The hidden cost of network low power idle

Abstract

This paper deeply and experimentally analyzes the efficiency of low power idle techniques when applied to packet processing engines of network devices. To this purpose, we set up a complex testbed that allowed us to perform several measurements on energy- and network-performance indexes. The reference device platforms that we selected for this evaluation are new generation software routers based on component-off-the-shelf hardware, since they already include advanced power management capabilities, and can be considered as a significant example for next-generation green network devices. The results collected in the measurement campaign allowed us not only (i) to provide an in-depth energy consumption profiling of SR data-plane, but also (ii) to clearly outline energy costs due to the use of low power idle techniques. Among other interesting aspects, we completely characterized the energy consumption due to wakeup transitions, which may cause instantaneous consumption spikes higher than 4 times the power energy requirement when active.