[PATCH net-next 0/2] net: page_pool: Expose size limit

[PATCH net-next 0/2] net: page_pool: Expose size limit

[Tariq Toukan]

Hi,

This small series by Dragos has two patches.

Patch #1 exposes the page_pool internal size limit so that drivers can
check against it before creating a page_pool.

Patch #2 adds usage of the exposed limit in mlx5e driver.

Regards,
Tariq

Dragos Tatulea (2):
  net: page_pool: Expose internal limit
  net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

 drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c | 2 ++
 include/net/page_pool/types.h                     | 2 ++
 net/core/page_pool.c                              | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)


base-commit: 312e6f7676e63bbb9b81e5c68e580a9f776cc6f0
-- 
2.31.1

[PATCH net-next 1/2] net: page_pool: Expose internal limit

[Tariq Toukan]

From: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>

page_pool_init() has a check for pool_size < 32K. But page_pool users
have no access to this limit so there is no way to trim the pool_size in
advance. The E2BIG error doesn't help much for retry as the driver has
to guess the next size and retry.

This patch exposes this limit to in the page_pool header.

Signed-off-by: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Tariq Toukan <tariqt@nvidia.com>
---
 include/net/page_pool/types.h | 2 ++
 net/core/page_pool.c          | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/include/net/page_pool/types.h b/include/net/page_pool/types.h
index 1509a536cb85..22aee9a65a26 100644
--- a/include/net/page_pool/types.h
+++ b/include/net/page_pool/types.h
@@ -163,6 +163,8 @@ struct pp_memory_provider_params {
 	const struct memory_provider_ops *mp_ops;
 };
 
+#define PAGE_POOL_SIZE_LIMIT 32768
+
 struct page_pool {
 	struct page_pool_params_fast p;
 
diff --git a/net/core/page_pool.c b/net/core/page_pool.c
index 36a98f2bcac3..1f0fdfb02f08 100644
--- a/net/core/page_pool.c
+++ b/net/core/page_pool.c
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ static int page_pool_init(struct page_pool *pool,
 		ring_qsize = pool->p.pool_size;
 
 	/* Sanity limit mem that can be pinned down */
-	if (ring_qsize > 32768)
+	if (ring_qsize > PAGE_POOL_SIZE_LIMIT)
 		return -E2BIG;
 
 	/* DMA direction is either DMA_FROM_DEVICE or DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL.
-- 
2.31.1

Re: [PATCH net-next 1/2] net: page_pool: Expose internal limit

[Ilias Apalodimas]

On Mon, 22 Sept 2025 at 12:19, Tariq Toukan <tariqt@nvidia.com> wrote:
>
> From: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>
>
> page_pool_init() has a check for pool_size < 32K. But page_pool users
> have no access to this limit so there is no way to trim the pool_size in
> advance. The E2BIG error doesn't help much for retry as the driver has
> to guess the next size and retry.
>
> This patch exposes this limit to in the page_pool header.
>
> Signed-off-by: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>
> Signed-off-by: Tariq Toukan <tariqt@nvidia.com>

Reviewed-by: Ilias Apalodimas <ilias.apalodimas@linaro.org>

> ---
>  include/net/page_pool/types.h | 2 ++
>  net/core/page_pool.c          | 2 +-
>  2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/include/net/page_pool/types.h b/include/net/page_pool/types.h
> index 1509a536cb85..22aee9a65a26 100644
> --- a/include/net/page_pool/types.h
> +++ b/include/net/page_pool/types.h
> @@ -163,6 +163,8 @@ struct pp_memory_provider_params {
>         const struct memory_provider_ops *mp_ops;
>  };
>
> +#define PAGE_POOL_SIZE_LIMIT 32768
> +
>  struct page_pool {
>         struct page_pool_params_fast p;
>
> diff --git a/net/core/page_pool.c b/net/core/page_pool.c
> index 36a98f2bcac3..1f0fdfb02f08 100644
> --- a/net/core/page_pool.c
> +++ b/net/core/page_pool.c
> @@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ static int page_pool_init(struct page_pool *pool,
>                 ring_qsize = pool->p.pool_size;
>
>         /* Sanity limit mem that can be pinned down */
> -       if (ring_qsize > 32768)
> +       if (ring_qsize > PAGE_POOL_SIZE_LIMIT)
>                 return -E2BIG;
>
>         /* DMA direction is either DMA_FROM_DEVICE or DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL.
> --
> 2.31.1
>

[PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Tariq Toukan]

From: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>

When the user configures a large ring size (8K) and a large MTU (9000)
in HW-GRO mode, the queue will fail to allocate due to the size of the
page_pool going above the limit.

This change clamps the pool_size to the limit.

Signed-off-by: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Tariq Toukan <tariqt@nvidia.com>
---
 drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
index 5e007bb3bad1..e56052895776 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
@@ -989,6 +989,8 @@ static int mlx5e_alloc_rq(struct mlx5e_params *params,
 		/* Create a page_pool and register it with rxq */
 		struct page_pool_params pp_params = { 0 };
 
+		pool_size = min_t(u32, pool_size, PAGE_POOL_SIZE_LIMIT);
+
 		pp_params.order     = 0;
 		pp_params.flags     = PP_FLAG_DMA_MAP | PP_FLAG_DMA_SYNC_DEV;
 		pp_params.pool_size = pool_size;
-- 
2.31.1

Re: [PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Simon Horman]

On Mon, Sep 22, 2025 at 12:18:35PM +0300, Tariq Toukan wrote:
> From: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>
> 
> When the user configures a large ring size (8K) and a large MTU (9000)
> in HW-GRO mode, the queue will fail to allocate due to the size of the
> page_pool going above the limit.
> 
> This change clamps the pool_size to the limit.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Dragos Tatulea <dtatulea@nvidia.com>
> Signed-off-by: Tariq Toukan <tariqt@nvidia.com>
> ---
>  drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c | 2 ++
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
> index 5e007bb3bad1..e56052895776 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c
> @@ -989,6 +989,8 @@ static int mlx5e_alloc_rq(struct mlx5e_params *params,
>  		/* Create a page_pool and register it with rxq */
>  		struct page_pool_params pp_params = { 0 };
>  
> +		pool_size = min_t(u32, pool_size, PAGE_POOL_SIZE_LIMIT);

pool_size is u32 and PAGE_POOL_SIZE_LIMIT is a constant.
AFAIK min() would work just fine here.

> +
>  		pp_params.order     = 0;
>  		pp_params.flags     = PP_FLAG_DMA_MAP | PP_FLAG_DMA_SYNC_DEV;
>  		pp_params.pool_size = pool_size;
> -- 
> 2.31.1
> 
> 

Re: [PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:18:35 +0300 Tariq Toukan wrote:
> When the user configures a large ring size (8K) and a large MTU (9000)
> in HW-GRO mode, the queue will fail to allocate due to the size of the
> page_pool going above the limit.

Please do some testing. A PP cache of 32k is just silly, you should
probably use a smaller limit.

Re: [PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Dragos Tatulea]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 07:23:56AM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:18:35 +0300 Tariq Toukan wrote:
> > When the user configures a large ring size (8K) and a large MTU (9000)
> > in HW-GRO mode, the queue will fail to allocate due to the size of the
> > page_pool going above the limit.
> 
> Please do some testing. A PP cache of 32k is just silly, you should
> probably use a smaller limit.
You mean clamping the pool_size to a certain limit so that the page_pool
ring size doesn't cover a full RQ when the RQ ring size is too large?

Thanks,
Dragos

Re: [PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:12:33 +0000 Dragos Tatulea wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 07:23:56AM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> > On Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:18:35 +0300 Tariq Toukan wrote:  
> > > When the user configures a large ring size (8K) and a large MTU (9000)
> > > in HW-GRO mode, the queue will fail to allocate due to the size of the
> > > page_pool going above the limit.  
> > 
> > Please do some testing. A PP cache of 32k is just silly, you should
> > probably use a smaller limit.  
> You mean clamping the pool_size to a certain limit so that the page_pool
> ring size doesn't cover a full RQ when the RQ ring size is too large?

Yes, 8k ring will take milliseconds to drain. We don't really need
milliseconds of page cache. By the time the driver processed the full
ring we must have gone thru 128 NAPI cycles, and the application
most likely already stated freeing the pages.

If my math is right at 80Gbps per ring and 9k MTU it takes more than a
1usec to receive a frame. So 8msec to just _receive_ a full ring worth
of data. At Meta we mostly use large rings to cover up scheduler and
IRQ masking latency.

Re: [PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 08:23:10 -0700 Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:12:33 +0000 Dragos Tatulea wrote:
> > On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 07:23:56AM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:  
> > > Please do some testing. A PP cache of 32k is just silly, you should
> > > probably use a smaller limit.    
> > You mean clamping the pool_size to a certain limit so that the page_pool
> > ring size doesn't cover a full RQ when the RQ ring size is too large?  
> 
> Yes, 8k ring will take milliseconds to drain. We don't really need
> milliseconds of page cache. By the time the driver processed the full
> ring we must have gone thru 128 NAPI cycles, and the application
> most likely already stated freeing the pages.
> 
> If my math is right at 80Gbps per ring and 9k MTU it takes more than a
> 1usec to receive a frame. So 8msec to just _receive_ a full ring worth
> of data. At Meta we mostly use large rings to cover up scheduler and
> IRQ masking latency.

On second thought, let's just clamp it to 16k in the core and remove
the error. Clearly the expectations of the API are too intricate,
most drivers just use ring size as the cache size.

Re: [PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Dragos Tatulea]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 05:23:05PM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 08:23:10 -0700 Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> > On Tue, 23 Sep 2025 15:12:33 +0000 Dragos Tatulea wrote:
> > > On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 07:23:56AM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:  
> > > > Please do some testing. A PP cache of 32k is just silly, you should
> > > > probably use a smaller limit.    
> > > You mean clamping the pool_size to a certain limit so that the page_pool
> > > ring size doesn't cover a full RQ when the RQ ring size is too large?  
> > 
> > Yes, 8k ring will take milliseconds to drain. We don't really need
> > milliseconds of page cache. By the time the driver processed the full
> > ring we must have gone thru 128 NAPI cycles, and the application
> > most likely already stated freeing the pages.
> > 
> > If my math is right at 80Gbps per ring and 9k MTU it takes more than a
> > 1usec to receive a frame. So 8msec to just _receive_ a full ring worth
> > of data. At Meta we mostly use large rings to cover up scheduler and
> > IRQ masking latency.
> 
> On second thought, let's just clamp it to 16k in the core and remove
> the error. Clearly the expectations of the API are too intricate,
> most drivers just use ring size as the cache size.
Makes sense. For my peace of mind I want to do some packet rate tests
to see that there is no perf difference and compare the page_pool stats.

Should the page_pool should print a warning when it clamps?

Also, checking for size > 32K and clamping to 16K looks a bit weird...
Should the limit be lowered to 16K alltogether?

Thanks,
Dragos

Re: [PATCH net-next 2/2] net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:25:40 +0000 Dragos Tatulea wrote:
> Should the page_pool should print a warning when it clamps?

I don't think so, goal is to avoid having all drivers copy the clamp on
their side. So if we still warn drivers will still have to worry.

> Also, checking for size > 32K and clamping to 16K looks a bit weird...
> Should the limit be lowered to 16K alltogether?

That's what I mean, replace the if (>32k) return E2BIG; with
size = min(size, 16k).

Re: [PATCH net-next 0/2] net: page_pool: Expose size limit

[Dawid Osuchowski]

On 2025-09-22 11:18 AM, Tariq Toukan wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> This small series by Dragos has two patches.
> 
> Patch #1 exposes the page_pool internal size limit so that drivers can
> check against it before creating a page_pool.
> 
> Patch #2 adds usage of the exposed limit in mlx5e driver.
> 
> Regards,
> Tariq
> 
> Dragos Tatulea (2):
>    net: page_pool: Expose internal limit
>    net/mlx5e: Clamp page_pool size to max
> 
>   drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_main.c | 2 ++
>   include/net/page_pool/types.h                     | 2 ++
>   net/core/page_pool.c                              | 2 +-
>   3 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> 
> base-commit: 312e6f7676e63bbb9b81e5c68e580a9f776cc6f0

For the series:
Reviewed-by: Dawid Osuchowski <dawid.osuchowski@linux.intel.com>

Thanks,
Dawid