How does DPDK improve packet processing performance compared to standard kernel-based networking?

Standard kernel networking handles packets by moving them through a complex software stack that includes multiple layers of protocol processing, interrupts, and memory copying between kernel space and user space. When a packet arrives at a network interface card, the hardware triggers a CPU interrupt, which forces the operating system to pause its current tasks, switch from user space to kernel space, copy the data from the hardware buffer to a kernel buffer, and process it through the entire networking stack. This constant context switching, data copying, and interrupt handling con....