A data processing unit is a SmartNIC-style card with a processor of its own. vSphere Distributed Services Engine runs ESX on it to relieve the host CPU of networking (and storage) work; DPU hosts must use UEFI to install and boot.
Also called data processing unit.
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In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains DPU in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- vSphere
VMware's platform for virtualisation, made up of vCenter and ESX hosts, supplying compute for VCF clusters.
- Agents (classic) API
First-generation Foundry Agent Service API, based on threads, messages and runs. It is deprecated, replaced by conversations and responses, and retires on 31 March 2027.
- ESX
VMware's bare-metal hypervisor, installed on each host in a VCF fleet. Up to version 9.0 it was known as ESXi.
- CPU
The processor that runs a VM's workload (central processing unit); while B-series VMs run under their baseline, they accumulate CPU credits.
- General-purpose v1
The older storage account kind (
Storage), which lacks access tiers, Archive and premium file shares and retires on 13 October 2026. Converting to ZRS requires first upgrading to GPv2, a one-way change. - UEFI
The modern firmware standard that took over from BIOS. Because Hyper-V generation 2 machines use it, they can start up from a virtual SCSI disk and have Secure Boot switched on.
Related terms
- Network Offloads Compatibility
Pairing a vSphere Distributed Switch with a DPU (NVIDIA BlueField or Pensando) via this setting moves networking work onto the DPU. Once selected, Network I/O Control is turned off, and network resource pools, traffic filtering and traffic shaping cannot be used.