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Zero-Copy Networking: sendfile & io_uring

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The memory copy bottleneck

Sending a file over HTTP traditionally involves 4 memory copies: disk → kernel page cache → user-space app buffer → kernel socket buffer → NIC. For a web server serving static files at 10 Gbps, these CPU copies consume more CPU cycles than the network itself.

Zero-copy techniques eliminate or bypass these copies, allowing servers to saturate 100 Gbps links with minimal CPU usage.

Packets in motion — click to inspect:

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