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diff --git a/Documentation/networking/segmentation-offloads.txt b/Documentation/networking/segmentation-offloads.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..aca542ec1 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/segmentation-offloads.txt @@ -0,0 +1,170 @@ +Segmentation Offloads in the Linux Networking Stack + +Introduction +============ + +This document describes a set of techniques in the Linux networking stack +to take advantage of segmentation offload capabilities of various NICs. + +The following technologies are described: + * TCP Segmentation Offload - TSO + * UDP Fragmentation Offload - UFO + * IPIP, SIT, GRE, and UDP Tunnel Offloads + * Generic Segmentation Offload - GSO + * Generic Receive Offload - GRO + * Partial Generic Segmentation Offload - GSO_PARTIAL + * SCTP accelleration with GSO - GSO_BY_FRAGS + +TCP Segmentation Offload +======================== + +TCP segmentation allows a device to segment a single frame into multiple +frames with a data payload size specified in skb_shinfo()->gso_size. +When TCP segmentation requested the bit for either SKB_GSO_TCPV4 or +SKB_GSO_TCPV6 should be set in skb_shinfo()->gso_type and +skb_shinfo()->gso_size should be set to a non-zero value. + +TCP segmentation is dependent on support for the use of partial checksum +offload. For this reason TSO is normally disabled if the Tx checksum +offload for a given device is disabled. + +In order to support TCP segmentation offload it is necessary to populate +the network and transport header offsets of the skbuff so that the device +drivers will be able determine the offsets of the IP or IPv6 header and the +TCP header. In addition as CHECKSUM_PARTIAL is required csum_start should +also point to the TCP header of the packet. + +For IPv4 segmentation we support one of two types in terms of the IP ID. +The default behavior is to increment the IP ID with every segment. If the +GSO type SKB_GSO_TCP_FIXEDID is specified then we will not increment the IP +ID and all segments will use the same IP ID. If a device has +NETIF_F_TSO_MANGLEID set then the IP ID can be ignored when performing TSO +and we will either increment the IP ID for all frames, or leave it at a +static value based on driver preference. + +UDP Fragmentation Offload +========================= + +UDP fragmentation offload allows a device to fragment an oversized UDP +datagram into multiple IPv4 fragments. Many of the requirements for UDP +fragmentation offload are the same as TSO. However the IPv4 ID for +fragments should not increment as a single IPv4 datagram is fragmented. + +UFO is deprecated: modern kernels will no longer generate UFO skbs, but can +still receive them from tuntap and similar devices. Offload of UDP-based +tunnel protocols is still supported. + +IPIP, SIT, GRE, UDP Tunnel, and Remote Checksum Offloads +======================================================== + +In addition to the offloads described above it is possible for a frame to +contain additional headers such as an outer tunnel. In order to account +for such instances an additional set of segmentation offload types were +introduced including SKB_GSO_IPXIP4, SKB_GSO_IPXIP6, SKB_GSO_GRE, and +SKB_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL. These extra segmentation types are used to identify +cases where there are more than just 1 set of headers. For example in the +case of IPIP and SIT we should have the network and transport headers moved +from the standard list of headers to "inner" header offsets. + +Currently only two levels of headers are supported. The convention is to +refer to the tunnel headers as the outer headers, while the encapsulated +data is normally referred to as the inner headers. Below is the list of +calls to access the given headers: + +IPIP/SIT Tunnel: + Outer Inner +MAC skb_mac_header +Network skb_network_header skb_inner_network_header +Transport skb_transport_header + +UDP/GRE Tunnel: + Outer Inner +MAC skb_mac_header skb_inner_mac_header +Network skb_network_header skb_inner_network_header +Transport skb_transport_header skb_inner_transport_header + +In addition to the above tunnel types there are also SKB_GSO_GRE_CSUM and +SKB_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM. These two additional tunnel types reflect the +fact that the outer header also requests to have a non-zero checksum +included in the outer header. + +Finally there is SKB_GSO_TUNNEL_REMCSUM which indicates that a given tunnel +header has requested a remote checksum offload. In this case the inner +headers will be left with a partial checksum and only the outer header +checksum will be computed. + +Generic Segmentation Offload +============================ + +Generic segmentation offload is a pure software offload that is meant to +deal with cases where device drivers cannot perform the offloads described +above. What occurs in GSO is that a given skbuff will have its data broken +out over multiple skbuffs that have been resized to match the MSS provided +via skb_shinfo()->gso_size. + +Before enabling any hardware segmentation offload a corresponding software +offload is required in GSO. Otherwise it becomes possible for a frame to +be re-routed between devices and end up being unable to be transmitted. + +Generic Receive Offload +======================= + +Generic receive offload is the complement to GSO. Ideally any frame +assembled by GRO should be segmented to create an identical sequence of +frames using GSO, and any sequence of frames segmented by GSO should be +able to be reassembled back to the original by GRO. The only exception to +this is IPv4 ID in the case that the DF bit is set for a given IP header. +If the value of the IPv4 ID is not sequentially incrementing it will be +altered so that it is when a frame assembled via GRO is segmented via GSO. + +Partial Generic Segmentation Offload +==================================== + +Partial generic segmentation offload is a hybrid between TSO and GSO. What +it effectively does is take advantage of certain traits of TCP and tunnels +so that instead of having to rewrite the packet headers for each segment +only the inner-most transport header and possibly the outer-most network +header need to be updated. This allows devices that do not support tunnel +offloads or tunnel offloads with checksum to still make use of segmentation. + +With the partial offload what occurs is that all headers excluding the +inner transport header are updated such that they will contain the correct +values for if the header was simply duplicated. The one exception to this +is the outer IPv4 ID field. It is up to the device drivers to guarantee +that the IPv4 ID field is incremented in the case that a given header does +not have the DF bit set. + +SCTP accelleration with GSO +=========================== + +SCTP - despite the lack of hardware support - can still take advantage of +GSO to pass one large packet through the network stack, rather than +multiple small packets. + +This requires a different approach to other offloads, as SCTP packets +cannot be just segmented to (P)MTU. Rather, the chunks must be contained in +IP segments, padding respected. So unlike regular GSO, SCTP can't just +generate a big skb, set gso_size to the fragmentation point and deliver it +to IP layer. + +Instead, the SCTP protocol layer builds an skb with the segments correctly +padded and stored as chained skbs, and skb_segment() splits based on those. +To signal this, gso_size is set to the special value GSO_BY_FRAGS. + +Therefore, any code in the core networking stack must be aware of the +possibility that gso_size will be GSO_BY_FRAGS and handle that case +appropriately. + +There are some helpers to make this easier: + + - skb_is_gso(skb) && skb_is_gso_sctp(skb) is the best way to see if + an skb is an SCTP GSO skb. + + - For size checks, the skb_gso_validate_*_len family of helpers correctly + considers GSO_BY_FRAGS. + + - For manipulating packets, skb_increase_gso_size and skb_decrease_gso_size + will check for GSO_BY_FRAGS and WARN if asked to manipulate these skbs. + +This also affects drivers with the NETIF_F_FRAGLIST & NETIF_F_GSO_SCTP bits +set. Note also that NETIF_F_GSO_SCTP is included in NETIF_F_GSO_SOFTWARE. |