[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v3 1/3] lib: add Generic Receive Offload API framework

Hu, Jiayu jiayu.hu at intel.com
Mon May 29 12:22:57 CEST 2017


Hi Konstantin,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ananyev, Konstantin
> Sent: Sunday, May 28, 2017 12:51 AM
> To: Hu, Jiayu <jiayu.hu at intel.com>
> Cc: dev at dpdk.org; Wiles, Keith <keith.wiles at intel.com>;
> yuanhan.liu at linux.intel.com
> Subject: RE: [PATCH v3 1/3] lib: add Generic Receive Offload API framework
> 
> 
> Hi Jiayu,
> 
> >
> > Hi Konstantin,
> >
> > On Sat, May 27, 2017 at 07:12:16PM +0800, Ananyev, Konstantin wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Hu, Jiayu
> > > > Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2017 4:42 AM
> > > > To: Ananyev, Konstantin <konstantin.ananyev at intel.com>
> > > > Cc: dev at dpdk.org; Wiles, Keith <keith.wiles at intel.com>;
> yuanhan.liu at linux.intel.com
> > > > Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 1/3] lib: add Generic Receive Offload API
> framework
> > > >
> > > > On Sat, May 27, 2017 at 07:10:21AM +0800, Ananyev, Konstantin wrote:
> > > > > Hi Jiayu,
> > > > >
> > > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > > From: Hu, Jiayu
> > > > > > Sent: Friday, May 26, 2017 8:26 AM
> > > > > > To: Ananyev, Konstantin <konstantin.ananyev at intel.com>
> > > > > > Cc: dev at dpdk.org; Wiles, Keith <keith.wiles at intel.com>;
> yuanhan.liu at linux.intel.com
> > > > > > Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 1/3] lib: add Generic Receive Offload API
> framework
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Hi Konstantin,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 08:38:25PM +0800, Ananyev, Konstantin
> wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Hi Jiayu,
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Hi Konstantin,
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Thanks for your comments. My replies/questions are below.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > BRs,
> > > > > > > > Jiayu
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 05:19:19PM +0800, Ananyev,
> Konstantin wrote:
> > > > > > > > > Hi Jiayu,
> > > > > > > > > My comments/questions below.
> > > > > > > > > Konstantin
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > > For applications, DPDK GRO provides three external functions
> to
> > > > > > > > > > enable/disable GRO:
> > > > > > > > > > - rte_gro_init: initialize GRO environment;
> > > > > > > > > > - rte_gro_enable: enable GRO for a given port;
> > > > > > > > > > - rte_gro_disable: disable GRO for a given port.
> > > > > > > > > > Before using GRO, applications should explicitly call
> rte_gro_init to
> > > > > > > > > > initizalize GRO environment. After that, applications can call
> > > > > > > > > > rte_gro_enable to enable GRO and call rte_gro_disable to
> disable GRO for
> > > > > > > > > > specific ports.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > I think this is too restrictive and wouldn't meet various user's
> needs.
> > > > > > > > > User might want to:
> > > > > > > > > - enable/disable GRO for particular RX queue
> > > > > > > > > - or even setup different GRO types for different RX queues,
> > > > > > > > >    i.e, - GRO over IPV4/TCP for queue 0, and  GRO over
> IPV6/TCP for queue 1, etc.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > The reason for enabling/disabling GRO per-port instead of per-
> queue is that LINUX
> > > > > > > > controls GRO per-port. To control GRO per-queue indeed can
> provide more flexibility
> > > > > > > > to applications. But are there any scenarios that different
> queues of a port may
> > > > > > > > require different GRO control (i.e. GRO types and enable/disable
> GRO)?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I think yes.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > - For various reasons, user might prefer not to use RX callbacks
> for various reasons,
> > > > > > > > >   But invoke gro() manually at somepoint in his code.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > An application-used GRO library can enable more flexibility to
> applications. Besides,
> > > > > > > > when perform GRO in ethdev layer or inside PMD drivers, it is an
> issue that
> > > > > > > > rte_eth_rx_burst returns actually received packet number or
> GROed packet number. And
> > > > > > > > the same issue happens in GSO, and even more seriously. This is
> because applications
> > > > > > > > , like VPP, always rely on the return value of rte_eth_tx_burst to
> decide further
> > > > > > > > operations. If applications can direcly call GRO/GSO libraries,
> this issue won't exist.
> > > > > > > > And DPDK is a library, which is not a holistic system like LINUX.
> We don't need to do
> > > > > > > > the same as LINUX. Therefore, maybe it's a better idea to
> directly provide SW
> > > > > > > > segmentation/reassembling libraries to applications.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > - Many users would like to control size (number of flows/items
> per flow),
> > > > > > > > >   max allowed packet size, max timeout, etc., for different GRO
> tables.
> > > > > > > > > - User would need a way to flush all or only timeout packets
> from particular GRO tables.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > So I think that API needs to extended to become be much more
> fine-grained.
> > > > > > > > > Something like that:
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > struct rte_gro_tbl_param {
> > > > > > > > >    int32_t socket_id;
> > > > > > > > >    size_t max_flows;
> > > > > > > > >    size_t max_items_per_flow;
> > > > > > > > >    size_t max_pkt_size;
> > > > > > > > >    uint64_t packet_timeout_cycles;
> > > > > > > > >    <desired GRO types (IPV4_TCP | IPV6_TCP, ...)>
> > > > > > > > >   <probably type specific params>
> > > > > > > > >   ...
> > > > > > > > > };
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > struct rte_gro_tbl;
> > > > > > > > > strct rte_gro_tbl *rte_gro_tbl_create(const struct
> rte_gro_tbl_param *param);
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > void rte_gro_tbl_destroy(struct rte_gro_tbl *tbl);
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Yes, I agree with you. It's necessary to provide more fine-
> grained control APIs to
> > > > > > > > applications. But what's 'packet_timeout_cycles' used for? Is it
> for TCP packets?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > For any packets that sits in the gro_table for too long.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > /*
> > > > > > > > >  * process packets, might store some packets inside the GRO
> table,
> > > > > > > > >  * returns number of filled entries in pkt[]
> > > > > > > > >  */
> > > > > > > > > uint32_t rte_gro_tbl_process(struct rte_gro_tbl *tbl, struct
> rte_mbuf *pkt[], uint32_t num);
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > /*
> > > > > > > > >   * retirieves up to num timeouted packets from the table.
> > > > > > > > >   */
> > > > > > > > > uint32_t rtre_gro_tbl_timeout(struct rte_gro_tbl *tbl, uint64_t
> tmt, struct rte_mbuf *pkt[], uint32_t num);
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Currently, we implement GRO as RX callback, whose processing
> logic is simple:
> > > > > > > > receive burst packets -> perform GRO -> return to application.
> GRO stops after
> > > > > > > > finishing processing received packets. If we provide
> rte_gro_tbl_timeout, when
> > > > > > > > and who will call it?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I mean the following scenario:
> > > > > > > We receive a packet, find it is eligible for GRO and put it into
> gro_table
> > > > > > > in expectation - there would be more packets for the same flow.
> > > > > > > But it could happen that we would never (or for some long time)
> receive
> > > > > > > any new packets for that flow.
> > > > > > > So the first packet would never be delivered to the upper layer,
> > > > > > > or delivered too late.
> > > > > > > So we need a mechanism to extract such not merged packets
> > > > > > > and push them to the upper layer.
> > > > > > > My thought it would be application responsibility to call it from
> time to time.
> > > > > > > That's actually another reason why I think we shouldn't use
> application
> > > > > > > to always use RX callbacks for GRO.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Currently, we only provide one reassembly function,
> rte_gro_reassemble_burst,
> > > > > > which merges N inputted packets at a time. After finishing
> processing these
> > > > > > packets, it returns all of them and reset hashing tables. Therefore,
> there
> > > > > > are no packets in hashing tables after rte_gro_reassemble_burst
> returns.
> > > > >
> > > > > Ok, sorry I missed that part with rte_hash_reset().
> > > > > So gro_ressemble_burst() performs only inline processing on current
> input packets
> > > > > and doesn't try to save packets for future merging, correct?
> > > >
> > > > Yes.
> > > >
> > > > > Such approach indeed is much lightweight and doesn't require any
> extra timeouts and flush().
> > > > > So my opinion let's keep it like that - nice and simple.
> > > > > BTW, I think in that case we don't need any hashtables (or any other
> persistent strucures)at all.
> > > > > What we need is just a set of GROs (tcp4, tpc6, etc.) we want to
> perform on given array of packets.
> > > >
> > > > Beside GRO types that are desired to perform, maybe it also needs
> max_pkt_size and
> > > > some GRO type specific information?
> > >
> > > Yes, but we don't need the actual hash-tables, etc. inside.
> > > Passing something like struct gro_param seems enough.
> >
> > Yes, we can just pass gro_param and allocate hashing tables
> > inside rte_gro_reassemble_burst. If so, hashing tables of
> > desired GRO types are created and freed in each invocation
> > of rte_gro_reassemble_burst. In GRO library, hashing tables
> > are created by GRO type specific gro_tbl_create_fn. These
> > gro_tbl_create_fn may allocate hashing table space via malloc
> > (or rte_malloc). Therefore, we may frequently call malloc/free
> > when using rte_gro_reassemble_burst. In my opinion, it will
> > degrade GRO performance greatly.
> 
> I don't' understand why do we need to put/extract each packet into/from
> hash table at all.
> We have N input packets that need to be grouped/sorted  by some criteria.
> Surely that can be done without any hash-table involved.
> What is the need for hash table and all the overhead it brings here?

In current design, I assume all GRO types use hash tables to merge
packets. The key of the hash table is the criteria to merge packets.
So the main difference for different GRO types' hash tables is the
key definition.

And the reason for using hash tables is to speed up reassembly. Given
There are N TCP packets inputted, the simplest way to process packets[i]
Is to traverse processed packets[0]~packets[i-1] and try to find a one
to merge. In the worst case, we need to check all of packets[0~i-1].
In this case, the time complexity of processing N packets is O(N^2).
If we use a hash table, whose key is the criteria to merge two packets,
the time to find a packet that may be merged with packets[i] is O(1).

Do you think it's too complicated?

Jiayu

> Konstantin
> 
> >
> > But if we ask applications to input hashing tables, what we
> > need to do is to reset them after finishing using in
> > rte_gro_reassemble_burst, rather than to malloc and free each
> > time. Therefore, I think this way is more efficient. How do you
> > think?
> >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If we provide rte_gro_tbl_timeout, we also need to provide another
> reassmebly
> > > > > > function, like rte_gro_reassemble, which processes one given
> packet at a
> > > > > > time and won't reset hashing tables. Applications decide when to
> flush packets
> > > > > > in hashing tables. And rte_gro_tbl_timeout is one of the ways that
> can be used
> > > > > > to flush the packets. Do you mean that?
> > > > >
> > > > > Yes, that's what I meant, but as I said above - I think your approach is
> probably
> > > > > more preferable - it is much simpler and lightweight.
> > > > > Konstantin
> > > > >


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