Packet Buffer Reference

Contributing

Contributions are welcome and encouraged. This site is maintained by the community and grows by people adding platforms they work with or have data for.

[!TIP] Easiest way to add a switch: Use our guided GitHub Issue Form to submit the details directly from your browser! You just fill in the blanks, and we'll format the YAML for you.

What You Can Contribute

Contribution Description
New platform entry Add a row to the main buffer table via switches.yaml
Switch detail page A dedicated page with notes, specs, and context for a platform
Concept page An architecture overview covering a silicon family or buffer technology
Corrections Fix incorrect data — include your source in the PR

Local Development Setup

Prerequisites

Steps

1. Fork the repository

Click Fork in the top-right corner of the GitHub repository page.

2. Clone your fork

git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/buffers-site.git
cd buffers-site

To run the site locally and verify that changes are working:

3. Install dependencies

npm install

4. Start the development server

npm start

The site will be available at http://localhost:8080. the Eleventy framework watches for file changes and rebuilds automatically.

5. Create a branch for your changes

git checkout -b add-platform-vendor-modelname

Use a descriptive branch name, e.g., add-platform-cisco-nexus-9000 or add-platform-juniper-qfx5200.

How to Add a New Platform

Adding a platform fully to the site involves up to three files:

File Required Purpose
content/_data/switches.yaml Yes Adds the platform to the main table
content/switches/<slug>.md Recommended Detail page with notes and context
content/concepts/<topic>.md Optional Architecture overview for a new ASIC family or buffer technology

Step 1: Add a YAML entry

Open content/_data/switches.yaml and add your entry. Place it within the appropriate section block. If your platform belongs to a new architecture category, add a new section comment and entries at the end of the file.

- model: "Vendor Model-Name"
  vendor: "Vendor"
  section: "Section Name"
  port_type: "48 SFP+ and 4 QSFP"
  rx_queue: "8Q"
  tx_queue: ""
  total_buffer: "9 MB"
  rx_buffer: ""
  tx_buffer: "5 MB"
  notes: "Any caveats or extra context"
  detail_page: "vendor-model-name"

Sections appear in the table in the order they first appear in the YAML file. New sections added at the end will appear at the bottom of the homepage table.

See the YAML Field Reference below for descriptions of every field.

Step 2: Create a switch detail page

If you set a detail_page slug in your YAML entry, create a corresponding file at content/switches/<slug>.md. The slug must exactly match the filename (without .md).

File: content/switches/acme-5000.md

---
title: "Acme 5000"
layout: page.njk
description: "Buffer notes for the Acme 5000 (DeepQ ASIC)"
---

The Acme 5000 is built on the **Acme DeepQ** ASIC.

| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| Ports | 32 QSFP28 (100G) |
| RX Queues | 16Q |
| TX Queues | 16Q |
| Total Buffer | 256 MB |
| Buffer Model | Fully shared on-chip |

Brief description of buffer architecture, key behaviors, and any known quirks.

## See Also

- [Relevant concept page](/concepts/related-topic/) if applicable

[← Back to the main buffer table](/)

Frontmatter fields:

Field Required Notes
title Yes Shown as the <h1> and in the browser tab
layout Yes Always page.njk
description Recommended Used as the <meta name="description"> tag

Step 3: Create a concept page (optional)

Concept pages explain a buffer architecture, ASIC family, or technology that applies across multiple platforms. Create one if your platform introduces a new silicon family or a fundamentally different buffer model.

File: content/concepts/acme-deepq.md

---
title: "Acme DeepQ ASIC Architecture"
layout: page.njk
description: "Overview of the Acme DeepQ shared buffer architecture"
---

Description of the architecture, how buffering works, key tradeoffs, and what use cases it targets.

## Platforms Using This Architecture

- [Acme 5000](/switches/acme-5000/)

## See Also

- [Back to the main buffer table](/)

Concept pages are not automatically added to the site nav. Link to them from relevant switch detail pages and from other concept pages where appropriate.

Note: To add a concept page to the top nav bar, edit _includes/base.njk and add an <a> tag to the <nav class="site-nav"> block.

Step 4: Test locally

With the dev server running (npm start), verify:

  1. Main table (http://localhost:8080/) — your platform appears in the correct section with all columns populated
  2. Detail page (http://localhost:8080/switches/your-slug/) — page renders, table is readable, back-link works
  3. Concept page (http://localhost:8080/concepts/your-topic/) — if created, page renders and all links resolve
  4. No broken links — all internal links resolve correctly

Build check (recommended before submitting a PR):

npm run build

A successful build produces output in _site/ with no errors.

Step 5: Submit a pull request

1. Stage and commit your changes

git add content/_data/switches.yaml
git add content/switches/your-slug.md          # if created
git add content/concepts/your-topic.md         # if created
git commit -m "Add Acme 5000 (DeepQ ASIC) to buffer table"

Do not commit _site/ — it is generated automatically by Netlify on deploy.

2. Push to your fork

git push origin add-platform-vendor-modelname

3. Open a pull request

Go to the original repository on GitHub. Click the Compare & pull request banner, or navigate to Pull requests → New pull request.

PR title format:

Add <Vendor> <Model> to buffer table

Examples:

Include in your PR description:

Example PR description:

## Platform
Cisco Nexus 9300 (Cloudscale ASIC)

## Buffer Data
- Total buffer: 40 MB on-chip shared
- Architecture: fully shared, unified ingress/egress
- Queues: 12 per port
- Source: Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS QoS Configuration Guide, Release 10.x

## Confidence
Buffer size is from official Cisco documentation. Queue details are from the same source.

## Files Changed
- `content/_data/switches.yaml` — added entry in new "Cloudscale" section
- `content/switches/cisco-nexus-9300.md` — new detail page

YAML Field Reference

Field Required Description
model Yes Full platform name as it appears in the table (e.g., "Arista 7050S-64")
vendor Yes Manufacturer name (e.g., "Arista", "Nokia", "Cisco")
section Yes Table group heading. Must be identical across all entries in the same section. Controls row grouping and section order.
port_type Yes Physical port configuration (e.g., "48 SFP+ and 4 QSFP", "32 QSFP28")
rx_queue No RX queue count or scheme (e.g., "8Q", "2q4t")
tx_queue No TX queue count or scheme. Leave blank if not documented or same as RX.
total_buffer No Total packet buffer. Include units. Use ~ for approximations (e.g., "9 MB", "~64 GB per line card")
rx_buffer No RX buffer if separately documented. Use "shared" if part of a unified pool.
tx_buffer No TX buffer or max a single port can claim. Use "VoQ" for virtual output queue architectures.
notes No Caveats, extra context, architecture flags, or anything notable. Keep to a single line.
detail_page No Slug for the detail page at /switches/<slug>/. Must match the filename exactly (without .md).

Notes on values:

PR Guidelines

← Back to the main buffer table