Performance Engineering & Scale Limits

All technical articles related to Performance Engineering & Scale Limits.

• Softirq stalls as a burst-budget destroyer

  20 Oct, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Softirq stalls as a burst-budget destroyer

• OVS kernel datapath versus Linux bridge under fan-out load

  18 Oct, 2026

  Technical deep dive into OVS kernel datapath versus Linux bridge under fan-out load

• Interrupt coalescing tuning after XDP changes the curve

  12 Oct, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Interrupt coalescing tuning after XDP changes the curve

• Your Traffic Generator Placement Changes the Answer

  16 Sep, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Your Traffic Generator Placement Changes the Answer

• It Was Not the Forwarder, It Was CPU Throttling

  12 Sep, 2026

  Technical deep dive into It Was Not the Forwarder, It Was CPU Throttling

• Sizing AF_XDP rings for short overload not averages

  11 Sep, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Sizing AF_XDP rings for short overload not averages

• AF_XDP zero-copy versus XDP_PASS under real handler work

  20 Aug, 2026

  Technical deep dive into AF_XDP zero-copy versus XDP_PASS under real handler work

• BQL and TSQ under east-west RPC floods

  30 Jul, 2026

  Technical deep dive into BQL and TSQ under east-west RPC floods

• XDP is not automatically the cheapest fast path

  27 Jul, 2026

  Technical deep dive into XDP is not automatically the cheapest fast path

• The template said eight queues but the host had two

  16 Jul, 2026

  Technical deep dive into The template said eight queues but the host had two

• Migrating tc classifiers to XDP with rollback discipline

  2 Jul, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Migrating tc classifiers to XDP with rollback discipline

• More NIC queues do not mean linear scaling

  27 Jun, 2026

  Technical deep dive into More NIC queues do not mean linear scaling

• Nested labs and the virtio single-queue cliff

  14 Jun, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Nested labs and the virtio single-queue cliff

• Tcpdump Cut the Ceiling in Half

  8 Jun, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Tcpdump Cut the Ceiling in Half

• Where VXLAN actually burns CPU in Linux labs

  29 May, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Where VXLAN actually burns CPU in Linux labs

• The lab says multi-queue, the host says not really

  19 May, 2026

  Technical deep dive into The lab says multi-queue, the host says not really

• Intended queue telemetry versus what the kernel exports

  16 May, 2026

  Technical deep dive into Intended queue telemetry versus what the kernel exports

• tc flower offload worked until it silently did not

  14 May, 2026

  Technical deep dive into tc flower offload worked until it silently did not

• One Packet Through Namespace, Bridge, Conntrack, NAT

  11 Apr, 2026

  Technical deep dive into One Packet Through Namespace, Bridge, Conntrack, NAT

• 64-byte PPS Is Not 1500-byte Throughput

  10 Apr, 2026

  Technical deep dive into 64-byte PPS Is Not 1500-byte Throughput