When proprietary software and a standard x86 CPU is no longer enough, consider an FPGA-based host CPU offload option.
NMA Vendors Can Offload CPU Intensive Functions to Hardware at 10, 40, 80 and 100Gbps
As a network monitoring appliance (NMA) vendor it is likely you rely on industry standard servers from Cisco, Dell, HP, or Super Micro for your hardware needs and spend much of your R&D budget on software. This generic hardware with proprietary software solution is often not powerful enough to handle the 10, 40, 80 and now 100 gigabits of network traffic these appliances receive.
Hardware-based Host CPU Offload Options
When software and a standard x86 CPU is not enough there are various hardware-based host CPU offload options available: 1) ASIC, 2) Network Processor (NPU) or, 3) FPGA.
Each option is bound by at least three requirements:
- The solution must fit into an industry standard server
- Require no major modification to the vendor’s software
- Be cost effective
The RTC Magazine article below illustrates the pros and cons of each of these options.
An FPGA-based Solution Meets all the Criteria and More
Accolade’s ANIC line of 1-100GE FPGA-based hardware adapters and ATLAS-1000 scalable 1U platform meet these requirements while offering distinct advantages.
- PCIe Compliant – All adapters are fully PCIe compliant fitting seamlessly into any industry standard server.
- API and Device Driver – Each adapter comes with a well-defined API and device driver which facilitates easy integration with any software application.
- Cost Effective – ANIC’s are cost effective because they limit the need for horizontal server scaling; thereby saving appliance cost, rack space and power.
- 100% Packet Capture – Each ANIC adapter has adequate onboard memory to absorb any size burst of traffic and therefore never drops a packet.
- Host CPU Offload Functions – A variety of built-in pre-processing or host CPU offload functions such as packet filtering, flow classification and deduplication are performed in hardware.
- Future Proof – An FPGA is programmable, so as a vendor’s needs evolve the ANIC adapter can be reprogrammed (by Accolade engineers) to accommodate new offload and acceleration requirements.