[ovs-dev] [PATCH v2] MPLS: Add limited GSO support

Wed Apr 10 06:21:03 UTC 2013

I would really appreciate some feedback from people on netdev
on the issues described at the bottom of this thread.

On Fri, Apr 05, 2013 at 10:07:38AM +0900, Simon Horman wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 04, 2013 at 10:20:47AM -0700, Jesse Gross wrote:
> > On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Simon Horman <horms at verge.net.au> wrote:
> > > On Wed, Apr 03, 2013 at 05:44:17PM -0700, Jesse Gross wrote:
> > >> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 5:28 PM, Simon Horman <horms at verge.net.au> wrote:
> > >> > On Wed, Apr 03, 2013 at 04:51:38PM -0700, Jesse Gross wrote:
> > >> >> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 2:11 AM, Simon Horman <horms at verge.net.au> wrote:
> > >> >> > In the case where a non-MPLS packet is recieved and an MPLS stack is
> > >> >> > added it may well be the case that the original skb is GSO but the
> > >> >> > NIC used for transmit does not support GSO of MPLS packets.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > The aim of this code is to provide GSO in software for MPLS packets
> > >> >> > whose skbs are GSO.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > When an implementation adds an MPLS stack to a non-MPLS packet it should do
> > >> >> > the following to skb metadata:
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > * Set skb_mac_header(skb)->protocol to the new MPLS ethertype.
> > >> >> >   That is, either ETH_P_MPLS_UC or ETH_P_MPLS_MC.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > * Leave skb->protocol as the old non-MPLS ethertype.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > * Set skb->encapsulation = 1.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> >   This may not strictly be necessary as I believe that checking
> > >> >> >   skb_mac_header(skb)->protocol and skb->protocol should be necessary and
> > >> >> >   sufficient.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> >   However, it does seem to fit nicely with the current implementation of
> > >> >> >   dev_hard_start_xmit() where the more expensive check of
> > >> >> >   skb_mac_header(skb)->protocol may be guarded by an existing check of
> > >> >> >   skb->encapsulation.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > One aspect of this patch that I am unsure about is the modification I have
> > >> >> > made to skb_segment(). This seems to be necessary as checskum accelearation
> > >> >> > may no longer be possible as the packet has changed to be MPLS from some
> > >> >> > other packet type which may have been supported by the hardware in use.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > I will post a patch, "[PATCH v3.24] datapath: Add basic MPLS support to
> > >> >> > kernel" which adds MPLS support to the kernel datapath of Open vSwtich.
> > >> >> > That patch sets the above requirements in
> > >> >> > datapath/actions.c:set_ethertype() and was used to exercise the MPLS GSO
> > >> >> > code. The datapath patch is against the Open vSwtich tree but it is
> > >> >> > intended that it be added to the Open vSwtich code present in the mainline
> > >> >> > Linux kernel at some point.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > Suggested by Jesse Gross. Based heavily on "v4 GRE: Add TCP segmentation
> > >> >> > offload for GRE" by Pravin B Shelar.
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > Cc: Jesse Gross <jesse at nicira.com>
> > >> >> > Cc: Pravin B Shelar <pshelar at nicira.com>
> > >> >> > Signed-off-by: Simon Horman <horms at verge.net.au>
> > >> >>
> > >> >> MPLS is very similar to both the Ethernet header and vlans in that GSO
> > >> >> only requires replication without any modification.  That means that
> > >> >> if we look at the mac_len as containing all three then we can just
> > >> >> copy it without any special knowledge.  I don't know that we carefully
> > >> >> maintain mac_len in all places but you are already doing that in your
> > >> >> MPLS patches.
> > >> >
> > >> > At least for the cases that I am aware of I think that mac_len is
> > >> > predictable. But I'm a little unsure of what you are getting at here.
> > >>
> > >> If you have the MAC len then you don't need any new MPLS code here at
> > >> all; just replicate the whole thing onto each packet.
> > >
> > > The MAC len is set to cover everything up to the top of the MPLS stack.
> > > So it seems that something needs to be done to account for the length
> > > of the MPLS stack.
> > >
> > > Are you suggesting that if Open vSwtich set up the MAC len to extend
> > > to the end of the MPLS stack then mpls_gro_segment() would not be necessary?
> > 
> > Something along those lines.  I think this is very similar to the
> > skb->protocol discussion (and likely influenced by the outcome of
> > that).  MPLS is a little weird with respect to the existing layer
> > pointers but if we can find a good definition then I think that the
> > GSO code should be pretty minimal.
> 
> Thanks, I understand.
> 
> Mainly for the benefit of those who have not been exposed to MPLS (for Open
> vSwtich) I will summarise how I see the problem with the layer pointers and
> protocol values in relation to MPLS.
> 
> 
> Basically MPLS sits between L2 and L3, and is sometimes referred to as
> L2.5.  Currently the code makes use of the network_header in the skb to
> point to the top of the MPLS label stack. But arguably it could just as
> validly be used to point to the bottom of the MPLS label stack, where the
> (non-MPLS) L3 data lies.
> 
> Up until now it has seemed to be more important to know where the top of
> the MPLS label stack is, so using the network_header for that purpose has
> worked out quite well in the Open vSwtich code that uses it ("[PATCH v3.24]
> datapath: Add basic MPLS support to kernel").
> 
> We now see a situation where it would be useful to just know where the
> bottom of the MPLS label stack lies.
> 
> 
> The issue regarding skb->protocol and skb_mac_header(skb)->protocol is
> that when an MPLS push occurs on a previously non-MPLS packet the
> protocol is changed to either MPLS multicast or MPLS unicast. And more
> importantly, the MPLS label stack entry doesn't include the old protocol
> so it is no longer present anywhere in the packet. From an implementation
> point of view this is a critical difference between MPLS and VLANs.
> 
> The way that Open vSwitch currently implements MPLS push results in:
> 
> * skb_mac_header(skb)->protocol set to the new, MPLS, protocol
> * skb->protocol left as the old, (in the case relating to GSO non-MPLS),
>   protocol
> 
> The MPLS GSO code I posted uses this information, plus the fact that
> skb->encapsulation = 1 (not strictly necessary, I think), to determine
> if MPLS GSO segmentation should be performed.
> 
> 
> Jesse has suggested that there would be no need for MPLS GSO segmentation
> code, or that at the very least it would be smaller, if the skb was set up
> more cleverly, with skb->mac_len and skb->network_header corresponding to
> the bottom of the MPLS label stack. This appears to tie into any decision
> about the treatment of skb_mac_header(skb)->protocol and skb->protocol.
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