Microsoft supports Linux’s XDP project and launches XDP for Windows open source project

Since Linux Kernel version 4.8, the Linux team has been integrating a high-performance networking project called eXpress Data Path (XDP). The project has received support from a number of large tech companies including Amazon, Google, Intel, and allows applications to achieve low latency and high throughput in the network. Now, Microsoft has joined the ranks, and also launched the XDP for Windows open source project based on XDP.

The company calls this its first contribution to the XDP community, and says it leans toward making the network data path truly cross-platform. Currently, XDP for Windows includes a network driver and a placeholder user-mode API. Microsoft emphasizes that the project is still in active development, but should be ready for testing and prototyping. The company is also working with other companies and adding support for XDP to the MsQuic protocol.

Microsoft notes that anyone can clone the XDP for Windows repository and start building, as the project aims to accelerate network performance in a variety of scenarios. The company is adding more features like checksum offloading and integration with eBPF for Windows, but in the meantime, you can check out XDP for Windows on GitHub.