Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 10:26:31 +0100 (BST) From: Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.org> To: Julian Elischer <julian@elischer.org> Cc: Sepherosa Ziehau <sepherosa@gmail.com>, freebsd-net@freebsd.org, Ivan Voras <ivoras@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Advice on a multithreaded netisr patch? Message-ID: <alpine.BSF.2.00.0904071025450.45341@fledge.watson.org> In-Reply-To: <49DAF447.5020407@elischer.org> References: <gra7mq$ei8$1@ger.gmane.org> <alpine.BSF.2.00.0904051422280.12639@fledge.watson.org> <grac1s$p56$1@ger.gmane.org> <alpine.BSF.2.00.0904051440460.12639@fledge.watson.org> <grappq$tsg$1@ger.gmane.org> <alpine.BSF.2.00.0904052243250.34905@fledge.watson.org> <grbcfg$poe$1@ger.gmane.org> <alpine.BSF.2.00.0904061238250.34905@fledge.watson.org> <ea7b9c170904062209tda44636tb9a18755ec0c5bb3@mail.gmail.com> <49DAF447.5020407@elischer.org>
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On Mon, 6 Apr 2009, Julian Elischer wrote: > while this is true, m_pullup ALWAYS does things so in fact you want to > always put it in a test to see if it is really needed.. Then m_pullup() should be fixed? Keeping the expression of the pullup short makes the network code a lot more compact, which is a significant benefit. Robert N M Watson Computer Laboratory University of Cambridge > > from memory it is something like: > > if (m->m_len < headerlen && (m = m_pullup(m, headerlen)) == NULL) { > log(LOG_WARNING, > "nglmi: m_pullup failed for %d bytes\n", headerlen); > return (0); > } > header = mtod(m, struct header *); > > >>> >>> m_pullup() here ensures that the first sizeof(*w) bytes of mbuf data are >>> contiguously stored so that the cast of w to m's data will point at a >>> complete structure we can use to interpret packet data. In the common >>> case >>> in the receipt path, m_pullup() should be a no-op, since almost all >>> drivers >>> receive data in a single cluster. >>> >>> However, there are cases where it might not happen, such as loopback >>> traffic >>> where unusual encapsulation is used, leading to a call to M_PREPEND() that >>> inserts a new mbuf on the front of the chain, which is later m_defrag()'d >>> leading to a higher level header crossing a boundary or the like. >>> >>> This issue is almost entirely independent from things like the cache line >>> miss issue, unless you hit the uncommon case of having to do work in >>> m_pullup(), in which case life sucks. >>> >>> It would be useful to use DTrace to profile a number of the workfull >>> m_foo() >>> functions to make sure we're not hitting them in normal workloads, btw. >> >> I highly suspect m_pullup will take any real effect on RX path, given >> how most of drivers allocate the mbuf for RX ring (all RX mbufs should >> be mclusters). >> >> Best Regards, >> sephe >> > >
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