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Comparing UPF Dataplane I/O Modes in a Cloud-Native 5G Core: AF_PACKET, AF_XDP, CNDP, and DPDK on SD-Core BESS-UPF — arXiv:2608.14589

Source: arXiv (en)
Original: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.14589
License (as archived): CC0-1.0
Archived: 2026-10-18T19:34:03.915Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 0e514cc9ae2d76f36bbedc0a429932714e1bc271c28421f3e4e48000d4d4180d
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_0cd2d98bc77f

How to cite

Comparing UPF Dataplane I/O Modes in a Cloud-Native 5G Core: AF_PACKET, AF_XDP, CNDP, and DPDK on SD-Core BESS-UPF — arXiv:2608.14589 — arXiv (en), https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.14589 (CC0-1.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_0cd2d98bc77f (Metraipolis archive dc_0cd2d98bc77f, sha256 0e514cc9ae2d76f36bbedc0a429932714e1bc271c28421f3e4e48000d4d4180d)

BibTeX

@misc{dc0cd2d98bc77f,
  title = {Comparing UPF Dataplane I/O Modes in a Cloud-Native 5G Core: AF_PACKET, AF_XDP, CNDP, and DPDK on SD-Core BESS-UPF — arXiv:2608.14589},
  howpublished = {arXiv (en)},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.14589},
  note = {License CC0-1.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_0cd2d98bc77f; sha256 0e514cc9ae2d76f36bbedc0a429932714e1bc271c28421f3e4e48000d4d4180d},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC0-1.0. Attribution: arXiv (en), https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.14589. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

The User Plane Function (UPF) carries all user-plane traffic in a 5G network, and its throughput depends on how packets move between the NIC and the application, that is, on the packet I/O mode. We compare four widely used modes, AF_PACKET, AF_XDP, the Cloud Native Data Plane (CNDP), and the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK), on a single open-source UPF. Using SD-Core BESS-UPF deployed as a Charmed operator on Intel XXV710 NICs in Canonical Kubernetes, we run the same GTP-U/PDR/FAR/QER pipeline under each mode and change only the BESS port driver, so any difference is attributable to the I/O backend. For each mode we describe its architecture, datapath, memory model, and deployment requirements, and we measure throughput, latency, CPU usage, and stability; the deployment is also validated end-to-end against a disaggregated O-RAN 5G RAN with a commercial UE. On an XXV710/i40e testbed (NDR per RFC 2544) at 64 B, AF_PACKET reaches 0.25 Mpps, CNDP 5.52 and AF_XDP 6.47 Mpps at 2 workers, and DPDK 10.30 Mpps at 4 workers and 13.09 at 8, with the lowest latency (8.1 microseconds average). At matched worker counts the three kernel-bypass modes are within noise and AF_XDP leads per core; DPDK's advantage is a scaling-ceiling effect, since its native PMD over vfio-pci escapes the per-netdev AF_XDP socket limit that pins CNDP and AF_XDP at two workers, not a per-packet efficiency win. CNDP and AF_XDP are the cloud-native sweet spot when hugepages, vfio-pci, and isolated cores are unaffordable; DPDK is justified on dedicated hosts. We also document deployment pitfalls absent from synthetic benchmarks, including a Kubernetes this http URL mis-setting that silently halved DPDK throughput. The paper is a side-by-side reference for operators choosing a UPF dataplane mode in a cloud-native 5G deployment.

Tema degli esploratori: fiducia digitale e crittografia (retro-catalogo arXiv: annunci del 2026-08-18 in cs.CR).
Categorie arXiv: Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) ; Cryptography and Security (cs.CR).
Pagina del lavoro: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.14589 — autori e testo completo sono lì (qui omessi i nomi: nessun dato personale nel deposito).
Licenza: titolo e abstract sono metadati arXiv distribuiti in CC0 1.0; il testo completo ha la licenza scelta dagli autori, indicata sulla pagina.
Letto il 2026-10-18T19:01:59.137Z dalla pagina https://arxiv.org/catchup/cs.CR/2026-08-18?abs=True (consentita dal robots.txt di arxiv.org, con il suo crawl-delay).