[ovs-dev] [PATCH v2.26] datapath: Add basic MPLS support to kernel

[Simon Horman]

On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 10:51:37AM -0700, Jesse Gross wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 2:12 AM, Simon Horman <horms at verge.net.au> wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 06:47:36PM -0700, Jesse Gross wrote:
> >> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 12:58 AM, Simon Horman <horms at verge.net.au> wrote:
> >> > On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 07:41:37AM +0000, Rajahalme, Jarno (NSN - FI/Espoo) wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> On Apr 23, 2013, at 4:51 , ext Simon Horman wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 01:55:43PM +0000, Rajahalme, Jarno (NSN - FI/Espoo) wrote:
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> Here the skb_network_header is changed to point to the L3 header. Is it
> >> >> >> significant that in some cases (?) mpls_stack_depth may remain at zero,
> >> >> >> even when a MPLS header was in fact added? (See above).
> >> >> >
> >> >> > With the current code I believe there are the following cases:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Input: non-MPLS skb: Output: network header and mac_len correspond to the
> >> >> >                     beginning of the L3 headers
> >> >> > Input: MPLS:         Output: network header and mac_len correspond to the
> >> >> >                     end of the L2 headers.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > In the case of MPLS output the end of the L2 headers and the beginning
> >> >> > of the L3 headers will differ.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > As far as I know the network header and mac_len only need to correspond to
> >> >> > the beginning of the L3 header if GSO segmentation will occur (actually,
> >> >> > some proposed changes to the network stack are required, see "[PATCH 0/2]
> >> >> > Small Modifications to GSO to allow segmentation of MPLS").  That only
> >> >> > occurs if the skb is GSO. Which in turn can only occur if the recieved
> >> >> > packet is non-MPLS. This is because the linux kernel doesn't support
> >> >> > MPLS offloads on receive (or anywhere else for that matter).
> >> >> >
> >> >> > In the case that we have a non-MPLS skb the stack depth starts at zero and
> >> >> > is tracked. This is used to update the network header and mac_len.
> >> >> > Otherwise the stack depth is unknown and the network header and mac_len are
> >> >> > left as-is, corresponding to the end of the L2 headers.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Actually, it is possible to tighten up the if clause to be the following,
> >> >> > as it is only necessary to update the network header and mac_len for GSO skbs.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >     if (mpls_stack_depth && skb_is_gso(skb)) {
> >> >> >             ...
> >> >> >     }
> >> >> >
> >> >> > It is possible for us to find and track the MPLS stack depth for all cases
> >> >> > and to update the network header and mac_len. However I don't think that
> >> >> > there is any run-time benefit and it seems expensive to find out what the
> >> >> > original stack depth was - I believe it would require parsing the MPLS
> >> >> > entire stack for each packet.
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> Thanks for explaining this.
> >> >>
> >> >> I think it would be better to keep updating the the network_header and mac_len for the Non-MPLS input packets regardless of the GSO status of the skb. It would be more consistent and less surprising.
> >> >
> >> > I agree entirely that it would be more consistent and less surprising.
> >> > But I'm not sure if the cost is worth it.
> >> >
> >> > Jesse, do you have an opinion on this?
> >>
> >> In general, I would tend to agree with Jarno that keeping this
> >> consistent would be significantly easier to understand. I think the
> >> cost is probably not particularly high.
> >
> > I think it would be become high for large MPLS stack depths.
> > But I'm happy to wear that if you are.
> 
> I guess, although in practice having more than 2 or 3 MPLS labels
> would be extremely rare so I'm not sure that it's worth optimizing at
> this point.

Ok, agreed. I have added some code accordingly.

> >> However, I also think that having different meanings for the layer
> >> pointers inside and outside of OVS is not particularly ideal since it
> >> makes the overall system harder to understand. Using network header
> >> for the start of the MPLS stack might not be great since it means that
> >> we couldn't really take advantage of any actual hardware offloading in
> >> the future. Maybe we could use mac_len for that purpose and that would
> >> keep things more consistent?
> >
> > To clarify, your suggestion is:
> >
> > mac_len: corresponds to the top of the MPLS stack
> > network_header: corresponds to the bottom of the MPLS stack
> >
> > If so, yes I think that could work and I will see about making it so.
> 
> Yes, that's what I was thinking. (Although to be more precise,
> network_header would point to the start of the L3 header, as it does
> currently. In practice, that's the same as the bottom of the MPLS
> stack in the vast majority of situations and in all cases that OVS
> supports.)

Yes, thats what I should have said.

I seem to have this portion working.

I am still struggling to get TCP checksums working without
my hack to skb_segment().