Kernel latency for handling the Network traffic
From: michi1 at michaelblizek.twilightparadox.com <hidden>
Date: 2012-05-03 13:54:44
Hi! On 16:33 Thu 03 May , Suresh Kumar Subramanian wrote:
Hi, I am building the router based on linux kernel. The hardware details are below, 2 - 64 bit quad core processor (3Ghz core). RAM- 24GB RAM. PCI express slot- connected with Quad Port 100Mbps Ethernet adapter -2. (so total 8 ethernet interfaces) I just want to calculate the maximum traffic the router can handle..?. The maximum traffic could be, also 8 ports(100Mbps) * 2 directions = 1600Mbps. Can this system(kernel + hardware) handle this much traffic. (Assume the best case)?
Yes, it can. I have seen a benchmark which basically said that a single quad core cpu with ~3GHz was enough for about 4 links with 10 *gigabit* each. That said, VPNs can slow down processing dramatically, iptables less so. If you want to saturate links with 10 gigabit, you need to use a special qdisc, which might prevent you to do QoS.
I think, There is calculation to identify the packet processing time in linux kernel (kernel & hw cpu freq). I am not aware of this.
What do you mean? -Michi -- programing a layer 3+4 network protocol for mesh networks see http://michaelblizek.twilightparadox.com