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Date:      Mon, 5 Aug 2013 09:59:32 -0500 (CDT)
From:      Bryan Venteicher <bryanv@daemoninthecloset.org>
To:        Luigi Rizzo <rizzo@iet.unipi.it>
Cc:        current@freebsd.org, net@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: [net] protecting interfaces from races between control and data ?
Message-ID:  <2034715395.855.1375714772487.JavaMail.root@daemoninthecloset.org>
In-Reply-To: <20130805082307.GA35162@onelab2.iet.unipi.it>
References:  <20130805082307.GA35162@onelab2.iet.unipi.it>

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----- Original Message -----
> i am slightly unclear of what mechanisms we use to prevent races
> between interface being reconfigured (up/down/multicast setting, etc,
> all causing reinitialization of the rx and tx rings) and
> 
> i) packets from the host stack being sent out;
> ii) interrupts from the network card being processed.
> 
> I think in the old times IFF_DRV_RUNNING was used for this purpose,
> but now it is not enough.
> Acquiring the "core lock" in the NIC does not seem enough, either,
> because newer drivers, especially multiqueue ones, have per-queue
> rx and tx locks.
> 

What I've done in my drivers is:
  * Lock the core mutex
  * Clear IFF_DRV_RUNNING
  * Lock/unlock each queue's lock

The various Rx/Tx queue functions check for IFF_DRV_RUNNING after
(re)acquiring their queue lock. See at vtnet_stop_rendezvous() at
[1] for an example.

> Does anyone know if there is a generic mechanism, or each driver
> reimplements its own way ?
> 

We desperately need a saner ifnet/driver interface. I think andre@ 
had some previous work in this area (and additional plans as well?).
IMO, there's a lot to like on what DragonflyBSD has done in this area.

[1] - http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/user/bryanv/vtnetmq/sys/dev/virtio/network/if_vtnet.c?revision=252451&view=markup

> thanks
> luigi
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