# Experimental support for AF\_XDP sockets in NSD

DevFeed: [Experimental support for AF\_XDP sockets in NSD](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/experimental-support-for-af-xdp-sockets-in-nsd-48596.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.nlnetlabs.nl/experimental-support-for-af_xdp-sockets-in-nsd/>)

Author: Team NLnet Labs

Published: 2025-05-26T13:30:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [The NLnet Labs Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-nlnet-labs-blog.md>)

Topics: [Network](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/network.md>), [eBPF](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ebpf.md>), [Linux Kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/linux-kernel.md>), [Linux](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/linux.md>), [Hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/hardware.md>), [implementation](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/implementation.md>), [debugging](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/debugging.md>)

Tags: [debugging](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/debugging.md>), [dns](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dns.md>), [drivers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/drivers.md>), [ebpf](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ebpf.md>), [experimental](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/experimental.md>), [implementation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/implementation.md>), [linux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux.md>), [linux-kernel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux-kernel.md>), [load-balancing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/load-balancing.md>), [network](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network.md>), [network-packets](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network-packets.md>), [network-stack](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network-stack.md>), [nsd](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/nsd.md>), [sockets](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sockets.md>), [version](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/version.md>), [xdp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/xdp.md>)

## AI overview

This article describes experimental AF_XDP socket support in NSD for processing DNS queries at high packet rates. It explains how XDP and eBPF process packets early in the Linux networking path, discusses driver and hardware compatibility issues, and reports a 1.7x improvement over UDP through the network stack with zero-copy disabled.

## Source excerpt

By Jannik Peters We have been developing support for AF_XDP sockets in NSD. They allow handling a higher rate of network packets than through the Linux network stack on supported hardware[1]--For a list of supported drivers (and by extension hardware) and their minimum Linux kernel version