We have observed high rate of NIC PF interrupts when VNF is using DPDK
APIs rte_eth_link_get_nowait() and rte_eth_link_get() functions, as
they are causing VF driver to send many MBOX ACK messages.

With these changes, the interrupt rates go down significantly. Here's
some testing results:

Without the patch:

$ egrep 'CPU|ens1f' /proc/interrupts ; sleep 10; egrep 'CPU|ens1f' 
/proc/interrupts
            CPU0       CPU1       CPU2       CPU3       CPU4       CPU5       
CPU6       CPU7       CPU8       CPU9       CPU10      CPU11      CPU12      
CPU13      CPU14      CPU15
  34:         88          0          0          0          0         41         
30        509          0          0        350         24         88        114 
       461        562   PCI-MSI 1572864-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-0
  35:         49         24          0          0         65        130         
64         29         67          0         10          0          0         46 
        38        764   PCI-MSI 1572865-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-1
  36:         53          0          0         64         15         85        
132         71        108          0         30          0        165        
215        303        104   PCI-MSI 1572866-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-2
  37:         46        196          0          0         10         48         
62         68         51          0          0          0        103         82 
        54        192   PCI-MSI 1572867-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-3
  38:        226          0          0          0        159        145        
749        265          0          0        202          0      69229        
166        450          0   PCI-MSI 1572868-edge      ens1f0
  52:         95        896          0          0          0         18         
53          0        494          0          0          0          0        265 
        79        124   PCI-MSI 1574912-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-0
  53:         50          0         18          0         72         33         
 0        168        330          0          0          0        141         22 
        12         65   PCI-MSI 1574913-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-1
  54:         65          0          0          0        239        104        
166         49        442          0          0          0        126         
26        307          0   PCI-MSI 1574914-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-2
  55:         57          0          0          0        123         35         
83         54        157        106          0          0         26         29 
       312         97   PCI-MSI 1574915-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-3
  56:        232          0      13910          0         16         21         
 0      54422          0          0          0         24         25          0 
        78          0   PCI-MSI 1574916-edge      ens1f1
            CPU0       CPU1       CPU2       CPU3       CPU4       CPU5       
CPU6       CPU7       CPU8       CPU9       CPU10      CPU11      CPU12      
CPU13      CPU14      CPU15
  34:         88          0          0          0          0         41         
30        509          0          0        350         24         88        119 
       461        562   PCI-MSI 1572864-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-0
  35:         49         24          0          0         65        130         
64         29         67          0         10          0          0         46 
        38        771   PCI-MSI 1572865-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-1
  36:         53          0          0         64         15         85        
132         71        108          0         30          0        165        
215        303        113   PCI-MSI 1572866-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-2
  37:         46        196          0          0         10         48         
62         68         56          0          0          0        103         82 
        54        192   PCI-MSI 1572867-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-3
  38:        226          0          0          0        159        145        
749        265          0          0        202          0      71281        
166        450          0   PCI-MSI 1572868-edge      ens1f0
  52:         95        896          0          0          0         18         
53          0        494          0          0          0          0        265 
        79        133   PCI-MSI 1574912-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-0
  53:         50          0         18          0         72         33         
 0        173        330          0          0          0        141         22 
        12         65   PCI-MSI 1574913-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-1
  54:         65          0          0          0        239        104        
166         49        442          0          0          0        126         
26        312          0   PCI-MSI 1574914-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-2
  55:         57          0          0          0        123         35         
83         59        157        106          0          0         26         29 
       312         97   PCI-MSI 1574915-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-3
  56:        232          0      15910          0         16         21         
 0      54422          0          0          0         24         25          0 
        78          0   PCI-MSI 1574916-edge      ens1f1

During the 10s interval, CPU2 jumped by 2000 interrupts, CPU12 by 2051
interrupts, for about 200 interrupts/second. That's on the order of
what we expect. I would have guessed 100/s but perhaps there are two
mailbox messages.

With the patch:

$ egrep 'CPU|ens1f' /proc/interrupts ; sleep 10; egrep 'CPU|ens1f' 
/proc/interrupts
            CPU0       CPU1       CPU2       CPU3       CPU4       CPU5       
CPU6       CPU7       CPU8       CPU9       CPU10      CPU11      CPU12      
CPU13      CPU14      CPU15
  34:         88          0          0          0          0         25         
19        177          0          0        350         24         88        100 
       362        559   PCI-MSI 1572864-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-0
  35:         49         19          0          0         65        130         
64         29         67          0         10          0          0         46 
        38        543   PCI-MSI 1572865-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-1
  36:         53          0          0         64         15         53         
85         71        108          0         24          0         85        215 
       292         31   PCI-MSI 1572866-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-2
  37:         46        196          0          0         10         43         
57         39         19          0          0          0         78         69 
        49        149   PCI-MSI 1572867-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-3
  38:        226          0          0          0        159        145        
749        247          0          0        202          0      58250          
0        450          0   PCI-MSI 1572868-edge      ens1f0
  52:         95        896          0          0          0         18         
53          0        189          0          0          0          0        265 
        79         25   PCI-MSI 1574912-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-0
  53:         50          0         18          0         72         33         
 0         90        330          0          0          0        136          5 
        12          0   PCI-MSI 1574913-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-1
  54:         65          0          0          0         10        104        
166         49        442          0          0          0        126         
26        226          0   PCI-MSI 1574914-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-2
  55:         57          0          0          0         61         35         
83         30        157        101          0          0         26         15 
       312          0   PCI-MSI 1574915-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-3
  56:        232          0       2062          0         16         21         
 0      54422          0          0          0         24         25          0 
        78          0   PCI-MSI 1574916-edge      ens1f1
            CPU0       CPU1       CPU2       CPU3       CPU4       CPU5       
CPU6       CPU7       CPU8       CPU9       CPU10      CPU11      CPU12      
CPU13      CPU14      CPU15
  34:         88          0          0          0          0         25         
19        177          0          0        350         24         88        102 
       362        562   PCI-MSI 1572864-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-0
  35:         49         19          0          0         65        130         
64         29         67          0         10          0          0         46 
        38        548   PCI-MSI 1572865-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-1
  36:         53          0          0         64         15         53         
85         71        108          0         24          0         85        215 
       292         36   PCI-MSI 1572866-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-2
  37:         46        196          0          0         10         45         
57         39         19          0          0          0         78         69 
        49        152   PCI-MSI 1572867-edge      ens1f0-TxRx-3
  38:        226          0          0          0        159        145        
749        247          0          0        202          0      58259          
0        450          0   PCI-MSI 1572868-edge      ens1f0
  52:         95        896          0          0          0         18         
53          0        194          0          0          0          0        265 
        79         25   PCI-MSI 1574912-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-0
  53:         50          0         18          0         72         33         
 0         95        330          0          0          0        136          5 
        12          0   PCI-MSI 1574913-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-1
  54:         65          0          0          0         10        104        
166         49        442          0          0          0        126         
26        231          0   PCI-MSI 1574914-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-2
  55:         57          0          0          0         66         35         
83         30        157        101          0          0         26         15 
       312          0   PCI-MSI 1574915-edge      ens1f1-TxRx-3
  56:        232          0       2071          0         16         21         
 0      54422          0          0          0         24         25          0 
        78          0   PCI-MSI 1574916-edge      ens1f1

Note the interrupt rate has gone way down. During the 10s interval, we
only saw a handful of interrupts.

Note that this patch was originally provided by Intel directly to AT&T
and Vyatta, but unfortunately I am unable to find records of the exact
author.

We have been using this in production for more than a year.

Fixes: af75078fece3 ("first public release")
Cc: sta...@dpdk.org

Signed-off-by: Luca Boccassi <bl...@debian.org>
---
 drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c | 33 ++++++++++++++++---------------
 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c 
b/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c
index 5b25a6b4d4..16086670b1 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ixgbe/base/ixgbe_vf.c
@@ -586,7 +586,6 @@ s32 ixgbe_check_mac_link_vf(struct ixgbe_hw *hw, 
ixgbe_link_speed *speed,
        s32 ret_val = IXGBE_SUCCESS;
        u32 links_reg;
        u32 in_msg = 0;
-       UNREFERENCED_1PARAMETER(autoneg_wait_to_complete);
 
        /* If we were hit with a reset drop the link */
        if (!mbx->ops.check_for_rst(hw, 0) || !mbx->timeout)
@@ -643,23 +642,25 @@ s32 ixgbe_check_mac_link_vf(struct ixgbe_hw *hw, 
ixgbe_link_speed *speed,
                *speed = IXGBE_LINK_SPEED_UNKNOWN;
        }
 
-       /* if the read failed it could just be a mailbox collision, best wait
-        * until we are called again and don't report an error
-        */
-       if (mbx->ops.read(hw, &in_msg, 1, 0))
-               goto out;
+       if (autoneg_wait_to_complete) {
+               /* if the read failed it could just be a mailbox collision, 
best wait
+                * until we are called again and don't report an error
+                */
+               if (mbx->ops.read(hw, &in_msg, 1, 0))
+                       goto out;
 
-       if (!(in_msg & IXGBE_VT_MSGTYPE_CTS)) {
-               /* msg is not CTS and is NACK we must have lost CTS status */
-               if (in_msg & IXGBE_VT_MSGTYPE_NACK)
+               if (!(in_msg & IXGBE_VT_MSGTYPE_CTS)) {
+                       /* msg is not CTS and is NACK we must have lost CTS 
status */
+                       if (in_msg & IXGBE_VT_MSGTYPE_NACK)
+                               ret_val = -1;
+                       goto out;
+               }
+
+               /* the pf is talking, if we timed out in the past we reinit */
+               if (!mbx->timeout) {
                        ret_val = -1;
-               goto out;
-       }
-
-       /* the pf is talking, if we timed out in the past we reinit */
-       if (!mbx->timeout) {
-               ret_val = -1;
-               goto out;
+                       goto out;
+               }
        }
 
        /* if we passed all the tests above then the link is up and we no
-- 
2.18.0

Reply via email to