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Supported NICs

osvbng supports multiple dataplane modes to suit different deployment scenarios.

Dataplane Modes

Mode Performance Use Case NIC Requirements
DPDK Line-rate Production, high-throughput Supported NICs (see below)
AF_XDP High Production, simpler setup Any XDP-capable NIC (coming soon)
AF_PACKET Standard Development, any NIC Any Linux NIC

DPDK Mode

For high-throughput production deployments, DPDK provides line-rate performance.

Supported NICs for DPDK

Vendor Supported Models Driver Strategy
Mellanox/NVIDIA ConnectX-4, ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6, ConnectX-7 Bifurcated
Intel X710, XXV710, E810 series vfio-pci

Mellanox ConnectX series NICs are recommended for production:

  • Full line-rate performance
  • Works seamlessly in VMs with PCI passthrough
  • No IOMMU configuration required in guest
dataplane:
  dpdk:
    devices:
      - pci: "0000:05:00.0"
        name: eth1
      - pci: "0000:06:00.0"
        name: eth2

Intel

Intel NICs require IOMMU:

  • Requires intel_iommu=on iommu=pt kernel parameters
  • May require additional configuration in VM environments

AF_XDP Mode (Coming Soon)

AF_XDP provides high performance using eBPF/XDP while keeping interfaces visible in Linux. Ideal for deployments where DPDK driver binding is not practical.

AF_PACKET Mode

Works with any Linux NIC. Suitable for development and testing.

Next Steps

For detailed technical information about NIC driver strategies and vendor support, see Low Level - Supported NICs.