Implementing RDMA over Soft-RoCE with Basic eBPF Monitoring: A Cost-Effective Approach for High-Performance Data Communication

RDMA is a technology that enables extremely fast communication between different systems by allowing these systems to transfer data without using the CPU and operating system. This results in the rapid transfer of data and reduces latency in data transfer. RDMA, brings more efficiency in moving the data between systems, improving general performance and responsiveness in many applications as CPU is not involved in the data transfer. Traditional RDMA solutions usually require special and costly hardware, such as RoCE adapters. This can make them less accessible for companies with lesser budgets. Soft-RoCE is a software-based solution that brings RDMA capabilities to standard Ethernet hardware. In this way, we can replicate the benefits that RDMA offers without the expensive equipment, hence making it possible in environments where it would not have been feasible. Also, an innovative monitoring framework using eBPF is introduced, which offers comprehensive real-time intelligence to RDMA performance by decreasing the latency and throughput.