diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/developer/process-architecture.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/developer/process-architecture.rst | 328 |
1 files changed, 328 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/developer/process-architecture.rst b/doc/developer/process-architecture.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06ee6a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/developer/process-architecture.rst @@ -0,0 +1,328 @@ +.. _process-architecture: + +Process Architecture +==================== + +FRR is a suite of daemons that serve different functions. This document +describes internal architecture of daemons, focusing their general design +patterns, and especially how threads are used in the daemons that use them. + +Overview +-------- +The fundamental pattern used in FRR daemons is an `event loop +<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_loop>`_. Some daemons use `kernel threads +<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_(computing)#Kernel_threads>`_. In these +daemons, each kernel thread runs its own event loop. The event loop +implementation is constructed to be thread safe and to allow threads other than +its owning thread to schedule events on it. The rest of this document describes +these two designs in detail. + +Terminology +----------- +Because this document describes the architecture for kernel threads as well as +the event system, a digression on terminology is in order here. + +Historically Quagga's loop system was viewed as an implementation of userspace +threading. Because of this design choice, the names for various datastructures +within the event system are variations on the term "thread". The primary +datastructure that holds the state of an event loop in this system is called a +"threadmaster". Events scheduled on the event loop - what would today be called +an 'event' or 'task' in systems such as libevent - are called "threads" and the +datastructure for them is ``struct event``. To add to the confusion, these +"threads" have various types, one of which is "event". To hopefully avoid some +of this confusion, this document refers to these "threads" as a 'task' except +where the datastructures are explicitly named. When they are explicitly named, +they will be formatted ``like this`` to differentiate from the conceptual +names. When speaking of kernel threads, the term used will be "pthread" since +FRR's kernel threading implementation uses the POSIX threads API. + +.. This should be broken into its document under :ref:`libfrr` +.. _event-architecture: + +Event Architecture +------------------ +This section presents a brief overview of the event model as currently +implemented in FRR. This doc should be expanded and broken off into its own +section. For now it provides basic information necessary to understand the +interplay between the event system and kernel threads. + +The core event system is implemented in :file:`lib/event.c` and +:file:`lib/frrevent.h`. The primary +structure is ``struct event_loop``, hereafter referred to as a +``threadmaster``. A ``threadmaster`` is a global state object, or context, that +holds all the tasks currently pending execution as well as statistics on tasks +that have already executed. The event system is driven by adding tasks to this +data structure and then calling a function to retrieve the next task to +execute. At initialization, a daemon will typically create one +``threadmaster``, add a small set of initial tasks, and then run a loop to +fetch each task and execute it. + +These tasks have various types corresponding to their general action. The types +are given by integer macros in :file:`frrevent.h` and are: + +``EVENT_READ`` + Task which waits for a file descriptor to become ready for reading and then + executes. + +``EVENT_WRITE`` + Task which waits for a file descriptor to become ready for writing and then + executes. + +``EVENT_TIMER`` + Task which executes after a certain amount of time has passed since it was + scheduled. + +``EVENT_EVENT`` + Generic task that executes with high priority and carries an arbitrary + integer indicating the event type to its handler. These are commonly used to + implement the finite state machines typically found in routing protocols. + +``EVENT_READY`` + Type used internally for tasks on the ready queue. + +``EVENT_UNUSED`` + Type used internally for ``struct event`` objects that aren't being used. + The event system pools ``struct event`` to avoid heap allocations; this is + the type they have when they're in the pool. + +``EVENT_EXECUTE`` + Just before a task is run its type is changed to this. This is used to show + ``X`` as the type in the output of :clicmd:`show thread cpu`. + +The programmer never has to work with these types explicitly. Each type of task +is created and queued via special-purpose functions (actually macros, but +irrelevant for the time being) for the specific type. For example, to add a +``EVENT_READ`` task, you would call + +:: + + event_add_read(struct event_loop *master, int (*handler)(struct event *), void *arg, int fd, struct event **ref); + +The ``struct event`` is then created and added to the appropriate internal +datastructure within the ``threadmaster``. Note that the ``READ`` and +``WRITE`` tasks are independent - a ``READ`` task only tests for +readability, for example. + +The Event Loop +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +To use the event system, after creating a ``threadmaster`` the program adds an +initial set of tasks. As these tasks execute, they add more tasks that execute +at some point in the future. This sequence of tasks drives the lifecycle of the +program. When no more tasks are available, the program dies. Typically at +startup the first task added is an I/O task for VTYSH as well as any network +sockets needed for peerings or IPC. + +To retrieve the next task to run the program calls ``event_fetch()``. +``event_fetch()`` internally computes which task to execute next based on +rudimentary priority logic. Events (type ``EVENT_EVENT``) execute with the +highest priority, followed by expired timers and finally I/O tasks (type +``EVENT_READ`` and ``EVENT_WRITE``). When scheduling a task a function and an +arbitrary argument are provided. The task returned from ``event_fetch()`` is +then executed with ``event_call()``. + +The following diagram illustrates a simplified version of this infrastructure. + +.. todo: replace these with SVG +.. figure:: ../figures/threadmaster-single.png + :align: center + + Lifecycle of a program using a single threadmaster. + +The series of "task" boxes represents the current ready task queue. The various +other queues for other types are not shown. The fetch-execute loop is +illustrated at the bottom. + +Mapping the general names used in the figure to specific FRR functions: + +- ``task`` is ``struct event *`` +- ``fetch`` is ``event_fetch()`` +- ``exec()`` is ``event_call()`` +- ``cancel()`` is ``event_cancel()`` +- ``schedule()`` is any of the various task-specific ``event_add_*`` functions + +Adding tasks is done with various task-specific function-like macros. These +macros wrap underlying functions in :file:`event.c` to provide additional +information added at compile time, such as the line number the task was +scheduled from, that can be accessed at runtime for debugging, logging and +informational purposes. Each task type has its own specific scheduling function +that follow the naming convention ``event_add_<type>``; see :file:`frrevent.h` +for details. + +There are some gotchas to keep in mind: + +- I/O tasks are keyed off the file descriptor associated with the I/O + operation. This means that for any given file descriptor, only one of each + type of I/O task (``EVENT_READ`` and ``EVENT_WRITE``) can be scheduled. For + example, scheduling two write tasks one after the other will overwrite the + first task with the second, resulting in total loss of the first task and + difficult bugs. + +- Timer tasks are only as accurate as the monotonic clock provided by the + underlying operating system. + +- Memory management of the arbitrary handler argument passed in the schedule + call is the responsibility of the caller. + + +Kernel Thread Architecture +-------------------------- +Efforts have begun to introduce kernel threads into FRR to improve performance +and stability. Naturally a kernel thread architecture has long been seen as +orthogonal to an event-driven architecture, and the two do have significant +overlap in terms of design choices. Since the event model is tightly integrated +into FRR, careful thought has been put into how pthreads are introduced, what +role they fill, and how they will interoperate with the event model. + +Design Overview +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +Each kernel thread behaves as a lightweight process within FRR, sharing the +same process memory space. On the other hand, the event system is designed to +run in a single process and drive serial execution of a set of tasks. With this +consideration, a natural choice is to implement the event system within each +kernel thread. This allows us to leverage the event-driven execution model with +the currently existing task and context primitives. In this way the familiar +execution model of FRR gains the ability to execute tasks simultaneously while +preserving the existing model for concurrency. + +The following figure illustrates the architecture with multiple pthreads, each +running their own ``threadmaster``-based event loop. + +.. todo: replace these with SVG +.. figure:: ../figures/threadmaster-multiple.png + :align: center + + Lifecycle of a program using multiple pthreads, each running their own + ``threadmaster`` + +Each roundrect represents a single pthread running the same event loop +described under :ref:`event-architecture`. Note the arrow from the ``exec()`` +box on the right to the ``schedule()`` box in the middle pthread. This +illustrates code running in one pthread scheduling a task onto another +pthread's threadmaster. A global lock for each ``threadmaster`` is used to +synchronize these operations. The pthread names are examples. + + +.. This should be broken into its document under :ref:`libfrr` +.. _kernel-thread-wrapper: + +Kernel Thread Wrapper +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +The basis for the integration of pthreads and the event system is a lightweight +wrapper for both systems implemented in :file:`lib/frr_pthread.[ch]`. The +header provides a core datastructure, ``struct frr_pthread``, that encapsulates +structures from both POSIX threads and :file:`event.c`, :file:`frrevent.h`. +In particular, this +datastructure has a pointer to a ``threadmaster`` that runs within the pthread. +It also has fields for a name as well as start and stop functions that have +signatures similar to the POSIX arguments for ``pthread_create()``. + +Calling ``frr_pthread_new()`` creates and registers a new ``frr_pthread``. The +returned structure has a pre-initialized ``threadmaster``, and its ``start`` +and ``stop`` functions are initialized to defaults that will run a basic event +loop with the given threadmaster. Calling ``frr_pthread_run()`` starts the thread +with the ``start`` function. From there, the model is the same as the regular +event model. To schedule tasks on a particular pthread, simply use the regular +:file:`event.c` functions as usual and provide the ``threadmaster`` pointed to +from the ``frr_pthread``. As part of implementing the wrapper, the +:file:`event.c` functions were made thread-safe. Consequently, it is safe to +schedule events on a ``threadmaster`` belonging both to the calling thread as +well as *any other pthread*. This serves as the basis for inter-thread +communication and boils down to a slightly more complicated method of message +passing, where the messages are the regular task events as used in the +event-driven model. The only difference is thread cancellation, which requires +calling ``event_cancel_async()`` instead of ``event_cancel()`` to cancel a task +currently scheduled on a ``threadmaster`` belonging to a different pthread. +This is necessary to avoid race conditions in the specific case where one +pthread wants to guarantee that a task on another pthread is cancelled before +proceeding. + +In addition, the existing commands to show statistics and other information for +tasks within the event driven model have been expanded to handle multiple +pthreads; running :clicmd:`show thread cpu` will display the usual event +breakdown, but it will do so for each pthread running in the program. For +example, :ref:`bgpd` runs a dedicated I/O pthread and shows the following +output for :clicmd:`show thread cpu`: + +:: + + frr# show thread cpu + + Thread statistics for bgpd: + + Showing statistics for pthread main + ------------------------------------ + CPU (user+system): Real (wall-clock): + Active Runtime(ms) Invoked Avg uSec Max uSecs Avg uSec Max uSecs Type Thread + 0 1389.000 10 138900 248000 135549 255349 T subgroup_coalesce_timer + 0 0.000 1 0 0 18 18 T bgp_startup_timer_expire + 0 850.000 18 47222 222000 47795 233814 T work_queue_run + 0 0.000 10 0 0 6 14 T update_subgroup_merge_check_thread_cb + 0 0.000 8 0 0 117 160 W zclient_flush_data + 2 2.000 1 2000 2000 831 831 R bgp_accept + 0 1.000 1 1000 1000 2832 2832 E zclient_connect + 1 42082.000 240574 174 37000 178 72810 R vtysh_read + 1 152.000 1885 80 2000 96 6292 R zclient_read + 0 549346.000 2997298 183 7000 153 20242 E bgp_event + 0 2120.000 300 7066 14000 6813 22046 T (bgp_holdtime_timer) + 0 0.000 2 0 0 57 59 T update_group_refresh_default_originate_route_map + 0 90.000 1 90000 90000 73729 73729 T bgp_route_map_update_timer + 0 1417.000 9147 154 48000 132 61998 T bgp_process_packet + 300 71807.000 2995200 23 3000 24 11066 T (bgp_connect_timer) + 0 1894.000 12713 148 45000 112 33606 T (bgp_generate_updgrp_packets) + 0 0.000 1 0 0 105 105 W vtysh_write + 0 52.000 599 86 2000 138 6992 T (bgp_start_timer) + 1 1.000 8 125 1000 164 593 R vtysh_accept + 0 15.000 600 25 2000 15 153 T (bgp_routeadv_timer) + 0 11.000 299 36 3000 53 3128 RW bgp_connect_check + + + Showing statistics for pthread BGP I/O thread + ---------------------------------------------- + CPU (user+system): Real (wall-clock): + Active Runtime(ms) Invoked Avg uSec Max uSecs Avg uSec Max uSecs Type Thread + 0 1611.000 9296 173 13000 188 13685 R bgp_process_reads + 0 2995.000 11753 254 26000 182 29355 W bgp_process_writes + + + Showing statistics for pthread BGP Keepalives thread + ----------------------------------------------------- + CPU (user+system): Real (wall-clock): + Active Runtime(ms) Invoked Avg uSec Max uSecs Avg uSec Max uSecs Type Thread + No data to display yet. + +Attentive readers will notice that there is a third thread, the Keepalives +thread. This thread is responsible for -- surprise -- generating keepalives for +peers. However, there are no statistics showing for that thread. Although the +pthread uses the ``frr_pthread`` wrapper, it opts not to use the embedded +``threadmaster`` facilities. Instead it replaces the ``start`` and ``stop`` +functions with custom functions. This was done because the ``threadmaster`` +facilities introduce a small but significant amount of overhead relative to the +pthread's task. In this case since the pthread does not need the event-driven +model and does not need to receive tasks from other pthreads, it is simpler and +more efficient to implement it outside of the provided event facilities. The +point to take away from this example is that while the facilities to make using +pthreads within FRR easy are already implemented, the wrapper is flexible and +allows usage of other models while still integrating with the rest of the FRR +core infrastructure. Starting and stopping this pthread works the same as it +does for any other ``frr_pthread``; the only difference is that event +statistics are not collected for it, because there are no events. + +Notes on Design and Documentation +--------------------------------- +Because of the choice to embed the existing event system into each pthread +within FRR, at this time there is not integrated support for other models of +pthread use such as divide and conquer. Similarly, there is no explicit support +for thread pooling or similar higher level constructs. The currently existing +infrastructure is designed around the concept of long-running worker threads +responsible for specific jobs within each daemon. This is not to say that +divide and conquer, thread pooling, etc. could not be implemented in the +future. However, designs in this direction must be very careful to take into +account the existing codebase. Introducing kernel threads into programs that +have been written under the assumption of a single thread of execution must be +done very carefully to avoid insidious errors and to ensure the program remains +understandable and maintainable. + +In keeping with these goals, future work on kernel threading should be +extensively documented here and FRR developers should be very careful with +their design choices, as poor choices tightly integrated can prove to be +catastrophic for development efforts in the future. |