Knapp: A Packet Processing Framework for Manycore Accelerators

High-performance network packet processing benefits greatly from parallel-programming accelerators such as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Intel Xeon Phi, a relative newcomer in this market, is a distinguishing platform because its x86-compatible vectorized architecture offers additional optimization opportunities. Its software stack exposes low-level communication primitives, enabling fine-grained control and optimization of offloading processes. Nonetheless, our microbenchmarks show that offloading APIs for Xeon Phi comes in short for combining low latency and high throughput for both I/O and computation. In this work, we exploit Xeon Phi's low-level threading mechanisms to design a new offloading framework, Knapp, and evaluate it using simplified IP routing applications. Knapp lays the ground for full exploitation of Xeon Phi as a packet processing framework.