While the Intel x86-64 architecture is undisputedly market leader in the
server space, several vendors have started introducing ARM64 boards.
This presentation examines the suitability of ARM64 server boards for
network servers. In particular, we look at the workload of a
moderate-size ccTLD DNS zone (.dk) and how it would perform on ARM64
running FreeBSD.
We consider the viability of the ARM64 platform from performance and
performance/power perspectives. While ARM64 is definitely slower than
Intel on many workloads, it performs at least as well or better than
Intel on workloads that are interesting to the internet community.
Notably DNS is a very appropriate workload for ARM64.