Re: [RFC PATCH 30/30] Documentation/networking: Document net policy

Randy Dunlap
2016-07-18T17:00:11Z

On 07/17/16 23:56, kan.liang@intel.com wrote:
> From: Kan Liang <kan.liang@intel.com>
>
> Signed-off-by: Kan Liang <kan.liang@intel.com>
> ---
> Documentation/networking/netpolicy.txt | 158 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 1 file changed, 158 insertions(+)
> create mode 100644 Documentation/networking/netpolicy.txt
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/networking/netpolicy.txt b/Documentation/networking/netpolicy.txt
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000..2ce938e
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/networking/netpolicy.txt
> @@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
> +What is Linux Net Policy?
> +
> +It is a big challenge to get good network performance. First, the network
> +performance is not good with default system settings. Second, it is too
> +difficult to do automatic tuning for all possible workloads, since workloads
> +have different requirements. Some workloads may want high throughput. Some may
> +need low latency. Last but not least, there are lots of manual configurations.
> +Fine grained configuration is too difficult for users.
> +
> +"NET policy" intends to simplify the network configuration and get a
> +good network performance according to the hints(policy) which is applied by
> +user. It provides some typical "policies" for user which can be set
> +per-socket, per-task or per-device. The kernel will automatically figures out

drop: will

> +how to merge different requests to get good network performance.
> +
> +"Net policy" is designed for multiqueue network devices. This document
> +describes the concepts and APIs of "net policy" support.
> +
> +NET POLICY CONCEPTS
> +
> +Scope of Net Policies
> +
> + Device net policy: this policy applies to the whole device. Once the
> + device net policy is set, it automatically configures the system
> + according to the applied policy. The configuration usually includes irq
> + affinity, irq balance disable, interrupt moderation, and so on. But the
> + device net policy does not change the packet direction.
> +
> + Task net policy: this is a per-task policy. When it is applied to specific
> + task, all packets transmissions of the task will be redirect to the

packet redirected

> + assigned queues accordingly. If a task does not define a task policy,
> + it "falls back" to the system default way to direct the packets. The
> + per-task policy must be compatible with device net policy.
> +
> + Socket net policy: this is a per-socket policy. When it is applied to
> + specific socket, all packets transmissions of the socket will be redirect

packet redirected

> + to the assigned queues accordingly. If a socket does not define a socket
> + policy, it "falls back" to the system default way to direct the packets.
> + The per-socket policy must be compatible with both device net policy and
> + per-task policy.
> +
> +Components of Net Policies
> +
> + Net policy object: it is a combination of cpu and queue. The queue irq has
> + to set affinity with the cpu. It can be shared between sockets and tasks.
> + A reference counter is used to track the sharing number.

I would prefer to see CPU instead of cpu and IRQ instead of irq throughout the file.

> +
> + Net policy object list: each device policy has an object list. Once the
> + device policy is determined, the net policy object will be inserted into
> + the net policy object list. The net policy object list does not change
> + unless the cpu/queue number is changed, the netpolicy is disabled or
> + the device policy is changed.
> + The network performance for objects could be different because of the
> + queue/cpu topology and dev location. The objects which can bring high
> + performance are in the front of the list.
> +
> + RCU hash table: a RCU hash table to maintain the relationship between

an RCU

> + the task/socket and the assigned object. The task/socket can get the
> + assigned object by searching the table.
> + If it is the first time, there is no assigned object in the table. It will
> + go through the object list to find the available object based on position
> + and reference number.
> + If the net policy object list changes, all the assigned object will become

objects

> + invalid.
> +
> +NET POLICY APIs
> +
> +Interfaces between net policy and device driver
> +
> + int (*ndo_netpolicy_init)(struct net_device *dev,
> + struct netpolicy_info *info);
> +
> + The device driver who has NET policy support must implement this interface.
> + In this interface, the device driver do necessory initialization, and fill

does necessary

> + the info for net policy module. The information could inlcude supported

include

> + policy, MIX policy support, queue pair support and so on.
> +
> + int (*ndo_get_irq_info)(struct net_device *dev,
> + struct netpolicy_dev_info *info);
> +
> + This interface is used to get more accurate device irq information.
> +
> + int (*ndo_set_net_policy)(struct net_device *dev,
> + enum netpolicy_name name);
> +
> + This interface is used to set device net policy by name

name.

> +
> +Interfaces between net policy and kernel
> +
> + int netpolicy_register(struct netpolicy_reg *reg);
> + void netpolicy_unregister(struct netpolicy_reg *reg);
> +
> + This interface is used to register per task/socket net policy.
> + If it's the first time to register, an record will be created and inserted

a record

> + into RCU hash table. The record includes ptr, policy and object
> + information. There is only one user for each record. The record cannot be
> + share.

shared.

> +
> +
> + int netpolicy_pick_queue(struct netpolicy_reg *reg, bool is_rx);
> +
> + This interface is used to find the proper queue(object) for packet
> + receiving and transmitting. The proper queue is picked from object list
> + according to policy, reference, location and so on.
> +
> +
> + int netpolicy_set_rules(struct netpolicy_reg *reg,
> + u32 queue_index,
> + struct netpolicy_flow_spec *flow);
> +
> + This interface is used to add device specific rules. Once the rule is
> + applied, the packet from specific IP and port will be redirect to the

redirected

> + given queue. This interface usually be used in receive side.

is usually used on the receive side.

> +
> +NET POLICY INTERFACE
> +
> +Device net policy setting
> +
> + /proc/net/netpolicy/$DEV/policy
> +
> + Concatenating(cat) the "policy" file can show the available device
> + policies, if there is no device policy applied. Otherwise, the device
> + policy name will be print out. If it is MIX policy, the policy for each

printed

> + queue will also be print out.

printed

> + User can set device net policy by writing policy name.
> +
> +Task policy setting
> +
> + /proc/$PID/net_policy
> +
> + Concatenating(cat) the "net_policy" file can show the applied per task
> + policy.
> + User can set per task net policy by writing policy name.
> +
> + OR
> +
> + prctl(PR_SET_NETPOLICY, POLICY_NAME, NULL, NULL, NULL)
> +
> + "prctl" is an alternative way to set/get per task policy.
> +
> +Socket policy setting
> +
> + setsockopt(sockfd,SOL_SOCKET,SO_NETPOLICY,&policy,sizeof(int))
> +
> + The socket net policy can be set by option SO_NETPOLICY of setsockopt

setsockopt.

> +
> +AVAILABLE NET POLICIES
> +
> + The available net policies are defined as below:
> + - CPU: intends to get higher throughput and lower CPU%. This policy can be
> + applied as either device net policy or task/socket net policy.
> + - BULK: intends to get highest throughput. This policy can be applied as
> + either device net policy or task/socket net policy.
> + - LATENCY: intends to get lowest latency. This policy can be applied as
> + either device net policy or task/socket net policy.
> + - MIX: combination of other policies, which allows each queue has

to have a

> + different policy. This policy can only be set as device net policy.
> +
>

--
~Randy