Optimal Multicast with Packetization and Network Interface Support

: Most multicast algorithms proposed in the literature assume an arbitrarily long message being communicated as a single packet. Modern networks typically limit the size of the largest packet, and long messages are packetized and transmitted. Such networks also provide network interface support for nodes, which typically includes a coprocessor and memory, to implement the lower layers of the communication protocol. Such network interfaces can be programmed to support efficient multicasting to eliminate software overhead for higher layers during absorb and retransmit. In this paper, we present an optimal multicast algorithm for systems with such smart network interface support for packetization. Two implementations of smart network interface, the First-Child-First-Served (FCFS) and the First-Packet-First-Served (FPFS), are studied and compared. It is shown that the FPFS network interface support is more practical and efficient. Next, the multicast latency is modeled for the FPFS impleme..

Optimal Multicast with Packetization and Network Interface Support

Modern networks typically limit the size of the largest packet for efficient communication. Thus, long messages are packetized and transmitted. Such networks also provide network interface support for nodes, which typically includes a coprocessor and memory, to implement the lower layers of the communication protocol. This paper presents a concept of smart network interface support for packetization and an optimal multicast algorithm for systems with such support. Two implementations of smart network interface, First-Child-First-Served (FCFS) and First-Packet-First-Served (FPFS), are studied and compared. It is shown that the FPFS network interface support is more practical and efficient. Next, the components of multicast latency under FPFS implementation are analyzed by using a pipelined model. A concept of k-binomial tree is introduced, and proved to be optimal for multicasting under the FPFS scheme. A method to construct contention-free k- binomial trees on contention-free orderi..