Fast networking based on the STREAMS mechanism with fast module scheduling

The STREAMS mechanism provides a flexible framework for network protocols and services under UNIX System V. Recently, network speed has steadily increased while the processing time of network protocols have decreased. As a result, the relative ratio of the STREAMS overhead to the network delay is increasing. In this paper, we quantify the STREAMS overhead which consists of queueing and scheduling delays in SVR 4.0. To reduce the overhead and maintain the merits of the STREAMS mechanism,we propose a fast module scheduler which provides a fast scheduling path between modules. Results show that the proposed fast module scheduler and optimized scheduling path reduce the TCP/IP latency by about 10% and the STREAMS overhead by about half.