more costly, even if YOU have failed troubleshooting a crash, SOMEONE will be forced to help you, by contract. Risk assessment folks, risk assessment... Greg VILLAIN Independant Network & Telco Architecture Consultant Greg VILLAIN Independant Network & Telco Architecture Consultant +33 6 87 48 66 14