From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Stephen Hemminger Subject: Re: [sungem] proposal for a new locking strategy Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 12:57:23 -0800 Message-ID: <20061106125723.0fa9c5e6@freekitty> References: <5cac192f0611050500m19f72209vc349f235680023a1@mail.gmail.com> <1162731940.28571.245.camel@localhost.localdomain> <5cac192f0611050517q297f5b04w7931788f6dfef3fc@mail.gmail.com> <20061105090254.66710154@localhost.localdomain> <5cac192f0611050928w50127396l2a88978bf97b2bff@mail.gmail.com> <20061105094136.75677aa4@localhost.localdomain> <5cac192f0611050952w443e6042r11c6c66b0e84685d@mail.gmail.com> <20061105104955.2d9a9473@localhost.localdomain> <5cac192f0611051211t55e4c724w3eea5043dfc53db6@mail.gmail.com> <20061106095551.18f9661c@freekitty> <5cac192f0611061255hbe26632t8b605300e27bc1fa@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: "Benjamin Herrenschmidt" , "David S. Miller" , netdev@vger.kernel.org Return-path: Received: from smtp.osdl.org ([65.172.181.4]:61596 "EHLO smtp.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753525AbWKFU5a (ORCPT ); Mon, 6 Nov 2006 15:57:30 -0500 To: "Eric Lemoine" In-Reply-To: <5cac192f0611061255hbe26632t8b605300e27bc1fa@mail.gmail.com> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org On Mon, 6 Nov 2006 21:55:20 +0100 "Eric Lemoine" wrote: > On 11/6/06, Stephen Hemminger wrote: > > On Sun, 5 Nov 2006 21:11:34 +0100 > > "Eric Lemoine" wrote: > > > > > On 11/5/06, Stephen Hemminger wrote: > > > > On Sun, 5 Nov 2006 18:52:45 +0100 > > > > "Eric Lemoine" wrote: > > > > > > > > > On 11/5/06, Stephen Hemminger wrote: > > > > > > On Sun, 5 Nov 2006 18:28:33 +0100 > > > > > > "Eric Lemoine" wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You could also just use net_tx_lock() now. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You mean netif_tx_lock()? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks for letting me know about that function. Yes, I may need it. > > > > > > > tg3 and bnx2 use it to wake up the transmit queue: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > if (unlikely(netif_queue_stopped(tp->dev) && > > > > > > > (tg3_tx_avail(tp) > TG3_TX_WAKEUP_THRESH))) { > > > > > > > netif_tx_lock(tp->dev); > > > > > > > if (netif_queue_stopped(tp->dev) && > > > > > > > (tg3_tx_avail(tp) > TG3_TX_WAKEUP_THRESH)) > > > > > > > netif_wake_queue(tp->dev); > > > > > > > netif_tx_unlock(tp->dev); > > > > > > > } > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 2.6.17 didn't use it. Was it a bug? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > > > > > > > No, it was introduced in 2.6.18. The functions are just a wrapper > > > > > > around the network device transmit lock that is normally held. > > > > > > > > > > > > If the device does not need to acquire the lock during IRQ, it > > > > > > is a good alternative and avoids a second lock. > > > > > > > > > > > > For transmit locking there are three common alternatives: > > > > > > > > > > > > Method A: dev->queue_xmit_lock and per-device tx_lock > > > > > > send: dev->xmit_lock held by caller > > > > > > dev->hard_start_xmit acquires netdev_priv(dev)->tx_lock > > > > > > > > > > > > irq: netdev_priv(dev)->tx_lock acquired > > > > > > > > > > > > Method B: dev->queue_xmit_lock only > > > > > > send: dev->xmit_lock held by caller > > > > > > irq: schedules softirq (NAPI) > > > > > > napi_poll: calls netif_tx_lock() which acquires dev->xmit_lock > > > > > > > > > > > > Method C: LLTX > > > > > > set dev->features LLTX > > > > > > send: no locks held by caller > > > > > > dev->hard_start_xmit acquires netdev_priv(dev)->tx_lock > > > > > > irq: netdev_priv(dev)->tx_lock acquired > > > > > > > > > > > > Method A is the only one that works with 2.4 and early (2.6.8?) kernels. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Current sungem does Method C, and uses two locks: lock and tx_lock. > > > > > What I was planning to do is Method B (which current tg3 uses). It > > > > > seems to me that Method B is better than Method C. What do you think? > > > > > > > > B is better than C because the transmit logic doesn't have to > > > > spin in the case of lock contention, but it is not a big difference. > > > > > > Current sungem does C but uses try_lock() to acquire its private > > > tx_lock. So it doesn't spin either in case of contention. > > > > > > But the spin is still there, just more complex.. > > In qdisc_restart() processing of NETDEV_TX_LOCKED causes: > > spin_lock(dev->xmit_lock) > > > > q->requeue() > > netif_schedule(dev); > > > > SOFTIRQ: > > net_tx_action() > > qdisc_run() --> qdisc_restart() > > > > So instead of spinning in tight loop, you end up with a longer code > > path. > > Stephen, sorry for insisting a bit but I'm failing to see how B is > different from C in that respect. With method B, in qdisc_restart(), > if netif_tx_trylock() fails to acquire the lock then we also > requeue(), etc. Same long code path in case of contention. > Method C LLTX causes repeated softirq's which will be slower since the loop requires more instructions than a simple spin loop (Method B). -- Stephen Hemminger