[ovs-dev] [PATCH v7] netdev-dpdk: Add support for vHost dequeue zero copy (experimental)

Ciara Loftus ciara.loftus at intel.com
Tue Dec 19 16:44:17 UTC 2017


Enabled per port like so:
ovs-vsctl set Interface dpdkvhostuserclient0 options:dq-zero-copy=true

If the device is already active at the point of enabling/disabling the
feature via ovs-vsctl, one must reload the guest driver or reboot the VM
in order for the feature to be successfully enabled/disabled.

When packets from a vHost device with zero copy enabled are destined for
a single 'dpdk' port, the number of tx descriptors on that 'dpdk' port
must be set to a smaller value. 128 is recommended. This can be achieved
like so:

ovs-vsctl set Interface dpdkport options:n_txq_desc=128

Note: The sum of the tx descriptors of all 'dpdk' ports the VM will send
to should not exceed 128. Due to this requirement, the feature is
considered 'experimental'.

Signed-off-by: Ciara Loftus <ciara.loftus at intel.com>
---
v7:
* Remove support for zc for dpdkvhostuser ports & patch 1 in the series.
* Remove entry from howto Documentation as the document in its current
state is only relevant to dpdkvhostuser ports which do not support the
feature.
* Use ref: link to queue size documentation.
* Elaborate on details of NIC descriptors limitation eg. cases where
packets are destined to >1 NICs.
* Fix comment about padding in netdev-dpdk struct.

 Documentation/intro/install/dpdk.rst     |  2 +
 Documentation/topics/dpdk/vhost-user.rst | 71 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 NEWS                                     |  1 +
 lib/netdev-dpdk.c                        | 97 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 vswitchd/vswitch.xml                     | 13 +++++
 5 files changed, 174 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/intro/install/dpdk.rst b/Documentation/intro/install/dpdk.rst
index 3fecb5c..087eb88 100644
--- a/Documentation/intro/install/dpdk.rst
+++ b/Documentation/intro/install/dpdk.rst
@@ -518,6 +518,8 @@ The above command sets the number of rx queues for DPDK physical interface.
 The rx queues are assigned to pmd threads on the same NUMA node in a
 round-robin fashion.
 
+.. _dpdk-queues-sizes:
+
 DPDK Physical Port Queue Sizes
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/Documentation/topics/dpdk/vhost-user.rst b/Documentation/topics/dpdk/vhost-user.rst
index 8447e2d..d82ca40 100644
--- a/Documentation/topics/dpdk/vhost-user.rst
+++ b/Documentation/topics/dpdk/vhost-user.rst
@@ -458,3 +458,74 @@ Sample XML
     </domain>
 
 .. _QEMU documentation: http://git.qemu-project.org/?p=qemu.git;a=blob;f=docs/specs/vhost-user.txt;h=7890d7169;hb=HEAD
+
+vhost-user Dequeue Zero Copy (experimental)
+-------------------------------------------
+
+Normally when dequeuing a packet from a vHost User device, a memcpy operation
+must be used to copy that packet from guest address space to host address
+space. This memcpy can be removed by enabling dequeue zero-copy like so::
+
+    $ ovs-vsctl set Interface dpdkvhostuserclient0 options:dq-zero-copy=true
+
+With this feature enabled, a reference (pointer) to the packet is passed to
+the host, instead of a copy of the packet. Removing this memcpy can give a
+performance improvement for some use cases, for example switching large packets
+between different VMs. However additional packet loss may be observed.
+
+Note that the feature is disabled by default and must be explicitly enabled
+by using the command above.
+
+The feature cannot be enabled when the device is active. If the device is
+active when enabling the feature via ovs-vsctl, a driver reload or reboot
+is required for the changes to take effect.
+
+The same logic applies for disabling the feature - it must be disabled when
+the device is inactive. To disable the feature::
+
+    $ ovs-vsctl set Interface dpdkvhostuserclient0 options:dq-zero-copy=false
+
+The feature is only available to dpdkvhostuserclient port types.
+
+A limitation exists whereby if packets from a vHost port with dq-zero-copy=true
+are destined for a 'dpdk' type port, the number of tx descriptors (n_txq_desc)
+for that port must be reduced to a smaller number, 128 being the recommended
+value. This can be achieved by issuing the following command::
+
+    $ ovs-vsctl set Interface dpdkport options:n_txq_desc=128
+
+Note: The sum of the tx descriptors of all 'dpdk' ports the VM will send to
+should not exceed 128. For example, in case of a bond over two physical ports
+in balance-tcp mode, one must divide 128 by the number of links in the bond.
+
+Refer to :ref:`<dpdk-queue-sizes>` for more information.
+
+The reason for this limitation is due to how the zero copy functionality is
+implemented. The vHost device's 'tx used vring', a virtio structure used for
+tracking used ie. sent descriptors, will only be updated when the NIC frees
+the corresponding mbuf. If we don't free the mbufs frequently enough, that
+vring will be starved and packets will no longer be processed. One way to
+ensure we don't encounter this scenario, is to configure n_txq_desc to a small
+enough number such that the 'mbuf free threshold' for the NIC will be hit more
+often and thus free mbufs more frequently. The value of 128 is suggested, but
+values of 64 and 256 have been tested and verified to work too, with differing
+performance characteristics. A value of 512 can be used too, if the virtio
+queue size in the guest is increased to 1024 (available to configure in QEMU
+versions v2.10 and greater). This value can be set like so::
+
+    $ qemu-system-x86_64 ... -chardev socket,id=char1,path=<sockpath>,server
+      -netdev type=vhost-user,id=mynet1,chardev=char1,vhostforce
+      -device virtio-net-pci,mac=00:00:00:00:00:01,netdev=mynet1,
+      tx_queue_size=1024
+
+Because of this limitation, this feature is condsidered 'experimental'.
+
+The feature currently does not fully work with QEMU >= v2.7 due to a bug in
+DPDK which will be addressed in an upcoming release. The patch to fix this
+issue can be found on
+`Patchwork
+<http://dpdk.org/dev/patchwork/patch/32198/>`__
+
+Further information can be found in the
+`DPDK documentation
+<http://dpdk.readthedocs.io/en/v17.05/prog_guide/vhost_lib.html>`__
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 752e98f..1eaa32c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Post-v2.8.0
    - DPDK:
      * Add support for DPDK v17.11
      * Add support for vHost IOMMU
+     * Add support for vHost dequeue zero copy (experimental)
 
 v2.8.0 - 31 Aug 2017
 --------------------
diff --git a/lib/netdev-dpdk.c b/lib/netdev-dpdk.c
index 8f22264..4b82a06 100644
--- a/lib/netdev-dpdk.c
+++ b/lib/netdev-dpdk.c
@@ -378,7 +378,10 @@ struct netdev_dpdk {
 
         /* True if vHost device is 'up' and has been reconfigured at least once */
         bool vhost_reconfigured;
-        /* 3 pad bytes here. */
+
+        /* True if dq-zero-copy feature has successfully been enabled */
+        bool dq_zc_enabled;
+        /* 2 pad bytes here. */
     );
 
     PADDED_MEMBERS(CACHE_LINE_SIZE,
@@ -889,6 +892,7 @@ common_construct(struct netdev *netdev, dpdk_port_t port_no,
     dev->max_packet_len = MTU_TO_FRAME_LEN(dev->mtu);
     ovsrcu_index_init(&dev->vid, -1);
     dev->vhost_reconfigured = false;
+    dev->dq_zc_enabled = false;
     dev->attached = false;
 
     ovsrcu_init(&dev->qos_conf, NULL);
@@ -1371,6 +1375,27 @@ netdev_dpdk_ring_set_config(struct netdev *netdev, const struct smap *args,
     return 0;
 }
 
+static bool
+dpdk_vhost_check_zero_copy_config(struct netdev_dpdk *dev,
+                                  const struct smap *args)
+{
+    bool needs_reconfigure = false;
+    bool zc_requested = smap_get_bool(args, "dq-zero-copy", false);
+
+    if (zc_requested &&
+            !(dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY)) {
+        dev->vhost_driver_flags |= RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY;
+        needs_reconfigure = true;
+    } else if (!zc_requested &&
+            (dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY)) {
+        dev->vhost_driver_flags &= ~RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY;
+        needs_reconfigure = true;
+    }
+
+    /* Only try to change ZC mode when device is down */
+    return needs_reconfigure && (netdev_dpdk_get_vid(dev) == -1);
+}
+
 static int
 netdev_dpdk_vhost_client_set_config(struct netdev *netdev,
                                     const struct smap *args,
@@ -1378,15 +1403,23 @@ netdev_dpdk_vhost_client_set_config(struct netdev *netdev,
 {
     struct netdev_dpdk *dev = netdev_dpdk_cast(netdev);
     const char *path;
+    bool needs_reconfigure = false;
 
     ovs_mutex_lock(&dev->mutex);
     if (!(dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_CLIENT)) {
         path = smap_get(args, "vhost-server-path");
         if (path && strcmp(path, dev->vhost_id)) {
             strcpy(dev->vhost_id, path);
-            netdev_request_reconfigure(netdev);
+            needs_reconfigure = true;
         }
     }
+
+    needs_reconfigure |= dpdk_vhost_check_zero_copy_config(dev, args);
+
+    if (needs_reconfigure) {
+        netdev_request_reconfigure(netdev);
+    }
+
     ovs_mutex_unlock(&dev->mutex);
 
     return 0;
@@ -2719,6 +2752,22 @@ netdev_dpdk_txq_map_clear(struct netdev_dpdk *dev)
     }
 }
 
+static bool
+vhost_zero_copy_status_changed(struct netdev_dpdk *dev, bool *enable_zc)
+{
+    if ((dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY)
+            && !dev->dq_zc_enabled) {
+        *enable_zc = true;
+        return true;
+    } else if (!(dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY)
+            && dev->dq_zc_enabled) {
+        *enable_zc = false;
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    return false;
+}
+
 /*
  * Remove a virtio-net device from the specific vhost port.  Use dev->remove
  * flag to stop any more packets from being sent or received to/from a VM and
@@ -2764,6 +2813,7 @@ destroy_device(int vid)
          */
         ovsrcu_quiesce_start();
         VLOG_INFO("vHost Device '%s' has been removed", ifname);
+        netdev_request_reconfigure(&dev->up);
     } else {
         VLOG_INFO("vHost Device '%s' not found", ifname);
     }
@@ -3278,24 +3328,39 @@ netdev_dpdk_vhost_client_reconfigure(struct netdev *netdev)
 {
     struct netdev_dpdk *dev = netdev_dpdk_cast(netdev);
     int err;
-    uint64_t vhost_flags = 0;
+    uint64_t vhost_flags = dev->vhost_driver_flags;
+    bool enable_zc = false;
+    bool zc_status_changed = false;
 
     ovs_mutex_lock(&dev->mutex);
 
-    /* Configure vHost client mode if requested and if the following criteria
-     * are met:
-     *  1. Device hasn't been registered yet.
-     *  2. A path has been specified.
+    zc_status_changed = vhost_zero_copy_status_changed(dev, &enable_zc);
+
+    /* Reconfigure the device if either:
+     *  1. Device hasn't been registered and a path has been specified.
+     *  2. Requested zero copy mode has changed from current configuration.
      */
-    if (!(dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_CLIENT)
-            && strlen(dev->vhost_id)) {
-        /* Register client-mode device. */
+    if ((!(dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_CLIENT)
+           && strlen(dev->vhost_id))
+           || zc_status_changed) {
+
         vhost_flags |= RTE_VHOST_USER_CLIENT;
 
         /* Enable IOMMU support, if explicitly requested. */
         if (dpdk_vhost_iommu_enabled()) {
             vhost_flags |= RTE_VHOST_USER_IOMMU_SUPPORT;
         }
+
+        /* Device has already been registered. Need to unregister */
+        if (dev->vhost_driver_flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_CLIENT) {
+            err = rte_vhost_driver_unregister(dev->vhost_id);
+
+            if (err) {
+                VLOG_ERR("Error unregistering vHost socket %s", dev->vhost_id);
+                goto unlock;
+            }
+        }
+
         err = rte_vhost_driver_register(dev->vhost_id, vhost_flags);
         if (err) {
             VLOG_ERR("vhost-user device setup failure for device %s\n",
@@ -3333,6 +3398,18 @@ netdev_dpdk_vhost_client_reconfigure(struct netdev *netdev)
                      "client port: %s\n", dev->up.name);
             goto unlock;
         }
+
+        if (zc_status_changed) {
+            if (enable_zc) {
+                 dev->dq_zc_enabled = true;
+                 VLOG_INFO("Zero copy enabled for vHost port %s",
+                           dev->up.name);
+            } else {
+                 dev->dq_zc_enabled = false;
+                 VLOG_INFO("Zero copy disabled for vHost port %s",
+                           dev->up.name);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     err = dpdk_vhost_reconfigure_helper(dev);
diff --git a/vswitchd/vswitch.xml b/vswitchd/vswitch.xml
index 018d644..e51795c 100644
--- a/vswitchd/vswitch.xml
+++ b/vswitchd/vswitch.xml
@@ -2669,6 +2669,19 @@ ovs-vsctl add-port br0 p0 -- set Interface p0 type=patch options:peer=p1 \
         </p>
       </column>
 
+      <column name="options" key="dq-zero-copy"
+              type='{"type": "boolean"}'>
+        <p>
+          The value specifies whether or not to enable dequeue zero copy on
+          the given interface.
+          The port must be in an inactive state in order to enable or disable
+          this feature. One must reload the guest driver or reboot the VM if
+          they wish to enable/disable the feature when the device is active.
+          Only supported by dpdkvhostuserclient interfaces.
+          The feature is considered experimental.
+        </p>
+      </column>
+
       <column name="options" key="n_rxq_desc"
               type='{"type": "integer", "minInteger": 1, "maxInteger": 4096}'>
         <p>
-- 
2.7.5



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