XDP

XDP summary diagram

In the beginning, there were applications slinging streams through the packetizing Honeywell DDP-516 IMPs, and it was good. Then multiple applications needed the network, and needed it in different ways. Then the networks needed walls of fire, and traffic which was shaped. Some called for the Labeling of Multiple Protocols, and others called for timestamps, and still others wanted to SNAT and DNAT and also to masquerade. And yea, IP was fwadm'd, and then chained, and then tabled, and soon arps and bridges too were tabled. And behold now tables of "nf" and "x". And Van Jacobson looked once more upon the land, and frowned, and shed a single tear which became a Channel. And then every ten years or so, we celebrate this by rediscovering Van Jacobson channels under a new name, these days complete with logo.

Most recently, they were rediscovered under the name DPDK, but the masters of the Linux kernel eschewed it, and instead rediscovered them under the name XDP, the eXpress Data Path.

See Also

• eBPF
• DPDK
• Fast UNIX Servers