diff options
author | David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net> | 2011-08-20 13:39:12 -0400 |
---|---|---|
committer | David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net> | 2011-08-20 13:39:12 -0400 |
commit | 823dcd2506fa369aeb8cbd26da5663efe2fda9a9 (patch) | |
tree | 853b3e3c05f0b9ee1b5df8464db19b7acc57150c /Documentation/networking | |
parent | eaa36660de7e174498618d69d7277d44a2f24c3d (diff) | |
parent | 98e77438aed3cd3343cbb86825127b1d9d2bea33 (diff) |
Merge branch 'master' of master.kernel.org:/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/networking')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/00-INDEX | 116 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/scaling.txt | 378 |
2 files changed, 494 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/00-INDEX b/Documentation/networking/00-INDEX index 4edd78dfb362..bbce1215434a 100644 --- a/Documentation/networking/00-INDEX +++ b/Documentation/networking/00-INDEX | |||
@@ -1,13 +1,21 @@ | |||
1 | 00-INDEX | 1 | 00-INDEX |
2 | - this file | 2 | - this file |
3 | 3c359.txt | ||
4 | - information on the 3Com TokenLink Velocity XL (3c5359) driver. | ||
3 | 3c505.txt | 5 | 3c505.txt |
4 | - information on the 3Com EtherLink Plus (3c505) driver. | 6 | - information on the 3Com EtherLink Plus (3c505) driver. |
7 | 3c509.txt | ||
8 | - information on the 3Com Etherlink III Series Ethernet cards. | ||
5 | 6pack.txt | 9 | 6pack.txt |
6 | - info on the 6pack protocol, an alternative to KISS for AX.25 | 10 | - info on the 6pack protocol, an alternative to KISS for AX.25 |
7 | DLINK.txt | 11 | DLINK.txt |
8 | - info on the D-Link DE-600/DE-620 parallel port pocket adapters | 12 | - info on the D-Link DE-600/DE-620 parallel port pocket adapters |
9 | PLIP.txt | 13 | PLIP.txt |
10 | - PLIP: The Parallel Line Internet Protocol device driver | 14 | - PLIP: The Parallel Line Internet Protocol device driver |
15 | README.ipw2100 | ||
16 | - README for the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 driver. | ||
17 | README.ipw2200 | ||
18 | - README for the Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG and 2200BG driver. | ||
11 | README.sb1000 | 19 | README.sb1000 |
12 | - info on General Instrument/NextLevel SURFboard1000 cable modem. | 20 | - info on General Instrument/NextLevel SURFboard1000 cable modem. |
13 | alias.txt | 21 | alias.txt |
@@ -20,8 +28,12 @@ atm.txt | |||
20 | - info on where to get ATM programs and support for Linux. | 28 | - info on where to get ATM programs and support for Linux. |
21 | ax25.txt | 29 | ax25.txt |
22 | - info on using AX.25 and NET/ROM code for Linux | 30 | - info on using AX.25 and NET/ROM code for Linux |
31 | batman-adv.txt | ||
32 | - B.A.T.M.A.N routing protocol on top of layer 2 Ethernet Frames. | ||
23 | baycom.txt | 33 | baycom.txt |
24 | - info on the driver for Baycom style amateur radio modems | 34 | - info on the driver for Baycom style amateur radio modems |
35 | bonding.txt | ||
36 | - Linux Ethernet Bonding Driver HOWTO: link aggregation in Linux. | ||
25 | bridge.txt | 37 | bridge.txt |
26 | - where to get user space programs for ethernet bridging with Linux. | 38 | - where to get user space programs for ethernet bridging with Linux. |
27 | can.txt | 39 | can.txt |
@@ -34,32 +46,60 @@ cxacru.txt | |||
34 | - Conexant AccessRunner USB ADSL Modem | 46 | - Conexant AccessRunner USB ADSL Modem |
35 | cxacru-cf.py | 47 | cxacru-cf.py |
36 | - Conexant AccessRunner USB ADSL Modem configuration file parser | 48 | - Conexant AccessRunner USB ADSL Modem configuration file parser |
49 | cxgb.txt | ||
50 | - Release Notes for the Chelsio N210 Linux device driver. | ||
51 | dccp.txt | ||
52 | - the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) (RFC 4340..42). | ||
37 | de4x5.txt | 53 | de4x5.txt |
38 | - the Digital EtherWORKS DE4?? and DE5?? PCI Ethernet driver | 54 | - the Digital EtherWORKS DE4?? and DE5?? PCI Ethernet driver |
39 | decnet.txt | 55 | decnet.txt |
40 | - info on using the DECnet networking layer in Linux. | 56 | - info on using the DECnet networking layer in Linux. |
41 | depca.txt | 57 | depca.txt |
42 | - the Digital DEPCA/EtherWORKS DE1?? and DE2?? LANCE Ethernet driver | 58 | - the Digital DEPCA/EtherWORKS DE1?? and DE2?? LANCE Ethernet driver |
59 | dl2k.txt | ||
60 | - README for D-Link DL2000-based Gigabit Ethernet Adapters (dl2k.ko). | ||
61 | dm9000.txt | ||
62 | - README for the Simtec DM9000 Network driver. | ||
43 | dmfe.txt | 63 | dmfe.txt |
44 | - info on the Davicom DM9102(A)/DM9132/DM9801 fast ethernet driver. | 64 | - info on the Davicom DM9102(A)/DM9132/DM9801 fast ethernet driver. |
65 | dns_resolver.txt | ||
66 | - The DNS resolver module allows kernel servies to make DNS queries. | ||
67 | driver.txt | ||
68 | - Softnet driver issues. | ||
45 | e100.txt | 69 | e100.txt |
46 | - info on Intel's EtherExpress PRO/100 line of 10/100 boards | 70 | - info on Intel's EtherExpress PRO/100 line of 10/100 boards |
47 | e1000.txt | 71 | e1000.txt |
48 | - info on Intel's E1000 line of gigabit ethernet boards | 72 | - info on Intel's E1000 line of gigabit ethernet boards |
73 | e1000e.txt | ||
74 | - README for the Intel Gigabit Ethernet Driver (e1000e). | ||
49 | eql.txt | 75 | eql.txt |
50 | - serial IP load balancing | 76 | - serial IP load balancing |
51 | ewrk3.txt | 77 | ewrk3.txt |
52 | - the Digital EtherWORKS 3 DE203/4/5 Ethernet driver | 78 | - the Digital EtherWORKS 3 DE203/4/5 Ethernet driver |
79 | fib_trie.txt | ||
80 | - Level Compressed Trie (LC-trie) notes: a structure for routing. | ||
53 | filter.txt | 81 | filter.txt |
54 | - Linux Socket Filtering | 82 | - Linux Socket Filtering |
55 | fore200e.txt | 83 | fore200e.txt |
56 | - FORE Systems PCA-200E/SBA-200E ATM NIC driver info. | 84 | - FORE Systems PCA-200E/SBA-200E ATM NIC driver info. |
57 | framerelay.txt | 85 | framerelay.txt |
58 | - info on using Frame Relay/Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI). | 86 | - info on using Frame Relay/Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI). |
87 | gen_stats.txt | ||
88 | - Generic networking statistics for netlink users. | ||
89 | generic_hdlc.txt | ||
90 | - The generic High Level Data Link Control (HDLC) layer. | ||
59 | generic_netlink.txt | 91 | generic_netlink.txt |
60 | - info on Generic Netlink | 92 | - info on Generic Netlink |
93 | gianfar.txt | ||
94 | - Gianfar Ethernet Driver. | ||
61 | ieee802154.txt | 95 | ieee802154.txt |
62 | - Linux IEEE 802.15.4 implementation, API and drivers | 96 | - Linux IEEE 802.15.4 implementation, API and drivers |
97 | ifenslave.c | ||
98 | - Configure network interfaces for parallel routing (bonding). | ||
99 | igb.txt | ||
100 | - README for the Intel Gigabit Ethernet Driver (igb). | ||
101 | igbvf.txt | ||
102 | - README for the Intel Gigabit Ethernet Driver (igbvf). | ||
63 | ip-sysctl.txt | 103 | ip-sysctl.txt |
64 | - /proc/sys/net/ipv4/* variables | 104 | - /proc/sys/net/ipv4/* variables |
65 | ip_dynaddr.txt | 105 | ip_dynaddr.txt |
@@ -68,41 +108,117 @@ ipddp.txt | |||
68 | - AppleTalk-IP Decapsulation and AppleTalk-IP Encapsulation | 108 | - AppleTalk-IP Decapsulation and AppleTalk-IP Encapsulation |
69 | iphase.txt | 109 | iphase.txt |
70 | - Interphase PCI ATM (i)Chip IA Linux driver info. | 110 | - Interphase PCI ATM (i)Chip IA Linux driver info. |
111 | ipv6.txt | ||
112 | - Options to the ipv6 kernel module. | ||
113 | ipvs-sysctl.txt | ||
114 | - Per-inode explanation of the /proc/sys/net/ipv4/vs interface. | ||
71 | irda.txt | 115 | irda.txt |
72 | - where to get IrDA (infrared) utilities and info for Linux. | 116 | - where to get IrDA (infrared) utilities and info for Linux. |
117 | ixgb.txt | ||
118 | - README for the Intel 10 Gigabit Ethernet Driver (ixgb). | ||
119 | ixgbe.txt | ||
120 | - README for the Intel 10 Gigabit Ethernet Driver (ixgbe). | ||
121 | ixgbevf.txt | ||
122 | - README for the Intel Virtual Function (VF) Driver (ixgbevf). | ||
123 | l2tp.txt | ||
124 | - User guide to the L2TP tunnel protocol. | ||
73 | lapb-module.txt | 125 | lapb-module.txt |
74 | - programming information of the LAPB module. | 126 | - programming information of the LAPB module. |
75 | ltpc.txt | 127 | ltpc.txt |
76 | - the Apple or Farallon LocalTalk PC card driver | 128 | - the Apple or Farallon LocalTalk PC card driver |
129 | mac80211-injection.txt | ||
130 | - HOWTO use packet injection with mac80211 | ||
77 | multicast.txt | 131 | multicast.txt |
78 | - Behaviour of cards under Multicast | 132 | - Behaviour of cards under Multicast |
133 | multiqueue.txt | ||
134 | - HOWTO for multiqueue network device support. | ||
135 | netconsole.txt | ||
136 | - The network console module netconsole.ko: configuration and notes. | ||
137 | netdev-features.txt | ||
138 | - Network interface features API description. | ||
79 | netdevices.txt | 139 | netdevices.txt |
80 | - info on network device driver functions exported to the kernel. | 140 | - info on network device driver functions exported to the kernel. |
141 | netif-msg.txt | ||
142 | - Design of the network interface message level setting (NETIF_MSG_*). | ||
143 | nfc.txt | ||
144 | - The Linux Near Field Communication (NFS) subsystem. | ||
81 | olympic.txt | 145 | olympic.txt |
82 | - IBM PCI Pit/Pit-Phy/Olympic Token Ring driver info. | 146 | - IBM PCI Pit/Pit-Phy/Olympic Token Ring driver info. |
147 | operstates.txt | ||
148 | - Overview of network interface operational states. | ||
149 | packet_mmap.txt | ||
150 | - User guide to memory mapped packet socket rings (PACKET_[RT]X_RING). | ||
151 | phonet.txt | ||
152 | - The Phonet packet protocol used in Nokia cellular modems. | ||
153 | phy.txt | ||
154 | - The PHY abstraction layer. | ||
155 | pktgen.txt | ||
156 | - User guide to the kernel packet generator (pktgen.ko). | ||
83 | policy-routing.txt | 157 | policy-routing.txt |
84 | - IP policy-based routing | 158 | - IP policy-based routing |
159 | ppp_generic.txt | ||
160 | - Information about the generic PPP driver. | ||
161 | proc_net_tcp.txt | ||
162 | - Per inode overview of the /proc/net/tcp and /proc/net/tcp6 interfaces. | ||
163 | radiotap-headers.txt | ||
164 | - Background on radiotap headers. | ||
85 | ray_cs.txt | 165 | ray_cs.txt |
86 | - Raylink Wireless LAN card driver info. | 166 | - Raylink Wireless LAN card driver info. |
167 | rds.txt | ||
168 | - Background on the reliable, ordered datagram delivery method RDS. | ||
169 | regulatory.txt | ||
170 | - Overview of the Linux wireless regulatory infrastructure. | ||
171 | rxrpc.txt | ||
172 | - Guide to the RxRPC protocol. | ||
173 | s2io.txt | ||
174 | - Release notes for Neterion Xframe I/II 10GbE driver. | ||
175 | scaling.txt | ||
176 | - Explanation of network scaling techniques: RSS, RPS, RFS, aRFS, XPS. | ||
177 | sctp.txt | ||
178 | - Notes on the Linux kernel implementation of the SCTP protocol. | ||
179 | secid.txt | ||
180 | - Explanation of the secid member in flow structures. | ||
87 | skfp.txt | 181 | skfp.txt |
88 | - SysKonnect FDDI (SK-5xxx, Compaq Netelligent) driver info. | 182 | - SysKonnect FDDI (SK-5xxx, Compaq Netelligent) driver info. |
89 | smc9.txt | 183 | smc9.txt |
90 | - the driver for SMC's 9000 series of Ethernet cards | 184 | - the driver for SMC's 9000 series of Ethernet cards |
91 | smctr.txt | 185 | smctr.txt |
92 | - SMC TokenCard TokenRing Linux driver info. | 186 | - SMC TokenCard TokenRing Linux driver info. |
187 | spider-net.txt | ||
188 | - README for the Spidernet Driver (as found in PS3 / Cell BE). | ||
189 | stmmac.txt | ||
190 | - README for the STMicro Synopsys Ethernet driver. | ||
191 | tc-actions-env-rules.txt | ||
192 | - rules for traffic control (tc) actions. | ||
193 | timestamping.txt | ||
194 | - overview of network packet timestamping variants. | ||
93 | tcp.txt | 195 | tcp.txt |
94 | - short blurb on how TCP output takes place. | 196 | - short blurb on how TCP output takes place. |
197 | tcp-thin.txt | ||
198 | - kernel tuning options for low rate 'thin' TCP streams. | ||
95 | tlan.txt | 199 | tlan.txt |
96 | - ThunderLAN (Compaq Netelligent 10/100, Olicom OC-2xxx) driver info. | 200 | - ThunderLAN (Compaq Netelligent 10/100, Olicom OC-2xxx) driver info. |
97 | tms380tr.txt | 201 | tms380tr.txt |
98 | - SysKonnect Token Ring ISA/PCI adapter driver info. | 202 | - SysKonnect Token Ring ISA/PCI adapter driver info. |
203 | tproxy.txt | ||
204 | - Transparent proxy support user guide. | ||
99 | tuntap.txt | 205 | tuntap.txt |
100 | - TUN/TAP device driver, allowing user space Rx/Tx of packets. | 206 | - TUN/TAP device driver, allowing user space Rx/Tx of packets. |
207 | udplite.txt | ||
208 | - UDP-Lite protocol (RFC 3828) introduction. | ||
101 | vortex.txt | 209 | vortex.txt |
102 | - info on using 3Com Vortex (3c590, 3c592, 3c595, 3c597) Ethernet cards. | 210 | - info on using 3Com Vortex (3c590, 3c592, 3c595, 3c597) Ethernet cards. |
211 | vxge.txt | ||
212 | - README for the Neterion X3100 PCIe Server Adapter. | ||
103 | x25.txt | 213 | x25.txt |
104 | - general info on X.25 development. | 214 | - general info on X.25 development. |
105 | x25-iface.txt | 215 | x25-iface.txt |
106 | - description of the X.25 Packet Layer to LAPB device interface. | 216 | - description of the X.25 Packet Layer to LAPB device interface. |
217 | xfrm_proc.txt | ||
218 | - description of the statistics package for XFRM. | ||
219 | xfrm_sync.txt | ||
220 | - sync patches for XFRM enable migration of an SA between hosts. | ||
221 | xfrm_sysctl.txt | ||
222 | - description of the XFRM configuration options. | ||
107 | z8530drv.txt | 223 | z8530drv.txt |
108 | - info about Linux driver for Z8530 based HDLC cards for AX.25 | 224 | - info about Linux driver for Z8530 based HDLC cards for AX.25 |
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/scaling.txt b/Documentation/networking/scaling.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..58fd7414e6c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/scaling.txt | |||
@@ -0,0 +1,378 @@ | |||
1 | Scaling in the Linux Networking Stack | ||
2 | |||
3 | |||
4 | Introduction | ||
5 | ============ | ||
6 | |||
7 | This document describes a set of complementary techniques in the Linux | ||
8 | networking stack to increase parallelism and improve performance for | ||
9 | multi-processor systems. | ||
10 | |||
11 | The following technologies are described: | ||
12 | |||
13 | RSS: Receive Side Scaling | ||
14 | RPS: Receive Packet Steering | ||
15 | RFS: Receive Flow Steering | ||
16 | Accelerated Receive Flow Steering | ||
17 | XPS: Transmit Packet Steering | ||
18 | |||
19 | |||
20 | RSS: Receive Side Scaling | ||
21 | ========================= | ||
22 | |||
23 | Contemporary NICs support multiple receive and transmit descriptor queues | ||
24 | (multi-queue). On reception, a NIC can send different packets to different | ||
25 | queues to distribute processing among CPUs. The NIC distributes packets by | ||
26 | applying a filter to each packet that assigns it to one of a small number | ||
27 | of logical flows. Packets for each flow are steered to a separate receive | ||
28 | queue, which in turn can be processed by separate CPUs. This mechanism is | ||
29 | generally known as “Receive-side Scaling” (RSS). The goal of RSS and | ||
30 | the other scaling techniques to increase performance uniformly. | ||
31 | Multi-queue distribution can also be used for traffic prioritization, but | ||
32 | that is not the focus of these techniques. | ||
33 | |||
34 | The filter used in RSS is typically a hash function over the network | ||
35 | and/or transport layer headers-- for example, a 4-tuple hash over | ||
36 | IP addresses and TCP ports of a packet. The most common hardware | ||
37 | implementation of RSS uses a 128-entry indirection table where each entry | ||
38 | stores a queue number. The receive queue for a packet is determined | ||
39 | by masking out the low order seven bits of the computed hash for the | ||
40 | packet (usually a Toeplitz hash), taking this number as a key into the | ||
41 | indirection table and reading the corresponding value. | ||
42 | |||
43 | Some advanced NICs allow steering packets to queues based on | ||
44 | programmable filters. For example, webserver bound TCP port 80 packets | ||
45 | can be directed to their own receive queue. Such “n-tuple” filters can | ||
46 | be configured from ethtool (--config-ntuple). | ||
47 | |||
48 | ==== RSS Configuration | ||
49 | |||
50 | The driver for a multi-queue capable NIC typically provides a kernel | ||
51 | module parameter for specifying the number of hardware queues to | ||
52 | configure. In the bnx2x driver, for instance, this parameter is called | ||
53 | num_queues. A typical RSS configuration would be to have one receive queue | ||
54 | for each CPU if the device supports enough queues, or otherwise at least | ||
55 | one for each memory domain, where a memory domain is a set of CPUs that | ||
56 | share a particular memory level (L1, L2, NUMA node, etc.). | ||
57 | |||
58 | The indirection table of an RSS device, which resolves a queue by masked | ||
59 | hash, is usually programmed by the driver at initialization. The | ||
60 | default mapping is to distribute the queues evenly in the table, but the | ||
61 | indirection table can be retrieved and modified at runtime using ethtool | ||
62 | commands (--show-rxfh-indir and --set-rxfh-indir). Modifying the | ||
63 | indirection table could be done to give different queues different | ||
64 | relative weights. | ||
65 | |||
66 | == RSS IRQ Configuration | ||
67 | |||
68 | Each receive queue has a separate IRQ associated with it. The NIC triggers | ||
69 | this to notify a CPU when new packets arrive on the given queue. The | ||
70 | signaling path for PCIe devices uses message signaled interrupts (MSI-X), | ||
71 | that can route each interrupt to a particular CPU. The active mapping | ||
72 | of queues to IRQs can be determined from /proc/interrupts. By default, | ||
73 | an IRQ may be handled on any CPU. Because a non-negligible part of packet | ||
74 | processing takes place in receive interrupt handling, it is advantageous | ||
75 | to spread receive interrupts between CPUs. To manually adjust the IRQ | ||
76 | affinity of each interrupt see Documentation/IRQ-affinity. Some systems | ||
77 | will be running irqbalance, a daemon that dynamically optimizes IRQ | ||
78 | assignments and as a result may override any manual settings. | ||
79 | |||
80 | == Suggested Configuration | ||
81 | |||
82 | RSS should be enabled when latency is a concern or whenever receive | ||
83 | interrupt processing forms a bottleneck. Spreading load between CPUs | ||
84 | decreases queue length. For low latency networking, the optimal setting | ||
85 | is to allocate as many queues as there are CPUs in the system (or the | ||
86 | NIC maximum, if lower). The most efficient high-rate configuration | ||
87 | is likely the one with the smallest number of receive queues where no | ||
88 | receive queue overflows due to a saturated CPU, because in default | ||
89 | mode with interrupt coalescing enabled, the aggregate number of | ||
90 | interrupts (and thus work) grows with each additional queue. | ||
91 | |||
92 | Per-cpu load can be observed using the mpstat utility, but note that on | ||
93 | processors with hyperthreading (HT), each hyperthread is represented as | ||
94 | a separate CPU. For interrupt handling, HT has shown no benefit in | ||
95 | initial tests, so limit the number of queues to the number of CPU cores | ||
96 | in the system. | ||
97 | |||
98 | |||
99 | RPS: Receive Packet Steering | ||
100 | ============================ | ||
101 | |||
102 | Receive Packet Steering (RPS) is logically a software implementation of | ||
103 | RSS. Being in software, it is necessarily called later in the datapath. | ||
104 | Whereas RSS selects the queue and hence CPU that will run the hardware | ||
105 | interrupt handler, RPS selects the CPU to perform protocol processing | ||
106 | above the interrupt handler. This is accomplished by placing the packet | ||
107 | on the desired CPU’s backlog queue and waking up the CPU for processing. | ||
108 | RPS has some advantages over RSS: 1) it can be used with any NIC, | ||
109 | 2) software filters can easily be added to hash over new protocols, | ||
110 | 3) it does not increase hardware device interrupt rate (although it does | ||
111 | introduce inter-processor interrupts (IPIs)). | ||
112 | |||
113 | RPS is called during bottom half of the receive interrupt handler, when | ||
114 | a driver sends a packet up the network stack with netif_rx() or | ||
115 | netif_receive_skb(). These call the get_rps_cpu() function, which | ||
116 | selects the queue that should process a packet. | ||
117 | |||
118 | The first step in determining the target CPU for RPS is to calculate a | ||
119 | flow hash over the packet’s addresses or ports (2-tuple or 4-tuple hash | ||
120 | depending on the protocol). This serves as a consistent hash of the | ||
121 | associated flow of the packet. The hash is either provided by hardware | ||
122 | or will be computed in the stack. Capable hardware can pass the hash in | ||
123 | the receive descriptor for the packet; this would usually be the same | ||
124 | hash used for RSS (e.g. computed Toeplitz hash). The hash is saved in | ||
125 | skb->rx_hash and can be used elsewhere in the stack as a hash of the | ||
126 | packet’s flow. | ||
127 | |||
128 | Each receive hardware queue has an associated list of CPUs to which | ||
129 | RPS may enqueue packets for processing. For each received packet, | ||
130 | an index into the list is computed from the flow hash modulo the size | ||
131 | of the list. The indexed CPU is the target for processing the packet, | ||
132 | and the packet is queued to the tail of that CPU’s backlog queue. At | ||
133 | the end of the bottom half routine, IPIs are sent to any CPUs for which | ||
134 | packets have been queued to their backlog queue. The IPI wakes backlog | ||
135 | processing on the remote CPU, and any queued packets are then processed | ||
136 | up the networking stack. | ||
137 | |||
138 | ==== RPS Configuration | ||
139 | |||
140 | RPS requires a kernel compiled with the CONFIG_RPS kconfig symbol (on | ||
141 | by default for SMP). Even when compiled in, RPS remains disabled until | ||
142 | explicitly configured. The list of CPUs to which RPS may forward traffic | ||
143 | can be configured for each receive queue using a sysfs file entry: | ||
144 | |||
145 | /sys/class/net/<dev>/queues/rx-<n>/rps_cpus | ||
146 | |||
147 | This file implements a bitmap of CPUs. RPS is disabled when it is zero | ||
148 | (the default), in which case packets are processed on the interrupting | ||
149 | CPU. Documentation/IRQ-affinity.txt explains how CPUs are assigned to | ||
150 | the bitmap. | ||
151 | |||
152 | == Suggested Configuration | ||
153 | |||
154 | For a single queue device, a typical RPS configuration would be to set | ||
155 | the rps_cpus to the CPUs in the same memory domain of the interrupting | ||
156 | CPU. If NUMA locality is not an issue, this could also be all CPUs in | ||
157 | the system. At high interrupt rate, it might be wise to exclude the | ||
158 | interrupting CPU from the map since that already performs much work. | ||
159 | |||
160 | For a multi-queue system, if RSS is configured so that a hardware | ||
161 | receive queue is mapped to each CPU, then RPS is probably redundant | ||
162 | and unnecessary. If there are fewer hardware queues than CPUs, then | ||
163 | RPS might be beneficial if the rps_cpus for each queue are the ones that | ||
164 | share the same memory domain as the interrupting CPU for that queue. | ||
165 | |||
166 | |||
167 | RFS: Receive Flow Steering | ||
168 | ========================== | ||
169 | |||
170 | While RPS steers packets solely based on hash, and thus generally | ||
171 | provides good load distribution, it does not take into account | ||
172 | application locality. This is accomplished by Receive Flow Steering | ||
173 | (RFS). The goal of RFS is to increase datacache hitrate by steering | ||
174 | kernel processing of packets to the CPU where the application thread | ||
175 | consuming the packet is running. RFS relies on the same RPS mechanisms | ||
176 | to enqueue packets onto the backlog of another CPU and to wake up that | ||
177 | CPU. | ||
178 | |||
179 | In RFS, packets are not forwarded directly by the value of their hash, | ||
180 | but the hash is used as index into a flow lookup table. This table maps | ||
181 | flows to the CPUs where those flows are being processed. The flow hash | ||
182 | (see RPS section above) is used to calculate the index into this table. | ||
183 | The CPU recorded in each entry is the one which last processed the flow. | ||
184 | If an entry does not hold a valid CPU, then packets mapped to that entry | ||
185 | are steered using plain RPS. Multiple table entries may point to the | ||
186 | same CPU. Indeed, with many flows and few CPUs, it is very likely that | ||
187 | a single application thread handles flows with many different flow hashes. | ||
188 | |||
189 | rps_sock_table is a global flow table that contains the *desired* CPU for | ||
190 | flows: the CPU that is currently processing the flow in userspace. Each | ||
191 | table value is a CPU index that is updated during calls to recvmsg and | ||
192 | sendmsg (specifically, inet_recvmsg(), inet_sendmsg(), inet_sendpage() | ||
193 | and tcp_splice_read()). | ||
194 | |||
195 | When the scheduler moves a thread to a new CPU while it has outstanding | ||
196 | receive packets on the old CPU, packets may arrive out of order. To | ||
197 | avoid this, RFS uses a second flow table to track outstanding packets | ||
198 | for each flow: rps_dev_flow_table is a table specific to each hardware | ||
199 | receive queue of each device. Each table value stores a CPU index and a | ||
200 | counter. The CPU index represents the *current* CPU onto which packets | ||
201 | for this flow are enqueued for further kernel processing. Ideally, kernel | ||
202 | and userspace processing occur on the same CPU, and hence the CPU index | ||
203 | in both tables is identical. This is likely false if the scheduler has | ||
204 | recently migrated a userspace thread while the kernel still has packets | ||
205 | enqueued for kernel processing on the old CPU. | ||
206 | |||
207 | The counter in rps_dev_flow_table values records the length of the current | ||
208 | CPU's backlog when a packet in this flow was last enqueued. Each backlog | ||
209 | queue has a head counter that is incremented on dequeue. A tail counter | ||
210 | is computed as head counter + queue length. In other words, the counter | ||
211 | in rps_dev_flow_table[i] records the last element in flow i that has | ||
212 | been enqueued onto the currently designated CPU for flow i (of course, | ||
213 | entry i is actually selected by hash and multiple flows may hash to the | ||
214 | same entry i). | ||
215 | |||
216 | And now the trick for avoiding out of order packets: when selecting the | ||
217 | CPU for packet processing (from get_rps_cpu()) the rps_sock_flow table | ||
218 | and the rps_dev_flow table of the queue that the packet was received on | ||
219 | are compared. If the desired CPU for the flow (found in the | ||
220 | rps_sock_flow table) matches the current CPU (found in the rps_dev_flow | ||
221 | table), the packet is enqueued onto that CPU’s backlog. If they differ, | ||
222 | the current CPU is updated to match the desired CPU if one of the | ||
223 | following is true: | ||
224 | |||
225 | - The current CPU's queue head counter >= the recorded tail counter | ||
226 | value in rps_dev_flow[i] | ||
227 | - The current CPU is unset (equal to NR_CPUS) | ||
228 | - The current CPU is offline | ||
229 | |||
230 | After this check, the packet is sent to the (possibly updated) current | ||
231 | CPU. These rules aim to ensure that a flow only moves to a new CPU when | ||
232 | there are no packets outstanding on the old CPU, as the outstanding | ||
233 | packets could arrive later than those about to be processed on the new | ||
234 | CPU. | ||
235 | |||
236 | ==== RFS Configuration | ||
237 | |||
238 | RFS is only available if the kconfig symbol CONFIG_RFS is enabled (on | ||
239 | by default for SMP). The functionality remains disabled until explicitly | ||
240 | configured. The number of entries in the global flow table is set through: | ||
241 | |||
242 | /proc/sys/net/core/rps_sock_flow_entries | ||
243 | |||
244 | The number of entries in the per-queue flow table are set through: | ||
245 | |||
246 | /sys/class/net/<dev>/queues/tx-<n>/rps_flow_cnt | ||
247 | |||
248 | == Suggested Configuration | ||
249 | |||
250 | Both of these need to be set before RFS is enabled for a receive queue. | ||
251 | Values for both are rounded up to the nearest power of two. The | ||
252 | suggested flow count depends on the expected number of active connections | ||
253 | at any given time, which may be significantly less than the number of open | ||
254 | connections. We have found that a value of 32768 for rps_sock_flow_entries | ||
255 | works fairly well on a moderately loaded server. | ||
256 | |||
257 | For a single queue device, the rps_flow_cnt value for the single queue | ||
258 | would normally be configured to the same value as rps_sock_flow_entries. | ||
259 | For a multi-queue device, the rps_flow_cnt for each queue might be | ||
260 | configured as rps_sock_flow_entries / N, where N is the number of | ||
261 | queues. So for instance, if rps_flow_entries is set to 32768 and there | ||
262 | are 16 configured receive queues, rps_flow_cnt for each queue might be | ||
263 | configured as 2048. | ||
264 | |||
265 | |||
266 | Accelerated RFS | ||
267 | =============== | ||
268 | |||
269 | Accelerated RFS is to RFS what RSS is to RPS: a hardware-accelerated load | ||
270 | balancing mechanism that uses soft state to steer flows based on where | ||
271 | the application thread consuming the packets of each flow is running. | ||
272 | Accelerated RFS should perform better than RFS since packets are sent | ||
273 | directly to a CPU local to the thread consuming the data. The target CPU | ||
274 | will either be the same CPU where the application runs, or at least a CPU | ||
275 | which is local to the application thread’s CPU in the cache hierarchy. | ||
276 | |||
277 | To enable accelerated RFS, the networking stack calls the | ||
278 | ndo_rx_flow_steer driver function to communicate the desired hardware | ||
279 | queue for packets matching a particular flow. The network stack | ||
280 | automatically calls this function every time a flow entry in | ||
281 | rps_dev_flow_table is updated. The driver in turn uses a device specific | ||
282 | method to program the NIC to steer the packets. | ||
283 | |||
284 | The hardware queue for a flow is derived from the CPU recorded in | ||
285 | rps_dev_flow_table. The stack consults a CPU to hardware queue map which | ||
286 | is maintained by the NIC driver. This is an auto-generated reverse map of | ||
287 | the IRQ affinity table shown by /proc/interrupts. Drivers can use | ||
288 | functions in the cpu_rmap (“CPU affinity reverse map”) kernel library | ||
289 | to populate the map. For each CPU, the corresponding queue in the map is | ||
290 | set to be one whose processing CPU is closest in cache locality. | ||
291 | |||
292 | ==== Accelerated RFS Configuration | ||
293 | |||
294 | Accelerated RFS is only available if the kernel is compiled with | ||
295 | CONFIG_RFS_ACCEL and support is provided by the NIC device and driver. | ||
296 | It also requires that ntuple filtering is enabled via ethtool. The map | ||
297 | of CPU to queues is automatically deduced from the IRQ affinities | ||
298 | configured for each receive queue by the driver, so no additional | ||
299 | configuration should be necessary. | ||
300 | |||
301 | == Suggested Configuration | ||
302 | |||
303 | This technique should be enabled whenever one wants to use RFS and the | ||
304 | NIC supports hardware acceleration. | ||
305 | |||
306 | XPS: Transmit Packet Steering | ||
307 | ============================= | ||
308 | |||
309 | Transmit Packet Steering is a mechanism for intelligently selecting | ||
310 | which transmit queue to use when transmitting a packet on a multi-queue | ||
311 | device. To accomplish this, a mapping from CPU to hardware queue(s) is | ||
312 | recorded. The goal of this mapping is usually to assign queues | ||
313 | exclusively to a subset of CPUs, where the transmit completions for | ||
314 | these queues are processed on a CPU within this set. This choice | ||
315 | provides two benefits. First, contention on the device queue lock is | ||
316 | significantly reduced since fewer CPUs contend for the same queue | ||
317 | (contention can be eliminated completely if each CPU has its own | ||
318 | transmit queue). Secondly, cache miss rate on transmit completion is | ||
319 | reduced, in particular for data cache lines that hold the sk_buff | ||
320 | structures. | ||
321 | |||
322 | XPS is configured per transmit queue by setting a bitmap of CPUs that | ||
323 | may use that queue to transmit. The reverse mapping, from CPUs to | ||
324 | transmit queues, is computed and maintained for each network device. | ||
325 | When transmitting the first packet in a flow, the function | ||
326 | get_xps_queue() is called to select a queue. This function uses the ID | ||
327 | of the running CPU as a key into the CPU-to-queue lookup table. If the | ||
328 | ID matches a single queue, that is used for transmission. If multiple | ||
329 | queues match, one is selected by using the flow hash to compute an index | ||
330 | into the set. | ||
331 | |||
332 | The queue chosen for transmitting a particular flow is saved in the | ||
333 | corresponding socket structure for the flow (e.g. a TCP connection). | ||
334 | This transmit queue is used for subsequent packets sent on the flow to | ||
335 | prevent out of order (ooo) packets. The choice also amortizes the cost | ||
336 | of calling get_xps_queues() over all packets in the flow. To avoid | ||
337 | ooo packets, the queue for a flow can subsequently only be changed if | ||
338 | skb->ooo_okay is set for a packet in the flow. This flag indicates that | ||
339 | there are no outstanding packets in the flow, so the transmit queue can | ||
340 | change without the risk of generating out of order packets. The | ||
341 | transport layer is responsible for setting ooo_okay appropriately. TCP, | ||
342 | for instance, sets the flag when all data for a connection has been | ||
343 | acknowledged. | ||
344 | |||
345 | ==== XPS Configuration | ||
346 | |||
347 | XPS is only available if the kconfig symbol CONFIG_XPS is enabled (on by | ||
348 | default for SMP). The functionality remains disabled until explicitly | ||
349 | configured. To enable XPS, the bitmap of CPUs that may use a transmit | ||
350 | queue is configured using the sysfs file entry: | ||
351 | |||
352 | /sys/class/net/<dev>/queues/tx-<n>/xps_cpus | ||
353 | |||
354 | == Suggested Configuration | ||
355 | |||
356 | For a network device with a single transmission queue, XPS configuration | ||
357 | has no effect, since there is no choice in this case. In a multi-queue | ||
358 | system, XPS is preferably configured so that each CPU maps onto one queue. | ||
359 | If there are as many queues as there are CPUs in the system, then each | ||
360 | queue can also map onto one CPU, resulting in exclusive pairings that | ||
361 | experience no contention. If there are fewer queues than CPUs, then the | ||
362 | best CPUs to share a given queue are probably those that share the cache | ||
363 | with the CPU that processes transmit completions for that queue | ||
364 | (transmit interrupts). | ||
365 | |||
366 | |||
367 | Further Information | ||
368 | =================== | ||
369 | RPS and RFS were introduced in kernel 2.6.35. XPS was incorporated into | ||
370 | 2.6.38. Original patches were submitted by Tom Herbert | ||
371 | (therbert@google.com) | ||
372 | |||
373 | Accelerated RFS was introduced in 2.6.35. Original patches were | ||
374 | submitted by Ben Hutchings (bhutchings@solarflare.com) | ||
375 | |||
376 | Authors: | ||
377 | Tom Herbert (therbert@google.com) | ||
378 | Willem de Bruijn (willemb@google.com) | ||