OVS encourages network operators to innovate with more intelligent virtualization than what a L2/L3 network can provide. A production network running OVS requires a complete set of features--including vHost for connecting to VMs, connection tracking for security, LACP for link redundancy, and flexible mirroring as a few examples. This presents a challenge to hardware offload solutions as they must capture all of these features and innovations in hardware to accelerate the production system as a whole. Missing out on a key function risks forcing the network operator to choose between critical functionality and hardware-enabled efficiency.
This talk describes how to use re-programmable hardware with existing software interfaces to improve performance and lower cost without loss of functionality. This software compatibility enables migration to a hardware offloaded solution without requiring major changes to existing infrastructure.
