Setup

Network Topology

Hardware

All tree nodes are equipped with identical hardware consisting of:

• SoC: Intel Xeon D-1518 CPU
• Dual port Intel X552 NIC (10G Ethernet)
• 32 GiB RAM

Topology

The setup consists of three nodes:

• Load generator (LoadGen): runs MoonGen, creates traffic for the DuT and receives the traffic from the DuT
• Device under test (DuT): forwards the traffic received from the LoadGen between its interfaces
• Timestamper (TS): Receives a copy of every packet exchanged between LoadGen and DuT for timestamping which is done in hardware using the capabilities of the X552 NIC

DuT and LoadGen are directly connected via optical fibers. The TS is connected via passive optical taps to mirror both fibers between DuT and LoadGen. The passive optical taps have a neglegible impact on latency and no impact on the variance of the delay.