[PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[Shradha Gupta]

In mana driver, the number of IRQs allocated is capped by the
min(num_cpu + 1, queue count). In cases, where the IRQ count is greater
than the vcpu count, we want to utilize all the vCPUs, irrespective of
their NUMA/core bindings.

This is important, especially in the envs where number of vCPUs are so
few that the softIRQ handling overhead on two IRQs on the same vCPU is
much more than their overheads if they were spread across sibling vCPUs.

This behaviour is more evident with dynamic IRQ allocation. Since MANA
IRQs are assigned at a later stage compared to static allocation, other
device IRQs may already be affinitized to the vCPUs. As a result, IRQ
weights become imbalanced, causing multiple MANA IRQs to land on the
same vCPU, while some vCPUs have none.

In such cases when many parallel TCP connections are tested, the
throughput drops significantly.

Test envs:
=======================================================
Case 1: without this patch
=======================================================
4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)

	TYPE		effective vCPU aff
=======================================================
IRQ0:	HWC		0
IRQ1:	mana_q1		0
IRQ2:	mana_q2		2
IRQ3:	mana_q3		0
IRQ4:	mana_q4		3

%soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
vCPU		0	1	2	3
=======================================================
pass 1:		38.85	0.03	24.89	24.65
pass 2:		39.15	0.03	24.57	25.28
pass 3:		40.36	0.03	23.20	23.17

=======================================================
Case 2: with this patch
=======================================================
4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)

        TYPE            effective vCPU aff
=======================================================
IRQ0:   HWC             0
IRQ1:   mana_q1         0
IRQ2:   mana_q2         1
IRQ3:   mana_q3         2
IRQ4:   mana_q4         3

%soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
vCPU            0       1       2       3
=======================================================
pass 1:         15.42	15.85	14.99	14.51
pass 2:         15.53	15.94	15.81	15.93
pass 3:         16.41	16.35	16.40	16.36

=======================================================
Throughput Impact(in Gbps, same env)
=======================================================
TCP conn	with patch	w/o patch
20480		15.65		7.73
10240		15.63		8.93
8192		15.64		9.69
6144		15.64		13.16
4096		15.69		15.75
2048		15.69		15.83
1024		15.71		15.28

Fixes: 755391121038 ("net: mana: Allocate MSI-X vectors dynamically")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Co-developed-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Shradha Gupta <shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com>
Reviewed-by: Haiyang Zhang <haiyangz@microsoft.com>
Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
---
Changes in v3
 * Optimize the comments in mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs()
 * add more details in the dev_dbg for extra IRQs 
---
Changes in v2
 * Removed the unused skip_first_cpu variable
 * fixed exit condition in irq_setup_linear() with len == 0
 * changed return type of irq_setup_linear() as it will always be 0
 * removed the unnecessary rcu_read_lock() in irq_setup_linear()
 * added appropriate comments to indicate expected behaviour when
   IRQs are more than or equal to num_online_cpus()
---
 .../net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c   | 60 ++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 53 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
index 712a0881d720..00a28b3ca0a6 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
@@ -197,6 +197,8 @@ static int mana_gd_query_max_resources(struct pci_dev *pdev)
 	} else {
 		/* If dynamic allocation is enabled we have already allocated
 		 * hwc msi
+		 * Also, we make sure in this case the following is always true
+		 * (num_msix_usable - 1 HWC) <= num_online_cpus()
 		 */
 		gc->num_msix_usable = min(resp.max_msix, num_online_cpus() + 1);
 	}
@@ -1717,11 +1719,24 @@ static int irq_setup(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len, int node,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/* should be called with cpus_read_lock() held */
+static void irq_setup_linear(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len)
+{
+	int cpu;
+
+	for_each_online_cpu(cpu) {
+		if (len == 0)
+			break;
+
+		irq_set_affinity_and_hint(*irqs++, cpumask_of(cpu));
+		len--;
+	}
+}
+
 static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
 {
 	struct gdma_context *gc = pci_get_drvdata(pdev);
 	struct gdma_irq_context *gic;
-	bool skip_first_cpu = false;
 	int *irqs, irq, err, i;
 
 	irqs = kmalloc_objs(int, nvec);
@@ -1729,6 +1744,8 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
 	/*
+	 * In this function, num_msix_usable = HWC IRQ + Queue IRQ.
+	 * nvec is only Queue IRQ (HWC already setup).
 	 * While processing the next pci irq vector, we start with index 1,
 	 * as IRQ vector at index 0 is already processed for HWC.
 	 * However, the population of irqs array starts with index 0, to be
@@ -1767,13 +1784,42 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
 	 * first CPU sibling group since they are already affinitized to HWC IRQ
 	 */
 	cpus_read_lock();
-	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus())
-		skip_first_cpu = true;
+	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus()) {
+		err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, true);
+		if (err) {
+			cpus_read_unlock();
+			goto free_irq;
+		}
+	} else {
+		/*
+		 * When num_msix_usable are more than num_online_cpus, our
+		 * queue IRQs should be equal to num of online vCPUs.
+		 * We try to make sure queue IRQs spread across all vCPUs.
+		 * In such a case NUMA or CPU core affinity does not matter.
+		 * Note: in this case the total mana IRQ should always be
+		 * num_online_cpus + 1. The first HWC IRQ is already handled
+		 * in HWC setup calls
+		 * However, if CPUs went offline since num_msix_usable was
+		 * computed, queue IRQs will be more than num_online_cpus().
+		 * In such cases remaining extra IRQs will retain their default
+		 * affinity.
+		 */
+		int first_unassigned = num_online_cpus();
+		if (nvec > first_unassigned) {
+			char buf[32];
+
+			if (first_unassigned == nvec - 1)
+				snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d",
+					 first_unassigned);
+			else
+				snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d-%d",
+					 first_unassigned, nvec - 1);
+
+			dev_dbg(&pdev->dev,
+				"MANA IRQ indices #%s will retain the default CPU affinity\n", buf);
+		}
 
-	err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, skip_first_cpu);
-	if (err) {
-		cpus_read_unlock();
-		goto free_irq;
+		irq_setup_linear(irqs, nvec);
 	}
 
 	cpus_read_unlock();

base-commit: 8415598365503ced2e3d019491b0a2756c85c494
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[sashiko-bot]

Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 1 potential issue(s) to consider:

Pre-existing issues:
- [High] Missing error check for xa_store() leads to resource leak and potential kernel oops on allocation failure.
--

commit 853688f50dc4ca56dd74698a3ecfdfeaf857e716
Author: Shradha Gupta <shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com>

net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

This patch optimizes irq affinity in the mana driver for low vCPU
environments. When the number of allocated irqs is greater than the vCPU
count, it ensures that queue irqs are spread across all available vCPUs
to prevent softirq handling imbalances.

> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
[ ... ]
> @@ -1767,13 +1784,42 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
>  	 * first CPU sibling group since they are already affinitized to HWC IRQ
>  	 */
>  	cpus_read_lock();
> -	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus())
> -		skip_first_cpu = true;
> +	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus()) {
> +		err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, true);
> +		if (err) {
> +			cpus_read_unlock();
> +			goto free_irq;

[Severity: High]
This isn't a bug introduced by this patch, but looking at the error handling
path for goto free_irq, is there a potential resource leak if xa_store()
fails earlier in the function?

When setting up the irqs in mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(), we call xa_store()
with GFP_KERNEL:

    xa_store(&gc->irq_contexts, i, gic, GFP_KERNEL);

However, the return value is not checked. If this allocation fails, the gic
pointer is not saved. If a subsequent operation like irq_setup() fails and
we jump to the free_irq label, the cleanup loop attempts to retrieve it:

    gic = xa_load(&gc->irq_contexts, i);
    if (WARN_ON(!gic))
        continue;

Because the store failed, xa_load() will return NULL, causing the loop
to continue without calling free_irq() or kfree(gic). Could this result
in an un-freed irq handler that might trigger a panic later if the
module is unloaded and the hardware raises an interrupt?

> +		}
> +	} else {
[ ... ]

-- 
Sashiko AI review · https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260601102749.1768304-1-shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com?part=1

Re: [PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[Shradha Gupta]

On Tue, Jun 02, 2026 at 10:28:11AM +0000, sashiko-bot@kernel.org wrote:
> Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 1 potential issue(s) to consider:
> 
> Pre-existing issues:
> - [High] Missing error check for xa_store() leads to resource leak and potential kernel oops on allocation failure.
> --
> 
> commit 853688f50dc4ca56dd74698a3ecfdfeaf857e716
> Author: Shradha Gupta <shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com>
> 
> net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs
> 
> This patch optimizes irq affinity in the mana driver for low vCPU
> environments. When the number of allocated irqs is greater than the vCPU
> count, it ensures that queue irqs are spread across all available vCPUs
> to prevent softirq handling imbalances.
> 
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> > --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> > +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> [ ... ]
> > @@ -1767,13 +1784,42 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
> >  	 * first CPU sibling group since they are already affinitized to HWC IRQ
> >  	 */
> >  	cpus_read_lock();
> > -	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus())
> > -		skip_first_cpu = true;
> > +	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus()) {
> > +		err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, true);
> > +		if (err) {
> > +			cpus_read_unlock();
> > +			goto free_irq;
> 
> [Severity: High]
> This isn't a bug introduced by this patch, but looking at the error handling
> path for goto free_irq, is there a potential resource leak if xa_store()
> fails earlier in the function?
> 
> When setting up the irqs in mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(), we call xa_store()
> with GFP_KERNEL:
> 
>     xa_store(&gc->irq_contexts, i, gic, GFP_KERNEL);
> 
> However, the return value is not checked. If this allocation fails, the gic
> pointer is not saved. If a subsequent operation like irq_setup() fails and
> we jump to the free_irq label, the cleanup loop attempts to retrieve it:
> 
>     gic = xa_load(&gc->irq_contexts, i);
>     if (WARN_ON(!gic))
>         continue;
> 
> Because the store failed, xa_load() will return NULL, causing the loop
> to continue without calling free_irq() or kfree(gic). Could this result
> in an un-freed irq handler that might trigger a panic later if the
> module is unloaded and the hardware raises an interrupt?
> 
> > +		}
> > +	} else {
> [ ... ]
> 
> -- 
> Sashiko AI review · https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260601102749.1768304-1-shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com?part=1

Since this isn't a bug introduced by this patch, I will fix it in a
seperate patch. Will submit the fix for this bug by next week.

Thanks,
Shradha.

Re: [PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[Jacob Keller]

On 6/1/2026 3:27 AM, Shradha Gupta wrote:
> In mana driver, the number of IRQs allocated is capped by the
> min(num_cpu + 1, queue count). In cases, where the IRQ count is greater
> than the vcpu count, we want to utilize all the vCPUs, irrespective of
> their NUMA/core bindings.
> 
> This is important, especially in the envs where number of vCPUs are so
> few that the softIRQ handling overhead on two IRQs on the same vCPU is
> much more than their overheads if they were spread across sibling vCPUs.
> 
> This behaviour is more evident with dynamic IRQ allocation. Since MANA
> IRQs are assigned at a later stage compared to static allocation, other
> device IRQs may already be affinitized to the vCPUs. As a result, IRQ
> weights become imbalanced, causing multiple MANA IRQs to land on the
> same vCPU, while some vCPUs have none.
> 
> In such cases when many parallel TCP connections are tested, the
> throughput drops significantly.
> 
> Test envs:
> =======================================================
> Case 1: without this patch
> =======================================================
> 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> 
> 	TYPE		effective vCPU aff
> =======================================================
> IRQ0:	HWC		0
> IRQ1:	mana_q1		0
> IRQ2:	mana_q2		2
> IRQ3:	mana_q3		0
> IRQ4:	mana_q4		3
> 
> %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> vCPU		0	1	2	3
> =======================================================
> pass 1:		38.85	0.03	24.89	24.65
> pass 2:		39.15	0.03	24.57	25.28
> pass 3:		40.36	0.03	23.20	23.17
> 
> =======================================================
> Case 2: with this patch
> =======================================================
> 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> 
>         TYPE            effective vCPU aff
> =======================================================
> IRQ0:   HWC             0
> IRQ1:   mana_q1         0
> IRQ2:   mana_q2         1
> IRQ3:   mana_q3         2
> IRQ4:   mana_q4         3
> 
> %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> vCPU            0       1       2       3
> =======================================================
> pass 1:         15.42	15.85	14.99	14.51
> pass 2:         15.53	15.94	15.81	15.93
> pass 3:         16.41	16.35	16.40	16.36
> 
> =======================================================
> Throughput Impact(in Gbps, same env)
> =======================================================
> TCP conn	with patch	w/o patch
> 20480		15.65		7.73
> 10240		15.63		8.93
> 8192		15.64		9.69
> 6144		15.64		13.16
> 4096		15.69		15.75
> 2048		15.69		15.83
> 1024		15.71		15.28
> 
> Fixes: 755391121038 ("net: mana: Allocate MSI-X vectors dynamically")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Co-developed-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> Signed-off-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> Signed-off-by: Shradha Gupta <shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com>
> Reviewed-by: Haiyang Zhang <haiyangz@microsoft.com>
> Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
> ---
> Changes in v3
>  * Optimize the comments in mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs()
>  * add more details in the dev_dbg for extra IRQs 
> ---
> Changes in v2
>  * Removed the unused skip_first_cpu variable
>  * fixed exit condition in irq_setup_linear() with len == 0
>  * changed return type of irq_setup_linear() as it will always be 0
>  * removed the unnecessary rcu_read_lock() in irq_setup_linear()
>  * added appropriate comments to indicate expected behaviour when
>    IRQs are more than or equal to num_online_cpus()
> ---
>  .../net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c   | 60 ++++++++++++++++---
>  1 file changed, 53 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> index 712a0881d720..00a28b3ca0a6 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> @@ -197,6 +197,8 @@ static int mana_gd_query_max_resources(struct pci_dev *pdev)
>  	} else {
>  		/* If dynamic allocation is enabled we have already allocated
>  		 * hwc msi
> +		 * Also, we make sure in this case the following is always true
> +		 * (num_msix_usable - 1 HWC) <= num_online_cpus()
>  		 */
>  		gc->num_msix_usable = min(resp.max_msix, num_online_cpus() + 1);
>  	}
> @@ -1717,11 +1719,24 @@ static int irq_setup(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len, int node,
>  	return 0;
>  }
>  
> +/* should be called with cpus_read_lock() held */
> +static void irq_setup_linear(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len)
> +{
> +	int cpu;
> +
> +	for_each_online_cpu(cpu) {
> +		if (len == 0)
> +			break;
> +
> +		irq_set_affinity_and_hint(*irqs++, cpumask_of(cpu));
> +		len--;
> +	}
> +}

I would find all of this a bit easier to follow if irq_setup_linear()
and irq_setup() had a mana prefix so it was more obvious these are
specific to the driver. Of course irq_setup is pre-existing, and its not
my driver so do as you will :)

> +
>  static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
>  {
>  	struct gdma_context *gc = pci_get_drvdata(pdev);
>  	struct gdma_irq_context *gic;
> -	bool skip_first_cpu = false;
>  	int *irqs, irq, err, i;
>  
>  	irqs = kmalloc_objs(int, nvec);
> @@ -1729,6 +1744,8 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
>  		return -ENOMEM;
>  
>  	/*
> +	 * In this function, num_msix_usable = HWC IRQ + Queue IRQ.
> +	 * nvec is only Queue IRQ (HWC already setup).
>  	 * While processing the next pci irq vector, we start with index 1,
>  	 * as IRQ vector at index 0 is already processed for HWC.
>  	 * However, the population of irqs array starts with index 0, to be
> @@ -1767,13 +1784,42 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
>  	 * first CPU sibling group since they are already affinitized to HWC IRQ
>  	 */
>  	cpus_read_lock();
> -	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus())
> -		skip_first_cpu = true;
> +	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus()) {
> +		err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, true);
> +		if (err) {
> +			cpus_read_unlock();
> +			goto free_irq;
> +		}
> +	} else {
> +		/*
> +		 * When num_msix_usable are more than num_online_cpus, our
> +		 * queue IRQs should be equal to num of online vCPUs.
> +		 * We try to make sure queue IRQs spread across all vCPUs.
> +		 * In such a case NUMA or CPU core affinity does not matter.
> +		 * Note: in this case the total mana IRQ should always be
> +		 * num_online_cpus + 1. The first HWC IRQ is already handled
> +		 * in HWC setup calls
> +		 * However, if CPUs went offline since num_msix_usable was
> +		 * computed, queue IRQs will be more than num_online_cpus().
> +		 * In such cases remaining extra IRQs will retain their default
> +		 * affinity.
> +		 */
> +		int first_unassigned = num_online_cpus();
> +		if (nvec > first_unassigned) {
> +			char buf[32];
> +
> +			if (first_unassigned == nvec - 1)
> +				snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d",
> +					 first_unassigned);
> +			else
> +				snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d-%d",
> +					 first_unassigned, nvec - 1);
> +
> +			dev_dbg(&pdev->dev,
> +				"MANA IRQ indices #%s will retain the default CPU affinity\n", buf);
> +		}
>  
> -	err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, skip_first_cpu);
> -	if (err) {
> -		cpus_read_unlock();
> -		goto free_irq;
> +		irq_setup_linear(irqs, nvec);

irq_setup() doesn't have a driver prefix, but is actually a static
function in gdma_main.c, so its implementation is specific to this
driver despite its name.

So if I understand this change correctly, if the number of usable MSI-X
vectors is smaller than the number of CPUs, you contineu to use the
current irq_setup logic.. otherwise you switch to the simpler "linear"
logic.

I guess this means the logic and heuristic used in irq_setup() breaks
down when the number of vectors is large and number of vCPU is small?

Makes sense.

>  	}
>  
>  	cpus_read_unlock();
> 
> base-commit: 8415598365503ced2e3d019491b0a2756c85c494

Re: [PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[Shradha Gupta]

On Wed, Jun 03, 2026 at 02:49:24PM -0700, Jacob Keller wrote:
> On 6/1/2026 3:27 AM, Shradha Gupta wrote:
> > In mana driver, the number of IRQs allocated is capped by the
> > min(num_cpu + 1, queue count). In cases, where the IRQ count is greater
> > than the vcpu count, we want to utilize all the vCPUs, irrespective of
> > their NUMA/core bindings.
> > 
> > This is important, especially in the envs where number of vCPUs are so
> > few that the softIRQ handling overhead on two IRQs on the same vCPU is
> > much more than their overheads if they were spread across sibling vCPUs.
> > 
> > This behaviour is more evident with dynamic IRQ allocation. Since MANA
> > IRQs are assigned at a later stage compared to static allocation, other
> > device IRQs may already be affinitized to the vCPUs. As a result, IRQ
> > weights become imbalanced, causing multiple MANA IRQs to land on the
> > same vCPU, while some vCPUs have none.
> > 
> > In such cases when many parallel TCP connections are tested, the
> > throughput drops significantly.
> > 
> > Test envs:
> > =======================================================
> > Case 1: without this patch
> > =======================================================
> > 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> > 
> > 	TYPE		effective vCPU aff
> > =======================================================
> > IRQ0:	HWC		0
> > IRQ1:	mana_q1		0
> > IRQ2:	mana_q2		2
> > IRQ3:	mana_q3		0
> > IRQ4:	mana_q4		3
> > 
> > %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> > vCPU		0	1	2	3
> > =======================================================
> > pass 1:		38.85	0.03	24.89	24.65
> > pass 2:		39.15	0.03	24.57	25.28
> > pass 3:		40.36	0.03	23.20	23.17
> > 
> > =======================================================
> > Case 2: with this patch
> > =======================================================
> > 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> > 
> >         TYPE            effective vCPU aff
> > =======================================================
> > IRQ0:   HWC             0
> > IRQ1:   mana_q1         0
> > IRQ2:   mana_q2         1
> > IRQ3:   mana_q3         2
> > IRQ4:   mana_q4         3
> > 
> > %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> > vCPU            0       1       2       3
> > =======================================================
> > pass 1:         15.42	15.85	14.99	14.51
> > pass 2:         15.53	15.94	15.81	15.93
> > pass 3:         16.41	16.35	16.40	16.36
> > 
> > =======================================================
> > Throughput Impact(in Gbps, same env)
> > =======================================================
> > TCP conn	with patch	w/o patch
> > 20480		15.65		7.73
> > 10240		15.63		8.93
> > 8192		15.64		9.69
> > 6144		15.64		13.16
> > 4096		15.69		15.75
> > 2048		15.69		15.83
> > 1024		15.71		15.28
> > 
> > Fixes: 755391121038 ("net: mana: Allocate MSI-X vectors dynamically")
> > Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> > Co-developed-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Shradha Gupta <shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com>
> > Reviewed-by: Haiyang Zhang <haiyangz@microsoft.com>
> > Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
> > ---
> > Changes in v3
> >  * Optimize the comments in mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs()
> >  * add more details in the dev_dbg for extra IRQs 
> > ---
> > Changes in v2
> >  * Removed the unused skip_first_cpu variable
> >  * fixed exit condition in irq_setup_linear() with len == 0
> >  * changed return type of irq_setup_linear() as it will always be 0
> >  * removed the unnecessary rcu_read_lock() in irq_setup_linear()
> >  * added appropriate comments to indicate expected behaviour when
> >    IRQs are more than or equal to num_online_cpus()
> > ---
> >  .../net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c   | 60 ++++++++++++++++---
> >  1 file changed, 53 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> > index 712a0881d720..00a28b3ca0a6 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> > +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/microsoft/mana/gdma_main.c
> > @@ -197,6 +197,8 @@ static int mana_gd_query_max_resources(struct pci_dev *pdev)
> >  	} else {
> >  		/* If dynamic allocation is enabled we have already allocated
> >  		 * hwc msi
> > +		 * Also, we make sure in this case the following is always true
> > +		 * (num_msix_usable - 1 HWC) <= num_online_cpus()
> >  		 */
> >  		gc->num_msix_usable = min(resp.max_msix, num_online_cpus() + 1);
> >  	}
> > @@ -1717,11 +1719,24 @@ static int irq_setup(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len, int node,
> >  	return 0;
> >  }
> >  
> > +/* should be called with cpus_read_lock() held */
> > +static void irq_setup_linear(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len)
> > +{
> > +	int cpu;
> > +
> > +	for_each_online_cpu(cpu) {
> > +		if (len == 0)
> > +			break;
> > +
> > +		irq_set_affinity_and_hint(*irqs++, cpumask_of(cpu));
> > +		len--;
> > +	}
> > +}
> 
> I would find all of this a bit easier to follow if irq_setup_linear()
> and irq_setup() had a mana prefix so it was more obvious these are
> specific to the driver. Of course irq_setup is pre-existing, and its not
> my driver so do as you will :)
> 
> > +
> >  static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
> >  {
> >  	struct gdma_context *gc = pci_get_drvdata(pdev);
> >  	struct gdma_irq_context *gic;
> > -	bool skip_first_cpu = false;
> >  	int *irqs, irq, err, i;
> >  
> >  	irqs = kmalloc_objs(int, nvec);
> > @@ -1729,6 +1744,8 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
> >  		return -ENOMEM;
> >  
> >  	/*
> > +	 * In this function, num_msix_usable = HWC IRQ + Queue IRQ.
> > +	 * nvec is only Queue IRQ (HWC already setup).
> >  	 * While processing the next pci irq vector, we start with index 1,
> >  	 * as IRQ vector at index 0 is already processed for HWC.
> >  	 * However, the population of irqs array starts with index 0, to be
> > @@ -1767,13 +1784,42 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
> >  	 * first CPU sibling group since they are already affinitized to HWC IRQ
> >  	 */
> >  	cpus_read_lock();
> > -	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus())
> > -		skip_first_cpu = true;
> > +	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus()) {
> > +		err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, true);
> > +		if (err) {
> > +			cpus_read_unlock();
> > +			goto free_irq;
> > +		}
> > +	} else {
> > +		/*
> > +		 * When num_msix_usable are more than num_online_cpus, our
> > +		 * queue IRQs should be equal to num of online vCPUs.
> > +		 * We try to make sure queue IRQs spread across all vCPUs.
> > +		 * In such a case NUMA or CPU core affinity does not matter.
> > +		 * Note: in this case the total mana IRQ should always be
> > +		 * num_online_cpus + 1. The first HWC IRQ is already handled
> > +		 * in HWC setup calls
> > +		 * However, if CPUs went offline since num_msix_usable was
> > +		 * computed, queue IRQs will be more than num_online_cpus().
> > +		 * In such cases remaining extra IRQs will retain their default
> > +		 * affinity.
> > +		 */
> > +		int first_unassigned = num_online_cpus();
> > +		if (nvec > first_unassigned) {
> > +			char buf[32];
> > +
> > +			if (first_unassigned == nvec - 1)
> > +				snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d",
> > +					 first_unassigned);
> > +			else
> > +				snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d-%d",
> > +					 first_unassigned, nvec - 1);
> > +
> > +			dev_dbg(&pdev->dev,
> > +				"MANA IRQ indices #%s will retain the default CPU affinity\n", buf);
> > +		}
> >  
> > -	err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, skip_first_cpu);
> > -	if (err) {
> > -		cpus_read_unlock();
> > -		goto free_irq;
> > +		irq_setup_linear(irqs, nvec);
> 
> irq_setup() doesn't have a driver prefix, but is actually a static
> function in gdma_main.c, so its implementation is specific to this
> driver despite its name.
> 
> So if I understand this change correctly, if the number of usable MSI-X
> vectors is smaller than the number of CPUs, you contineu to use the
> current irq_setup logic.. otherwise you switch to the simpler "linear"
> logic.
> 
> I guess this means the logic and heuristic used in irq_setup() breaks
> down when the number of vectors is large and number of vCPU is small?
> 
> Makes sense.
> 

Hi Jacob,

Yes, that's the right understanding. 
Regarding the function names, let me take that up in a seperate patch to
add prefixes to all such functions.

Thanks.

> >  	}
> >  
> >  	cpus_read_unlock();
> > 
> > base-commit: 8415598365503ced2e3d019491b0a2756c85c494

Re: [PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[Paolo Abeni]

On 6/1/26 12:27 PM, Shradha Gupta wrote:
> In mana driver, the number of IRQs allocated is capped by the
> min(num_cpu + 1, queue count). In cases, where the IRQ count is greater
> than the vcpu count, we want to utilize all the vCPUs, irrespective of
> their NUMA/core bindings.
> 
> This is important, especially in the envs where number of vCPUs are so
> few that the softIRQ handling overhead on two IRQs on the same vCPU is
> much more than their overheads if they were spread across sibling vCPUs.
> 
> This behaviour is more evident with dynamic IRQ allocation. Since MANA
> IRQs are assigned at a later stage compared to static allocation, other
> device IRQs may already be affinitized to the vCPUs. As a result, IRQ
> weights become imbalanced, causing multiple MANA IRQs to land on the
> same vCPU, while some vCPUs have none.
> 
> In such cases when many parallel TCP connections are tested, the
> throughput drops significantly.
> 
> Test envs:
> =======================================================
> Case 1: without this patch
> =======================================================
> 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> 
> 	TYPE		effective vCPU aff
> =======================================================
> IRQ0:	HWC		0
> IRQ1:	mana_q1		0
> IRQ2:	mana_q2		2
> IRQ3:	mana_q3		0
> IRQ4:	mana_q4		3
> 
> %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> vCPU		0	1	2	3
> =======================================================
> pass 1:		38.85	0.03	24.89	24.65
> pass 2:		39.15	0.03	24.57	25.28
> pass 3:		40.36	0.03	23.20	23.17
> 
> =======================================================
> Case 2: with this patch
> =======================================================
> 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> 
>         TYPE            effective vCPU aff
> =======================================================
> IRQ0:   HWC             0
> IRQ1:   mana_q1         0
> IRQ2:   mana_q2         1
> IRQ3:   mana_q3         2
> IRQ4:   mana_q4         3
> 
> %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> vCPU            0       1       2       3
> =======================================================
> pass 1:         15.42	15.85	14.99	14.51
> pass 2:         15.53	15.94	15.81	15.93
> pass 3:         16.41	16.35	16.40	16.36
> 
> =======================================================
> Throughput Impact(in Gbps, same env)
> =======================================================
> TCP conn	with patch	w/o patch
> 20480		15.65		7.73
> 10240		15.63		8.93
> 8192		15.64		9.69
> 6144		15.64		13.16
> 4096		15.69		15.75
> 2048		15.69		15.83
> 1024		15.71		15.28
> 
> Fixes: 755391121038 ("net: mana: Allocate MSI-X vectors dynamically")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Co-developed-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> Signed-off-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> Signed-off-by: Shradha Gupta <shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com>
> Reviewed-by: Haiyang Zhang <haiyangz@microsoft.com>
> Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>

Why do you consider this patch a fix? To me is a configuration
improvement and should land on net-next.

> @@ -1717,11 +1719,24 @@ static int irq_setup(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len, int node,
>  	return 0;
>  }
>  
> +/* should be called with cpus_read_lock() held */

Minor nit: s/should/must/ or just drop the comment, as
`for_each_online_cpu()` usage implies that.

> +static void irq_setup_linear(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len)
> +{
> +	int cpu;
> +
> +	for_each_online_cpu(cpu) {
> +		if (len == 0)
> +			break;
> +
> +		irq_set_affinity_and_hint(*irqs++, cpumask_of(cpu));
> +		len--;
> +	}

As this is another heuristic regarding irq spreading, why don't you
implement that inside irq_setup()?

> @@ -1767,13 +1784,42 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
>  	 * first CPU sibling group since they are already affinitized to HWC IRQ
>  	 */
>  	cpus_read_lock();
> -	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus())
> -		skip_first_cpu = true;
> +	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus()) {
> +		err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, true);
> +		if (err) {
> +			cpus_read_unlock();
> +			goto free_irq;
> +		}
> +	} else {
> +		/*
> +		 * When num_msix_usable are more than num_online_cpus, our
> +		 * queue IRQs should be equal to num of online vCPUs.
> +		 * We try to make sure queue IRQs spread across all vCPUs.
> +		 * In such a case NUMA or CPU core affinity does not matter.
> +		 * Note: in this case the total mana IRQ should always be
> +		 * num_online_cpus + 1. The first HWC IRQ is already handled
> +		 * in HWC setup calls
> +		 * However, if CPUs went offline since num_msix_usable was
> +		 * computed, queue IRQs will be more than num_online_cpus().
> +		 * In such cases remaining extra IRQs will retain their default
> +		 * affinity.
> +		 */
> +		int first_unassigned = num_online_cpus();
> +		if (nvec > first_unassigned) {

An empty line is needed between the variable declaration and the code.

/P

Re: [PATCH net v3] net: mana: Optimize irq affinity for low vcpu configs

[Shradha Gupta]

On Thu, Jun 04, 2026 at 12:45:03PM +0200, Paolo Abeni wrote:
> On 6/1/26 12:27 PM, Shradha Gupta wrote:
> > In mana driver, the number of IRQs allocated is capped by the
> > min(num_cpu + 1, queue count). In cases, where the IRQ count is greater
> > than the vcpu count, we want to utilize all the vCPUs, irrespective of
> > their NUMA/core bindings.
> > 
> > This is important, especially in the envs where number of vCPUs are so
> > few that the softIRQ handling overhead on two IRQs on the same vCPU is
> > much more than their overheads if they were spread across sibling vCPUs.
> > 
> > This behaviour is more evident with dynamic IRQ allocation. Since MANA
> > IRQs are assigned at a later stage compared to static allocation, other
> > device IRQs may already be affinitized to the vCPUs. As a result, IRQ
> > weights become imbalanced, causing multiple MANA IRQs to land on the
> > same vCPU, while some vCPUs have none.
> > 
> > In such cases when many parallel TCP connections are tested, the
> > throughput drops significantly.
> > 
> > Test envs:
> > =======================================================
> > Case 1: without this patch
> > =======================================================
> > 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> > 
> > 	TYPE		effective vCPU aff
> > =======================================================
> > IRQ0:	HWC		0
> > IRQ1:	mana_q1		0
> > IRQ2:	mana_q2		2
> > IRQ3:	mana_q3		0
> > IRQ4:	mana_q4		3
> > 
> > %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> > vCPU		0	1	2	3
> > =======================================================
> > pass 1:		38.85	0.03	24.89	24.65
> > pass 2:		39.15	0.03	24.57	25.28
> > pass 3:		40.36	0.03	23.20	23.17
> > 
> > =======================================================
> > Case 2: with this patch
> > =======================================================
> > 4 vcpu(2 cores), 5 MANA IRQs (1 HWC + 4 Queue)
> > 
> >         TYPE            effective vCPU aff
> > =======================================================
> > IRQ0:   HWC             0
> > IRQ1:   mana_q1         0
> > IRQ2:   mana_q2         1
> > IRQ3:   mana_q3         2
> > IRQ4:   mana_q4         3
> > 
> > %soft on each vCPU(mpstat -P ALL 1) on receiver
> > vCPU            0       1       2       3
> > =======================================================
> > pass 1:         15.42	15.85	14.99	14.51
> > pass 2:         15.53	15.94	15.81	15.93
> > pass 3:         16.41	16.35	16.40	16.36
> > 
> > =======================================================
> > Throughput Impact(in Gbps, same env)
> > =======================================================
> > TCP conn	with patch	w/o patch
> > 20480		15.65		7.73
> > 10240		15.63		8.93
> > 8192		15.64		9.69
> > 6144		15.64		13.16
> > 4096		15.69		15.75
> > 2048		15.69		15.83
> > 1024		15.71		15.28
> > 
> > Fixes: 755391121038 ("net: mana: Allocate MSI-X vectors dynamically")
> > Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> > Co-developed-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Erni Sri Satya Vennela <ernis@linux.microsoft.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Shradha Gupta <shradhagupta@linux.microsoft.com>
> > Reviewed-by: Haiyang Zhang <haiyangz@microsoft.com>
> > Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
> 
> Why do you consider this patch a fix? To me is a configuration
> improvement and should land on net-next.

Hi Paolo,

This is a fix for commit 755391121038 ("net: mana: Allocate MSI-X
vectors dynamically"). Before that commit, IRQs were statically
allocated and clustering of MANA IRQs happened less often on low vCPU
configs. With dynamic allocation, MANA IRQs are assigned at a later
stage when other device IRQs have already occupied vCPUs. The NUMA-aware
affinity logic in that commit increased the probability of IRQ
clustering, causing a 2x throughput regression (15.65 vs 7.73 Gbps) on
low vCPU Azure SKUs at high connection counts.

> 
> > @@ -1717,11 +1719,24 @@ static int irq_setup(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len, int node,
> >  	return 0;
> >  }
> >  
> > +/* should be called with cpus_read_lock() held */
> 
> Minor nit: s/should/must/ or just drop the comment, as
> `for_each_online_cpu()` usage implies that.
> 

Thanks, will change this in next version.

> > +static void irq_setup_linear(unsigned int *irqs, unsigned int len)
> > +{
> > +	int cpu;
> > +
> > +	for_each_online_cpu(cpu) {
> > +		if (len == 0)
> > +			break;
> > +
> > +		irq_set_affinity_and_hint(*irqs++, cpumask_of(cpu));
> > +		len--;
> > +	}
> 
> As this is another heuristic regarding irq spreading, why don't you
> implement that inside irq_setup()?
> 

irq_setup() already handles multiple cases - dynamic, static, and HWC
affinity logic with NUMA-aware sibling group spreading. Adding the
linear case there would make it more complex and harder to follow.
Keeping it as a separate function makes both, NUMA aware and linear
paths easier to understand and maintain.

Happy to reconsider if you feel strongly about it.

> > @@ -1767,13 +1784,42 @@ static int mana_gd_setup_dyn_irqs(struct pci_dev *pdev, int nvec)
> >  	 * first CPU sibling group since they are already affinitized to HWC IRQ
> >  	 */
> >  	cpus_read_lock();
> > -	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus())
> > -		skip_first_cpu = true;
> > +	if (gc->num_msix_usable <= num_online_cpus()) {
> > +		err = irq_setup(irqs, nvec, gc->numa_node, true);
> > +		if (err) {
> > +			cpus_read_unlock();
> > +			goto free_irq;
> > +		}
> > +	} else {
> > +		/*
> > +		 * When num_msix_usable are more than num_online_cpus, our
> > +		 * queue IRQs should be equal to num of online vCPUs.
> > +		 * We try to make sure queue IRQs spread across all vCPUs.
> > +		 * In such a case NUMA or CPU core affinity does not matter.
> > +		 * Note: in this case the total mana IRQ should always be
> > +		 * num_online_cpus + 1. The first HWC IRQ is already handled
> > +		 * in HWC setup calls
> > +		 * However, if CPUs went offline since num_msix_usable was
> > +		 * computed, queue IRQs will be more than num_online_cpus().
> > +		 * In such cases remaining extra IRQs will retain their default
> > +		 * affinity.
> > +		 */
> > +		int first_unassigned = num_online_cpus();
> > +		if (nvec > first_unassigned) {
> 
> An empty line is needed between the variable declaration and the code.

noted, Thanks.

> 
> /P