Re: Re: [PATCH net-next v2 3/3] skbuff: keep track of pp page when __skb_frag_ref() is called

[Yunsheng Lin <linyunsheng@huawei.com>]

On 2021/9/16 19:57, Ilias Apalodimas wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 07:04:54PM +0800, Yunsheng Lin wrote:
>> On 2021/9/16 18:38, Ilias Apalodimas wrote:
>>> On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 05:33:39PM +0800, Yunsheng Lin wrote:
>>>> On 2021/9/16 16:44, Ilias Apalodimas wrote:
>>>>>>>> appear if we try to pull in your patches on using page pool and recycling
>>>>>
>>>>> [...]
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> for Tx where TSO and skb_split are used?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As my understanding, the problem might exists without tx recycling, because a
>>>>>> skb from wire would be passed down to the tcp stack and retransmited back to
>>>>>> the wire theoretically. As I am not able to setup a configuration to verify
>>>>>> and test it and the handling seems tricky, so I am targetting net-next branch
>>>>>> instead of net branch.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I'll be honest, when I came up with the recycling idea for page pool, I
>>>>>>>> never intended to support Tx.  I agree with Alexander here,  If people want
>>>>>>>> to use it on Tx and think there's value,  we might need to go back to the
>>>>>>>> drawing board and see what I've missed.  It's still early and there's a
>>>>>>>> handful of drivers using it,  so it will less painful now.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yes, we also need to prototype it to see if there is something missing in the
>>>>>> drawing board and how much improvement we get from that:)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I agree, page_pool is NOT designed or intended for TX support.
>>>>>>> E.g. it doesn't make sense to allocate a page_pool instance per socket, as the backing memory structures for page_pool are too much.
>>>>>>> As the number RX-queues are more limited it was deemed okay that we use page_pool per RX-queue, which sacrifice some memory to gain speed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As memtioned before, Tx recycling is based on page_pool instance per socket.
>>>>>> it shares the page_pool instance with rx.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyway, based on feedback from edumazet and dsahern, I am still trying to
>>>>>> see if the page pool is meaningful for tx.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The pp_recycle_bit was introduced to make the checking faster, instead of
>>>>>>>> getting stuff into cache and check the page signature.  If that ends up
>>>>>>>> being counterproductive, we could just replace the entire logic with the
>>>>>>>> frag count and the page signature, couldn't we?  In that case we should be
>>>>>>>> very cautious and measure potential regression on the standard path.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> +1
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I am not sure "pp_recycle_bit was introduced to make the checking faster" is a
>>>>>> valid. The size of "struct page" is only about 9 words(36/72 bytes), which is
>>>>>> mostly to be in the same cache line, and both standard path and recycle path have
>>>>>> been touching the "struct page", so it seems the overhead for checking signature
>>>>>> seems minimal.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I agree that we need to be cautious and measure potential regression on the
>>>>>> standard path.
>>>>>
>>>>> well pp_recycle is on the same cache line boundary with the head_frag we
>>>>> need to decide on recycling. After that we start checking page signatures
>>>>> etc,  which means the default release path remains mostly unaffected.  
>>>>>
>>>>> I guess what you are saying here, is that 'struct page' is going to be
>>>>> accessed eventually by the default network path,  so there won't be any 
>>>>> noticeable performance hit?  What about the other usecases we have
>>>>
>>>> Yes.
>>>
>>> In that case you'd need to call virt_to_head_page() early though, get it
>>> and then compare the signature.   I guess that's avoidable by using 
>>> frag->bv_page for the fragments?
>>
>> If a page of a skb frag is from page pool, It seems frag->bv_page is
>> always point to head_page of a compound page, so the calling of
>> virt_to_head_page() does not seems necessary.
>>
> 
> I was mostly referring to the skb head here and how would you trigger the
> recycling path. 
> 
> I think we are talking about different things here.  
> One idea is to use the last bit of frag->bv_page to identify fragments
> allocated from page_pool, which is done today with the signature.
> 
> The signature however exists in the head page so my question was, can we rid
> of that without having a performance penalty?

As both skb frag and head page is eventually operated on the head page
of a compound page(if it is a compound page) for normal case too, maybe
we can refactor the code to get the head page of a compound page before
the signature checking without doing a second virt_to_head_page() or
compound_head() call?

> 
> IOW in skb_free_head() an we replace:
> 
> if (skb_pp_recycle(skb, head)) 
> with
> if (page->pp_magic & ~0x3UL) == PP_SIGNATURE)
> and get rid of the 'bool recycle' argument in __skb_frag_unref()?

For the frag page of a skb, it seems ok to get rid of the 'bool recycle'
argument in __skb_frag_unref(), as __skb_frag_unref() and __skb_frag_ref()
is symmetrically called to put/get a page.

For the head page of a skb, we might need to make sure the head page
passed to __build_skb_around() meet below condition:
do pp_frag_count incrementing instead of _refcount incrementing when
the head page is not newly allocated and it is from page pool.
It seems hard to audit that?


> 
>> bit 0 of frag->bv_page is different way of indicatior for a pp page,
>> it is better we do not confuse with the page signature way. Using
>> a bit 0 may give us a free word in 'struct page' if we manage to
>> use skb->pp_recycle to indicate a head page of the skb uniquely, meaning
>> page->pp_magic can be used for future feature.
>>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> for pp_recycle right now?  __skb_frag_unref() in skb_shift() or
>>>>> skb_try_coalesce() (the latter can probably be removed tbh).
>>>>
>>>> If we decide to go with accurate indicator of a pp page, we just need
>>>> to make sure network stack use __skb_frag_unref() and __skb_frag_ref()
>>>> to put and get a page frag, the indicator checking need only done in
>>>> __skb_frag_unref() and __skb_frag_ref(), so the skb_shift() and
>>>> skb_try_coalesce() should be fine too.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Another way is to use the bit 0 of frag->bv_page ptr to indicate if a frag
>>>>>> page is from page pool.
>>>>>
>>>>> Instead of the 'struct page' signature?  And the pp_recycle bit will
>>>>> continue to exist?  
>>>>
>>>> pp_recycle bit might only exist or is only used for the head page for the skb.
>>>> The bit 0 of frag->bv_page ptr can be used to indicate a frag page uniquely.
>>>> Doing a memcpying of shinfo or "*fragto = *fragfrom" automatically pass the
>>>> indicator to the new shinfo before doing a __skb_frag_ref(), and __skb_frag_ref()
>>>> will increment the _refcount or pp_frag_count according to the bit 0 of
>>>> frag->bv_page.
>>>>
>>>> By the way, I also prototype the above idea, and it seems to work well too.
>>>>
>>>
>>> As long as no one else touches this, it's just another way of identifying a
>>> page_pool allocated page.  But are we gaining by that?  Not using
>>> virt_to_head_page() as stated above? But in that case you still need to
>>> keep pp_recycle around. 
>>
>> No, we do not need the pp_recycle, as long as the we make sure __skb_frag_ref()
>> is called after memcpying the shinfo or doing "*fragto = *fragfrom".
> 
> But we'll have to keep it for the skb head in this case.

As above, I am not really look into skb head case:)

> 
> Regards
> /Ilias
> 
>>
>>>
>>>>> .
>>>>> Right now the 'naive' explanation on the recycling decision is something like:
>>>>>
>>>>> if (pp_recycle) <--- recycling bit is set
>>>>>     (check page signature) <--- signature matches page pool
>>>>> 		(check fragment refcnt) <--- If frags are enabled and is the last consumer
>>>>> 			recycle
>>>>>
>>>>> If we can proove the performance is unaffected when we eliminate the first if,
>>>>> then obviously we should remove it.  I'll try running that test here and see,
>>>>> but keep in mind I am only testing on an 1GB interface.  Any chance we can get 
>>>>> measurements on a beefier hardware using hns3 ?
>>>>
>>>> Sure, I will try it.
>>>> As the kind of performance overhead is small, any performance testcase in mind?
>>>>
>>>
>>> 'eliminate the first if' wasn't accurate.  I meant switch the first if and
>>> check the struct page signature instead.  That would be the best solution
>>> imho.  We effectively have a single rule to check if a packet comes from
>>> page_pool or not.
>>
>> I am not sure what does "switch " means here, if the page signature can
>> indicate a pp page uniquely, the "if (pp_recycle)" checking can be removed.
>>
>>>
>>> You can start by sending a lot of packets and dropping those immediately.
>>> That should put enough stress on the receive path and the allocators and it
>>> should give us a rough idea. 
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> But in general,  I'd be happier if we only had a simple logic in our
>>>>>>>> testing for the pages we have to recycle.  Debugging and understanding this
>>>>>>>> otherwise will end up being a mess.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> [...]
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards
>>>>> /Ilias
>>>>> .
>>>>>
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> /Ilias
>>> .
>>>
> .
>