Linux 6.3 Introduces IPv4 "BIG TCP" To Improve High Speed Network Performance

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 6.3 Introduces IPv4 "BIG TCP" To Improve High Speed Network Performance

The networking subsystem feature updates for the Linux 6.3 kernel were submitted today that feature not only some prominent networking driver enhancements and new wired/wireless hardware support but also core networking improvements like BIG TCP for IPv4...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.3-Networking-BIG-TCP

[kylew77]

Networking performance between FreeBSD which claims to have the fastest stack vs Linux 6.3 once stable in 8 weeks would be cool! Have to be a production FreeBSD with debugging turned off for a fair comparison so maybe this summer once 14.0 comes out.

[hardfalcon]

With Linux 6.3, the IPv3 BIG TCP support is now available

s/IPv3/IPv4/

[Kjell]

Does big tcp actually increase MTU?

[Jabberwocky]

maybe this summer once 14.0 comes out.

So 14.0 comes out in 7 days? Summer is at it's end here

[Jabberwocky]

Does big tcp actually increase MTU?

Take this with a grain of salt. I just read up on it quickly and didn't have any prior knowledge of the changes. I have absolutely no experience with low level Linux networking stack.

Big TCP does not require a MTU change, however if you do not increase MTU you could trigger some bugs depending your driver. Some drivers expect a maximum socket buffer fragmentation of 17 (MAX_SKB_FRAGS) others go as low as 13. Big TCP requires 44 to 45 fragments.

Apparently this was tested at Google and they didn't have any issues with 64k packets AKA standard 1500 MTU. Not sure what hardware they used... Subsequently Google has moved to use 4000 MTU, so not sure how much testing they are doing on 1500 MTU.

[Rallos Zek]

Networking performance between FreeBSD which claims to have the fastest stack vs Linux 6.3 once stable in 8 weeks would be cool! Have to be a production FreeBSD with debugging turned off for a fair comparison so maybe this summer once 14.0 comes out.

The FreeBSD is networking stack is slow and outdated, Windows is faster these days.

[waxhead]

Networking performance between FreeBSD which claims to have the fastest stack vs Linux 6.3 once stable in 8 weeks would be cool! Have to be a production FreeBSD with debugging turned off for a fair comparison so maybe this summer once 14.0 comes out.

With fast do you mean actual throughput or CPU usage? If the NIC is saturated then the ability to process rules is what counts. Not sure if *BSD is the king of networking these days, but a comparison would sure be interesting.

[aht0]

Networking performance between FreeBSD which claims to have the fastest stack vs Linux 6.3 once stable in 8 weeks would be cool! Have to be a production FreeBSD with debugging turned off for a fair comparison so maybe this summer once 14.0 comes out.

Unless Linux can encrypt traffic as FreeBSD does (in-kernel TLS encryption with TLS hardware offload), gonna be tough. Unencrypted traffic may get there tho

[aht0]

The FreeBSD is networking stack is slow and outdated, Windows is faster these days.

Sour apples my child
https://papers.freebsd.org/2021/euro...eebsd-400gbps/
That article is from 2021
Double and more now

https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/wtcnjr/serving_netflix_video_traffic_at_800gbs_and/