The virtual switch is responsible for connecting Virtual Machines in a virtual network. At scale, and with
increased data center traffic, this type of switching consumes precious CPU cycles.
One of the most commonly used virtual switching software solutions is Open vSwitch (OVS) which is targeted
at
multi-server virtualization deployments. Whether running in Kernel mode or on top of DPDK, virtual
switches
are
plagued by:
- Poor I/O performance
- Unpredictable application performance
- High CPU overhead
Mellanox ASAP2 - Accelerated Switch and Packet Processing® solution combines the performance and
efficiency of
server/storage networking hardware with the flexibility of virtual switching software. ASAP2 offers up to
10
times better performance than non-offloaded OVS solutions, delivering software-defined networks with the
highest
total infrastructure efficiency, deployment flexibility and operational simplicity.
Starting from ConnectX®-5 NICs, Mellanox supports accelerated virtual switching in server NIC hardware
through
the ASAP2 feature.
While accelerating the data plane, ASAP2 keeps the SDN control plane intact thus staying completely
transparent
to applications, maintaining flexibility and ease of deployments.