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diff --git a/Documentation/networking/multi-pf-netdev.rst b/Documentation/networking/multi-pf-netdev.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..2688192258 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/multi-pf-netdev.rst @@ -0,0 +1,174 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 +.. include:: <isonum.txt> + +=============== +Multi-PF Netdev +=============== + +Contents +======== + +- `Background`_ +- `Overview`_ +- `mlx5 implementation`_ +- `Channels distribution`_ +- `Observability`_ +- `Steering`_ +- `Mutually exclusive features`_ + +Background +========== + +The Multi-PF NIC technology enables several CPUs within a multi-socket server to connect directly to +the network, each through its own dedicated PCIe interface. Through either a connection harness that +splits the PCIe lanes between two cards or by bifurcating a PCIe slot for a single card. This +results in eliminating the network traffic traversing over the internal bus between the sockets, +significantly reducing overhead and latency, in addition to reducing CPU utilization and increasing +network throughput. + +Overview +======== + +The feature adds support for combining multiple PFs of the same port in a Multi-PF environment under +one netdev instance. It is implemented in the netdev layer. Lower-layer instances like pci func, +sysfs entry, and devlink are kept separate. +Passing traffic through different devices belonging to different NUMA sockets saves cross-NUMA +traffic and allows apps running on the same netdev from different NUMAs to still feel a sense of +proximity to the device and achieve improved performance. + +mlx5 implementation +=================== + +Multi-PF or Socket-direct in mlx5 is achieved by grouping PFs together which belong to the same +NIC and has the socket-direct property enabled, once all PFs are probed, we create a single netdev +to represent all of them, symmetrically, we destroy the netdev whenever any of the PFs is removed. + +The netdev network channels are distributed between all devices, a proper configuration would utilize +the correct close NUMA node when working on a certain app/CPU. + +We pick one PF to be a primary (leader), and it fills a special role. The other devices +(secondaries) are disconnected from the network at the chip level (set to silent mode). In silent +mode, no south <-> north traffic flowing directly through a secondary PF. It needs the assistance of +the leader PF (east <-> west traffic) to function. All Rx/Tx traffic is steered through the primary +to/from the secondaries. + +Currently, we limit the support to PFs only, and up to two PFs (sockets). + +Channels distribution +===================== + +We distribute the channels between the different PFs to achieve local NUMA node performance +on multiple NUMA nodes. + +Each combined channel works against one specific PF, creating all its datapath queues against it. We +distribute channels to PFs in a round-robin policy. + +:: + + Example for 2 PFs and 5 channels: + +--------+--------+ + | ch idx | PF idx | + +--------+--------+ + | 0 | 0 | + | 1 | 1 | + | 2 | 0 | + | 3 | 1 | + | 4 | 0 | + +--------+--------+ + + +The reason we prefer round-robin is, it is less influenced by changes in the number of channels. The +mapping between a channel index and a PF is fixed, no matter how many channels the user configures. +As the channel stats are persistent across channel's closure, changing the mapping every single time +would turn the accumulative stats less representing of the channel's history. + +This is achieved by using the correct core device instance (mdev) in each channel, instead of them +all using the same instance under "priv->mdev". + +Observability +============= +The relation between PF, irq, napi, and queue can be observed via netlink spec:: + + $ ./tools/net/ynl/cli.py --spec Documentation/netlink/specs/netdev.yaml --dump queue-get --json='{"ifindex": 13}' + [{'id': 0, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 539, 'type': 'rx'}, + {'id': 1, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 540, 'type': 'rx'}, + {'id': 2, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 541, 'type': 'rx'}, + {'id': 3, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 542, 'type': 'rx'}, + {'id': 4, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 543, 'type': 'rx'}, + {'id': 0, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 539, 'type': 'tx'}, + {'id': 1, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 540, 'type': 'tx'}, + {'id': 2, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 541, 'type': 'tx'}, + {'id': 3, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 542, 'type': 'tx'}, + {'id': 4, 'ifindex': 13, 'napi-id': 543, 'type': 'tx'}] + + $ ./tools/net/ynl/cli.py --spec Documentation/netlink/specs/netdev.yaml --dump napi-get --json='{"ifindex": 13}' + [{'id': 543, 'ifindex': 13, 'irq': 42}, + {'id': 542, 'ifindex': 13, 'irq': 41}, + {'id': 541, 'ifindex': 13, 'irq': 40}, + {'id': 540, 'ifindex': 13, 'irq': 39}, + {'id': 539, 'ifindex': 13, 'irq': 36}] + +Here you can clearly observe our channels distribution policy:: + + $ ls /proc/irq/{36,39,40,41,42}/mlx5* -d -1 + /proc/irq/36/mlx5_comp1@pci:0000:08:00.0 + /proc/irq/39/mlx5_comp1@pci:0000:09:00.0 + /proc/irq/40/mlx5_comp2@pci:0000:08:00.0 + /proc/irq/41/mlx5_comp2@pci:0000:09:00.0 + /proc/irq/42/mlx5_comp3@pci:0000:08:00.0 + +Steering +======== +Secondary PFs are set to "silent" mode, meaning they are disconnected from the network. + +In Rx, the steering tables belong to the primary PF only, and it is its role to distribute incoming +traffic to other PFs, via cross-vhca steering capabilities. Still maintain a single default RSS table, +that is capable of pointing to the receive queues of a different PF. + +In Tx, the primary PF creates a new Tx flow table, which is aliased by the secondaries, so they can +go out to the network through it. + +In addition, we set default XPS configuration that, based on the CPU, selects an SQ belonging to the +PF on the same node as the CPU. + +XPS default config example: + +NUMA node(s): 2 +NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0-11 +NUMA node1 CPU(s): 12-23 + +PF0 on node0, PF1 on node1. + +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-0/xps_cpus:000001 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-1/xps_cpus:001000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-2/xps_cpus:000002 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-3/xps_cpus:002000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-4/xps_cpus:000004 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-5/xps_cpus:004000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-6/xps_cpus:000008 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-7/xps_cpus:008000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-8/xps_cpus:000010 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-9/xps_cpus:010000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-10/xps_cpus:000020 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-11/xps_cpus:020000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-12/xps_cpus:000040 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-13/xps_cpus:040000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-14/xps_cpus:000080 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-15/xps_cpus:080000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-16/xps_cpus:000100 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-17/xps_cpus:100000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-18/xps_cpus:000200 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-19/xps_cpus:200000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-20/xps_cpus:000400 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-21/xps_cpus:400000 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-22/xps_cpus:000800 +- /sys/class/net/eth2/queues/tx-23/xps_cpus:800000 + +Mutually exclusive features +=========================== + +The nature of Multi-PF, where different channels work with different PFs, conflicts with +stateful features where the state is maintained in one of the PFs. +For example, in the TLS device-offload feature, special context objects are created per connection +and maintained in the PF. Transitioning between different RQs/SQs would break the feature. Hence, +we disable this combination for now. |