A Distributed Operating System Network Stack and Device Driver for Multicores

Saif Ansary, Antonio Barbalace, Ho-Ren Chuang, Thomas Lazor, Binoy Ravindran

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

With the advances in network speeds a single processor cannot cope anymore with the growing number of data streams from a single network card. Multicore processors come at a rescue but traditional SMP OSes, which integrate the software network stack, scale only to a certain extent, limiting an application’s ability to serve more connections while increasing the number of cores. On the other hand, kernel bypass solutions seem to scale better, but limit resource flexibility and control. We propose attacking these problems with a distributed OS design, using multiple network stacks (one per kernel) and relying on multi-queue hardware and hardware flow steering. This creates a single-socket abstraction among kernels while minimizing inter-core communication. We introduce our design, consisting of a distributed network stack, a distributed device driver, and a load-balancing algorithm. We compare our prototype, NetPopcorn, with Linux, Affinity Accept, FastSocket. NetPopcorn accepts between 5 to 8 times more connections and reduces the tail latency compared to these competitors. We also compare NetPopcorn with mTCP and observe that for high core counts, mTCP accepts only 18% more connections yet with higher tail latency than NetPopcorn.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS)
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages2646-2649
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-5386-1792-2
ISBN (Print)978-1-5386-1793-9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Jul 2017
EventThe 37th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems - Atlanta, United States
Duration: 5 Jun 20178 Jun 2017
http://icdcs2017.gatech.edu/

Publication series

Name
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
ISSN (Print)1063-6927

Conference

ConferenceThe 37th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems
Abbreviated titleICDCS 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAtlanta
Period5/06/178/06/17
Internet address

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • device drivers
  • multiprocessing systems
  • operating systems (computers)
  • resource allocation
  • distributed operating system network stack
  • distributed device driver
  • multicore processors
  • software network stack
  • distributed OS design
  • single-socket abstraction
  • intercore communication minimization
  • load-balancing algorithm
  • Linux
  • Kernel
  • Multicore processing
  • Hardware
  • Scalability
  • network
  • multicore
  • OS
  • SMP
  • single IP
  • connections scalability
  • Popcorn Linux

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