Virtual Interface Architecture: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:07, 5 July 2009

Revision as of 15:16, 15 October 2009

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Networks are a shared resource. In traditional networks such as [[Ethernet]], the network is protected by the [[kernel (computer science)| kernel]], which presents a tremendous performance bottleneck when [[lag| latency]] is an issue.

One of the classic developments in computing systems is [[virtual memory]], a combination of hardware and software that creates the illusion of private memory for each process. In the same school of thought, a virtual network interface protected across process boundaries could be accessed at the user level. With this technology, the "consumer" manages hisits own buffers and communication schedule while the "provider" handles the protection.

Thus, the network interface card (NIC) provides a "private network" for a process, and a process is usually allowed to have multiple such networks. The virtual interface (VI) of VIA refers to this network and is merely the destination of the user's communication requests. Communication takes place over a pair of VIs, one on each of the processing nodes involved in the transmission. In "kernel-bypass" communication, the user manages his own buffers.