linux-rdma-ow...@vger.kernel.org wrote on 09/22/2010 10:42:18 PM:
> On 09/22/2010 03:35 PM, Nicholas A. Bellinger wrote: > > On Wed, 2010-09-22 at 10:19 +0200, Bernard Metzler wrote: > > > >> Earlier this year, we announced the availability of an open source, > >> full software implementation of the iWARP RDMA protocol stack - see > >> my email "software iwarp stack" from March 14th at the linux-rdma list > >> (http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-rdma@vger.kernel.org/msg02940.html) > >> While since then working on performance and stability, we provided > >> some source code updates. Current user and kernel code is available at > >> gitorious.org/softiwarp. Please see the CHANGES file in the > >> kernel/ directory for a summary of the most recent changes. > >> > >> For more convenient testing, the latest update now allows for a > >> stand-alone build of the kernel module without full kernel source > >> code access. We tested the code with kernel version 2.6.34. If > >> you are interested in a full software RDMA stack on Ethernet, > >> please try it out. > >> > >> In the hope of providing useful information, I put > >> net...@vger.kernel.org on copy. Subscribers of this list, > >> please put me on private cc in case you reply or comment, since > >> I am not subscribed to the list. > >> We would be more than happy if you netdev folks would consider > >> a hardware independent RDMA kernel service as something useful and > >> potentially to be integrated into the mainline network stack. > >> > >> Why might it be useful? > >> A software RDMA stack makes the semantic advantages of > >> asynchronous and one-sided communication available while obsoleting > >> the need to deploy dedicated RDMA hardware or any protocol offloading > >> (while not matching the lowest delay numbers of real RDMA hardware). > >> Implementing the IETF's iWARP protocol stack on top of TCP kernel > >> sockets, softiwarp integrates with the open fabrics environment > >> and thus exports the RDMA kernel and user verbs interface. > >> > >> The efficiency of the Linux TCP/IP network stack together with intrinsic > >> advantages of the RDMA communication model (async. posting of work > >> and reaping of work completions, transfer of send buffer ownership > >> to the kernel which enables zero copy transmit, peer data placement > >> without application scheduling, one-sided remote read operations etc.) > >> can result in improved application-to-application performance and > >> less CPU load, while using the unchanged kernel TCP stack. > >> > >> A software RDMA stack might promote wider RDMA deployment, > >> since when using the host TCP stack, it enables RDMA semantic > >> independent of dedicated hardware. softiwarp peers with real > >> RNICs (tested with Chelsio's T3 adapter). > >> > >> softiwarp is still work in progress and we are very thankful for any > >> suggestions/comments/bug reports. Please advise how we should proceed > >> to bring the stack further to your attention. Would it be useful to > >> provide patches against the current stable kernel version or the next > >> release candidate? > >> > >> > > Hi Bernard, > > > > So what I would recommend doing here to make things more appealing to > > DaveM and other interested NetDev folks would be to clone a seperate > > tree from the net-2.6.git or net-next-2.6.git repositories and include > > the softiwarp/kernel.git code into a fresh 'in-kernel' clone tracking > > the latest netdev code, and then keep git rebase'ing against DaveM's > > last changes and update your local tree to the lastest netdev code. > > > > Of course you will want to remove all of the 'out of tree' LINUX_VERSION > > build macros and any other legacy bits to follow mainline kernel > > convention for your 'in-kernel' softiwarp tree. > > > > > > And then post a patch series for review. > All, Yes, ok, thats what I will do now. Many thanks for the helpful and encouraging replies. Bernard. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-rdma" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
