diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/networking/devmem.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/devmem.rst | 419 |
1 files changed, 419 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/devmem.rst b/Documentation/networking/devmem.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..a6cd7236bfbd --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/devmem.rst @@ -0,0 +1,419 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +================= +Device Memory TCP +================= + + +Intro +===== + +Device memory TCP (devmem TCP) enables receiving data directly into device +memory (dmabuf). The feature is currently implemented for TCP sockets. + + +Opportunity +----------- + +A large number of data transfers have device memory as the source and/or +destination. Accelerators drastically increased the prevalence of such +transfers. Some examples include: + +- Distributed training, where ML accelerators, such as GPUs on different hosts, + exchange data. + +- Distributed raw block storage applications transfer large amounts of data with + remote SSDs. Much of this data does not require host processing. + +Typically the Device-to-Device data transfers in the network are implemented as +the following low-level operations: Device-to-Host copy, Host-to-Host network +transfer, and Host-to-Device copy. + +The flow involving host copies is suboptimal, especially for bulk data transfers, +and can put significant strains on system resources such as host memory +bandwidth and PCIe bandwidth. + +Devmem TCP optimizes this use case by implementing socket APIs that enable +the user to receive incoming network packets directly into device memory. + +Packet payloads go directly from the NIC to device memory. + +Packet headers go to host memory and are processed by the TCP/IP stack +normally. The NIC must support header split to achieve this. + +Advantages: + +- Alleviate host memory bandwidth pressure, compared to existing + network-transfer + device-copy semantics. + +- Alleviate PCIe bandwidth pressure, by limiting data transfer to the lowest + level of the PCIe tree, compared to the traditional path which sends data + through the root complex. + + +More Info +--------- + + slides, video + https://netdevconf.org/0x17/sessions/talk/device-memory-tcp.html + + patchset + [PATCH net-next v24 00/13] Device Memory TCP + https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20240831004313.3713467-1-almasrymina@google.com/ + + +RX Interface +============ + + +Example +------- + +./tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/ncdevmem:do_server shows an example of +setting up the RX path of this API. + + +NIC Setup +--------- + +Header split, flow steering, & RSS are required features for devmem TCP. + +Header split is used to split incoming packets into a header buffer in host +memory, and a payload buffer in device memory. + +Flow steering & RSS are used to ensure that only flows targeting devmem land on +an RX queue bound to devmem. + +Enable header split & flow steering:: + + # enable header split + ethtool -G eth1 tcp-data-split on + + + # enable flow steering + ethtool -K eth1 ntuple on + +Configure RSS to steer all traffic away from the target RX queue (queue 15 in +this example):: + + ethtool --set-rxfh-indir eth1 equal 15 + + +The user must bind a dmabuf to any number of RX queues on a given NIC using +the netlink API:: + + /* Bind dmabuf to NIC RX queue 15 */ + struct netdev_queue *queues; + queues = malloc(sizeof(*queues) * 1); + + queues[0]._present.type = 1; + queues[0]._present.idx = 1; + queues[0].type = NETDEV_RX_QUEUE_TYPE_RX; + queues[0].idx = 15; + + *ys = ynl_sock_create(&ynl_netdev_family, &yerr); + + req = netdev_bind_rx_req_alloc(); + netdev_bind_rx_req_set_ifindex(req, 1 /* ifindex */); + netdev_bind_rx_req_set_dmabuf_fd(req, dmabuf_fd); + __netdev_bind_rx_req_set_queues(req, queues, n_queue_index); + + rsp = netdev_bind_rx(*ys, req); + + dmabuf_id = rsp->dmabuf_id; + + +The netlink API returns a dmabuf_id: a unique ID that refers to this dmabuf +that has been bound. + +The user can unbind the dmabuf from the netdevice by closing the netlink socket +that established the binding. We do this so that the binding is automatically +unbound even if the userspace process crashes. + +Note that any reasonably well-behaved dmabuf from any exporter should work with +devmem TCP, even if the dmabuf is not actually backed by devmem. An example of +this is udmabuf, which wraps user memory (non-devmem) in a dmabuf. + + +Socket Setup +------------ + +The socket must be flow steered to the dmabuf bound RX queue:: + + ethtool -N eth1 flow-type tcp4 ... queue 15 + + +Receiving data +-------------- + +The user application must signal to the kernel that it is capable of receiving +devmem data by passing the MSG_SOCK_DEVMEM flag to recvmsg:: + + ret = recvmsg(fd, &msg, MSG_SOCK_DEVMEM); + +Applications that do not specify the MSG_SOCK_DEVMEM flag will receive an EFAULT +on devmem data. + +Devmem data is received directly into the dmabuf bound to the NIC in 'NIC +Setup', and the kernel signals such to the user via the SCM_DEVMEM_* cmsgs:: + + for (cm = CMSG_FIRSTHDR(&msg); cm; cm = CMSG_NXTHDR(&msg, cm)) { + if (cm->cmsg_level != SOL_SOCKET || + (cm->cmsg_type != SCM_DEVMEM_DMABUF && + cm->cmsg_type != SCM_DEVMEM_LINEAR)) + continue; + + dmabuf_cmsg = (struct dmabuf_cmsg *)CMSG_DATA(cm); + + if (cm->cmsg_type == SCM_DEVMEM_DMABUF) { + /* Frag landed in dmabuf. + * + * dmabuf_cmsg->dmabuf_id is the dmabuf the + * frag landed on. + * + * dmabuf_cmsg->frag_offset is the offset into + * the dmabuf where the frag starts. + * + * dmabuf_cmsg->frag_size is the size of the + * frag. + * + * dmabuf_cmsg->frag_token is a token used to + * refer to this frag for later freeing. + */ + + struct dmabuf_token token; + token.token_start = dmabuf_cmsg->frag_token; + token.token_count = 1; + continue; + } + + if (cm->cmsg_type == SCM_DEVMEM_LINEAR) + /* Frag landed in linear buffer. + * + * dmabuf_cmsg->frag_size is the size of the + * frag. + */ + continue; + + } + +Applications may receive 2 cmsgs: + +- SCM_DEVMEM_DMABUF: this indicates the fragment landed in the dmabuf indicated + by dmabuf_id. + +- SCM_DEVMEM_LINEAR: this indicates the fragment landed in the linear buffer. + This typically happens when the NIC is unable to split the packet at the + header boundary, such that part (or all) of the payload landed in host + memory. + +Applications may receive no SO_DEVMEM_* cmsgs. That indicates non-devmem, +regular TCP data that landed on an RX queue not bound to a dmabuf. + + +Freeing frags +------------- + +Frags received via SCM_DEVMEM_DMABUF are pinned by the kernel while the user +processes the frag. The user must return the frag to the kernel via +SO_DEVMEM_DONTNEED:: + + ret = setsockopt(client_fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_DEVMEM_DONTNEED, &token, + sizeof(token)); + +The user must ensure the tokens are returned to the kernel in a timely manner. +Failure to do so will exhaust the limited dmabuf that is bound to the RX queue +and will lead to packet drops. + +The user must pass no more than 128 tokens, with no more than 1024 total frags +among the token->token_count across all the tokens. If the user provides more +than 1024 frags, the kernel will free up to 1024 frags and return early. + +The kernel returns the number of actual frags freed. The number of frags freed +can be less than the tokens provided by the user in case of: + +(a) an internal kernel leak bug. +(b) the user passed more than 1024 frags. + +TX Interface +============ + + +Example +------- + +./tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/ncdevmem:do_client shows an example of +setting up the TX path of this API. + + +NIC Setup +--------- + +The user must bind a TX dmabuf to a given NIC using the netlink API:: + + struct netdev_bind_tx_req *req = NULL; + struct netdev_bind_tx_rsp *rsp = NULL; + struct ynl_error yerr; + + *ys = ynl_sock_create(&ynl_netdev_family, &yerr); + + req = netdev_bind_tx_req_alloc(); + netdev_bind_tx_req_set_ifindex(req, ifindex); + netdev_bind_tx_req_set_fd(req, dmabuf_fd); + + rsp = netdev_bind_tx(*ys, req); + + tx_dmabuf_id = rsp->id; + + +The netlink API returns a dmabuf_id: a unique ID that refers to this dmabuf +that has been bound. + +The user can unbind the dmabuf from the netdevice by closing the netlink socket +that established the binding. We do this so that the binding is automatically +unbound even if the userspace process crashes. + +Note that any reasonably well-behaved dmabuf from any exporter should work with +devmem TCP, even if the dmabuf is not actually backed by devmem. An example of +this is udmabuf, which wraps user memory (non-devmem) in a dmabuf. + +Socket Setup +------------ + +The user application must use MSG_ZEROCOPY flag when sending devmem TCP. Devmem +cannot be copied by the kernel, so the semantics of the devmem TX are similar +to the semantics of MSG_ZEROCOPY:: + + setsockopt(socket_fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ZEROCOPY, &opt, sizeof(opt)); + +It is also recommended that the user binds the TX socket to the same interface +the dma-buf has been bound to via SO_BINDTODEVICE:: + + setsockopt(socket_fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_BINDTODEVICE, ifname, strlen(ifname) + 1); + + +Sending data +------------ + +Devmem data is sent using the SCM_DEVMEM_DMABUF cmsg. + +The user should create a msghdr where, + +* iov_base is set to the offset into the dmabuf to start sending from +* iov_len is set to the number of bytes to be sent from the dmabuf + +The user passes the dma-buf id to send from via the dmabuf_tx_cmsg.dmabuf_id. + +The example below sends 1024 bytes from offset 100 into the dmabuf, and 2048 +from offset 2000 into the dmabuf. The dmabuf to send from is tx_dmabuf_id:: + + char ctrl_data[CMSG_SPACE(sizeof(struct dmabuf_tx_cmsg))]; + struct dmabuf_tx_cmsg ddmabuf; + struct msghdr msg = {}; + struct cmsghdr *cmsg; + struct iovec iov[2]; + + iov[0].iov_base = (void*)100; + iov[0].iov_len = 1024; + iov[1].iov_base = (void*)2000; + iov[1].iov_len = 2048; + + msg.msg_iov = iov; + msg.msg_iovlen = 2; + + msg.msg_control = ctrl_data; + msg.msg_controllen = sizeof(ctrl_data); + + cmsg = CMSG_FIRSTHDR(&msg); + cmsg->cmsg_level = SOL_SOCKET; + cmsg->cmsg_type = SCM_DEVMEM_DMABUF; + cmsg->cmsg_len = CMSG_LEN(sizeof(struct dmabuf_tx_cmsg)); + + ddmabuf.dmabuf_id = tx_dmabuf_id; + + *((struct dmabuf_tx_cmsg *)CMSG_DATA(cmsg)) = ddmabuf; + + sendmsg(socket_fd, &msg, MSG_ZEROCOPY); + + +Reusing TX dmabufs +------------------ + +Similar to MSG_ZEROCOPY with regular memory, the user should not modify the +contents of the dma-buf while a send operation is in progress. This is because +the kernel does not keep a copy of the dmabuf contents. Instead, the kernel +will pin and send data from the buffer available to the userspace. + +Just as in MSG_ZEROCOPY, the kernel notifies the userspace of send completions +using MSG_ERRQUEUE:: + + int64_t tstop = gettimeofday_ms() + waittime_ms; + char control[CMSG_SPACE(100)] = {}; + struct sock_extended_err *serr; + struct msghdr msg = {}; + struct cmsghdr *cm; + int retries = 10; + __u32 hi, lo; + + msg.msg_control = control; + msg.msg_controllen = sizeof(control); + + while (gettimeofday_ms() < tstop) { + if (!do_poll(fd)) continue; + + ret = recvmsg(fd, &msg, MSG_ERRQUEUE); + + for (cm = CMSG_FIRSTHDR(&msg); cm; cm = CMSG_NXTHDR(&msg, cm)) { + serr = (void *)CMSG_DATA(cm); + + hi = serr->ee_data; + lo = serr->ee_info; + + fprintf(stdout, "tx complete [%d,%d]\n", lo, hi); + } + } + +After the associated sendmsg has been completed, the dmabuf can be reused by +the userspace. + + +Implementation & Caveats +======================== + +Unreadable skbs +--------------- + +Devmem payloads are inaccessible to the kernel processing the packets. This +results in a few quirks for payloads of devmem skbs: + +- Loopback is not functional. Loopback relies on copying the payload, which is + not possible with devmem skbs. + +- Software checksum calculation fails. + +- TCP Dump and bpf can't access devmem packet payloads. + + +Testing +======= + +More realistic example code can be found in the kernel source under +``tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/ncdevmem.c`` + +ncdevmem is a devmem TCP netcat. It works very similarly to netcat, but +receives data directly into a udmabuf. + +To run ncdevmem, you need to run it on a server on the machine under test, and +you need to run netcat on a peer to provide the TX data. + +ncdevmem has a validation mode as well that expects a repeating pattern of +incoming data and validates it as such. For example, you can launch +ncdevmem on the server by:: + + ncdevmem -s <server IP> -c <client IP> -f <ifname> -l -p 5201 -v 7 + +On client side, use regular netcat to send TX data to ncdevmem process +on the server:: + + yes $(echo -e \\x01\\x02\\x03\\x04\\x05\\x06) | \ + tr \\n \\0 | head -c 5G | nc <server IP> 5201 -p 5201 |