As interconnect technologies, InfiniBand and Ethernet are different, and it is difficult to say which one is better. They continue to develop in different application fields and become two indispensable interconnect technologies in the network world.from 800g qsfp-dd Looking at the development prospects, the future will always bring positive effects. https://www.3coptics.com/
InfiniBand vs. Ethernet: What are they?
InfiniBand Networking
From a design perspective, there are big differences between InfiniBand and Ethernet. As a network interconnection technology, InfiniBand is widely used in supercomputer clusters due to its high reliability, low latency, and high bandwidth. In addition, with the development of high-performance computing, InfiniBand has also become an ideal choice for GPU server network interconnection technology.
To achieve the original data transmission rate of 10Gbit/s on 4X cables, the InfiniBand standard allows the transmission of single data rate (SDR) signals at a basic rate of 2.5Gbit/s on each channel. A single channel can be expanded to 5Gbit/s and 10Gbit/s respectively, and the maximum data transmission rate is 40Gbit/s on 4X cables and 120Gbit/s on 12X cables, thus enabling InfiniBand networks to have double data rate (DDR) and quadruple data rate (QDR) signals.
InfiniBand
Ethernet Network
Since its introduction on September 30, 1980, the Ethernet standard has become a widely used communication protocol in local area networks. Unlike InfiniBand, Ethernet was designed with the following goals in mind: How to easily transmit information between multiple systems? It is a typical network designed for distribution and compatibility. Traditional Ethernet mainly uses TCP/IP to build networks and gradually develops into RoCE.
Generally speaking, Ethernet networks are mainly used to connect multiple computers or other devices (such as printers, scanners, etc.) to a local area network. It can connect an Ethernet network to a wired network through fiber optic cables, or it can connect an Ethernet network to a wireless network through wireless networking technology. Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and Switched Ethernet are all major Ethernet types.
Ethernet
InfiniBand vs. Ethernet: What are the differences between them?
Cluster data transmission bottlenecks in high-performance computing scenarios are the original design target of InfiniBand, and it has become an interconnection standard that meets the requirements of the times. Therefore, there are many differences between InfiniBand and Ethernet in terms of bandwidth, latency, network reliability, network technology, and application scenarios.
Bandwidth
Since the advent of InfiniBand, the development speed of InfiniBand network has been faster than Ethernet. The main reason is that InfiniBand is used for interconnection between servers in high-performance computing and to reduce CPU load. However, Ethernet is more oriented to the interconnection of terminal devices and does not require too much bandwidth.
For high-speed network traffic exceeding 10G, if all data packets need to be unpacked, a lot of resources will be consumed. The first generation of SDR InfiniBand runs at 10Gbps, which not only increases data transmission bandwidth and reduces CPU load, but also allows high-speed network transmission to offload CPU and increase network utilization.