IX: A Protected Dataplane Operating System for High Throughput and Low Latency
📜 Abstract
Modern datacenter applications demand high network throughput while maintaining low latency and providing scaling to many cores. The IX operating system addresses these requirements by restructuring the kernel into a control and dataplane, allowing applications to efficiently access hardware resources. This paper investigates the design and implementation of IX, exploring how it reduces latency and increases throughput in scenario with high request rates. The IX architecture protects application traffic, isolates applications from each other, and supports a large number of concurrent connections. It relies on modern hardware features to offer protection and virtualization typically found in datacenters.
✨ Summary
The paper “IX: A Protected Dataplane Operating System for High Throughput and Low Latency” was presented at the 11th USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI) in October 2014. The authors introduced IX, a new operating system architecture designed to support high-throughput, low-latency network operations in datacenter environments. By separating control and dataplane functionalities, IX allows applications to efficiently access hardware resources while maintaining isolation and protection. It leverages modern hardware capabilities to enhance network performance and scalability.
The paper has influenced subsequent research and systems development in the realm of high-performance and efficient virtualization techniques for datacenters. IX’s design has been referenced and built upon in research exploring the optimization of network stack performance in virtualized environments. For instance, later works, such as those on kernel-bypass techniques and RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) improvements, have cited IX as a foundational study in achieving low-latency networking within datacenters.
References to this paper can be found in: - Mittal, R., Sherry, J., Ratnasamy, S., & Arvind Krishnamurthy. (2015). “A Study of Linux Network Stack Performance Models”, USENIX Association (https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/2813767.2813785) - Bangun, P., et al. (2016). “Optimizing Network Virtualization Performance over Cloud Management Platforms”. IEEE Xplore (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7604706) - Li, J., et al. (2017). “The Power of Deduplication in Flash-based Solid State Drives: Insight from Realtime IO Path Analysis”. Springer (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-62024-9_65)
These examples demonstrate the impact and continuous relevance of the IX operating system’s architectural innovations in the field of operating systems and network virtualization.