Re: Jumbo Frames in 10GbE?

["W. R. Wing" <wrw@xxxxxxxx>]

At 1:24 PM -0700 6/21/99, Bruce_Tolley@xxxxxxxx wrote:
>Let us not be too hasty about concluding that the market "obviously" 
>is going to
>jumbo frames.
>
>Only one switch vendor has actively promoted jumbo frames to date.  An
>examination of market share numbers from such firms as Dell'Oro 
>Group shows that
>there is no evidence that the end user market is going to jumbo frames.
>
>Bruce Tolley
>3Com
>408-326-5950
>bruce_tolley@xxxxxxxx

   As a long time lurker on this list, I finally feel compelled to speak
   out.  I'm a USER of the equipment.  I see the advantages of jumbo frames
   from view point of the end equipment, but I see the disadvantages (both
   from the inter-operability point of view and burstiness point of view)
   of jumbos out in the network.  It seems to me the real answer is to fix
   the problem of the end equipment *at* the end equipment.  Surely it
   would be possible these days to build a smart NIC, possibly one that was
   IP aware.  Give it LOTS of on-board hardware buffering, and let the
   OS hand it a buffer full.  It would perform the Ethernet equivalent
   of an ATM SAR operation, slice the buffer up into standard Ethernet
   frames, put headers on them, and ship them out.  The network would
   get all the benefits of standard frames, the end equipment would get
   the benefits of big buffers and low interrupt rates.

   Let me repeat.  As a user, I value backwards compatibility.  I see
   no point in asking the network to solve an end equipment problem.

			Thanks for letting me vent,
			Bill

William R. Wing    wrw@xxxxxxxx   (423) 574-8839
Network Architect for the Oak Ridge National Lab