SR-IOV vs. VirtIO; Comparison of two
OVS/vRouter Acceleration Techniques

Virtualization is critical for enabling cloud data centers to deliver agility, flexibility and scalability. These benefits often come at the expense of performance and efficiency, as virtualization traditionally is performed by software which consumes CPU resources. While the perception in the industry is that VirtIO hardware acceleration is out-of-box and is VM migration friendly, the reality is completely opposite.

This white paper compares two I/O hardware acceleration techniques - SR-IOV and VirtIO - and how each improves virtual Switch/Router performance, their advantages and disadvantages.

In this white paper you’ll learn:

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• The evolving role of Ethernet adapter in Cloud Data Centers
• Pros and Cons of VirtIO and SR-IOV acceleration
• Benchmark comparisons of both
• How to use hardware to accelerate performance
• How to increase infrastructure efficiency