The N-VDS Enhanced mode uses vertical NUMA compute alignment capabilities to accelerate workloads.
Hosts Preparation for Data Plane Intensive Workloads
Before data plane intensive workload can attach to an N-VDS Enhanced switch, the hosts in the Resource Pod need specific configuration.
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vNICs that are intended for use with the N-VDS Enhanced switch should be connected by using similar bandwidth capacity on all NUMA nodes.
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An N-VDS Enhanced switch with at least one dedicated physical NIC should be created on each host.
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The same number of cores from each NUMA node should be assigned to the N-VDS Enhanced switch.
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A Poll Mode Driver for the N-VDS Enhanced switch must be installed on the ESXi hosts for use of the physical NICs that are dedicated to the N-VDS Enhanced switch. You can download the driver from the VMware Compatibility Guide. Identify the correct drivers by looking for N-VDS Enhanced Data Path in the feature column of the VMware Compatibility Guide.
The host where the N-VDS Enhanced switch resides should be configured similarly to the topology depicted in the figure that follows. To ensure optimal performance, vertical alignment is established between the VNF-C, N-VDS Enhanced, and the CPU assigned to the NIC on the same NUMA node. The CPU scheduler ensures that the VNF-C's vCPU maps to physical CPU cores on the same NUMA node where the N-VDS Enhanced physical cores are mapped.
Workload Dual-Mode Connectivity
Both N-VDS Standard and Enhanced switches support VLAN and overlay Geneve encapsulated traffic. Both switch types can be deployed on the same host with dedicated physical NICs to each switch. Based on performance needs, VNFs can have a control plane traffic VIF connected to either N-VDS Standard or Enhanced switch. The Enhanced switch mode can be used to provide acceleration. The N-VDS Enhanced switch with VLAN backing can be used for data plane VIFs with direct connectivity to ToR fabric.
