[PATCH iwl-next v2 3/8] ixgbe: limit ITR decrease in latency mode to prevent ACK overdrive

Aleksandr Loktionov
2026-04-08T13:12:23Z

From: Alexander Duyck <alexander.h.duyck@intel.com>

When operating in latency mode and the computed ITR is lower than the
current setting, the algorithm can reduce the interrupt rate too
aggressively in a single step. For a TCP workload this means the ACK
stream (a latency-sensitive, low-packet-rate workload) can drive the
moderation down to very high interrupt rates, starving CPU time from
the sender side.

After the speed-based ITR calculation is complete, check whether the
result is in latency mode and would decrease below the current setting.
If so, limit the decrease to at most IXGBE_ITR_ADAPTIVE_MIN_INC (2 us)
per update. This ensures the number of interrupts grows by no more
than 2x per adjustment step for latency-class workloads, dialling in
smoothly rather than overshooting.

Signed-off-by: Alexander Duyck <alexander.h.duyck@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Aleksandr Loktionov <aleksandr.loktionov@intel.com>
---
v1 -> v2:
- Split from monolithic ITR cleanup; this patch only adds the 2 us
per-step decrease limit for latency-mode workloads.

drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_main.c | 9 +++++++++
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_main.c
index b3f4a72..d7c5e83 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_main.c
@@ -2888,6 +2888,16 @@ static void ixgbe_update_itr(struct ixgbe_q_vector *q_vector,
break;
}

+ /* In the case of a latency specific workload only allow us to
+ * reduce the ITR by at most 2us. By doing this we should dial
+ * in so that our number of interrupts is no more than 2x the number
+ * of packets for the least busy workload. So for example in the case
+ * of a TCP workload the ACK packets being received would set the
+ * interrupt rate as they are a latency specific workload.
+ */
+ if ((itr & IXGBE_ITR_ADAPTIVE_LATENCY) && itr < ring_container->itr)
+ itr = ring_container->itr - IXGBE_ITR_ADAPTIVE_MIN_INC;
+
clear_counts:
/* write back value */
ring_container->itr = itr;
--
2.52.0