[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v2] net/mlx5: fix Tx doorbell memory barrier

[Yongseok Koh]

Configuring UAR as IO-mapped makes maximum throughput decline by noticeable
amount. If UAR is configured as write-combining register, a write memory
barrier is needed on ringing a doorbell. rte_wmb() is mostly effective when
the size of a burst is comparatively small. Revert the register back to
write-combining and enforce a write memory barrier instead, except for
vectorized Tx burst routines. Application can change it by setting
MLX5_SHUT_UP_BF under its own necessity.

Fixes: 9f9bebae5530 ("net/mlx5: don't map doorbell register to write combining")
Cc: stable at dpdk.org
Cc: Sagi Grimberg <sagi at grimberg.me>
Cc: Alexander Solganik <solganik at gmail.com>

Signed-off-by: Yongseok Koh <yskoh at mellanox.com>
Acked-by: Shahaf Shuler <shahafs at mellanox.com>
---

v2:
* Add documentation.
* Rename functions to minimize changes.

 doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst              | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5.c               |  2 --
 drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx.h          | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++--
 drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_neon.h |  2 +-
 drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_sse.h  |  2 +-
 5 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst b/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst
index d24941a22..085d3940c 100644
--- a/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst
@@ -171,6 +171,23 @@ Environment variables
   This is disabled by default since this can also decrease performance for
   unaligned packet sizes.
 
+- ``MLX5_SHUT_UP_BF``
+
+  Configures HW Tx doorbell register as IO-mapped.
+
+  By default, the HW Tx doorbell is configured as a write-combining register.
+  The register would be flushed to HW usually when the write-combining buffer
+  becomes full, but it depends on CPU design.
+
+  Except for vectorized Tx burst routines, a write memory barrier is enforced
+  after updating the register so that the update can be immediately visible to
+  HW.
+
+  When vectorized Tx burst is called, the barrier is set only if the burst size
+  is not aligned to MLX5_VPMD_TX_MAX_BURST. However, setting this environmental
+  variable will bring better latency even though the maximum throughput can
+  slightly decline.
+
 Run-time configuration
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5.c b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5.c
index 89fdc134f..fcdcbc367 100644
--- a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5.c
+++ b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5.c
@@ -1037,8 +1037,6 @@ rte_mlx5_pmd_init(void)
 	 * using this PMD, which is not supported in forked processes.
 	 */
 	setenv("RDMAV_HUGEPAGES_SAFE", "1", 1);
-	/* Don't map UAR to WC if BlueFlame is not used.*/
-	setenv("MLX5_SHUT_UP_BF", "1", 1);
 	/* Match the size of Rx completion entry to the size of a cacheline. */
 	if (RTE_CACHE_LINE_SIZE == 128)
 		setenv("MLX5_CQE_SIZE", "128", 0);
diff --git a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx.h b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx.h
index ea037427b..d34f3cc04 100644
--- a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx.h
+++ b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx.h
@@ -578,15 +578,18 @@ mlx5_tx_mb2mr(struct mlx5_txq_data *txq, struct rte_mbuf *mb)
 }
 
 /**
- * Ring TX queue doorbell.
+ * Ring TX queue doorbell and flush the update if requested.
  *
  * @param txq
  *   Pointer to TX queue structure.
  * @param wqe
  *   Pointer to the last WQE posted in the NIC.
+ * @param cond
+ *   Request for write memory barrier after BlueFlame update.
  */
 static __rte_always_inline void
-mlx5_tx_dbrec(struct mlx5_txq_data *txq, volatile struct mlx5_wqe *wqe)
+mlx5_tx_dbrec_cond_wmb(struct mlx5_txq_data *txq, volatile struct mlx5_wqe *wqe,
+		       int cond)
 {
 	uint64_t *dst = (uint64_t *)((uintptr_t)txq->bf_reg);
 	volatile uint64_t *src = ((volatile uint64_t *)wqe);
@@ -596,6 +599,22 @@ mlx5_tx_dbrec(struct mlx5_txq_data *txq, volatile struct mlx5_wqe *wqe)
 	/* Ensure ordering between DB record and BF copy. */
 	rte_wmb();
 	*dst = *src;
+	if (cond)
+		rte_wmb();
+}
+
+/**
+ * Ring TX queue doorbell and flush the update by write memory barrier.
+ *
+ * @param txq
+ *   Pointer to TX queue structure.
+ * @param wqe
+ *   Pointer to the last WQE posted in the NIC.
+ */
+static __rte_always_inline void
+mlx5_tx_dbrec(struct mlx5_txq_data *txq, volatile struct mlx5_wqe *wqe)
+{
+	mlx5_tx_dbrec_cond_wmb(txq, wqe, 1);
 }
 
 #endif /* RTE_PMD_MLX5_RXTX_H_ */
diff --git a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_neon.h b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_neon.h
index 4cb7f2889..61f5bc45b 100644
--- a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_neon.h
+++ b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_neon.h
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ txq_burst_v(struct mlx5_txq_data *txq, struct rte_mbuf **pkts, uint16_t pkts_n,
 	txq->wqe_ci += (nb_dword_in_hdr + pkts_n + (nb_dword_per_wqebb - 1)) /
 		       nb_dword_per_wqebb;
 	/* Ring QP doorbell. */
-	mlx5_tx_dbrec(txq, wqe);
+	mlx5_tx_dbrec_cond_wmb(txq, wqe, pkts_n < MLX5_VPMD_TX_MAX_BURST);
 	return pkts_n;
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_sse.h b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_sse.h
index e9819b762..a53027d84 100644
--- a/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_sse.h
+++ b/drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx_vec_sse.h
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ txq_burst_v(struct mlx5_txq_data *txq, struct rte_mbuf **pkts, uint16_t pkts_n,
 	txq->wqe_ci += (nb_dword_in_hdr + pkts_n + (nb_dword_per_wqebb - 1)) /
 		       nb_dword_per_wqebb;
 	/* Ring QP doorbell. */
-	mlx5_tx_dbrec(txq, wqe);
+	mlx5_tx_dbrec_cond_wmb(txq, wqe, pkts_n < MLX5_VPMD_TX_MAX_BURST);
 	return pkts_n;
 }
 
-- 
2.11.0