Chief Development Officer, Arista Networks
Search every verified Hugh Holbrook interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Hugh Holbrook, Chief Development Officer of Software Engineering at Arista Networks, discussed packet-level load balancing at AI Field Day 5 in October 2024. He described a technique where traffic is distributed across all available links at the packet level rather than the flow level, which he said allows total network utilization to reach 100% by avoiding uneven link utilization. Holbrook characterized the approach as "spread peanut buttering" traffic across links. In a 2018 presentation, Holbrook introduced the Arista 7170 Series programmable platform, which uses Barefoot Networks' Tofino switch chip. He stated that the platform allows functions such as tunnel termination, traffic filtering, network address translation, and deep packet inspection to be moved into the switch, capabilities that previously required dedicated smart NICs or host processing. Holbrook said the P4 programming language enables engineers to specify forwarding behavior that runs at line rate, and that programmability allows Arista to modify network behavior more quickly in response to customer needs.
“I'm sending one nth of each slow on each of the paths so like the total amount of traffic doesn't change but instead of having a balls in bins problem where I've got kind of you know a gaussian curve of some links are really highly utilized and then others are underutilized all of the links are evenly utilized and so I...”
“What's going on is that you're choosing a path for an individual packet rather than choosing a path for the entire flow exactly exactly and so you're load balancing at the packet level not at the flow level exactly.”
“It's even better than that it's not choosing a path it's just basically spread peanut buttering it across all available links that's right it's even goes below packets right.”
“Our switch is one of our densest platforms, a top of rack switch with incredible programmable capabilities, allowing functions previously requiring expensive dedicated smart NICs or slow host processing to be moved into the switch itself.”
“We're moving capabilities that used to be inside dedicated high-end routers or network packet processors into switching through technology from Barefoot Networks, specifically their new Tofino switch chip introduced in the 7170.”
“The Tofino chip allows programmable switching silicon that runs at the same speed, cost, and power as fixed-function silicon, breaking the conventional wisdom that programmable silicon can't match fixed-function performance.”
“With the P4 programming language, you can specify forwarding behavior on various devices including ASICs and FPGAs, enabling flexible and high-performance network programming that runs at line rate.”
“Programmability in the silicon allows us to modify network behavior more quickly on behalf of customers when new use cases arise, enabling faster delivery of new capabilities and competitive advantages.”
“Programmable silicon has changed the landscape of how fast protocols and networking technology can evolve, allowing for new features like custom tunneling formats and large-scale network address translation that were not anticipated when the chip was designed.”
“Programmability provides peace of mind to customers that if new requirements arise after hardware deployment, forwarding behavior can be updated, enabling differentiation at a greater speed than fixed-function devices.”
“The 7170 platform with Barefoot Tofino silicon inside EOS delivers Layer 2 and Layer 3 features common to all Arista products, plus additional functionality like telemetry, tunneling, scale, network address translation, deep visibility, and packet capture.”
“Programmability opens exciting possibilities for closed-loop control of the network, enabling automatic diagnosis and fixing of problems by modifying what is measured and monitored in real time.”
Hugh Holbrook, Chief Development Officer of Software Engineering at Arista discusses how packet-level load balancing ...
Hi I'm Hugh Holbrook I'm the vice president of software engineering at Arista and I'm really excited to be here today to talk about ...
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