Date:   Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:25:21 +0200
From:   Jiri Pirko <jiri@...nulli.us>
To:     John Fastabend <john.fastabend@...il.com>
Cc:     Alexei Starovoitov <alexei.starovoitov@...il.com>,
        netdev@...r.kernel.org, davem@...emloft.net, jhs@...atatu.com,
        xiyou.wangcong@...il.com, mlxsw@...lanox.com, edumazet@...gle.com,
        daniel@...earbox.net, alexander.h.duyck@...el.com,
        willemb@...gle.com
Subject: Re: [patch net-next v2] net: core: introduce mini_Qdisc and
 eliminate usage of tp->q for clsact fastpath

Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 07:18:51PM CEST, john.fastabend@...il.com wrote:
>On 10/26/2017 09:22 AM, Jiri Pirko wrote:
>> Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 05:54:56PM CEST, alexei.starovoitov@...il.com wrote:
>>> On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 11:41:03AM +0200, Jiri Pirko wrote:
>>>> From: Jiri Pirko <jiri@...lanox.com>
>>>>
>>>> In sch_handle_egress and sch_handle_ingress tp->q is used only in order
>>>> to update stats. So stats and filter list are the only things that are
>>>> needed in clsact qdisc fastpath processing. Introduce new mini_Qdisc
>>>> struct to hold those items. This removes need for tp->q usage without
>>>> added overhead.
>>>
>>> that is false claim. The patch adds run-time overhead instead.
>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Jiri Pirko <jiri@...lanox.com>
>>>> ---
>>>> v1->v2:
>>>> - Use dev instead of skb->dev in sch_handle_egress as pointed out by Daniel
>>>> - Fixed synchronize_rcu_bh() in mini_qdisc_disable and commented
>>> ...
>>>> diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
>>>> index 24ac908..44ea1c3 100644
>>>> --- a/net/core/dev.c
>>>> +++ b/net/core/dev.c
>>>> @@ -3274,14 +3274,16 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(dev_loopback_xmit);
>>>>  static struct sk_buff *
>>>>  sch_handle_egress(struct sk_buff *skb, int *ret, struct net_device *dev)
>>>>  {
>>>> -	struct tcf_proto *cl = rcu_dereference_bh(dev->egress_cl_list);
>>>> +	struct mini_Qdisc *miniq = rcu_dereference_bh(dev->miniq_egress);
>>>>  	struct tcf_result cl_res;
>>>> +	struct tcf_proto *cl;
>>>>  
>>>> -	if (!cl)
>>>> +	if (!miniq)
>>>>  		return skb;
>>>> +	cl = rcu_dereference_bh(miniq->filter_list);
>>>
>>> Just like Daniel pointed out in the earlier version of the patch
>>> it adds another rcu dereference to critical path of execution
>>> for every packet...
>>>
>>>> @@ -4189,16 +4191,19 @@ sch_handle_ingress(struct sk_buff *skb, struct packet_type **pt_prev, int *ret,
>>>>  		   struct net_device *orig_dev)
>>>>  {
>>>>  #ifdef CONFIG_NET_CLS_ACT
>>>> -	struct tcf_proto *cl = rcu_dereference_bh(skb->dev->ingress_cl_list);
>>>> +	struct mini_Qdisc *miniq = rcu_dereference_bh(skb->dev->miniq_ingress);
>>>>  	struct tcf_result cl_res;
>>>> +	struct tcf_proto *cl;
>>>>  
>>>>  	/* If there's at least one ingress present somewhere (so
>>>>  	 * we get here via enabled static key), remaining devices
>>>>  	 * that are not configured with an ingress qdisc will bail
>>>>  	 * out here.
>>>>  	 */
>>>> -	if (!cl)
>>>> +	if (!miniq)
>>>>  		return skb;
>>>> +	cl = rcu_dereference_bh(miniq->filter_list);
>>>
>>> ... both ingress and egress paths.
>>> There gotta be very strong reasons to penalize all users for this
>>> and I don't see them in commit log.
>> 
>> Okay, the reason is that in order to make tcf_proto instances
>> independent on qdisc instances so they could be shared amond multiple
>> qdiscs, I have to remove tp->q.
>> 
>
>This is effectively trading performance for some memory savings. Also
>it requires a very specific use case where many filters are duplicated
>across multiple interfaces. At least for my use case we don't have the
>conditions for this to be useful so it just looks like performance
>overhead. I suspect for most server/workstation usages this condition
>of many interfaces with many identical filter chains is not the case.
>
>Any data on how much memory we save in some use cases by sharing
>filter chains? If its just a usability thing a user space script could
>fix that.

In case of mlxsw, when we put the rules in tcam which is quite limited,
we safe quite a lot of space.


>
>> Since tp->q is there only needed to update stats, I introduced
>> mini_Qdisc just to hold those stats pointers and eliminate need to use
>> tp->q at all.
>> 
>> I understand that the 2 rcu_dereferences are adding additional overhead
>> (the desctiption is wrong, I admint), but I do not see another sane way
>> to do this. Do you see it?
>> 
>
>The only thing I can come up with is more or less what you outline below.
>I started to type it up for a reply to v1 of this patch but thought I
>would sleep on it and see if I had any better ideas. I didn't come up
>with anything better.

Okay.


>
>> I think that it might be possible to have miniq->filter_list as a
>> non-rcu pointer. However that would require allocate a new miniq and
>> replace every time head of the list changes. That would require even
>> more ugliness in the slow path. Is there a balance in overhead in the
>> fast path and ugliness in the slowpath?
>> 
>
>We are working very hard (with XDP, RCU filters, etc) to remove per packet
>overheads. I would prefer slowpath ugliness over per packet costs that are
>going to be hard to remove once they are included. Especially when the
>value of sharing filter list seems limited to a few special use cases.

Okay. Going to code the ugliness then :)
Thanks.

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