[ovs-dev] [PATCH v5] userspace: Add TCP Segmentation Offload support

[William Tu]

On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 6:40 AM Flavio Leitner <fbl at sysclose.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 10:33:59AM -0800, William Tu wrote:
> > On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 12:54 AM Flavio Leitner <fbl at sysclose.org> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi Ben,
> > >
> > > Thanks for reviewing it!
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 01:35:39PM -0800, Ben Pfaff wrote:
> > > > On Sat, Jan 18, 2020 at 12:08:06AM +0100, Ilya Maximets wrote:
> > > > > On 18.01.2020 00:03, Stokes, Ian wrote:
> > > > > > Thanks all for review/testing, pushed to master.
> > > > >
> > > > > OK, thanks Ian.
> > > > >
> > > > > @Ben, even though this patch already merged, I'd ask you to take a look
> > > > > at the code in case you'll spot some issues especially in non-DPDK related
> > > > > parts.
> > > >
> > > > I found the name dp_packet_hwol_is_ipv4(), and similar, confusing.  The
> > > > name suggested to me "test whether the packet is IPv4" not "test whether
> > > > the packet has an offloaded IPv4 checksum".  I guess the "hwol" is
> > > > offload related but...  I like the name dp_packet_hwol_tx_l4_checksum()
> > > > much more, it makes it obvious at a glance that it's a
> > > > checksum-offloading check.
> > >
> > > hwol = hardware offloading. I hear that all the time, but maybe there is a
> > > better name. I will improve that if no one gets on it first.
> > >
> > > > In the case where we actually receive a 64 kB packet, I think that this
> > > > code is going to be relatively inefficient.  If I'm reading the code
> > > > correctly (I did it quickly), then this is what happens:
> > > >
> > > >         - The first 1500 bytes of the packet land in the first
> > > >           dp_packet.
> > > >
> > > >         - The remaining 64000ish bytes land in the second dp_packet.
> >
> > It's not a dp_packet, it's a preallocated buffer per rxq (aux_bufs).
> >
> > struct netdev_rxq_linux {
> >     struct netdev_rxq up;
> >     bool is_tap;
> >     int fd;
> >     char *aux_bufs[NETDEV_MAX_BURST]; /* Batch of preallocated TSO buffers. */
> > };
> >
> > > >
> > > >         - Then we expand the first dp_packet to the needed size and copy
> > > >           the remaining 64000 bytes into it.
> > >
> > > That's correct.
> > >
> > > > An alternative would be:
> > > >
> > > >         - Set up the first dp_packet as currently.
> > > >
> > > >         - Set up the second dp_packet so that the bytes are received
> > > >           into it starting at offset (mtu + headroom).
> > > >
> > > >         - If more than mtu bytes are received, then copy those bytes
> > > >           into the headroom of the second dp_packet and return it to the
> > > >           caller instead of the first dp_packet.
> > >
> > > I wanted to avoid doing more extensive processing if it's not a TSO packet
> > > to avoid performance regressions since it' very sensitive. Right now the 64k
> > > buffer is preallocated and is static for each queue to avoid the malloc
> > > performance issue. Now for TSO case, we have more time per packet for
> > > processing.
> >
> > Can we implement Ben's idea by
> > 1) set size of aux_buf to 64k + mtu
> > 2) create 2nd dp_packet using this aux_buf and copy first packet to
> > first mtu bytes of aux_buf
> > 3) since we steal this aux_bufs, allocate a new aux_buf by
> > rxq->aux_bufs[i] = xmalloc(64k + mtu)
> > 4) free the first dp_packet, and use the second dp_packet
>
> I did a quick experiment while at the conference and Ben's idea is
> indeed a bit faster (2.7%) when the packet is not resized due to #1.
>
> If the buffer gets resized to what's actually used, then it becomes
> a bit slower (1.8%).

Do we have to resize it?

>
> Anyways, feel free to have a look at the code[1]. Perhaps it could
> be changed to be more efficient. Just send me a patch and I will be
> happy to test again.
>
> [1] https://github.com/fleitner/ovs/tree/tso-cycles-ben

Thanks!

I tested it by applying
https://github.com/fleitner/ovs/commit/f0f5f630645134bf3c46201de8ce3f44e4fd2c03
Implemented Ben suggestion.
Signed-off-by: Flavio Leitner <fbl at sysclose.org>

Using
    iperf3 -c (ns0) -> veth peer -> OVS -> veth peer -> iperf3 -s (ns1)

Test 100 second TCP

without the patch
[  3]  0.0-100.0 sec  78.8 GBytes  6.77 Gbits/sec

with the patch
[  3]  0.0-100.0 sec  94.5 GBytes  8.11 Gbits/sec

I think it's pretty good improvement!
Regards,
William