Netdev List
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Simon Schippers <simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de>
To: willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com, jasowang@redhat.com,
	andrew+netdev@lunn.ch, davem@davemloft.net, edumazet@google.com,
	kuba@kernel.org, pabeni@redhat.com, mst@redhat.com,
	eperezma@redhat.com, leiyang@redhat.com,
	stephen@networkplumber.org, jon@nutanix.com,
	tim.gebauer@tu-dortmund.de, simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de,
	netdev@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	kvm@vger.kernel.org, virtualization@lists.linux.dev
Subject: [PATCH net-next v12 4/4] tun/tap & vhost-net: avoid ptr_ring tail-drop when a qdisc is present
Date: Sun, 10 May 2026 17:15:29 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260510151529.43895-5-simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260510151529.43895-1-simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de>

This commit prevents tail-drop when a qdisc is present and the ptr_ring
becomes full. Once the ring reaches capacity after a produce attempt,
the netdev queue is stopped instead of dropping subsequent packets.
If no qdisc is present, the previous tail-drop behavior is preserved.

If producing an entry fails anyway due to a race, tun_net_xmit() drops
the packet. Such races are expected because LLTX is enabled and the
transmit path operates without the usual locking.

The __tun_wake_queue() function of the consumer races with the producer
for waking/stopping the netdev queue, which could result in a stalled
queue. Therefore, an smp_mb__after_atomic() is introduced that pairs
with the smp_mb() of the consumer. It follows the principle of store
buffering described in tools/memory-model/Documentation/recipes.txt:

- The producer in tun_net_xmit() first sets __QUEUE_STATE_DRV_XOFF,
  followed by an smp_mb__after_atomic() (= smp_mb()), and then reads the
  ring with __ptr_ring_check_produce().

- The consumer in __tun_wake_queue() first writes zero to the ring in
  __ptr_ring_consume(), followed by an smp_mb(), and then reads the queue
  status with netif_tx_queue_stopped().

=> Following the aforementioned principle, it is impossible for the
   producer to see a full ring (and therefore not wake the queue on the
   re-check) while the consumer simultaneously fails to see a stopped
   queue (and therefore also does not wake it).

Benchmarks:
The benchmarks show a slight regression in raw transmission performance
when using two sending threads. Packet loss also occurs only in the
two-thread sending case; no packet loss was observed with a single
sending thread.

Test setup:
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X at 4.3 GHz, 3200 MHz RAM, isolated QEMU threads;
Average over 50 runs @ 100,000,000 packets. SRSO and spectre v2
mitigations disabled.

Note for tap+vhost-net:
XDP drop program active in VM -> ~2.5x faster; slower for tap due to
more syscalls (high utilization of entry_SYSRETQ_unsafe_stack in perf)

+--------------------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| 1 thread                 | Stock        | Patched with   | diff     |
| sending                  |              | fq_codel qdisc |          |
+------------+-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| TAP        | Received    | 1.132 Mpps   | 1.123 Mpps     | -0.8%    |
|            +-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
|            | Lost/s      | 3.765 Mpps   | 0 pps          |          |
+------------+-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| TAP        | Received    | 3.857 Mpps   | 3.901 Mpps     | +1.1%    |
|            +-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| +vhost-net | Lost/s      | 0.802 Mpps   | 0 pps          |          |
+------------+-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+

+--------------------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| 2 threads                | Stock        | Patched with   | diff     |
| sending                  |              | fq_codel qdisc |          |
+------------+-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| TAP        | Received    | 1.115 Mpps   | 1.081 Mpps     | -3.0%    |
|            +-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
|            | Lost/s      | 8.490 Mpps   | 391 pps        |          |
+------------+-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| TAP        | Received    | 3.664 Mpps   | 3.555 Mpps     | -3.0%    |
|            +-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| +vhost-net | Lost/s      | 5.330 Mpps   | 938 pps        |          |
+------------+-------------+--------------+----------------+----------+

Co-developed-by: Tim Gebauer <tim.gebauer@tu-dortmund.de>
Signed-off-by: Tim Gebauer <tim.gebauer@tu-dortmund.de>
Signed-off-by: Simon Schippers <simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de>
---
 drivers/net/tun.c | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/tun.c b/drivers/net/tun.c
index cbec66646a4b..bfa49fa9e3a1 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tun.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tun.c
@@ -1018,6 +1018,7 @@ static netdev_tx_t tun_net_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 	struct netdev_queue *queue;
 	struct tun_file *tfile;
 	int len = skb->len;
+	int ret;
 
 	rcu_read_lock();
 	tfile = rcu_dereference(tun->tfiles[txq]);
@@ -1072,13 +1073,33 @@ static netdev_tx_t tun_net_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 
 	nf_reset_ct(skb);
 
-	if (ptr_ring_produce(&tfile->tx_ring, skb)) {
+	queue = netdev_get_tx_queue(dev, txq);
+
+	spin_lock(&tfile->tx_ring.producer_lock);
+	ret = __ptr_ring_produce(&tfile->tx_ring, skb);
+	if (!qdisc_txq_has_no_queue(queue) &&
+	    __ptr_ring_check_produce(&tfile->tx_ring) == -ENOSPC) {
+		netif_tx_stop_queue(queue);
+		/* Paired with smp_mb() in __tun_wake_queue() */
+		smp_mb__after_atomic();
+		if (!__ptr_ring_check_produce(&tfile->tx_ring))
+			netif_tx_wake_queue(queue);
+	}
+	spin_unlock(&tfile->tx_ring.producer_lock);
+
+	if (ret) {
+		/* This should be a rare case if a qdisc is present, but
+		 * can happen due to lltx.
+		 * Since skb_tx_timestamp(), skb_orphan(),
+		 * run_ebpf_filter() and pskb_trim() could have tinkered
+		 * with the SKB, returning NETDEV_TX_BUSY is unsafe and
+		 * we must drop instead.
+		 */
 		drop_reason = SKB_DROP_REASON_FULL_RING;
 		goto drop;
 	}
 
 	/* dev->lltx requires to do our own update of trans_start */
-	queue = netdev_get_tx_queue(dev, txq);
 	txq_trans_cond_update(queue);
 
 	/* Notify and wake up reader process */
-- 
2.43.0


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-05-10 15:17 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-05-10 15:15 [PATCH net-next v12 0/4] tun/tap & vhost-net: apply qdisc backpressure on full ptr_ring to reduce TX drops Simon Schippers
2026-05-10 15:15 ` [PATCH net-next v12 1/4] tun/tap: add ptr_ring consume helper with netdev queue wakeup Simon Schippers
2026-05-10 15:15 ` [PATCH net-next v12 2/4] vhost-net: wake queue of tun/tap after ptr_ring consume Simon Schippers
2026-05-10 15:15 ` [PATCH net-next v12 3/4] ptr_ring: move free-space check into separate helper Simon Schippers
2026-05-10 15:15 ` Simon Schippers [this message]
2026-05-11  9:10 ` [PATCH net-next v12 0/4] tun/tap & vhost-net: apply qdisc backpressure on full ptr_ring to reduce TX drops Michael S. Tsirkin

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260510151529.43895-5-simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de \
    --to=simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de \
    --cc=andrew+netdev@lunn.ch \
    --cc=davem@davemloft.net \
    --cc=edumazet@google.com \
    --cc=eperezma@redhat.com \
    --cc=jasowang@redhat.com \
    --cc=jon@nutanix.com \
    --cc=kuba@kernel.org \
    --cc=kvm@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=leiyang@redhat.com \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=mst@redhat.com \
    --cc=netdev@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=pabeni@redhat.com \
    --cc=stephen@networkplumber.org \
    --cc=tim.gebauer@tu-dortmund.de \
    --cc=virtualization@lists.linux.dev \
    --cc=willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox