ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Remote direct memory access

Okay, so imagine you and your friend have a big toy box filled with all sorts of cool toys. You really want to play with some of their toys, but you can't leave your house.

Now, you might think you need to physically go to your friend's house to play with their toys, but what if I told you there was a way to play with them without leaving your own house? That's kind of what remote direct memory access (RDMA) does.

To explain it simply, RDMA allows one computer to access the memory of another computer over a network without having to go through the usual steps of sending messages back and forth. It's like you can reach into your friend's toy box and grab whatever toy you want without even moving from your own room.

Now, how does RDMA work? Well, let's take a closer look at the toy box example. You can't just reach into your friend's toy box without permission, right? They have to give you access. Similarly, in RDMA, the computer whose memory you want to access has to give you permission first. This is done by setting up a dedicated channel between the two computers called a queue pair.

Once the queue pair is set up, the computer that wants to access the other computer's memory can send a message directly to it, telling it what part of the memory it wants to read or write. The other computer will then allow the access and send the requested data back to the first computer without any intermediate steps.

Think of it like a secret handshake. Once you know the right moves and have permission, you can bypass all the usual formalities and get to what you really want – playing with your friend's toys or accessing another computer's memory.

So why is this useful? Well, in addition to being faster and more efficient than traditional network communication, RDMA allows for some advanced applications like high-performance computing and cloud computing. It also has some security benefits since the data stays within the two connected computers and doesn't have to traverse other networks, making it harder for outsiders to intercept.

Overall, RDMA is a clever way of accessing another computer's memory over a network, and it can be very useful in certain situations. Just remember, it's like a secret handshake between computers!