Interleaving Data Segments for Network Adapter Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-performance computing datacenter server clusters face a trade-off between achieving high throughput for bulk data and low latency for other packets, as optimizations for one goal often hinder the other, particularly with techniques like TCP segmentation offloading that can impede low-latency packet processing.
Innovation Solution
The method involves interleaving segments of a first data transmission request with a second data transmission request, allowing for efficient processing of low-latency packets while maintaining throughput by using device drivers to manage buffer allocation and context updates in network adapters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If TCP segmentation offloading is used to increase throughput, then bulk data transmission efficiency is improved, but low latency packet processing is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments bulk data transmission into multiple transmission requests with different priority levels. High-priority low-latency packets are separated from bulk data segments, allowing them to be transmitted independently without being blocked by the segmentation offloading process. This resolves the contradiction by enabling both high throughput for bulk data and low latency for priority packets through differentiated transmission paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic buffer allocation and transmission request prioritization. The network adapter dynamically adjusts buffer allocation based on packet priority, allowing low-latency packets to bypass TSO batching when needed while maintaining efficient bulk data transmission. This dynamic approach resolves the fixed trade-off between throughput optimization and latency requirements.
2Productivity
If packets are batched to increase transmission efficiency, then throughput is improved, but latency increases due to queuing delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments transmission requests into different priority classes, allowing low-latency packets to be transmitted immediately without waiting for batch completion. Bulk data packets continue to benefit from batching for efficiency. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by applying batching only where it benefits throughput without impacting latency-sensitive traffic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a priority-based transmission scheduler as an intermediary between packet generation and physical transmission. This mediator arbitrates between batched bulk data and low-latency packets, ensuring that latency-sensitive traffic can interrupt or bypass batching operations when necessary, thus resolving the efficiency-latency trade-off.
3Loss of time
If low latency optimizations process packets immediately, then latency is reduced, but throughput decreases due to lack of batching
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the transmission pipeline into priority-based queues, where low-latency packets are routed to immediate transmission queues while bulk data packets are routed to batched transmission queues. This segmentation allows both immediate processing for low-latency traffic and batching for bulk data, resolving the contradiction between latency reduction and throughput maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a multi-functional transmission system that can operate in different modes depending on packet priority. The same network adapter infrastructure handles both immediate low-latency transmission and efficient batched bulk data transmission, making the system universal enough to handle diverse traffic requirements without sacrificing either latency or throughput.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments discussed herein may interleave one data transmission request with one or more segments of another data transmission request. In one embodiment, updated context information from a previous segment is used to transmit a next segment.