Re: [net-next 01/14] net/mlx5e: RX, Add a prefetch command for small L1_CACHE_BYTES

[Jesper Dangaard Brouer <brouer@redhat.com>]

On Mon, 22 Apr 2019 19:46:47 -0700
Jakub Kicinski <jakub.kicinski@netronome.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 22 Apr 2019 15:32:53 -0700, Saeed Mahameed wrote:
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en.h
> > index 51e109fdeec1..6147be23a9b9 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en.h
> > +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en.h
> > @@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
> >  #include <net/xdp.h>
> >  #include <linux/net_dim.h>
> >  #include <linux/bits.h>
> > +#include <linux/prefetch.h>
> >  #include "wq.h"
> >  #include "mlx5_core.h"
> >  #include "en_stats.h"
> > @@ -986,6 +987,22 @@ static inline void mlx5e_cq_arm(struct mlx5e_cq *cq)
> >  	mlx5_cq_arm(mcq, MLX5_CQ_DB_REQ_NOT, mcq->uar->map, cq->wq.cc);
> >  }
> >  
> > +static inline void mlx5e_prefetch(void *p)
> > +{
> > +	prefetch(p);
> > +#if L1_CACHE_BYTES < 128
> > +	prefetch(p + L1_CACHE_BYTES);
> > +#endif
> > +}
> > +
> > +static inline void mlx5e_prefetchw(void *p)
> > +{
> > +	prefetchw(p);
> > +#if L1_CACHE_BYTES < 128
> > +	prefetchw(p + L1_CACHE_BYTES);
> > +#endif
> > +}  
> 
> All Intel drivers do the exact same thing, perhaps it's time to add a
> helper fot this?
> 
> net_prefetch_headers()
> 
> or some such?

I wonder if Tariq measured any effect from doing this?

Because Intel CPUs will usually already prefetch the next cache-line,
as described in [1], you can even read (and modify) this MSR 0x1A4
e.g. via tools in [2].  Maybe Intel guys added it before this was done
in HW, and never cleaned it up?

[1] https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/disclosure-of-hw-prefetcher-control-on-some-intel-processors

-- 
Best regards,
  Jesper Dangaard Brouer
  MSc.CS, Principal Kernel Engineer at Red Hat
  LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brouer

[2] http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/cpu/msr-tools/