Scalable Key/Value Search in Datacenters

Key/Value Store (KVS) is a fundamental service used widely in modern data centers to associate keys with data values. KVS systems, such as Redis, Memcached, and Dynamo DB have traditionally been implemented with software and run on clusters of microprocessor-based servers. In this work an alternate approach is taken that performs KVS with gate ware in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) logic. We leverage an efficient, open-standard, binary message format to transfer keys and values over Ethernet. Results of three different implementations of this KVS were compared -- software running on a Linux server with network data sent over UDP/IP sockets, kernel bypass using Intel's Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK), and with pure FPGA logic implemented in gate ware. We characterize the three implementations in terms of throughput, latency, and power.