Re: [RFC net-next 0/7] Provide an ism layer

Alexandra Winter
2025-01-20T11:46:02Z

On 18.01.25 16:24, Dust Li wrote:
> On 2025-01-17 12:04:06, Alexandra Winter wrote:
>> I hit the send button to early, sorry about that.
>> Let me comment on the other proposals from Dust Li as well.
>>
>> On 16.01.25 10:32, Dust Li wrote:
>>> Abstraction of ISM Device Details: I propose we abstract the ISM device
>>> details by providing SMC with helper functions. These functions could
>>> encapsulate ism->ops, making the implementation cleaner and more
>>> intuitive.
>>
>>
>> Maybe I misunderstand what you mean by helper functions..
>> Why would you encapsulate ism->ops functions in another set of wrappers?
>> I was happy to remove the helper functions in 2/7 and 7/7.
>
> What I mean is similar to how IB handles it in include/rdma/ib_verbs.h.
> A good example is ib_post_send or ibv_post_send in user space:
>
> ```c
> static inline int ib_post_send(struct ib_qp *qp,
> const struct ib_send_wr *send_wr,
> const struct ib_send_wr **bad_send_wr)
> {
> const struct ib_send_wr *dummy;
>
> return qp->device->ops.post_send(qp, send_wr, bad_send_wr ? : &dummy);
> }
> ```
>
> By following this approach, we can "hide" all the implementations behind
> ism_xxx. Our users (SMC) should only interact with these APIs. The ism->ops
> would then be used by our device implementers (vISM, loopback, etc.). This
> would help make the layers clearer, which is the same approach IB takes.
>
> The layout would somehow like this:
>
> | -------------------- |-----------------------------|
> | ism_register_dmb() | |
> | ism_move_data() | <--- API for our users |
> | ism_xxx() ... | |
> | -------------------- |-----------------------------|
> | ism_device_ops | <---for our implementers |
> | | (PCI-ISM/loopback, etc) |
> |----------------------|-----------------------------|
>
>
>>
>>
>> This way, the struct ism_device would mainly serve its
>>> implementers, while the upper helper functions offer a streamlined
>>> interface for SMC.
>>
>>
Thanks for the explanations.
Yes, probably makes sense to further decouple the client API from the
device API. I'll give that a try in the next version.

>> I was actually also wondering, whether the clients should access ism_device
>> at all. Or whether they should only use the ism_ops.
>
> I believe the client should only pass an ism_dev pointer to the ism_xxx()
> helper functions. They should never directly access any of the fields inside
> the ism_dev.
>
>
>> I can give that a try in the next version. I think this RFC almost there already.
>> The clients would still need to pass a poitner to ism_dev as a parameter.
>>
>>
>>> Structuring and Naming: I recommend embedding the structure of ism_ops
>>> directly within ism_dev rather than using a pointer.
>>
>>
>> I think it is a common method to have the const struct xy_ops in the device driver code
>> and then use pointer to register the device with an upper layer.
>
> Right, If we have many ism_devs for each one ISM type, then using pointer
> should save us some memory.
>
>> What would be the benefit of duplicating that struct in every ism_dev?
>
> The main benefit of embedding ism_device_ops within ism_dev is that it
> reduces the dereferencing of an extra pointer. We already have too many
> dereference in the datapath, it is not good for performance :(
>
> For example:
>
> rc = smcd->ism->ops->move_data(smcd->ism, dmb_tok, idx, sf, offset,
> data, len);
>
> Best regards,
> Dust
>

I see your point. I'm not yet convinced. I'll think more about it.