Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:05:12 +0100
From: Jesper Dangaard Brouer <hawk@...nel.org>
To: Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@...gle.com>
Cc: hawk@...nel.org, bpf@...r.kernel.org, ast@...nel.org,
 daniel@...earbox.net, andrii@...nel.org, martin.lau@...ux.dev,
 song@...nel.org, yhs@...com, john.fastabend@...il.com, kpsingh@...nel.org,
 haoluo@...gle.com, jolsa@...nel.org, kuba@...nel.org, toke@...nel.org,
 willemb@...gle.com, dsahern@...nel.org, magnus.karlsson@...el.com,
 bjorn@...nel.org, maciej.fijalkowski@...el.com, yoong.siang.song@...el.com,
 netdev@...r.kernel.org, xdp-hints@...-project.net
Subject: Re: [PATCH bpf-next v5 02/13] xsk: Add TX timestamp and TX checksum
 offload support



On 11/13/23 18:02, Stanislav Fomichev wrote:
> On 11/13, Jesper Dangaard Brouer wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 11/13/23 15:10, Stanislav Fomichev wrote:
>>> On Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 5:16 AM Jesper Dangaard Brouer <hawk@...nel.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 11/2/23 23:58, Stanislav Fomichev wrote:
>>>>> diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/if_xdp.h b/include/uapi/linux/if_xdp.h
>>>>> index 2ecf79282c26..b0ee7ad19b51 100644
>>>>> --- a/include/uapi/linux/if_xdp.h
>>>>> +++ b/include/uapi/linux/if_xdp.h
>>>>> @@ -106,6 +106,41 @@ struct xdp_options {
>>>>>     #define XSK_UNALIGNED_BUF_ADDR_MASK \
>>>>>         ((1ULL << XSK_UNALIGNED_BUF_OFFSET_SHIFT) - 1)
>>>>>
>>>>> +/* Request transmit timestamp. Upon completion, put it into tx_timestamp
>>>>> + * field of struct xsk_tx_metadata.
>>>>> + */
>>>>> +#define XDP_TXMD_FLAGS_TIMESTAMP             (1 << 0)
>>>>> +
>>>>> +/* Request transmit checksum offload. Checksum start position and offset
>>>>> + * are communicated via csum_start and csum_offset fields of struct
>>>>> + * xsk_tx_metadata.
>>>>> + */
>>>>> +#define XDP_TXMD_FLAGS_CHECKSUM                      (1 << 1)
>>>>> +
>>>>> +/* AF_XDP offloads request. 'request' union member is consumed by the driver
>>>>> + * when the packet is being transmitted. 'completion' union member is
>>>>> + * filled by the driver when the transmit completion arrives.
>>>>> + */
>>>>> +struct xsk_tx_metadata {
>>>>> +     union {
>>>>> +             struct {
>>>>> +                     __u32 flags;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +                     /* XDP_TXMD_FLAGS_CHECKSUM */
>>>>> +
>>>>> +                     /* Offset from desc->addr where checksumming should start. */
>>>>> +                     __u16 csum_start;
>>>>> +                     /* Offset from csum_start where checksum should be stored. */
>>>>> +                     __u16 csum_offset;
>>>>> +             } request;
>>>>> +
>>>>> +             struct {
>>>>> +                     /* XDP_TXMD_FLAGS_TIMESTAMP */
>>>>> +                     __u64 tx_timestamp;
>>>>> +             } completion;
>>>>> +     };
>>>>> +};
>>>>
>>>> This looks wrong to me. It looks like member @flags is not avail at
>>>> completion time.  At completion time, I assume we also want to know if
>>>> someone requested to get the timestamp for this packet (else we could
>>>> read garbage).
>>>
>>> I've moved the parts that are preserved across tx and tx completion
>>> into xsk_tx_metadata_compl.
>>> This is to address Magnus/Maciej feedback where userspace might race
>>> with the kernel.
>>> See: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/ZNoJenzKXW5QSR3E@boxer/
>>>
>>
>> Does this mean that every driver have to extend their TX-desc ring with
>> sizeof(struct xsk_tx_metadata_compl)?
>> Won't this affect the performance of this V5?
> 
> Yes, but it doesn't have to be a descriptor. Might be some internal
> driver completion queue (as in the case of mlx5). And definitely does
> affect performance :-( (see all the static branches to disable it)
>   
>>   $ pahole -C xsk_tx_metadata_compl
>> ./drivers/net/ethernet/stmicro/stmmac/stmmac.ko
>>   struct xsk_tx_metadata_compl {
>> 	__u64 *              tx_timestamp;         /*     0     8 */
>>
>> 	/* size: 8, cachelines: 1, members: 1 */
>> 	/* last cacheline: 8 bytes */
>>   };
>>
>> Guess, I must be misunderstanding, as I was expecting to see the @flags
>> member being preserved across, as I get the race there.
>>
>> Looking at stmmac driver, it does look like this xsk_tx_metadata_compl
>> is part of the TX-ring for completion (tx_skbuff_dma) and the
>> tx_timestamp data is getting stored here.  How is userspace AF_XDP
>> application getting access to the tx_timestamp data?
>> I though this was suppose to get stored in metadata data area (umem)?
>>
>> Also looking at the code, the kernel would not have a "crash" race on
>> the flags member (if we preserve in struct), because the code checks the
>> driver HW-TS config-state + TX-descriptor for the availability of a
>> HW-TS in the descriptor.
> 
> xsk_tx_metadata_compl stores a pointer to the completion timestamp
> in the umem, so everything still arrives via the metadata area.
> 
> We want to make sure the flags are not changing across tx and tx completion.
> Instead of saving the flags, we just use that xsk_tx_metadata_compl to
> signal to the completion that "I know that I've requested the tx
> completion timestamp, please put it at this address in umem".
> 
> I store the pointer instead of flags to avoid doing pointer math again
> at completion. But it's an implementation detail and somewhat abstracted
> from the drivers (besides the fact that it's probably has to fit in 8
> bytes).

I see it now (what I missed). At TX time you are storing a pointer where
to (later) write the TS at completion time.  It just seems overkill to
store 8 byte (pointer) to signal (via NULL) if the HWTS was requested.
Space in the drivers TX-ring is performance critical, and I think driver
developers would prefer to find a bit to indicate HWTS requested.

If HWTS was *NOT* requested, then the metadata area will not be updated
(right, correct?). Then memory area is basically garbage that survived.
How does the AF_XDP application know this packet contains a HWTS or not?

 From an UAPI PoV wouldn't it be easier to use (and extend) via keeping
the @flags member (in struct xsk_tx_metadata), but (as you already do)
not let kernel checks depend on it (to avoid the races).

> 
>>>> Another thing (I've raised this before): It would be really practical to
>>>> store an u64 opaque value at TX and then read it at Completion time.
>>>> One use-case is a forwarding application storing HW RX-time and
>>>> comparing this to TX completion time to deduce the time spend processing
>>>> the packet.
>>>
>>> This can be another member, right? But note that extending
>>> xsk_tx_metadata_compl might be a bit complicated because drivers have
>>> to carry this info somewhere. So we have to balance the amount of
>>> passed data between the tx and the completion.
>>
>> I don't think my opaque value proposal is subject to same race problem.
>> I think this can be stores in metadata area and across tx and tx
>> completion, because any race on a flags change is the userspace
>> programmers problem, as it cannot cause any kernel crash (given kernel
>> have no need to read this).
> 
> Thinking about it, I don't think this needs any special handing?
> You can request sizeof(struct xsk_tx_metadata) + sizeof(opaque data)
> as metadata. The kernel won't touch the 'opaque data' part. Or am I missing
> something?

Sure, I can just create some room after struct xsk_tx_metadata, via 
setting something larger than sizeof(struct xsk_tx_metadata).  I'm 
buying that.

--Jesper

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