Brendan Gregg

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

Hardware virtualization for cloud computing has come a long way, improving performance using technologies such as VT-x, SR-IOV, VT-d, NVMe, and APICv. At Netflix, we've been using these technologies as they've been made available for instance types in the AWS EC2 cloud. I'd expect between 0.1% small (thanks @cperciva ). ## 3.

Virtualization 111

Virtualization AWS Hardware Storage 111

Brendan Gregg

JULY 4, 2021

It's an exciting time for developments in computer performance, not just for the BPF technology (which I often [write about]) but also for processors with 3D stacking and cloud vendor CPUs (e.g., This was a chance to talk about other things I've been working on, such as the present and future of hardware performance. Ford, et al., “TCP

Performance 52

Performance Latency Hardware Storage 52

Brendan Gregg

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

These strange questions came to the fore back in 2014 when Netflix was switching services from CentOS Linux to Ubuntu, and I helped debug several weird performance issues including one I'll describe here. This server is spending about a third of its CPU cycles just checking the time! How long does it take to read the time?

Speed 126

Speed Java AWS Virtualization 126

Brendan Gregg

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

My personal opinion is that I don't see a widespread need for more capacity given horizontal scaling and servers that can already exceed 1 Tbyte of DRAM; bandwidth is also helpful, but I'd be concerned about the increased latency for adding a hop to more memory. Ford, et al., “TCP

Performance 52

Performance Latency Cache Virtualization 52

The Netflix TechBlog

APRIL 17, 2019

Netflix headquarters circa 2014. Scalable Video Technology (SVT) is Intel’s open source framework that provides high-performance software video encoding libraries for developers of visual cloud technologies. 264/AVC, currently, the most ubiquitous video compression standard supported by modern devices, often in hardware.

Open Source 166

Open Source Scalability Speed Efficiency 166

Brendan Gregg

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

Hardware virtualization for cloud computing has come a long way, improving performance using technologies such as VT-x, SR-IOV, VT-d, NVMe, and APICv. At Netflix, we've been using these technologies as they've been made available for instance types in the AWS EC2 cloud. I'd expect between 0.1% small (thanks @cperciva ). ## 3.

Virtualization 40

Virtualization AWS Hardware Storage 40

Brendan Gregg

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

These strange questions came to the fore back in 2014 when Netflix was switching services from CentOS Linux to Ubuntu, and I helped debug several weird performance issues including one I'll describe here. This server is spending about a third of its CPU cycles just checking the time! How long does it take to read the time?

Speed 52

Speed Java AWS Virtualization 52

Brendan Gregg

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

These strange questions came to the fore back in 2014 when Netflix was switching services from CentOS Linux to Ubuntu, and I helped debug several weird performance issues including one I'll describe here. This server is spending about a third of its CPU cycles just checking the time! How long does it take to read the time?

Speed 40

Speed Java AWS Virtualization 40

Alex Russell

MARCH 6, 2021

Devices and networks have evolved too: Alex Russell @slightlylate An update on mobile CPUs and the Performance Inequality Gap: Mid-tier Android devices (~$300) now get the single-core performance of a 2014 iPhone and the multi-core perf of a 2015 iPhone. Hardware Past As Performance Prologue. Mind The Gap.

Performance 124

Performance Network Cache Metrics 124

Brendan Gregg

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Linux has been adding tracing technologies over the years: kprobes (kernel dynamic tracing), uprobes (user-level dynamic tracing), tracepoints (static tracing), and perf_events (profiling and hardware counters). Oracle VM Server is based on Xen. Outside of EC2, many other providers are deploying on KVM.

Virtualization 76

Virtualization AWS Engineering Hardware 76

Brendan Gregg

AUGUST 8, 2017

Load averages are an industry-critical metric – my company spends millions auto-scaling cloud instances based on them and other metrics – but on Linux there's some mystery around them. They can be also useful when a single value of demand is desired, such as for a cloud auto scaling rule. I've never seen an explanation.

Latency 111

Latency Metrics C++ Systems 111

All Things Distributed

APRIL 4, 2017

In 2014 and 2015 respectively, AWS opened offices in Stockholm and Espoo, Finland. After finding it cost prohibitive to use colocation centers in local markets where their users are based, iZettle decided to give up hardware. In making the switch to AWS, WOW air has saved between $30,000 and $45,000 on hardware, and software licensing.

AWS 116

AWS Airlines Latency Games 116