Solarflare
Server
Adapter
User
Guide
Issue
20
©
Solarflare
Communications
2017
1
1
Introduction
This
is
the
User
Guide
for
Solarflare®
Server
Adapters.
This
chapter
covers
the
following
topics:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Open
Source
Licenses
on
page
18
•
•
•
NOTE:
Throughout
this
guide
the
term
Onload
refers
to
both
OpenOnload®
and
EnterpriseOnload®
unless
otherwise
stated.
Users
of
Onload
should
refer
to
the
Onload
User
Guide
,
SF
‐
104474
‐
CD,
which
describes
procedures
for
download
and
installation
of
the
Onload
distribution,
accelerating
and
tuning
the
application
using
Onload
to
achieve
minimum
latency
and
maximum
throughput.
1.1
Virtual
NIC
Interface
Solarflare’s
VNIC
architecture
provides
the
key
to
efficient
server
I/O
and
is
flexible
enough
to
be
applied
to
multiple
server
deployment
scenarios.
These
deployment
scenarios
include:
•
Kernel
Driver
–
This
deployment
uses
an
instance
of
a
VNIC
per
CPU
core
for
standard
operating
system
drivers.
This
allows
network
processing
to
continue
over
multiple
CPU
cores
in
parallel.
The
virtual
interface
provides
a
performance
‐
optimized
path
for
the
kernel
TCP/IP
stack
and
contention
‐
free
access
from
the
driver,
resulting
in
extremely
low
latency
and
reduced
CPU
utilization.
•
Accelerated
Virtual
I/O
–
The
second
deployment
scenario
greatly
improves
I/O
for
virtualized
platforms.
The
VNIC
architecture
can
provide
a
VNIC
per
Virtual
Machine,
giving
over
a
thousand
protected
interfaces
to
the
host
system,
granting
any
virtualized
(guest)
operating
system
direct
access
to
the
network
hardware.
Solarflare's
hybrid
SR
‐
IOV
technology,
unique
to
Solarflare