High-performance TCP/IP and UDP/IP networking in DEC OSF/1 for Alpha AXP
Chran-Ham Chang, Richard Flower, John Forecast, Heather Gray, William R. Hawe, Kadangode K. Ramakrishnan, Ashok P. Nadkarni, Uttam N. Shikarpur, Kathleen M. Wilde · 1993
The combination of the Alpha AXP workstations, the DEC FDDIcontroller/TURBOchannel network interface, the DEC OSF/1 AXP operating system, and a streamlined implementation of the TCP/IP and UDP/IP delivers to user applications almost the full FDDI bandwidth of 100 Mb/s. This combination eliminates the network I/O bottleneck for distributed systems. The TCP/IP implementation includes extensions to TCP such as support for large transport windows for higher performance. This is particularly desirable for higher-speed networks and /or large delay networks. The DEC FDDIcontroller/TURBOchannel network interface delivers full bandwidth to the system using DMA, and it supports the patented point-to-point, fullduplex FDDI mode. Measurement results show UDP performance is comparable to TCP. Unlike typical BSD-derived systems, the UDP receive throughput to user applications is also maintained at high load. We have seen significant increases in the bandwidth available for computer communication ne...