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(-)b/share/man/man4/Makefile (-1 / +1 lines)
Lines 551-557 MAN= aac.4 \ Link Here
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	utopia.4 \
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	utopia.4 \
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	uvisor.4 \
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	uvisor.4 \
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	uvscom.4 \
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	uvscom.4 \
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	vale.4 \
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	vga.4 \
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	vga.4 \
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	vge.4 \
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	vge.4 \
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	viapm.4 \
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	viapm.4 \
Lines 685-690 MLINKS+=${_ndis.4} ${_if_ndis.4} Link Here
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MLINKS+=netfpga10g_nf10bmac.4 if_nf10bmac.4
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MLINKS+=netfpga10g_nf10bmac.4 if_nf10bmac.4
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MLINKS+=netintro.4 net.4 \
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MLINKS+=netintro.4 net.4 \
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	netintro.4 networking.4
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	netintro.4 networking.4
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MLINKS+=netmap.4 vale.4
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MLINKS+=${_nfe.4} ${_if_nfe.4}
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MLINKS+=${_nfe.4} ${_if_nfe.4}
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MLINKS+=nge.4 if_nge.4
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MLINKS+=nge.4 if_nge.4
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MLINKS+=${_ntb.4} ${_if_ntb.4} \
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MLINKS+=${_ntb.4} ${_if_ntb.4} \
(-)b/share/man/man4/netmap.4 (-5 / +10 lines)
Lines 54-60 and Link Here
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a shared memory packet transport channel.
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a shared memory packet transport channel.
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All these are accessed interchangeably with the same API.
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All these are accessed interchangeably with the same API.
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.Pp
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.Pp
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.Nm , VALE
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.Nm VALE
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and
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and
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.Nm netmap pipes
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.Nm netmap pipes
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are at least one order of magnitude faster than
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are at least one order of magnitude faster than
Lines 62-68 standard OS mechanisms Link Here
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(sockets, bpf, tun/tap interfaces, native switches, pipes),
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(sockets, bpf, tun/tap interfaces, native switches, pipes),
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reaching 14.88 million packets per second (Mpps)
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reaching 14.88 million packets per second (Mpps)
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with much less than one core on a 10 Gbit NIC,
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with much less than one core on a 10 Gbit NIC,
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about 20 Mpps per core for VALE ports,
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about 20 Mpps per core for
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.Nm VALE
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ports,
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and over 100 Mpps for netmap pipes.
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and over 100 Mpps for netmap pipes.
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.Pp
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.Pp
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Userspace clients can dynamically switch NICs into
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Userspace clients can dynamically switch NICs into
Lines 172-178 the data path of the NIC is disconnected from the host stack, Link Here
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and the file descriptor is bound to the NIC (one or all queues),
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and the file descriptor is bound to the NIC (one or all queues),
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or to the host stack;
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or to the host stack;
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.It Dv valeXXX:YYY (arbitrary XXX and YYY)
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.It Dv valeXXX:YYY (arbitrary XXX and YYY)
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the file descriptor is bound to port YYY of a VALE switch called XXX,
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the file descriptor is bound to port YYY of a
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.Nm VALE
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switch called XXX,
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both dynamically created if necessary.
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both dynamically created if necessary.
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The string cannot exceed IFNAMSIZ characters, and YYY cannot
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The string cannot exceed IFNAMSIZ characters, and YYY cannot
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be the name of any existing OS network interface.
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be the name of any existing OS network interface.
Lines 648-654 packets are transmitted only on Link Here
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or select()/poll() are called with a write event (POLLOUT/wfdset) or a full ring.
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or select()/poll() are called with a write event (POLLOUT/wfdset) or a full ring.
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.Pp
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.Pp
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When registering a virtual interface that is dynamically created to a
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When registering a virtual interface that is dynamically created to a
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.Xr vale 4
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.Nm VALE
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switch, we can specify the desired number of rings (1 by default,
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switch, we can specify the desired number of rings (1 by default,
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and currently up to 16) on it using nr_tx_rings and nr_rx_rings fields.
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and currently up to 16) on it using nr_tx_rings and nr_rx_rings fields.
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.It Dv NIOCTXSYNC
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.It Dv NIOCTXSYNC
Lines 849-855 to wake up processes when significant events occur, and Link Here
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to map memory.
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to map memory.
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.Xr ioctl 2
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.Xr ioctl 2
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is used to configure ports and
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is used to configure ports and
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.Nm VALE switches .
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.Nm VALE
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switches.
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.Pp
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.Pp
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Applications may need to create threads and bind them to
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Applications may need to create threads and bind them to
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specific cores to improve performance, using standard
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specific cores to improve performance, using standard
(-)a/share/man/man4/vale.4 (-132 lines)
Removed Link Here
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.\" Copyright (c) 2012 Luigi Rizzo, Universita` di Pisa
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.\" All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" This document is derived in part from the enet man page (enet.4)
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.\" distributed with 4.3BSD Unix.
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.\"
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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.\" $Id: $
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.\"
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.Dd July 27, 2012
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.Dt VALE 4
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.Os
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm vale
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.Nd a very fast Virtual Local Ethernet using the netmap API
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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.Cd device netmap
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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.Nm
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is a feature of the
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.Xr netmap 4
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module that implements multiple Virtual switches that can
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be used to interconnect netmap clients, including traffic
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sources and sinks, packet forwarders, userspace firewalls,
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and so on.
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.Pp
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.Nm
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is implemented completely in software, and is extremely fast.
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On a modern machine it can move almost 20 Million packets per
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second (Mpps) per core with small frames, and about 70 Gbit/s
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with 1500 byte frames.
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.Sh OPERATION
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.Nm
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dynamically creates switches and ports as clients connect
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to it using the
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.Xr netmap 4
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API.
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.Pp
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.Nm
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ports are named
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.Pa vale[bdg:][port]
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where
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.Pa vale
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is the prefix indicating a VALE switch rather than a standard interface,
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.Pa bdg
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indicates a specific switch (the colon is a separator),
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and
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.Pa port
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indicates a port within the switch.
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Bridge and port names are arbitrary strings, the only
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constraint being that the full name must fit within 16
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characters.
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.Pp
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See
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.Xr netmap 4
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for details on the API.
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.Ss LIMITS
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.Nm
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currently supports up to 4 switches, 16 ports per switch, with
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1024 buffers per port.
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These hard limits will be
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changed to sysctl variables in future releases.
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.Sh SYSCTL VARIABLES
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.Nm
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uses the following sysctl variables to control operation:
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.Bl -tag -width dev.netmap.verbose
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.It dev.netmap.bridge
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The maximum number of packets processed internally
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in each iteration.
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Defaults to 1024, use lower values to trade latency
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with throughput.
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.Pp
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.It dev.netmap.verbose
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Set to non-zero values to enable in-kernel diagnostics.
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.El
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.Sh EXAMPLES
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Create one switch, with a traffic generator connected to one
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port, and a netmap-enabled tcpdump instance on another port:
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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tcpdump -ni vale-a:1 &
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pkt-gen  -i vale-a:0 -f tx &
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.Ed
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.Pp
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Create two switches,
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each connected to two qemu machines on different ports.
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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qemu -net nic -net netmap,ifname=vale-1:a ... &
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qemu -net nic -net netmap,ifname=vale-1:b ... &
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qemu -net nic -net netmap,ifname=vale-2:c ... &
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qemu -net nic -net netmap,ifname=vale-2:d ... &
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.Ed
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.Sh SEE ALSO
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.Xr netmap 4
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.Pp
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.Xr http://info.iet.unipi.it/~luigi/vale/
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.Pp
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Luigi Rizzo, Giuseppe Lettieri: VALE, a switched ethernet for virtual machines,
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June 2012, http://info.iet.unipi.it/~luigi/vale/
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.Sh AUTHORS
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.An -nosplit
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The
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.Nm
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switch was designed and implemented in 2012 by
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.An Luigi Rizzo
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and
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.An Giuseppe Lettieri
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at the Universita` di Pisa.
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.Pp
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.Nm
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was funded by the European Commission within FP7 Projects
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CHANGE (257422) and OPENLAB (287581).

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