From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Apr 29 12:46:33 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 520441065690 for ; Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:46:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from barney_cordoba@yahoo.com) Received: from web63907.mail.re1.yahoo.com (web63907.mail.re1.yahoo.com [69.147.97.122]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id EF24C8FC18 for ; Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:46:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from barney_cordoba@yahoo.com) Received: (qmail 41710 invoked by uid 60001); 29 Apr 2009 12:46:32 -0000 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=yahoo.com; s=s1024; t=1241009192; bh=kr8/TfH7DP/iwWGW8TqJPdwZNEkwSk39x4sd+MJWxIg=; h=Message-ID:X-YMail-OSG:Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:Cc:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=xwSD4yC4wVXawB3M8cj42TQ+THrU/4CiMikO6ec7qJdfEZ6usMek53xveaAevjsMbZw1UnJ+wma9zGURsZjCqITd0CA53AaxRVzWF+sj/sFuMKjlAwhFqz/nsduPk394i5YFRmb9DEiqz8qPNJ7bUprdmWzAngMlQRhc2tFqcTI= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:X-YMail-OSG:Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:Cc:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=nuUybDqFMLz1bjkCSNBG6vJrPVGKC/jk7mTfs76i5XuMV+ZoXvPSxi+9JYDZuMbrxP+Ch4c9mKh6QqNBXmtBQIUvoif1zeUXgZwiMt6bege6e59X/5FFTalGWfX36fu3otX1d+2tJ7UydCCPEayjDenmvJjRpSG5lL+irIf/+Ps=; Message-ID: <172091.41695.qm@web63907.mail.re1.yahoo.com> X-YMail-OSG: dW1.4WMVM1kHPEELwJi5fPXVi3emgZrpb0fOp64_bZC2I6frMnpMh7ET7Vyp08h2m.qYg8iFqbVpEDOTTzQ2Gc_1_d9mJRrTTXy7xvUCfNDsMYE7yi_8PYJMsyAMjuLgIWO.z2GDTcuTralulGSoymHukkU6sp3wF6xOE_bOpaRdZhMgzOckr19QmSsSgBOMgZlQ.5NrDGEOdo837Q7D4RfL1eKNZUSXnq16SWcngalSgp6.bTiQJ0TR3rFs7pSt371YQmHiWyh67Arm9Azi5hHsswtqbbqJNUdg Received: from [98.242.223.106] by web63907.mail.re1.yahoo.com via HTTP; Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:46:32 PDT X-Mailer: YahooMailWebService/0.7.289.1 Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:46:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Barney Cordoba To: Luigi Rizzo , Andrew Snow In-Reply-To: <49F7709F.1020409@modulus.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: FreeBSD Net Subject: Re: Interrupts + Polling mode (similar to Linux's NAPI) X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: barney_cordoba@yahoo.com List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:46:33 -0000 --- On Tue, 4/28/09, Andrew Snow wrote: > From: Andrew Snow > Subject: Re: Interrupts + Polling mode (similar to Linux's NAPI) > To: "Luigi Rizzo" > Cc: "FreeBSD Net" > Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 5:09 PM > Luigi Rizzo wrote: > > If i am not mistaken we don't have generic support > for interrupt moderation > > in the kernel but that's a specific NIC feature: > it works if the > > hardware supports it, and it doesn't otherwise. > > > > Of course it would be possible to modify polling to > implement > > generic interrupt mitigation even without hardware > support, so > > you get the best of the two worlds. > > It seems to me that you're wasting your time if you are > trying to achieve a high throughput in FreeBSD without using > an Intel Pro/1000 or 10gbe networking card. > > So I don't know if anyone would really miss out if > generic polling support was completely removed from the > kernel and all efforts were then placed into improving other > parts of network flow in the kernel which need more help. > > > - Andrew I'm not sure if those specific NICs are the "only" choices. But I am concerned that so much brainpower is being put to extending the life of antiquated science projects and so little (maybe none?) is being put to improving drivers and the general network threading and performance. You spend 3 years redesigning the kernel, yet there are no resources to create a decent 10gb/s solution, to get rid of netgraph and to do network integration properly, or to improve the large number of mediocre drivers that were written what might as well be 100 years ago. When the collective answer to better network performance is polling, it makes it appear as if the FreeBSD project is a bunch of dudes working on stuff they feel like doing, rather than there being some centralized plan to make the project successful. Barney