RDMA, short for Remote Direct Memory Access, is a technology that allows computers and devices in a network to directly access and transfer data from each other's memory without the need for intervention from the operating system or CPU.
RDMA provides a high-performance and low-latency data transfer protocol, enabling efficient data movement between devices. It is commonly used in high-speed networks, data centers, and supercomputing environments to improve the performance of data-intensive applications.
The fundamental concept behind RDMA is that data can be transferred directly between the memory of two computers, bypassing the need for traditional input/output operations and avoiding data copying and processing overheads. This is accomplished using specialized network interface cards (NICs) that support RDMA protocols.
In RDMA, the sending device initiates a data transfer by directly placing the data into the memory of the receiving device. The network infrastructure facilitates the transfer, but the data movement itself is managed by the RDMA-enabled devices. This approach reduces network overhead, latency, and CPU utilization, resulting in faster and more efficient data transfers.
RDMA supports various protocols, such as InfiniBand and RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet), which enable RDMA capabilities over different types of networks. With RDMA, applications can achieve high bandwidth, low latency, and low CPU utilization, improving the overall performance and efficiency of data-intensive tasks.
