The data processing unit, or DPU, is a new class of programmable processor that enables servers to more efficiently move data, freeing up valuable CPU cycles and allowing services to be statefully embedded in the data center network. As the data center continues to evolve, the combination of CPU, GPU and DPU will be the pillars that power it.
The idea of adding dedicated processors to offload network workloads isn’t new–smart network interface cards (SmartNICs) have provided network and security capabilities for years. A key difference is that SmartNICs are limited use case or fixed-function devices. For example, you might buy a SmartNIC to offload encryption and decryption in a server. While the SmartNIC boosts encrypt/decrypt performance, that’s all it does. If your use case changes, or you want to add a new capability, you’d need to open those servers and swap in SmartNICs with the set of functions you’re looking for. That’s expensive, labor-intensive, and, let’s be honest, operationally not feasible for most data center operators.
DPUs are programmable, meaning new features and capabilities can be added via simple firmware updates. Now IT organizations get accelerated performance and flexibility in a single package. We already see DPUs supporting a variety of capabilities, including IPSec, NAT, stateful firewalling, micro segmentation, and telemetry.
We have seen hyperscalers realizing massive efficiency gains as they adopt DPUs and distribute critical functions throughout their infrastructure. This distributed model eliminates the need for dedicated hardware appliances and cuts down on demands for power, cooling, and physical space.
You are probably reading this and thinking “well, that is great for the hyperscalers, but what about me?” That is where the smart switch comes in–providing an easy way to benefit from the DPU revolution without an entire forklift upgrade of your current infrastructure.
DPUs and switches: a potent pairing
Why put a DPU in a switch? This placement is ideal for introducing a modern, distributed services model to enterprise data centers. In this model, software-defined and policy-driven advanced segmentation and telemetry can be deployed inline, closer to the workloads. This ultimately provides better visibility into and control over east-west traffic. All without the need for fiber taps and additional network infrastructure, reducing the you are paying for this method which only provides limited visibility.
Distributed services
The distributed services model stands in contrast to a typical data center design, which relies on complicated traffic engineering to shunt packets and flows to a cluster of purpose-built appliances that hang off the data center. This adds latency to traffic flows and complexity for network operators.
Alternatively, you can deploy software agents on servers. While this can distribute services throughout the network fabric, it adds significant management and cost, as all agents need to be deployed, managed, and updated. Agents cannot be deployed everywhere, and where they can, consume server memory and CPU. With licensing and management costs this solution is expensive at best and unobtainable by most.
Managing a distributed services data center
In addition to physical hardware, HPE Aruba Networking also provides industry-leading software-defined networking capabilities and management. This network underlay, overlay and distributed services technology makes deploying a data center network as easy as answering a short list of basic questions and letting the system provision and manage daily tasks (e.g., moves, adds and deletes). There is no need to move VLAN, VNI or policies and when the workload moves so do its network and services attributes. These are all automated with no user intervention required.
Bringing the DPU revolution to your data center
DPUs take the benefits of SmartNICs–offloading and accelerating essential services–and extend them with programmable, high-performance silicon. DPUs have proven themselves in hyperscaler environments. They are now available to help transform enterprise data centers by bringing essential functions and services, which are software-defined and policy-driven, closer to workloads. Meanwhile, the network can do what it does best: getting business data where it needs to go.
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Originally published on 11/14/23, HPE Aruba Networking blog.
