Virtual Interface Architecture: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Networking standard}}

{{more citations needed|date=December 2011}}

{{Unreferenced|date=February 2024}}

The '''Virtual Interface Architecture''' ('''VIA''') is an abstract model of a user-level [[zero-copy]] [[computer network|network]], and is the basis for [[InfiniBand]], [[iWARP]] and [[RDMA over Converged Ethernet|RoCE]]. Created by [[Microsoft]], [[Intel]], and [[Compaq]], the original VIA sought to standardize the interface for high-performance network technologies known as [[System Area Network]]s (SANs; not to be confused with [[Storage Area Network]]s).

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Another facet of traditional networks is that arriving data is placed in a pre-allocated buffer and then copied to the user-specified final destination. Copying large messages can take a long time, and so eliminating this step is beneficial. Another classic development in computing systems is [[direct memory access]] (DMA), in which a device can access main memory directly while the CPU is free to perform other tasks.

In a network with "remote direct memory access" ([[Remote direct memory access|RDMA]]), the sending NIC uses DMA to read data in the user-specified buffer and transmit it as a self-contained message across the network. The receiving NIC then uses DMA to place the data into the user-specified buffer. There is no intermediary copying and all of these actions occur without the involvement of the CPUs, which has an added benefit of lower CPU utilization.

For the NIC to actually access the data through DMA, the user's page must be in memory. In VIA, the user must "pin-down" its buffers before transmission, so as to prevent the OS from swapping the page out to the disk. This action—one of the few that involve the kernel—ties the page to physical memory. To ensure that only the process that owns the registered memory may access it, the VIA NICs require permission keys known as "protection tags" during communication.

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*[https://makonetworks.com/markets/distributed-enterprises/ Distributed Enterprise Networks]

*[https://noggin.intel.com/intelpress/categories/books/virtual-interface-architecture Virtual Interface Architecture], a book from Intel

*[https://www.teleres.com.au/plan-design-optimize-enterprise-networks/ How To Plan, Design & Optimize Enterprise Networks]

*[http://www.cs.uml.edu/~bill/cs520/VI_spec.pdf Virtual Interface Architecture Specification] UML, cs520

*Ada Gavrilovska, [https://books.google.com/books?id=i_NCY1kVq7kC&pg=PA193 Attaining High Performance Communications: A Vertical Approach] {{ISBN|9781420093131}}

[[Category:Supercomputing]]

[[Category:Computer networks]]

{{Compu-network-stub}}

[[Category:Computer networks engineering]]