DPDK stands for Data Plane Development Kit. It is an open-source software development kit that provides a set of libraries and drivers for fast packet processing in high-speed networks. DPDK enables applications to achieve high throughput, low latency, and efficient CPU utilization by bypassing the kernel network stack and interacting directly with the hardware.
The DPDK project was started by Intel in 2010 and has since become widely adopted by network equipment vendors, cloud service providers, and telecom operators. DPDK supports a wide range of NICs (network interface controllers) from different vendors, including Intel, Mellanox, Broadcom, and others.
DPDK provides a set of core libraries that include memory management, thread synchronization, packet buffer management, and event handling. These libraries can be used to build custom networking applications or integrated into existing applications to improve their performance.
DPDK also includes a set of sample applications that demonstrate various use cases such as packet forwarding, traffic generation, and load balancing. These sample applications serve as a starting point for developers who want to build their own customized networking applications using DPDK.
Overall, DPDK is an essential tool for building high-performance networking applications that require low-latency data processing on modern hardware platforms.
