Mechanism to implement time stamp-based transmissions from an network interface device of a datacenter

One or more non-transitory machine readable storage media having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by an apparatus of a computing node of a computing network, to cause the apparatus to perform operations including:

• determining a first message including a timestamp based on a time at which a network interface device of the computing network is to access, from a host memory of the computing network, one or more data packet descriptors that correspond to a data packet to be transmitted to the computing network from the network interface device;
• sending the first message for transmission to the network interface device;
• after sending the first message, receiving, from the network interface device, a second message including a request to access the one or more data packet descriptors, the second message based on the timestamp;
• and
• in response to the second message, sending the one or more data packet descriptors for transmission to the network interface device.

A method to be performed at an apparatus of a computing node of a computing network, the method including:

• determining a first message including a timestamp based on a time at which a network interface device of the computing network is to access, from a host memory of the computing network, one or more data packet descriptors that correspond to a data packet to be transmitted to the computing network from the network interface device;
• sending the first message for transmission to the network interface device;
• after sending the first message, receiving, from the network interface device, a second message including a request to access the one or more data packet descriptors, the second message based on the timestamp;
• and
• in response to the second message, sending the one or more data packet descriptors for transmission to the network interface device.

A network interface device of a computing network, the computing network including a host memory and a server architecture, the network interface device including a host interface to communicate with a server architecture, and further including a circuitry coupled to the host interface to:

• access a first message from the server architecture, the first message including a timestamp based on a time at which the network interface device is to access, from the host memory, one or more data packet descriptors that correspond to a data packet to be transmitted to the computing network from the network interface device;
• send, for transmission to the server architecture and at a transmission time based on the timestamp, a second message, the second message including a request to access the one or more data packet descriptors;
• and
• subsequent to sending the second message for transmission, access the one or more data packet descriptors to determine one or more addresses for the data packet in the host memory.