xref: /dpdk/doc/guides/prog_guide/ethdev/qos_framework.rst (revision 6f3dbd306de03410cffb40a0f0b47a2cdcfcf362)
1..  SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2    Copyright(c) 2010-2014 Intel Corporation.
3
4Quality of Service (QoS) Framework
5==================================
6
7This chapter describes the DPDK Quality of Service (QoS) framework.
8
9Packet Pipeline with QoS Support
10--------------------------------
11
12An example of a complex packet processing pipeline with QoS support is shown in the following figure.
13
14.. _figure_pkt_proc_pipeline_qos:
15
16.. figure:: ../img/pkt_proc_pipeline_qos.*
17
18   Complex Packet Processing Pipeline with QoS Support
19
20
21This pipeline can be built using reusable DPDK software libraries.
22The main blocks implementing QoS in this pipeline are: the policer, the dropper and the scheduler.
23A functional description of each block is provided in the following table.
24
25.. _table_qos_1:
26
27.. table:: Packet Processing Pipeline Implementing QoS
28
29   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
30   | # | Block                  | Functional Description                                                         |
31   |   |                        |                                                                                |
32   +===+========================+================================================================================+
33   | 1 | Packet I/O RX & TX     | Packet reception/ transmission from/to multiple NIC ports. Poll mode drivers   |
34   |   |                        | (PMDs) for Intel 1 GbE/10 GbE NICs.                                            |
35   |   |                        |                                                                                |
36   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
37   | 2 | Packet parser          | Identify the protocol stack of the input packet. Check the integrity of the    |
38   |   |                        | packet headers.                                                                |
39   |   |                        |                                                                                |
40   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
41   | 3 | Flow classification    | Map the input packet to one of the known traffic flows. Exact match table      |
42   |   |                        | lookup using configurable hash function (jhash, CRC and so on) and bucket      |
43   |   |                        | logic to handle collisions.                                                    |
44   |   |                        |                                                                                |
45   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
46   | 4 | Policer                | Packet metering using srTCM (RFC 2697) or trTCM (RFC2698) algorithms.          |
47   |   |                        |                                                                                |
48   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
49   | 5 | Load Balancer          | Distribute the input packets to the application workers. Provide uniform load  |
50   |   |                        | to each worker. Preserve the affinity of traffic flows to workers and the      |
51   |   |                        | packet order within each flow.                                                 |
52   |   |                        |                                                                                |
53   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
54   | 6 | Worker threads         | Placeholders for the customer specific application workload (for example, IP   |
55   |   |                        | stack and so on).                                                              |
56   |   |                        |                                                                                |
57   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
58   | 7 | Dropper                | Congestion management using the Random Early Detection (RED) algorithm         |
59   |   |                        | (specified by the Sally Floyd - Van Jacobson paper) or Weighted RED (WRED)     |
60   |   |                        | or Proportional Integral Controller Enhanced (PIE).                            |
61   |   |                        | Drop packets based on the current scheduler queue load level and packet        |
62   |   |                        | priority. When congestion is experienced, lower priority packets are dropped   |
63   |   |                        | first.                                                                         |
64   |   |                        |                                                                                |
65   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
66   | 8 | Hierarchical Scheduler | 5-level hierarchical scheduler (levels are: output port, subport, pipe,        |
67   |   |                        | traffic class and queue) with thousands (typically 64K) leaf nodes (queues).   |
68   |   |                        | Implements traffic shaping (for subport and pipe levels), strict priority      |
69   |   |                        | (for traffic class level) and Weighted Round Robin (WRR) (for queues within    |
70   |   |                        | each pipe traffic class).                                                      |
71   |   |                        |                                                                                |
72   +---+------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
73
74The infrastructure blocks used throughout the packet processing pipeline are listed in the following table.
75
76.. _table_qos_2:
77
78.. table:: Infrastructure Blocks Used by the Packet Processing Pipeline
79
80   +---+-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
81   | # | Block                 | Functional Description                                                |
82   |   |                       |                                                                       |
83   +===+=======================+=======================================================================+
84   | 1 | Buffer manager        | Support for global buffer pools and private per-thread buffer caches. |
85   |   |                       |                                                                       |
86   +---+-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
87   | 2 | Queue manager         | Support for message passing between pipeline blocks.                  |
88   |   |                       |                                                                       |
89   +---+-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
90   | 3 | Power saving          | Support for power saving during low activity periods.                 |
91   |   |                       |                                                                       |
92   +---+-----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
93
94The mapping of pipeline blocks to CPU cores is configurable based on the performance level required by each specific application
95and the set of features enabled for each block.
96Some blocks might consume more than one CPU core (with each CPU core running a different instance of the same block on different input packets),
97while several other blocks could be mapped to the same CPU core.
98
99Hierarchical Scheduler
100----------------------
101
102The hierarchical scheduler block, when present, usually sits on the TX side just before the transmission stage.
103Its purpose is to prioritize the transmission of packets from different users and different traffic classes
104according to the policy specified by the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) of each network node.
105
106Overview
107~~~~~~~~
108
109The hierarchical scheduler block is similar to the traffic manager block used by network processors
110that typically implement per flow (or per group of flows) packet queuing and scheduling.
111It typically acts like a buffer that is able to temporarily store a large number of packets just before their transmission (enqueue operation);
112as the NIC TX is requesting more packets for transmission,
113these packets are later on removed and handed over to the NIC TX with the packet selection logic observing the predefined SLAs (dequeue operation).
114
115.. _figure_hier_sched_blk:
116
117.. figure:: ../img/hier_sched_blk.*
118
119   Hierarchical Scheduler Block Internal Diagram
120
121
122The hierarchical scheduler is optimized for a large number of packet queues.
123When only a small number of queues are needed, message passing queues should be used instead of this block.
124See `Worst Case Scenarios for Performance`_ for a more detailed discussion.
125
126Scheduling Hierarchy
127~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
128
129The scheduling hierarchy is shown in :numref:`figure_sched_hier_per_port`.
130The first level of the hierarchy is the Ethernet TX port 1/10/40 GbE,
131with subsequent hierarchy levels defined as subport, pipe, traffic class and queue.
132
133Typically, each subport represents a predefined group of users, while each pipe represents an individual user/subscriber.
134Each traffic class is the representation of a different traffic type with specific loss rate,
135delay and jitter requirements, such as voice, video or data transfers.
136Each queue hosts packets from one or multiple connections of the same type belonging to the same user.
137
138.. _figure_sched_hier_per_port:
139
140.. figure:: ../img/sched_hier_per_port.*
141
142   Scheduling Hierarchy per Port
143
144
145The functionality of each hierarchical level is detailed in the following table.
146
147.. _table_qos_3:
148
149.. table:: Port Scheduling Hierarchy
150
151   +---+--------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
152   | # | Level              | Siblings per Parent        | Functional Description                                        |
153   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
154   +===+====================+============================+===============================================================+
155   | 1 | Port               | -                          | #.  Output Ethernet port 1/10/40 GbE.                         |
156   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
157   |   |                    |                            | #.  Multiple ports are scheduled in round robin order with    |
158   |   |                    |                            |     all ports having equal priority.                          |
159   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
160   +---+--------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
161   | 2 | Subport            | Configurable (default: 8)  | #.  Traffic shaping using token bucket algorithm (one token   |
162   |   |                    |                            |     bucket per subport).                                      |
163   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
164   |   |                    |                            | #.  Upper limit enforced per Traffic Class (TC) at the        |
165   |   |                    |                            |     subport level.                                            |
166   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
167   |   |                    |                            | #.  Lower priority TCs able to reuse subport bandwidth        |
168   |   |                    |                            |     currently unused by higher priority TCs.                  |
169   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
170   +---+--------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
171   | 3 | Pipe               | Configurable (default: 4K) | #.  Traffic shaping using the token bucket algorithm (one     |
172   |   |                    |                            |     token bucket per pipe.                                    |
173   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
174   +---+--------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
175   | 4 | Traffic Class (TC) | 13                         | #.  TCs of the same pipe handled in strict priority order.    |
176   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
177   |   |                    |                            | #.  Upper limit enforced per TC at the pipe level.            |
178   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
179   |   |                    |                            | #.  Lower priority TCs able to reuse pipe bandwidth currently |
180   |   |                    |                            |     unused by higher priority TCs.                            |
181   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
182   |   |                    |                            | #.  When subport TC is oversubscribed (configuration time     |
183   |   |                    |                            |     event), pipe TC upper limit is capped to a dynamically    |
184   |   |                    |                            |     adjusted value that is shared by all the subport pipes.   |
185   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
186   +---+--------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
187   | 5 | Queue              |  High priority TCs: 1,     | #.  All the high priority TCs (TC0, TC1,  ...,TC11) have      |
188   |   |                    |  Lowest priority TC: 4     |     exactly 1 queue, while the lowest priority TC (TC12),     |
189   |   |                    |                            |     called Best Effort (BE), has 4 queues.                    |
190   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
191   |   |                    |                            | #.  Queues of the lowest priority TC (BE) are serviced using  |
192   |   |                    |                            |     Weighted Round Robin (WRR) according to predefined weights|
193   |   |                    |                            |     weights.                                                  |
194   |   |                    |                            |                                                               |
195   +---+--------------------+----------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
196
197Application Programming Interface (API)
198~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
199
200Port Scheduler Configuration API
201^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
202
203The rte_sched.h file contains configuration functions for port, subport and pipe.
204
205Port Scheduler Enqueue API
206^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
207
208The port scheduler enqueue API is very similar to the API of the DPDK PMD TX function.
209
210.. code-block:: c
211
212    int rte_sched_port_enqueue(struct rte_sched_port *port, struct rte_mbuf **pkts, uint32_t n_pkts);
213
214Port Scheduler Dequeue API
215^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
216
217The port scheduler dequeue API is very similar to the API of the DPDK PMD RX function.
218
219.. code-block:: c
220
221    int rte_sched_port_dequeue(struct rte_sched_port *port, struct rte_mbuf **pkts, uint32_t n_pkts);
222
223Usage Example
224^^^^^^^^^^^^^
225
226.. code-block:: c
227
228    /* File "application.c" */
229
230    #define N_PKTS_RX   64
231    #define N_PKTS_TX   48
232    #define NIC_RX_PORT 0
233    #define NIC_RX_QUEUE 0
234    #define NIC_TX_PORT 1
235    #define NIC_TX_QUEUE 0
236
237    struct rte_sched_port *port = NULL;
238    struct rte_mbuf *pkts_rx[N_PKTS_RX], *pkts_tx[N_PKTS_TX];
239    uint32_t n_pkts_rx, n_pkts_tx;
240
241    /* Initialization */
242
243    <initialization code>
244
245    /* Runtime */
246    while (1) {
247        /* Read packets from NIC RX queue */
248
249        n_pkts_rx = rte_eth_rx_burst(NIC_RX_PORT, NIC_RX_QUEUE, pkts_rx, N_PKTS_RX);
250
251        /* Hierarchical scheduler enqueue */
252
253        rte_sched_port_enqueue(port, pkts_rx, n_pkts_rx);
254
255        /* Hierarchical scheduler dequeue */
256
257        n_pkts_tx = rte_sched_port_dequeue(port, pkts_tx, N_PKTS_TX);
258
259        /* Write packets to NIC TX queue */
260
261        rte_eth_tx_burst(NIC_TX_PORT, NIC_TX_QUEUE, pkts_tx, n_pkts_tx);
262    }
263
264Implementation
265~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
266
267Internal Data Structures per Port
268^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
269
270A schematic of the internal data structures in shown in with details in.
271
272.. _figure_data_struct_per_port:
273
274.. figure:: ../img/data_struct_per_port.*
275
276    Internal Data Structures per Port
277
278
279.. _table_qos_4:
280
281.. table:: Scheduler Internal Data Structures per Port
282
283   +---+----------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
284   | # | Data structure       | Size (bytes)            | # per port          | Access type                  | Description                                       |
285   |   |                      |                         |                     |                              |                                                   |
286   |   |                      |                         |                     +-------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
287   |   |                      |                         |                     | Enq         | Deq            |                                                   |
288   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
289   +===+======================+=========================+=====================+=============+================+===================================================+
290   | 1 | Subport table entry  | 64                      | # subports per port | -           | Rd, Wr         | Persistent subport data (credits, etc).           |
291   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
292   +---+----------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+-------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
293   | 2 | Pipe table entry     | 64                      | # pipes per port    | -           | Rd, Wr         | Persistent data for pipe, its TCs and its queues  |
294   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | (credits, etc) that is updated during run-time.   |
295   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
296   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | The pipe configuration parameters do not change   |
297   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | during run-time. The same pipe configuration      |
298   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | parameters are shared by multiple pipes,          |
299   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | therefore they are not part of pipe table entry.  |
300   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
301   +---+----------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+-------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
302   | 3 | Queue table entry    | 4                       | #queues per port    | Rd, Wr      | Rd, Wr         | Persistent queue data (read and write pointers).  |
303   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | The queue size is the same per TC for all queues, |
304   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | allowing the queue base address to be computed    |
305   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | using a fast formula, so these two parameters are |
306   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | not part of queue table entry.                    |
307   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
308   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | The queue table entries for any given pipe are    |
309   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | stored in the same cache line.                    |
310   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
311   +---+----------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+-------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
312   | 4 | Queue storage area   | Config (default: 64 x8) | # queues per port   | Wr          | Rd             | Array of elements per queue; each element is 8    |
313   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | byte in size (mbuf pointer).                      |
314   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
315   +---+----------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+-------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
316   | 5 | Active queues bitmap | 1 bit per queue         | 1                   | Wr (Set)    | Rd, Wr (Clear) | The bitmap maintains one status bit per queue:    |
317   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | queue not active (queue is empty) or queue active |
318   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | (queue is not empty).                             |
319   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
320   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | Queue bit is set by the scheduler enqueue and     |
321   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | cleared by the scheduler dequeue when queue       |
322   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | becomes empty.                                    |
323   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
324   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | Bitmap scan operation returns the next non-empty  |
325   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | pipe and its status (16-bit mask of active queue  |
326   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | in the pipe).                                     |
327   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
328   +---+----------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+-------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
329   | 6 | Grinder              | ~128                    | Config (default: 8) | -           | Rd, Wr         | Short list of active pipes currently under        |
330   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | processing. The grinder contains temporary data   |
331   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | during pipe processing.                           |
332   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
333   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | Once the current pipe exhausts packets or         |
334   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | credits, it is replaced with another active pipe  |
335   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                | from the bitmap.                                  |
336   |   |                      |                         |                     |             |                |                                                   |
337   +---+----------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+-------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------+
338
339Multicore Scaling Strategy
340^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
341
342The multicore scaling strategy is:
343
344#.  Running different physical ports on different threads. The enqueue and dequeue of the same port are run by the same thread.
345
346#.  Splitting the same physical port to different threads by running different sets of subports of the same physical port (virtual ports) on different threads.
347    Similarly, a subport can be split into multiple subports that are each run by a different thread.
348    The enqueue and dequeue of the same port are run by the same thread.
349    This is only required if, for performance reasons, it is not possible to handle a full port with a single core.
350
351Enqueue and Dequeue for the Same Output Port
352""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
353
354Running enqueue and dequeue operations for the same output port from different cores is likely to cause significant impact on scheduler's performance
355and it is therefore not recommended.
356
357The port enqueue and dequeue operations share access to the following data structures:
358
359#.  Packet descriptors
360
361#.  Queue table
362
363#.  Queue storage area
364
365#.  Bitmap of active queues
366
367The expected drop in performance is due to:
368
369#.  Need to make the queue and bitmap operations thread safe,
370    which requires either using locking primitives for access serialization (for example, spinlocks/ semaphores) or
371    using atomic primitives for lockless access (for example, Test and Set, Compare And Swap, an so on).
372    The impact is much higher in the former case.
373
374#.  Ping-pong of cache lines storing the shared data structures between the cache hierarchies of the two cores
375    (done transparently by the MESI protocol cache coherency CPU hardware).
376
377Therefore, the scheduler enqueue and dequeue operations have to be run from the same thread,
378which allows the queues and the bitmap operations to be non-thread safe and
379keeps the scheduler data structures internal to the same core.
380
381Performance Scaling
382"""""""""""""""""""
383
384Scaling up the number of NIC ports simply requires a proportional increase in the number of CPU cores to be used for traffic scheduling.
385
386Enqueue Pipeline
387^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
388
389The sequence of steps per packet:
390
391#.  *Access* the mbuf to read the data fields required to identify the destination queue for the packet.
392    These fields are: port, subport, traffic class and queue within traffic class, and are typically set by the classification stage.
393
394#.  *Access* the queue structure to identify the write location in the queue array.
395    If the queue is full, then the packet is discarded.
396
397#.  *Access* the queue array location to store the packet (i.e. write the mbuf pointer).
398
399It should be noted the strong data dependency between these steps, as steps 2 and 3 cannot start before the result from steps 1 and 2 becomes available,
400which prevents the processor out of order execution engine to provide any significant performance optimizations.
401
402Given the high rate of input packets and the large amount of queues,
403it is expected that the data structures accessed to enqueue the current packet are not present
404in the L1 or L2 data cache of the current core, thus the above 3 memory accesses would result (on average) in L1 and L2 data cache misses.
405A number of 3 L1/L2 cache misses per packet is not acceptable for performance reasons.
406
407The workaround is to prefetch the required data structures in advance. The prefetch operation has an execution latency during which
408the processor should not attempt to access the data structure currently under prefetch, so the processor should execute other work.
409The only other work available is to execute different stages of the enqueue sequence of operations on other input packets,
410thus resulting in a pipelined implementation for the enqueue operation.
411
412:numref:`figure_prefetch_pipeline` illustrates a pipelined implementation for the enqueue operation with 4 pipeline stages and each stage executing 2 different input packets.
413No input packet can be part of more than one pipeline stage at a given time.
414
415.. _figure_prefetch_pipeline:
416
417.. figure:: ../img/prefetch_pipeline.*
418
419    Prefetch Pipeline for the Hierarchical Scheduler Enqueue Operation
420
421
422The congestion management scheme implemented by the enqueue pipeline described above is very basic:
423packets are enqueued until a specific queue becomes full,
424then all the packets destined to the same queue are dropped until packets are consumed (by the dequeue operation).
425This can be improved by enabling RED/WRED or PIE as part of the enqueue pipeline which looks at the queue occupancy and
426packet priority in order to yield the enqueue/drop decision for a specific packet
427(as opposed to enqueuing all packets / dropping all packets indiscriminately).
428
429Dequeue State Machine
430^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
431
432The sequence of steps to schedule the next packet from the current pipe is:
433
434#.  Identify the next active pipe using the bitmap scan operation, *prefetch* pipe.
435
436#.  *Read* pipe data structure. Update the credits for the current pipe and its subport.
437    Identify the first active traffic class within the current pipe, select the next queue using WRR,
438    *prefetch* queue pointers for all the 16 queues of the current pipe.
439
440#.  *Read* next element from the current WRR queue and *prefetch* its packet descriptor.
441
442#.  *Read* the packet length from the packet descriptor (mbuf structure).
443    Based on the packet length and the available credits (of current pipe, pipe traffic class, subport and subport traffic class),
444    take the go/no go scheduling decision for the current packet.
445
446To avoid the cache misses, the above data structures (pipe, queue, queue array, mbufs) are prefetched in advance of being accessed.
447The strategy of hiding the latency of the prefetch operations is to switch from the current pipe (in grinder A) to another pipe
448(in grinder B) immediately after a prefetch is issued for the current pipe.
449This gives enough time to the prefetch operation to complete before the execution switches back to this pipe (in grinder A).
450
451The dequeue pipe state machine exploits the data presence into the processor cache,
452therefore it tries to send as many packets from the same pipe TC and pipe as possible (up to the available packets and credits) before
453moving to the next active TC from the same pipe (if any) or to another active pipe.
454
455.. _figure_pipe_prefetch_sm:
456
457.. figure:: ../img/pipe_prefetch_sm.*
458
459   Pipe Prefetch State Machine for the Hierarchical Scheduler Dequeue
460   Operation
461
462
463Timing and Synchronization
464^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
465
466The output port is modeled as a conveyor belt of byte slots that need to be filled by the scheduler with data for transmission.
467For 10 GbE, there are 1.25 billion byte slots that need to be filled by the port scheduler every second.
468If the scheduler is not fast enough to fill the slots, provided that enough packets and credits exist,
469then some slots will be left unused and bandwidth will be wasted.
470
471In principle, the hierarchical scheduler dequeue operation should be triggered by NIC TX.
472Usually, once the occupancy of the NIC TX input queue drops below a predefined threshold,
473the port scheduler is woken up (interrupt based or polling based,
474by continuously monitoring the queue occupancy) to push more packets into the queue.
475
476Internal Time Reference
477"""""""""""""""""""""""
478
479The scheduler needs to keep track of time advancement for the credit logic,
480which requires credit updates based on time (for example, subport and pipe traffic shaping, traffic class upper limit enforcement, and so on).
481
482Every time the scheduler decides to send a packet out to the NIC TX for transmission, the scheduler will increment its internal time reference accordingly.
483Therefore, it is convenient to keep the internal time reference in units of bytes,
484where a byte signifies the time duration required by the physical interface to send out a byte on the transmission medium.
485This way, as a packet is scheduled for transmission, the time is incremented with (n + h),
486where n is the packet length in bytes and h is the number of framing overhead bytes per packet.
487
488Internal Time Reference Re-synchronization
489""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
490
491The scheduler needs to align its internal time reference to the pace of the port conveyor belt.
492The reason is to make sure that the scheduler does not feed the NIC TX with more bytes than the line rate of the physical medium in order to prevent packet drop
493(by the scheduler, due to the NIC TX input queue being full, or later on, internally by the NIC TX).
494
495The scheduler reads the current time on every dequeue invocation.
496The CPU time stamp can be obtained by reading either the Time Stamp Counter (TSC) register or the High Precision Event Timer (HPET) register.
497The current CPU time stamp is converted from number of CPU clocks to number of bytes:
498*time_bytes = time_cycles / cycles_per_byte, where cycles_per_byte*
499is the amount of CPU cycles that is equivalent to the transmission time for one byte on the wire
500(e.g. for a CPU frequency of 2 GHz and a 10GbE port,*cycles_per_byte = 1.6*).
501
502The scheduler maintains an internal time reference of the NIC time.
503Whenever a packet is scheduled, the NIC time is incremented with the packet length (including framing overhead).
504On every dequeue invocation, the scheduler checks its internal reference of the NIC time against the current time:
505
506#. If NIC time is in the future (NIC time >= current time), no adjustment of NIC time is needed.
507   This means that scheduler is able to schedule NIC packets before the NIC actually needs those packets, so the NIC TX is well supplied with packets;
508
509#. If NIC time is in the past (NIC time < current time), then NIC time should be adjusted by setting it to the current time.
510   This means that the scheduler is not able to keep up with the speed of the NIC byte conveyor belt,
511   so NIC bandwidth is wasted due to poor packet supply to the NIC TX.
512
513Scheduler Accuracy and Granularity
514""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
515
516The scheduler round trip delay (SRTD) is the time (number of CPU cycles) between two consecutive examinations of the same pipe by the scheduler.
517
518To keep up with the output port (that is, avoid bandwidth loss),
519the scheduler should be able to schedule n packets faster than the same n packets are transmitted by NIC TX.
520
521The scheduler needs to keep up with the rate of each individual pipe,
522as configured for the pipe token bucket, assuming that no port oversubscription is taking place.
523This means that the size of the pipe token bucket should be set high enough to prevent it from overflowing due to big SRTD,
524as this would result in credit loss (and therefore bandwidth loss) for the pipe.
525
526Credit Logic
527^^^^^^^^^^^^
528
529Scheduling Decision
530"""""""""""""""""""
531
532The scheduling decision to send next packet from (subport S, pipe P, traffic class TC, queue Q) is favorable (packet is sent)
533when all the conditions below are met:
534
535*   Pipe P of subport S is currently selected by one of the port grinders;
536
537*   Traffic class TC is the highest priority active traffic class of pipe P;
538
539*   Queue Q is the next queue selected by WRR within traffic class TC of pipe P;
540
541*   Subport S has enough credits to send the packet;
542
543*   Subport S has enough credits for traffic class TC to send the packet;
544
545*   Pipe P has enough credits to send the packet;
546
547*   Pipe P has enough credits for traffic class TC to send the packet.
548
549If all the above conditions are met,
550then the packet is selected for transmission and the necessary credits are subtracted from subport S,
551subport S traffic class TC, pipe P, pipe P traffic class TC.
552
553Framing Overhead
554""""""""""""""""
555
556As the greatest common divisor for all packet lengths is one byte, the unit of credit is selected as one byte.
557The number of credits required for the transmission of a packet of n bytes is equal to (n+h),
558where h is equal to the number of framing overhead bytes per packet.
559
560.. _table_qos_5:
561
562.. table:: Ethernet Frame Overhead Fields
563
564   +---+--------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
565   | # | Packet field                   | Length (bytes) | Comments                                                                  |
566   |   |                                |                |                                                                           |
567   +===+================================+================+===========================================================================+
568   | 1 | Preamble                       | 7              |                                                                           |
569   |   |                                |                |                                                                           |
570   +---+--------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
571   | 2 | Start of Frame Delimiter (SFD) | 1              |                                                                           |
572   |   |                                |                |                                                                           |
573   +---+--------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
574   | 3 | Frame Check Sequence (FCS)     | 4              | Considered overhead only if not included in the mbuf packet length field. |
575   |   |                                |                |                                                                           |
576   +---+--------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
577   | 4 | Inter Frame Gap (IFG)          | 12             |                                                                           |
578   |   |                                |                |                                                                           |
579   +---+--------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
580   | 5 | Total                          | 24             |                                                                           |
581   |   |                                |                |                                                                           |
582   +---+--------------------------------+----------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
583
584Traffic Shaping
585"""""""""""""""
586
587The traffic shaping for subport and pipe is implemented using a token bucket per subport/per pipe.
588Each token bucket is implemented using one saturated counter that keeps track of the number of available credits.
589
590The token bucket generic parameters and operations are presented in :numref:`table_qos_6` and :numref:`table_qos_7`.
591
592.. _table_qos_6:
593
594.. table:: Token Bucket Generic Parameters
595
596   +---+------------------------+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
597   | # | Token Bucket Parameter | Unit               | Description                                             |
598   |   |                        |                    |                                                         |
599   +===+========================+====================+=========================================================+
600   | 1 | bucket_rate            | Credits per second | Rate of adding credits to the bucket.                   |
601   |   |                        |                    |                                                         |
602   +---+------------------------+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
603   | 2 | bucket_size            | Credits            | Max number of credits that can be stored in the bucket. |
604   |   |                        |                    |                                                         |
605   +---+------------------------+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
606
607.. _table_qos_7:
608
609.. table:: Token Bucket Generic Operations
610
611   +---+------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
612   | # | Token Bucket Operation | Description                                                                  |
613   |   |                        |                                                                              |
614   +===+========================+==============================================================================+
615   | 1 | Initialization         | Bucket set to a predefined value, e.g. zero or half of the bucket size.      |
616   |   |                        |                                                                              |
617   +---+------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
618   | 2 | Credit update          | Credits are added to the bucket on top of existing ones, either periodically |
619   |   |                        | or on demand, based on the bucket_rate. Credits cannot exceed the upper      |
620   |   |                        | limit defined by the bucket_size, so any credits to be added to the bucket   |
621   |   |                        | while the bucket is full are dropped.                                        |
622   |   |                        |                                                                              |
623   +---+------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
624   | 3 | Credit consumption     | As result of packet scheduling, the necessary number of credits is removed   |
625   |   |                        | from the bucket. The packet can only be sent if enough credits are in the    |
626   |   |                        | bucket to send the full packet (packet bytes and framing overhead for the    |
627   |   |                        | packet).                                                                     |
628   |   |                        |                                                                              |
629   +---+------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
630
631To implement the token bucket generic operations described above,
632the current design uses the persistent data structure presented in :numref:`table_qos_8`,
633while the implementation of the token bucket operations is described in :numref:`table_qos_9`.
634
635.. _table_qos_8:
636
637.. table:: Token Bucket Persistent Data Structure
638
639   +---+------------------------+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
640   | # | Token bucket field     | Unit  | Description                                                          |
641   |   |                        |       |                                                                      |
642   +===+========================+=======+======================================================================+
643   | 1 | tb_time                | Bytes | Time of the last credit update. Measured in bytes instead of seconds |
644   |   |                        |       | or CPU cycles for ease of credit consumption operation               |
645   |   |                        |       | (as the current time is also maintained in bytes).                   |
646   |   |                        |       |                                                                      |
647   |   |                        |       | See  Section 26.2.4.5.1 "Internal Time Reference" for an             |
648   |   |                        |       | explanation of why the time is maintained in byte units.             |
649   |   |                        |       |                                                                      |
650   +---+------------------------+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
651   | 2 | tb_period              | Bytes | Time period that should elapse since the last credit update in order |
652   |   |                        |       | for the bucket to be awarded tb_credits_per_period worth or credits. |
653   |   |                        |       |                                                                      |
654   +---+------------------------+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
655   | 3 | tb_credits_per_period  | Bytes | Credit allowance per tb_period.                                      |
656   |   |                        |       |                                                                      |
657   +---+------------------------+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
658   | 4 | tb_size                | Bytes | Bucket size, i.e. upper limit for the tb_credits.                    |
659   |   |                        |       |                                                                      |
660   +---+------------------------+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
661   | 5 | tb_credits             | Bytes | Number of credits currently in the bucket.                           |
662   |   |                        |       |                                                                      |
663   +---+------------------------+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
664
665The bucket rate (in bytes per second) can be computed with the following formula:
666
667*bucket_rate = (tb_credits_per_period / tb_period) * r*
668
669where, r = port line rate (in bytes per second).
670
671.. _table_qos_9:
672
673.. table:: Token Bucket Operations
674
675   +---+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
676   | # | Token bucket operation  | Description                                                                 |
677   |   |                         |                                                                             |
678   +===+=========================+=============================================================================+
679   | 1 | Initialization          | *tb_credits = 0; or tb_credits = tb_size / 2;*                              |
680   |   |                         |                                                                             |
681   +---+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
682   | 2 | Credit update           | Credit update options:                                                      |
683   |   |                         |                                                                             |
684   |   |                         | *   Every time a packet is sent for a port, update the credits of all the   |
685   |   |                         |     the subports and pipes of that port. Not feasible.                      |
686   |   |                         |                                                                             |
687   |   |                         | *   Every time a packet is sent, update the credits for the pipe and        |
688   |   |                         |     subport. Very accurate, but not needed (a lot of calculations).         |
689   |   |                         |                                                                             |
690   |   |                         | *   Every time a pipe is selected (that is, picked by one                   |
691   |   |                         |     of the grinders), update the credits for the pipe and its subport.      |
692   |   |                         |                                                                             |
693   |   |                         | The current implementation is using option 3.  According to Section         |
694   |   |                         | `Dequeue State Machine`_, the pipe and subport credits are                  |
695   |   |                         | updated every time a pipe is selected by the dequeue process before the     |
696   |   |                         | pipe and subport credits are actually used.                                 |
697   |   |                         |                                                                             |
698   |   |                         | The implementation uses a tradeoff between accuracy and speed by updating   |
699   |   |                         | the bucket credits only when at least a full *tb_period*  has elapsed since |
700   |   |                         | the last update.                                                            |
701   |   |                         |                                                                             |
702   |   |                         | *   Full accuracy can be achieved by selecting the value for *tb_period*    |
703   |   |                         |     for which  *tb_credits_per_period = 1*.                                 |
704   |   |                         |                                                                             |
705   |   |                         | *   When full accuracy is not required, better performance is achieved by   |
706   |   |                         |     setting *tb_credits* to a larger value.                                 |
707   |   |                         |                                                                             |
708   |   |                         | Update operations:                                                          |
709   |   |                         |                                                                             |
710   |   |                         | *   n_periods = (time - tb_time) / tb_period;                               |
711   |   |                         |                                                                             |
712   |   |                         | *   tb_credits += n_periods * tb_credits_per_period;                        |
713   |   |                         |                                                                             |
714   |   |                         | *   tb_credits = min(tb_credits, tb_size);                                  |
715   |   |                         |                                                                             |
716   |   |                         | *   tb_time += n_periods * tb_period;                                       |
717   |   |                         |                                                                             |
718   +---+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
719   | 3 | Credit consumption      | As result of packet scheduling, the necessary number of credits is removed  |
720   |   |  (on packet scheduling) | from the bucket. The packet can only be sent if enough credits are in the   |
721   |   |                         | bucket to send the full packet (packet bytes and framing overhead for the   |
722   |   |                         | packet).                                                                    |
723   |   |                         |                                                                             |
724   |   |                         | Scheduling operations:                                                      |
725   |   |                         |                                                                             |
726   |   |                         | pkt_credits = pkt_len + frame_overhead;                                     |
727   |   |                         | if (tb_credits >= pkt_credits){tb_credits -= pkt_credits;}                  |
728   |   |                         |                                                                             |
729   +---+-------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
730
731Traffic Classes
732"""""""""""""""
733
734Implementation of Strict Priority Scheduling
735''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
736
737Strict priority scheduling of traffic classes within the same pipe is implemented by the pipe dequeue state machine,
738which selects the queues in ascending order.
739Therefore, queue 0 (associated with TC 0, highest priority TC) is handled before
740queue 1 (TC 1, lower priority than TC 0),
741which is handled before queue 2 (TC 2, lower priority than TC 1) and it continues until queues of all TCs except the
742lowest priority TC are handled. At last, queues 12..15 (best effort TC, lowest priority TC) are handled.
743
744Upper Limit Enforcement
745'''''''''''''''''''''''
746
747The traffic classes at the pipe and subport levels are not traffic shaped,
748so there is no token bucket maintained in this context.
749The upper limit for the traffic classes at the subport and
750pipe levels is enforced by periodically refilling the subport / pipe traffic class credit counter,
751out of which credits are consumed every time a packet is scheduled for that subport / pipe,
752as described in :numref:`table_qos_10` and :numref:`table_qos_11`.
753
754.. _table_qos_10:
755
756.. table:: Subport/Pipe Traffic Class Upper Limit Enforcement Persistent Data Structure
757
758   +---+-----------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
759   | # | Subport or pipe field | Unit  | Description                                                           |
760   |   |                       |       |                                                                       |
761   +===+=======================+=======+=======================================================================+
762   | 1 | tc_time               | Bytes | Time of the next update (upper limit refill) for the TCs of the       |
763   |   |                       |       | current subport / pipe.                                               |
764   |   |                       |       |                                                                       |
765   |   |                       |       | See  Section `Internal Time Reference`_ for the                       |
766   |   |                       |       | explanation of why the time is maintained in byte units.              |
767   |   |                       |       |                                                                       |
768   +---+-----------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
769   | 2 | tc_period             | Bytes | Time between two consecutive updates for the all TCs of the current   |
770   |   |                       |       | subport / pipe. This is expected to be many times bigger than the     |
771   |   |                       |       | typical value of the token bucket tb_period.                          |
772   |   |                       |       |                                                                       |
773   +---+-----------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
774   | 3 | tc_credits_per_period | Bytes | Upper limit for the number of credits allowed to be consumed by the   |
775   |   |                       |       | current TC during each enforcement period tc_period.                  |
776   |   |                       |       |                                                                       |
777   +---+-----------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
778   | 4 | tc_credits            | Bytes | Current upper limit for the number of credits that can be consumed by |
779   |   |                       |       | the current traffic class for the remainder of the current            |
780   |   |                       |       | enforcement period.                                                   |
781   |   |                       |       |                                                                       |
782   +---+-----------------------+-------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
783
784.. _table_qos_11:
785
786.. table:: Subport/Pipe Traffic Class Upper Limit Enforcement Operations
787
788   +---+--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
789   | # | Traffic Class Operation  | Description                                                                |
790   |   |                          |                                                                            |
791   +===+==========================+============================================================================+
792   | 1 | Initialization           | tc_credits = tc_credits_per_period;                                        |
793   |   |                          |                                                                            |
794   |   |                          | tc_time = tc_period;                                                       |
795   |   |                          |                                                                            |
796   +---+--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
797   | 2 | Credit update            | Update operations:                                                         |
798   |   |                          |                                                                            |
799   |   |                          | if (time >= tc_time) {                                                     |
800   |   |                          |                                                                            |
801   |   |                          | tc_credits = tc_credits_per_period;                                        |
802   |   |                          |                                                                            |
803   |   |                          | tc_time = time + tc_period;                                                |
804   |   |                          |                                                                            |
805   |   |                          | }                                                                          |
806   |   |                          |                                                                            |
807   +---+--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
808   | 3 | Credit consumption       | As result of packet scheduling, the TC limit is decreased with the         |
809   |   | (on packet scheduling)   | necessary number of credits. The packet can only be sent if enough credits |
810   |   |                          | are currently available in the TC limit to send the full packet            |
811   |   |                          | (packet bytes and framing overhead for the packet).                        |
812   |   |                          |                                                                            |
813   |   |                          | Scheduling operations:                                                     |
814   |   |                          |                                                                            |
815   |   |                          | pkt_credits = pk_len + frame_overhead;                                     |
816   |   |                          |                                                                            |
817   |   |                          | if (tc_credits >= pkt_credits) {tc_credits -= pkt_credits;}                |
818   |   |                          |                                                                            |
819   +---+--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
820
821Weighted Round Robin (WRR)
822""""""""""""""""""""""""""
823
824The evolution of the WRR design solution for the lowest priority traffic class (best effort TC) from simple to complex is shown in :numref:`table_qos_12`.
825
826.. _table_qos_12:
827
828.. table:: Weighted Round Robin (WRR)
829
830   +---+------------+-----------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
831   | # | All Queues | Equal Weights   | All Packets | Strategy                                                 |
832   |   | Active?    | for All Queues? | Equal?      |                                                          |
833   +===+============+=================+=============+==========================================================+
834   | 1 | Yes        | Yes             | Yes         | **Byte level round robin**                               |
835   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
836   |   |            |                 |             | *Next queue*  queue #i, i =  *(i + 1) % n*               |
837   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
838   +---+------------+-----------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
839   | 2 | Yes        | Yes             | No          | **Packet level round robin**                             |
840   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
841   |   |            |                 |             | Consuming one byte from queue #i requires consuming      |
842   |   |            |                 |             | exactly one token for queue #i.                          |
843   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
844   |   |            |                 |             | T(i) = Accumulated number of tokens previously consumed  |
845   |   |            |                 |             | from queue #i. Every time a packet is consumed from      |
846   |   |            |                 |             | queue #i, T(i) is updated as: T(i) += *pkt_len*.         |
847   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
848   |   |            |                 |             | *Next queue* : queue with the smallest T.                |
849   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
850   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
851   +---+------------+-----------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
852   | 3 | Yes        | No              | No          | **Packet level weighted round robin**                    |
853   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
854   |   |            |                 |             | This case can be reduced to the previous case by         |
855   |   |            |                 |             | introducing a cost per byte that is different for each   |
856   |   |            |                 |             | queue. Queues with lower weights have a higher cost per  |
857   |   |            |                 |             | byte. This way, it is still meaningful to compare the    |
858   |   |            |                 |             | consumption amongst different queues in order to select  |
859   |   |            |                 |             | the next queue.                                          |
860   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
861   |   |            |                 |             | w(i) = Weight of queue #i                                |
862   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
863   |   |            |                 |             | t(i) = Tokens per byte for queue #i, defined as the      |
864   |   |            |                 |             | inverse weight of queue #i.                              |
865   |   |            |                 |             | For example, if w[0..3] = [1:2:4:8],                     |
866   |   |            |                 |             | then t[0..3] = [8:4:2:1]; if w[0..3] = [1:4:15:20],      |
867   |   |            |                 |             | then t[0..3] = [60:15:4:3].                              |
868   |   |            |                 |             | Consuming one byte from queue #i requires consuming t(i) |
869   |   |            |                 |             | tokens for queue #i.                                     |
870   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
871   |   |            |                 |             | T(i) = Accumulated number of tokens previously consumed  |
872   |   |            |                 |             | from queue #i. Every time a packet is consumed from      |
873   |   |            |                 |             | queue #i, T(i) is updated as:  *T(i) += pkt_len * t(i)*. |
874   |   |            |                 |             | *Next queue* : queue with the smallest T.                |
875   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
876   +---+------------+-----------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
877   | 4 | No         | No              | No          | **Packet level weighted round robin with variable queue  |
878   |   |            |                 |             | status**                                                 |
879   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
880   |   |            |                 |             | Reduce this case to the previous case by setting the     |
881   |   |            |                 |             | consumption of inactive queues to a high number, so that |
882   |   |            |                 |             | the inactive queues will never be selected by the        |
883   |   |            |                 |             | smallest T logic.                                        |
884   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
885   |   |            |                 |             | To prevent T from overflowing as result of successive    |
886   |   |            |                 |             | accumulations, T(i) is truncated after each packet       |
887   |   |            |                 |             | consumption for all queues.                              |
888   |   |            |                 |             | For example, T[0..3] = [1000, 1100, 1200, 1300]          |
889   |   |            |                 |             | is truncated to T[0..3] = [0, 100, 200, 300]             |
890   |   |            |                 |             | by subtracting the min T from T(i), i = 0..n.            |
891   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
892   |   |            |                 |             | This requires having at least one active queue in the    |
893   |   |            |                 |             | set of input queues, which is guaranteed by the dequeue  |
894   |   |            |                 |             | state machine never selecting an inactive traffic class. |
895   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
896   |   |            |                 |             | *mask(i) = Saturation mask for queue #i, defined as:*    |
897   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
898   |   |            |                 |             | mask(i) = (queue #i is active)? 0 : 0xFFFFFFFF;          |
899   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
900   |   |            |                 |             | w(i) = Weight of queue #i                                |
901   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
902   |   |            |                 |             | t(i) = Tokens per byte for queue #i, defined as the      |
903   |   |            |                 |             | inverse weight of queue #i.                              |
904   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
905   |   |            |                 |             | T(i) = Accumulated numbers of tokens previously consumed |
906   |   |            |                 |             | from queue #i.                                           |
907   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
908   |   |            |                 |             | *Next queue*  : queue with smallest T.                   |
909   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
910   |   |            |                 |             | Before packet consumption from queue #i:                 |
911   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
912   |   |            |                 |             | *T(i) |= mask(i)*                                        |
913   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
914   |   |            |                 |             | After packet consumption from queue #i:                  |
915   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
916   |   |            |                 |             | T(j) -= T(i), j != i                                     |
917   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
918   |   |            |                 |             | T(i) = pkt_len * t(i)                                    |
919   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
920   |   |            |                 |             | Note: T(j) uses the T(i) value before T(i) is updated.   |
921   |   |            |                 |             |                                                          |
922   +---+------------+-----------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
923
924Subport Traffic Class Oversubscription
925""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
926
927Problem Statement
928'''''''''''''''''
929
930Oversubscription for subport traffic class X is a configuration-time event that occurs when
931more bandwidth is allocated for traffic class X at the level of subport member pipes than
932allocated for the same traffic class at the parent subport level.
933
934The existence of the oversubscription for a specific subport and
935traffic class is solely the result of pipe and
936subport-level configuration as opposed to being created due
937to dynamic evolution of the traffic load at run-time (as congestion is).
938
939When the overall demand for traffic class X for the current subport is low,
940the existence of the oversubscription condition does not represent a problem,
941as demand for traffic class X is completely satisfied for all member pipes.
942However, this can no longer be achieved when the aggregated demand for traffic class X
943for all subport member pipes exceeds the limit configured at the subport level.
944
945Solution Space
946''''''''''''''
947
948summarizes some of the possible approaches for handling this problem,
949with the third approach selected for implementation.
950
951.. _table_qos_13:
952
953.. table:: Subport Traffic Class Oversubscription
954
955   +-----+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
956   | No. | Approach                  | Description                                                             |
957   |     |                           |                                                                         |
958   +=====+===========================+=========================================================================+
959   | 1   | Don't care                | First come, first served.                                               |
960   |     |                           |                                                                         |
961   |     |                           | This approach is not fair amongst subport member pipes, as pipes that   |
962   |     |                           | are served first will use up as much bandwidth for TC X as they need,   |
963   |     |                           | while pipes that are served later will receive poor service due to      |
964   |     |                           | bandwidth for TC X at the subport level being scarce.                   |
965   |     |                           |                                                                         |
966   +-----+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
967   | 2   | Scale down all pipes      | All pipes within the subport have their bandwidth limit for TC X scaled |
968   |     |                           | down by the same factor.                                                |
969   |     |                           |                                                                         |
970   |     |                           | This approach is not fair among subport member pipes, as the low end    |
971   |     |                           | pipes (that is, pipes configured with low bandwidth) can potentially    |
972   |     |                           | experience severe service degradation that might render their service   |
973   |     |                           | unusable (if available bandwidth for these pipes drops below the        |
974   |     |                           | minimum requirements for a workable service), while the service         |
975   |     |                           | degradation for high end pipes might not be noticeable at all.          |
976   |     |                           |                                                                         |
977   +-----+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
978   | 3   | Cap the high demand pipes | Each subport member pipe receives an equal share of the bandwidth       |
979   |     |                           | available at run-time for TC X at the subport level. Any bandwidth left |
980   |     |                           | unused by the low-demand pipes is redistributed in equal portions to    |
981   |     |                           | the high-demand pipes. This way, the high-demand pipes are truncated    |
982   |     |                           | while the low-demand pipes are not impacted.                            |
983   |     |                           |                                                                         |
984   +-----+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
985
986Typically, the subport TC oversubscription feature is enabled only for the lowest priority traffic class,
987which is typically used for best effort traffic,
988with the management plane preventing this condition from occurring for the other (higher priority) traffic classes.
989
990To ease implementation, it is also assumed that the upper limit for subport best effort TC is set to 100% of the subport rate,
991and that the upper limit for pipe best effort TC is set to 100% of pipe rate for all subport member pipes.
992
993Implementation Overview
994'''''''''''''''''''''''
995
996The algorithm computes a watermark, which is periodically updated based on the current demand experienced by the subport member pipes,
997whose purpose is to limit the amount of traffic that each pipe is allowed to send for best effort TC.
998The watermark is computed at the subport level at the beginning of each traffic class upper limit enforcement period and
999the same value is used by all the subport member pipes throughout the current enforcement period.
1000illustrates how the watermark computed as subport level at the beginning of each period is propagated to all subport member pipes.
1001
1002At the beginning of the current enforcement period (which coincides with the end of the previous enforcement period),
1003the value of the watermark is adjusted based on the amount of bandwidth allocated to best effort TC at the beginning of the previous period that
1004was not left unused by the subport member pipes at the end of the previous period.
1005
1006If there was subport best effort TC bandwidth left unused,
1007the value of the watermark for the current period is increased to encourage the subport member pipes to consume more bandwidth.
1008Otherwise, the value of the watermark is decreased to enforce equality of bandwidth consumption among subport member pipes for best effort TC.
1009
1010The increase or decrease in the watermark value is done in small increments,
1011so several enforcement periods might be required to reach the equilibrium state.
1012This state can change at any moment due to variations in the demand experienced by the subport member pipes for best effort TC, for example,
1013as a result of demand increase (when the watermark needs to be lowered) or demand decrease (when the watermark needs to be increased).
1014
1015When demand is low, the watermark is set high to prevent it from impeding the subport member pipes from consuming more bandwidth.
1016The highest value for the watermark is picked as the highest rate configured for a subport member pipe.
1017:numref:`table_qos_14` and :numref:`table_qos_15` illustrates the watermark operation.
1018
1019.. _table_qos_14:
1020
1021.. table:: Watermark Propagation from Subport Level to Member Pipes at the Beginning of Each Traffic Class Upper Limit Enforcement Period
1022
1023   +-----+---------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
1024   | No. | Subport Traffic Class Operation | Description                                        |
1025   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1026   +=====+=================================+====================================================+
1027   | 1   | Initialization                  | **Subport level**: subport_period_id= 0            |
1028   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1029   |     |                                 | **Pipe level**: pipe_period_id = 0                 |
1030   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1031   +-----+---------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
1032   | 2   | Credit update                   | **Subport Level**:                                 |
1033   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1034   |     |                                 | if (time>=subport_tc_time)                         |
1035   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1036   |     |                                 | {                                                  |
1037   |     |                                 |     subport_wm = water_mark_update();              |
1038   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1039   |     |                                 |     subport_tc_time = time + subport_tc_period;    |
1040   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1041   |     |                                 |     subport_period_id++;                           |
1042   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1043   |     |                                 | }                                                  |
1044   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1045   |     |                                 | **Pipelevel:**                                     |
1046   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1047   |     |                                 | if(pipe_period_id != subport_period_id)            |
1048   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1049   |     |                                 | {                                                  |
1050   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1051   |     |                                 |     pipe_ov_credits = subport_wm \* pipe_weight;   |
1052   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1053   |     |                                 |     pipe_period_id = subport_period_id;            |
1054   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1055   |     |                                 | }                                                  |
1056   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1057   +-----+---------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
1058   | 3   | Credit consumption              | **Pipe level:**                                    |
1059   |     | (on packet scheduling)          |                                                    |
1060   |     |                                 | pkt_credits = pk_len + frame_overhead;             |
1061   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1062   |     |                                 | if(pipe_ov_credits >= pkt_credits{                 |
1063   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1064   |     |                                 |    pipe_ov_credits -= pkt_credits;                 |
1065   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1066   |     |                                 | }                                                  |
1067   |     |                                 |                                                    |
1068   +-----+---------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
1069
1070.. _table_qos_15:
1071
1072.. table:: Watermark Calculation
1073
1074   +-----+------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1075   | No. | Subport Traffic  | Description                                                                      |
1076   |     | Class Operation  |                                                                                  |
1077   +=====+==================+==================================================================================+
1078   | 1   | Initialization   | **Subport level:**                                                               |
1079   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1080   |     |                  | wm = WM_MAX                                                                      |
1081   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1082   +-----+------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1083   | 2   | Credit update    | **Subport level (water_mark_update):**                                           |
1084   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1085   |     |                  | tc0_cons = subport_tc0_credits_per_period - subport_tc0_credits;                 |
1086   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1087   |     |                  | tc1_cons = subport_tc1_credits_per_period - subport_tc1_credits;                 |
1088   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1089   |     |                  | tc2_cons = subport_tc2_credits_per_period - subport_tc2_credits;                 |
1090   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1091   |     |                  | tc3_cons = subport_tc3_credits_per_period - subport_tc3_credits;                 |
1092   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1093   |     |                  | tc4_cons = subport_tc4_credits_per_period - subport_tc4_credits;                 |
1094   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1095   |     |                  | tc5_cons = subport_tc5_credits_per_period - subport_tc5_credits;                 |
1096   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1097   |     |                  | tc6_cons = subport_tc6_credits_per_period - subport_tc6_credits;                 |
1098   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1099   |     |                  | tc7_cons = subport_tc7_credits_per_period - subport_tc7_credits;                 |
1100   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1101   |     |                  | tc8_cons = subport_tc8_credits_per_period - subport_tc8_credits;                 |
1102   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1103   |     |                  | tc9_cons = subport_tc9_credits_per_period - subport_tc9_credits;                 |
1104   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1105   |     |                  | tc10_cons = subport_tc10_credits_per_period - subport_tc10_credits;              |
1106   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1107   |     |                  | tc11_cons = subport_tc11_credits_per_period - subport_tc11_credits;              |
1108   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1109   |     |                  | tc_be_cons_max = subport_tc_be_credits_per_period - (tc0_cons + tc1_cons +       |
1110   |     |                  | tc2_cons + tc3_cons + tc4_cons + tc5_cons + tc6_cons + tc7_cons + tc8_cons +     |
1111   |     |                  | tc9_cons + tc10_cons + tc11_cons);                                               |
1112   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1113   |     |                  | if(tc_be_consumption > (tc_be_consumption_max - MTU)){                           |
1114   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1115   |     |                  |     wm -= wm >> 7;                                                               |
1116   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1117   |     |                  |     if(wm < WM_MIN) wm =  WM_MIN;                                                |
1118   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1119   |     |                  | } else {                                                                         |
1120   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1121   |     |                  |    wm += (wm >> 7) + 1;                                                          |
1122   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1123   |     |                  |    if(wm > WM_MAX) wm = WM_MAX;                                                  |
1124   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1125   |     |                  | }                                                                                |
1126   |     |                  |                                                                                  |
1127   +-----+------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1128
1129Worst Case Scenarios for Performance
1130~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1131
1132Lots of Active Queues with Not Enough Credits
1133^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1134
1135The more queues the scheduler has to examine for packets and credits in order to select one packet,
1136the lower the performance of the scheduler is.
1137
1138The scheduler maintains the bitmap of active queues, which skips the non-active queues,
1139but in order to detect whether a specific pipe has enough credits,
1140the pipe has to be drilled down using the pipe dequeue state machine,
1141which consumes cycles regardless of the scheduling result
1142(no packets are produced or at least one packet is produced).
1143
1144This scenario stresses the importance of the policer for the scheduler performance:
1145if the pipe does not have enough credits,
1146its packets should be dropped as soon as possible (before they reach the hierarchical scheduler),
1147thus rendering the pipe queues as not active,
1148which allows the dequeue side to skip that pipe with no cycles being spent on investigating the pipe credits
1149that would result in a "not enough credits" status.
1150
1151Single Queue with 100% Line Rate
1152^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1153
1154The port scheduler performance is optimized for a large number of queues.
1155If the number of queues is small,
1156then the performance of the port scheduler for the same level of active traffic is expected to be worse than
1157the performance of a small set of message passing queues.
1158
1159.. _Droppers:
1160
1161Droppers
1162--------
1163
1164The purpose of the DPDK dropper is to drop packets arriving at a packet scheduler to avoid congestion.
1165The dropper supports the Proportional Integral Controller Enhanced (PIE), Random Early Detection (RED),
1166Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED) and tail drop algorithms.
1167:numref:`figure_blk_diag_dropper` illustrates how the dropper integrates with the scheduler.
1168The DPDK currently does not support congestion management
1169so the dropper provides the only method for congestion avoidance.
1170
1171.. _figure_blk_diag_dropper:
1172
1173.. figure:: ../img/blk_diag_dropper.*
1174
1175   High-level Block Diagram of the DPDK Dropper
1176
1177
1178The dropper uses one of two congestion avoidance algorithms:
1179   - the Random Early Detection (RED) as documented in the reference publication.
1180   - the Proportional Integral Controller Enhanced (PIE) as documented in RFC8033 publication.
1181
1182The purpose of the RED/PIE algorithm is to monitor a packet queue,
1183determine the current congestion level in the queue and decide whether an arriving packet should be enqueued or dropped.
1184
1185The RED algorithm uses an Exponential Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) filter to compute average queue size which
1186gives an indication of the current congestion level in the queue.
1187
1188For each enqueue operation, the RED algorithm compares the average queue size to minimum and maximum thresholds.
1189Depending on whether the average queue size is below, above or in between these thresholds,
1190the RED algorithm calculates the probability that an arriving packet should be dropped and
1191makes a random decision based on this probability.
1192
1193The dropper also supports Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED) by allowing the scheduler to select
1194different RED configurations for the same packet queue at run-time.
1195In the case of severe congestion, the dropper resorts to tail drop.
1196This occurs when a packet queue has reached maximum capacity and cannot store any more packets.
1197In this situation, all arriving packets are dropped.
1198
1199The flow through the dropper is illustrated in :numref:`figure_flow_tru_dropper`.
1200The RED/WRED/PIE algorithm is exercised first and tail drop second.
1201
1202.. _figure_flow_tru_dropper:
1203
1204.. figure:: ../img/flow_tru_dropper.*
1205
1206   Flow Through the Dropper
1207
1208The PIE algorithm periodically updates the drop probability based on the latency samples.
1209The current latency sample but also analyze whether the latency is trending up or down.
1210This is the classical Proportional Integral (PI) controller method, which is known for
1211eliminating steady state errors.
1212
1213When a congestion period ends, we might be left with a high drop probability with light
1214packet arrivals. Hence, the PIE algorithm includes a mechanism by which the drop probability
1215decays exponentially (rather than linearly) when the system is not congested.
1216This would help the drop probability converge to 0 more quickly, while the PI controller ensures
1217that it would eventually reach zero.
1218
1219The use cases supported by the dropper are:
1220
1221*   *    Initialize configuration data
1222
1223*   *    Initialize run-time data
1224
1225*   *    Enqueue (make a decision to enqueue or drop an arriving packet)
1226
1227*   *    Mark empty (record the time at which a packet queue becomes empty)
1228
1229The configuration use case is explained in :ref:`Section2.23.3.1 <Configuration>`,
1230the enqueue operation is explained in  :ref:`Section 2.23.3.2 <Enqueue_Operation>`
1231and the mark empty operation is explained in :ref:`Section 2.23.3.3 <Queue_Empty_Operation>`.
1232
1233.. _Configuration:
1234
1235Configuration
1236~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1237
1238A RED configuration contains the parameters given in :numref:`table_qos_16`.
1239
1240.. _table_qos_16:
1241
1242.. table:: RED Configuration Parameters
1243
1244   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1245   | Parameter                | Minimum | Maximum | Typical          |
1246   |                          |         |         |                  |
1247   +==========================+=========+=========+==================+
1248   | Minimum Threshold        | 0       | 1022    | 1/4 x queue size |
1249   |                          |         |         |                  |
1250   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1251   | Maximum Threshold        | 1       | 1023    | 1/2 x queue size |
1252   |                          |         |         |                  |
1253   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1254   | Inverse Mark Probability | 1       | 255     | 10               |
1255   |                          |         |         |                  |
1256   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1257   | EWMA Filter Weight       | 1       | 12      | 9                |
1258   |                          |         |         |                  |
1259   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1260
1261The meaning of these parameters is explained in more detail in the following sections.
1262The format of these parameters as specified to the dropper module API
1263corresponds to the format used by Cisco* in their RED implementation.
1264The minimum and maximum threshold parameters are specified to the dropper module in terms of number of packets.
1265The mark probability parameter is specified as an inverse value, for example,
1266an inverse mark probability parameter value of 10 corresponds
1267to a mark probability of 1/10 (that is, 1 in 10 packets will be dropped).
1268The EWMA filter weight parameter is specified as an inverse log value,
1269for example, a filter weight parameter value of 9 corresponds to a filter weight of 1/29.
1270
1271A PIE configuration contains the parameters given in :numref:`table_qos_16a`.
1272
1273.. _table_qos_16a:
1274
1275.. table:: PIE Configuration Parameters
1276
1277   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1278   | Parameter                | Minimum | Maximum | Default          |
1279   |                          |         |         |                  |
1280   +==========================+=========+=========+==================+
1281   | Queue delay reference    | 1       | uint16  | 15               |
1282   | Latency Target Value     |         |         |                  |
1283   | Unit: ms                 |         |         |                  |
1284   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1285   | Max Burst Allowance      | 1       | uint16  | 150              |
1286   | Unit: ms                 |         |         |                  |
1287   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1288   | Tail Drop Threshold      | 1       | uint16  | 64               |
1289   | Unit: bytes              |         |         |                  |
1290   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1291   | Period to calculate      | 1       | uint16  | 15               |
1292   | drop probability         |         |         |                  |
1293   | Unit: ms                 |         |         |                  |
1294   +--------------------------+---------+---------+------------------+
1295
1296The meaning of these parameters is explained in more detail in the next sections.
1297The format of these parameters as specified to the dropper module API.
1298They could made self calculated for fine tuning, within the apps.
1299
1300.. _Enqueue_Operation:
1301
1302Enqueue Operation
1303~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1304
1305In the example shown in :numref:`figure_ex_data_flow_tru_dropper`, q (actual queue size) is the input value,
1306avg (average queue size) and count (number of packets since the last drop) are run-time values,
1307decision is the output value and the remaining values are configuration parameters.
1308
1309.. _figure_ex_data_flow_tru_dropper:
1310
1311.. figure:: ../img/ex_data_flow_tru_dropper.*
1312
1313   Example Data Flow Through Dropper
1314
1315
1316EWMA Filter Microblock
1317^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1318
1319The purpose of the EWMA Filter microblock is to filter queue size values to smooth out transient changes
1320that result from "bursty" traffic.
1321The output value is the average queue size which gives a more stable view of the current congestion level in the queue.
1322
1323The EWMA filter has one configuration parameter, filter weight, which determines how quickly
1324or slowly the average queue size output responds to changes in the actual queue size input.
1325Higher values of filter weight mean that the average queue size responds more quickly to changes in actual queue size.
1326
1327Average Queue Size Calculation when the Queue is not Empty
1328""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1329
1330The definition of the EWMA filter is given in the following equation.
1331
1332.. image:: ../img/ewma_filter_eq_1.*
1333
1334Where:
1335
1336*   *avg*  = average queue size
1337
1338*   *wq*   = filter weight
1339
1340*   *q*    = actual queue size
1341
1342.. note::
1343
1344    The filter weight, wq = 1/2^n, where n is the filter weight parameter value passed to the dropper module
1345	on configuration (see :ref:`Section2.23.3.1 <Configuration>` ).
1346
1347Average Queue Size Calculation when the Queue is Empty
1348^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1349
1350The EWMA filter does not read time stamps and instead assumes that enqueue operations will happen quite regularly.
1351Special handling is required when the queue becomes empty as the queue could be empty for a short time or a long time.
1352When the queue becomes empty, average queue size should decay gradually to zero instead of dropping suddenly to zero
1353or remaining stagnant at the last computed value.
1354When a packet is enqueued on an empty queue, the average queue size is computed using the following formula:
1355
1356.. image:: ../img/ewma_filter_eq_2.*
1357
1358Where:
1359
1360*   *m*   = the number of enqueue operations that could have occurred on this queue while the queue was empty
1361
1362In the dropper module, *m* is defined as:
1363
1364.. image:: ../img/m_definition.*
1365
1366Where:
1367
1368*   *time*  = current time
1369
1370*   *qtime* = time the queue became empty
1371
1372*   *s* = typical time between successive enqueue operations on this queue
1373
1374The time reference is in units of bytes,
1375where a byte signifies the time duration required by the physical interface to send out a byte on the transmission medium
1376(see Section `Internal Time Reference`_).
1377The parameter s is defined in the dropper module as a constant with the value: s=2^22.
1378This corresponds to the time required by every leaf node in a hierarchy with 64K leaf nodes
1379to transmit one 64-byte packet onto the wire and represents the worst case scenario.
1380For much smaller scheduler hierarchies,
1381it may be necessary to reduce the parameter s, which is defined in the red header source file (rte_red.h) as:
1382
1383.. code-block:: c
1384
1385    #define RTE_RED_S
1386
1387Since the time reference is in bytes, the port speed is implied in the expression: *time-qtime*.
1388The dropper does not have to be configured with the actual port speed.
1389It adjusts automatically to low speed and high speed links.
1390
1391Implementation
1392""""""""""""""
1393
1394A numerical method is used to compute the factor (1-wq)^m that appears in Equation 2.
1395
1396This method is based on the following identity:
1397
1398.. image:: ../img/eq2_factor.*
1399
1400
1401This allows us to express the following:
1402
1403.. image:: ../img/eq2_expression.*
1404
1405
1406In the dropper module, a look-up table is used to compute log2(1-wq) for each value of wq supported by the dropper module.
1407The factor (1-wq)^m can then be obtained by multiplying the table value by *m* and applying shift operations.
1408To avoid overflow in the multiplication, the value, *m*, and the look-up table values are limited to 16 bits.
1409The total size of the look-up table is 56 bytes.
1410Once the factor (1-wq)^m is obtained using this method, the average queue size can be calculated from Equation 2.
1411
1412Alternative Approaches
1413""""""""""""""""""""""
1414
1415Other methods for calculating the factor (1-wq)^m in the expression for computing average queue size
1416when the queue is empty (Equation 2) were considered.
1417These approaches include:
1418
1419*   Floating-point evaluation
1420
1421*   Fixed-point evaluation using a small look-up table (512B) and up to 16 multiplications
1422    (this is the approach used in the FreeBSD* ALTQ RED implementation)
1423
1424*   Fixed-point evaluation using a small look-up table (512B) and 16 SSE multiplications
1425    (SSE optimized version of the approach used in the FreeBSD* ALTQ RED implementation)
1426
1427*   Large look-up table (76 KB)
1428
1429The method that was finally selected (described above in Section 26.3.2.2.1) out performs all of these approaches
1430in terms of run-time performance and memory requirements and
1431also achieves accuracy comparable to floating-point evaluation.
1432:numref:`table_qos_17` lists the performance of each of these alternative approaches relative to the method that is used in the dropper.
1433As can be seen, the floating-point implementation achieved the worst performance.
1434
1435.. _table_qos_17:
1436
1437.. table:: Relative Performance of Alternative Approaches
1438
1439   +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------+
1440   | Method                                                                             | Relative Performance |
1441   |                                                                                    |                      |
1442   +====================================================================================+======================+
1443   | Current dropper method (see :ref:`Section 23.3.2.1.3 <Droppers>`)                  | 100%                 |
1444   |                                                                                    |                      |
1445   +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------+
1446   | Fixed-point method with small (512B) look-up table                                 | 148%                 |
1447   |                                                                                    |                      |
1448   +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------+
1449   | SSE method with small (512B) look-up table                                         | 114%                 |
1450   |                                                                                    |                      |
1451   +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------+
1452   | Large (76KB) look-up table                                                         | 118%                 |
1453   |                                                                                    |                      |
1454   +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------+
1455   | Floating-point                                                                     | 595%                 |
1456   |                                                                                    |                      |
1457   +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------+
1458   | **Note**: In this case, since performance is expressed as time spent executing the operation in a         |
1459   | specific condition, any relative performance value above 100% runs slower than the reference method.      |
1460   |                                                                                                           |
1461   +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1462
1463Drop Decision Block
1464^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1465
1466The Drop Decision block:
1467
1468*   Compares the average queue size with the minimum and maximum thresholds
1469
1470*   Calculates a packet drop probability
1471
1472*   Makes a random decision to enqueue or drop an arriving packet
1473
1474The calculation of the drop probability occurs in two stages.
1475An initial drop probability is calculated based on the average queue size,
1476the minimum and maximum thresholds and the mark probability.
1477An actual drop probability is then computed from the initial drop probability.
1478The actual drop probability takes the count run-time value into consideration
1479so that the actual drop probability increases as more packets arrive to the packet queue
1480since the last packet was dropped.
1481
1482Initial Packet Drop Probability
1483"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1484
1485The initial drop probability is calculated using the following equation.
1486
1487.. image:: ../img/drop_probability_eq3.*
1488
1489Where:
1490
1491*   *maxp*  = mark probability
1492
1493*   *avg*  = average queue size
1494
1495*   *minth*  = minimum threshold
1496
1497*   *maxth*  = maximum threshold
1498
1499The calculation of the packet drop probability using Equation 3 is illustrated in :numref:`figure_pkt_drop_probability`.
1500If the average queue size is below the minimum threshold, an arriving packet is enqueued.
1501If the average queue size is at or above the maximum threshold, an arriving packet is dropped.
1502If the average queue size is between the minimum and maximum thresholds,
1503a drop probability is calculated to determine if the packet should be enqueued or dropped.
1504
1505.. _figure_pkt_drop_probability:
1506
1507.. figure:: ../img/pkt_drop_probability.*
1508
1509   Packet Drop Probability for a Given RED Configuration
1510
1511
1512Actual Drop Probability
1513"""""""""""""""""""""""
1514
1515If the average queue size is between the minimum and maximum thresholds,
1516then the actual drop probability is calculated from the following equation.
1517
1518.. image:: ../img/drop_probability_eq4.*
1519
1520Where:
1521
1522*   *Pb*  = initial drop probability (from Equation 3)
1523
1524*   *count* = number of packets that have arrived since the last drop
1525
1526The constant 2, in Equation 4 is the only deviation from the drop probability formulae
1527given in the reference document where a value of 1 is used instead.
1528It should be noted that the value pa computed from can be negative or greater than 1.
1529If this is the case, then a value of 1 should be used instead.
1530
1531The initial and actual drop probabilities are shown in :numref:`figure_drop_probability_graph`.
1532The actual drop probability is shown for the case where
1533the formula given in the reference document1 is used (blue curve)
1534and also for the case where the formula implemented in the dropper module,
1535is used (red curve).
1536The formula in the reference document results in a significantly higher drop rate
1537compared to the mark probability configuration parameter specified by the user.
1538The choice to deviate from the reference document is simply a design decision and
1539one that has been taken by other RED implementations, for example, FreeBSD* ALTQ RED.
1540
1541.. _figure_drop_probability_graph:
1542
1543.. figure:: ../img/drop_probability_graph.*
1544
1545   Initial Drop Probability (pb), Actual Drop probability (pa) Computed Using
1546   a Factor 1 (Blue Curve) and a Factor 2 (Red Curve)
1547
1548
1549.. _Queue_Empty_Operation:
1550
1551Queue Empty Operation
1552~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1553
1554The time at which a packet queue becomes empty must be recorded and saved with the RED run-time data
1555so that the EWMA filter block can calculate the average queue size on the next enqueue operation.
1556It is the responsibility of the calling application to inform the dropper module
1557through the API that a queue has become empty.
1558
1559Source Files Location
1560~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1561
1562The source files for the DPDK dropper are located at:
1563
1564*   DPDK/lib/sched/rte_red.h
1565
1566*   DPDK/lib/sched/rte_red.c
1567
1568Integration with the DPDK QoS Scheduler
1569~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1570
1571RED functionality in the DPDK QoS scheduler is disabled by default.
1572The parameter is found in the build configuration files in the DPDK/config directory.
1573RED configuration parameters are specified in the rte_red_params structure within the rte_sched_port_params structure
1574that is passed to the scheduler on initialization.
1575RED parameters are specified separately for four traffic classes and three packet colors (green, yellow and red)
1576allowing the scheduler to implement Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED).
1577
1578Integration with the DPDK QoS Scheduler Sample Application
1579~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1580
1581The DPDK QoS Scheduler Application reads a configuration file on start-up.
1582The configuration file includes a section containing RED parameters.
1583The format of these parameters is described in :ref:`Section2.23.3.1 <Configuration>`.
1584A sample RED configuration is shown below. In this example, the queue size is 64 packets.
1585
1586.. note::
1587
1588    For correct operation, the same EWMA filter weight parameter (wred weight) should be used
1589    for each packet color (green, yellow, red) in the same traffic class (tc).
1590
1591::
1592
1593    ; RED params per traffic class and color (Green / Yellow / Red)
1594
1595   [red]
1596   tc 0 wred min = 28 22 16
1597   tc 0 wred max = 32 32 32
1598   tc 0 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1599   tc 0 wred weight = 9 9 9
1600
1601   tc 1 wred min = 28 22 16
1602   tc 1 wred max = 32 32 32
1603   tc 1 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1604   tc 1 wred weight = 9 9 9
1605
1606   tc 2 wred min = 28 22 16
1607   tc 2 wred max = 32 32 32
1608   tc 2 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1609   tc 2 wred weight = 9 9 9
1610
1611   tc 3 wred min = 28 22 16
1612   tc 3 wred max = 32 32 32
1613   tc 3 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1614   tc 3 wred weight = 9 9 9
1615
1616   tc 4 wred min = 28 22 16
1617   tc 4 wred max = 32 32 32
1618   tc 4 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1619   tc 4 wred weight = 9 9 9
1620
1621   tc 5 wred min = 28 22 16
1622   tc 5 wred max = 32 32 32
1623   tc 5 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1624   tc 5 wred weight = 9 9 9
1625
1626   tc 6 wred min = 28 22 16
1627   tc 6 wred max = 32 32 32
1628   tc 6 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1629   tc 6 wred weight = 9 9 9
1630
1631   tc 7 wred min = 28 22 16
1632   tc 7 wred max = 32 32 32
1633   tc 7 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1634   tc 7 wred weight = 9 9 9
1635
1636   tc 8 wred min = 28 22 16
1637   tc 8 wred max = 32 32 32
1638   tc 8 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1639   tc 8 wred weight = 9 9 9
1640
1641   tc 9 wred min = 28 22 16
1642   tc 9 wred max = 32 32 32
1643   tc 9 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1644   tc 9 wred weight = 9 9 9
1645
1646
1647   tc 10 wred min = 28 22 16
1648   tc 10 wred max = 32 32 32
1649   tc 10 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1650   tc 10 wred weight = 9 9 9
1651
1652   tc 11 wred min = 28 22 16
1653   tc 11 wred max = 32 32 32
1654   tc 11 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1655   tc 11 wred weight = 9 9 9
1656
1657   tc 12 wred min = 28 22 16
1658   tc 12 wred max = 32 32 32
1659   tc 12 wred inv prob = 10 10 10
1660   tc 12 wred weight = 9 9 9
1661
1662With this configuration file, the RED configuration that applies to green,
1663yellow and red packets in traffic class 0 is shown in :numref:`table_qos_18`.
1664
1665.. _table_qos_18:
1666
1667.. table:: RED Configuration Corresponding to RED Configuration File
1668
1669   +--------------------+--------------------+-------+--------+-----+
1670   | RED Parameter      | Configuration Name | Green | Yellow | Red |
1671   |                    |                    |       |        |     |
1672   +====================+====================+=======+========+=====+
1673   | Minimum Threshold  | tc 0 wred min      | 28    | 22     | 16  |
1674   |                    |                    |       |        |     |
1675   +--------------------+--------------------+-------+--------+-----+
1676   | Maximum Threshold  | tc 0 wred max      | 32    | 32     | 32  |
1677   |                    |                    |       |        |     |
1678   +--------------------+--------------------+-------+--------+-----+
1679   | Mark Probability   | tc 0 wred inv prob | 10    | 10     | 10  |
1680   |                    |                    |       |        |     |
1681   +--------------------+--------------------+-------+--------+-----+
1682   | EWMA Filter Weight | tc 0 wred weight   | 9     | 9      | 9   |
1683   |                    |                    |       |        |     |
1684   +--------------------+--------------------+-------+--------+-----+
1685
1686Application Programming Interface (API)
1687~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1688
1689Enqueue API
1690^^^^^^^^^^^
1691
1692The syntax of the enqueue API is as follows:
1693
1694.. code-block:: c
1695
1696   int rte_red_enqueue(const struct rte_red_config *red_cfg, struct rte_red *red, const unsigned q, const uint64_t time)
1697
1698
1699The arguments passed to the enqueue API are configuration data, run-time data,
1700the current size of the packet queue (in packets) and a value representing the current time.
1701The time reference is in units of bytes,
1702where a byte signifies the time duration required by the physical interface to send out a byte on the transmission medium
1703(see Section 26.2.4.5.1 "Internal Time Reference" ).
1704The dropper reuses the scheduler time stamps for performance reasons.
1705
1706Empty API
1707^^^^^^^^^
1708
1709The syntax of the empty API is as follows:
1710
1711.. code-block:: c
1712
1713    void rte_red_mark_queue_empty(struct rte_red *red, const uint64_t time)
1714
1715The arguments passed to the empty API are run-time data and the current time in bytes.
1716
1717Traffic Metering
1718----------------
1719
1720The traffic metering component implements the Single Rate Three Color Marker (srTCM) and
1721Two Rate Three Color Marker (trTCM) algorithms, as defined by IETF RFC 2697 and 2698 respectively.
1722These algorithms meter the stream of incoming packets based on the allowance defined in advance for each traffic flow.
1723As result, each incoming packet is tagged as green,
1724yellow or red based on the monitored consumption of the flow the packet belongs to.
1725
1726Functional Overview
1727~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1728
1729The srTCM algorithm defines two token buckets for each traffic flow,
1730with the two buckets sharing the same token update rate:
1731
1732*   Committed (C) bucket: fed with tokens at the rate defined by the Committed Information Rate (CIR) parameter
1733    (measured in IP packet bytes per second).
1734    The size of the C bucket is defined by the Committed Burst Size (CBS) parameter (measured in bytes);
1735
1736*   Excess (E) bucket: fed with tokens at the same rate as the C bucket.
1737    The size of the E bucket is defined by the Excess Burst Size (EBS) parameter (measured in bytes).
1738
1739The trTCM algorithm defines two token buckets for each traffic flow,
1740with the two buckets being updated with tokens at independent rates:
1741
1742*   Committed (C) bucket: fed with tokens at the rate defined by the Committed Information Rate (CIR) parameter
1743    (measured in bytes of IP packet per second).
1744    The size of the C bucket is defined by the Committed Burst Size (CBS) parameter (measured in bytes);
1745
1746*   Peak (P) bucket: fed with tokens at the rate defined by the Peak Information Rate (PIR) parameter
1747    (measured in IP packet bytes per second).
1748    The size of the P bucket is defined by the Peak Burst Size (PBS) parameter (measured in bytes).
1749
1750Please refer to RFC 2697 (for srTCM) and RFC 2698 (for trTCM) for details on how tokens are consumed
1751from the buckets and how the packet color is determined.
1752
1753Color Blind and Color Aware Modes
1754^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1755
1756For both algorithms, the color blind mode is functionally equivalent to the color aware mode with input color set as green.
1757For color aware mode, a packet with red input color can only get the red output color,
1758while a packet with yellow input color can only get the yellow or red output colors.
1759
1760The reason why the color blind mode is still implemented distinctly than the color aware mode is
1761that color blind mode can be implemented with fewer operations than the color aware mode.
1762
1763Implementation Overview
1764~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1765
1766For each input packet, the steps for the srTCM / trTCM algorithms are:
1767
1768*   Update the C and E / P token buckets. This is done by reading the current time (from the CPU timestamp counter),
1769    identifying the amount of time since the last bucket update and computing the associated number of tokens
1770    (according to the pre-configured bucket rate).
1771    The number of tokens in the bucket is limited by the pre-configured bucket size;
1772
1773*   Identify the output color for the current packet based on the size of the IP packet
1774    and the amount of tokens currently available in the C and E / P buckets; for color aware mode only,
1775    the input color of the packet is also considered.
1776    When the output color is not red, a number of tokens equal to the length of the IP packet are
1777    subtracted from the C or E /P or both buckets, depending on the algorithm and the output color of the packet.
1778