Channel I/O-like model where a dedicate CPU manages all that with apps just handing it off asynchronously in a high-level way
Wheels being reinvented for some time now in high-load world. Polling drivers instead of IRQ-on-every-packet-arrived, smart NICs, CPU-pinned queues and processes. Looking at e.g. DPDK architecture, it's almost mainframe type of Channel IO actually.
They're getting really close. I'd say they basically have the benefits on the networking side given almost all the work went there. Polling drivers was a significant step, too.
Didn't see that one so thanks for the link. Ok, now that is definitely Channel IO in new form. It has a bunch of high-speed hardware, a bus for it all to communicate, and [critically] efficient SOC to absorb all the work such hardware brings. Some of the software on their list are used in clusters and such that were considered mainframe alternatives for batch or performance-oriented workloads. So, yeah, generalizing that architecture to various types of hardware would constitute a Channel IO replacement.
I think one commenter thought "Can't you do the same with multi-core CPU's?" One advantage of Channel I/O was that they could use weaker CPU's since it didn't take as much work. Cost or efficiency advantages with the heterogeneous architectures. We see that in this one where they use lightweight, ARM multi-core instead of heavyweight x86. Leaves room for accelerators in SOC or just watts for other stuff in system. So, going in right direction again.
Comments
Wheels being reinvented for some time now in high-load world. Polling drivers instead of IRQ-on-every-packet-arrived, smart NICs, CPU-pinned queues and processes. Looking at e.g. DPDK architecture, it's almost mainframe type of Channel IO actually.
They're getting really close. I'd say they basically have the benefits on the networking side given almost all the work went there. Polling drivers was a significant step, too.
The future looks more and more like Channel IO http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/22/mellanox_punting_mul...
Didn't see that one so thanks for the link. Ok, now that is definitely Channel IO in new form. It has a bunch of high-speed hardware, a bus for it all to communicate, and [critically] efficient SOC to absorb all the work such hardware brings. Some of the software on their list are used in clusters and such that were considered mainframe alternatives for batch or performance-oriented workloads. So, yeah, generalizing that architecture to various types of hardware would constitute a Channel IO replacement.
I think one commenter thought "Can't you do the same with multi-core CPU's?" One advantage of Channel I/O was that they could use weaker CPU's since it didn't take as much work. Cost or efficiency advantages with the heterogeneous architectures. We see that in this one where they use lightweight, ARM multi-core instead of heavyweight x86. Leaves room for accelerators in SOC or just watts for other stuff in system. So, going in right direction again.