Re: [PATCH net 2/2] vhost-net: correctly flush batched packet before enabling notification

Michael S. Tsirkin
2025-09-12T15:30:20Z

On Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 03:24:42PM +0000, Jon Kohler wrote:
>
>
> > On Sep 12, 2025, at 4:50 AM, Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@redhat.com> wrote:
> >
> > !-------------------------------------------------------------------|
> > CAUTION: External Email
> >
> > |-------------------------------------------------------------------!
> >
> > On Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 04:26:58PM +0800, Jason Wang wrote:
> >> Commit 8c2e6b26ffe2 ("vhost/net: Defer TX queue re-enable until after
> >> sendmsg") tries to defer the notification enabling by moving the logic
> >> out of the loop after the vhost_tx_batch() when nothing new is
> >> spotted. This will bring side effects as the new logic would be reused
> >> for several other error conditions.
> >>
> >> One example is the IOTLB: when there's an IOTLB miss, get_tx_bufs()
> >> might return -EAGAIN and exit the loop and see there's still available
> >> buffers, so it will queue the tx work again until userspace feed the
> >> IOTLB entry correctly. This will slowdown the tx processing and may
> >> trigger the TX watchdog in the guest.
> >
> > It's not that it might.
> > Pls clarify that it *has been reported* to do exactly that,
> > and add a link to the report.
> >
> >
> >> Fixing this by stick the notificaiton enabling logic inside the loop
> >> when nothing new is spotted and flush the batched before.
> >>
> >> Reported-by: Jon Kohler <jon@nutanix.com>
> >> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> >> Fixes: 8c2e6b26ffe2 ("vhost/net: Defer TX queue re-enable until after sendmsg")
> >> Signed-off-by: Jason Wang <jasowang@redhat.com>
> >
> > So this is mostly a revert, but with
> > vhost_tx_batch(net, nvq, sock, &msg);
> > added in to avoid regressing performance.
> >
> > If you do not want to structure it like this (revert+optimization),
> > then pls make that clear in the message.
> >
> >
> >> ---
> >> drivers/vhost/net.c | 33 +++++++++++++--------------------
> >> 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)
> >>
> >> diff --git a/drivers/vhost/net.c b/drivers/vhost/net.c
> >> index 16e39f3ab956..3611b7537932 100644
> >> --- a/drivers/vhost/net.c
> >> +++ b/drivers/vhost/net.c
> >> @@ -765,11 +765,11 @@ static void handle_tx_copy(struct vhost_net *net, struct socket *sock)
> >> int err;
> >> int sent_pkts = 0;
> >> bool sock_can_batch = (sock->sk->sk_sndbuf == INT_MAX);
> >> - bool busyloop_intr;
> >> bool in_order = vhost_has_feature(vq, VIRTIO_F_IN_ORDER);
> >>
> >> do {
> >> - busyloop_intr = false;
> >> + bool busyloop_intr = false;
> >> +
> >> if (nvq->done_idx == VHOST_NET_BATCH)
> >> vhost_tx_batch(net, nvq, sock, &msg);
> >>
> >> @@ -780,10 +780,18 @@ static void handle_tx_copy(struct vhost_net *net, struct socket *sock)
> >> break;
> >> /* Nothing new? Wait for eventfd to tell us they refilled. */
> >> if (head == vq->num) {
> >> - /* Kicks are disabled at this point, break loop and
> >> - * process any remaining batched packets. Queue will
> >> - * be re-enabled afterwards.
> >> + /* Flush batched packets before enabling
> >> + * virqtueue notification to reduce
> >> + * unnecssary virtqueue kicks.
> >
> > typos: virtqueue, unnecessary
> >
> >> */
> >> + vhost_tx_batch(net, nvq, sock, &msg);
> >> + if (unlikely(busyloop_intr)) {
> >> + vhost_poll_queue(&vq->poll);
> >> + } else if (unlikely(vhost_enable_notify(&net->dev,
> >> + vq))) {
> >> + vhost_disable_notify(&net->dev, vq);
> >> + continue;
> >> + }
> >> break;
> >> }
>
> See my comment below, but how about something like this?
> if (head == vq->num) {
> /* Flush batched packets before enabling
> * virtqueue notification to reduce
> * unnecessary virtqueue kicks.
> */
> vhost_tx_batch(net, nvq, sock, &msg);
> if (unlikely(busyloop_intr))
> /* If interrupted while doing busy polling,
> * requeue the handler to be fair handle_rx
> * as well as other tasks waiting on cpu.
> */
> vhost_poll_queue(&vq->poll);
> else
> /* All of our work has been completed;
> * however, before leaving the TX handler,
> * do one last check for work, and requeue
> * handler if necessary. If there is no work,
> * queue will be reenabled.
> */
> vhost_net_busy_poll_try_queue(net, vq);

I mean it's functionally equivalent, but vhost_net_busy_poll_try_queue
checks the avail ring again and we just checked it.
Why is this a good idea?
This happens on good path so I dislike unnecessary work like this.

> break;
> }
>
>
> >>
> >> @@ -839,22 +847,7 @@ static void handle_tx_copy(struct vhost_net *net, struct socket *sock)
> >> ++nvq->done_idx;
> >> } while (likely(!vhost_exceeds_weight(vq, ++sent_pkts, total_len)));
> >>
> >> - /* Kicks are still disabled, dispatch any remaining batched msgs. */
> >> vhost_tx_batch(net, nvq, sock, &msg);
> >> -
> >> - if (unlikely(busyloop_intr))
> >> - /* If interrupted while doing busy polling, requeue the
> >> - * handler to be fair handle_rx as well as other tasks
> >> - * waiting on cpu.
> >> - */
> >> - vhost_poll_queue(&vq->poll);
> >> - else
> >> - /* All of our work has been completed; however, before
> >> - * leaving the TX handler, do one last check for work,
> >> - * and requeue handler if necessary. If there is no work,
> >> - * queue will be reenabled.
> >> - */
> >> - vhost_net_busy_poll_try_queue(net, vq);
>
> Note: the use of vhost_net_busy_poll_try_queue was intentional in my
> patch as it was checking to see both conditionals.
>
> Can we simply hoist my logic up instead?
>
> >> }
> >>
> >> static void handle_tx_zerocopy(struct vhost_net *net, struct socket *sock)
> >> --
> >> 2.34.1
> >
>
> Tested-by: Jon Kohler <jon@nutanix.com <mailto:jon@nutanix.com>>
>
> Tried this out on a 6.16 host / guest that locked up with iotlb miss loop,
> applied this patch and all was well.