xref: /dpdk/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vhost.rst (revision ba9e05cb6b002016b01adf4e8700f206f3d04fd6)
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31
32Vhost Sample Application
33========================
34
35The vhost sample application demonstrates integration of the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK)
36with the Linux* KVM hypervisor by implementing the vhost-net offload API.
37The sample application performs simple packet switching between virtual machines based on Media Access Control
38(MAC) address or Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tag.
39The splitting of ethernet traffic from an external switch is performed in hardware by the Virtual Machine Device Queues
40(VMDQ) and Data Center Bridging (DCB) features of the Intel® 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
41
42Background
43----------
44
45Virtio networking (virtio-net) was developed as the Linux* KVM para-virtualized method for communicating network packets
46between host and guest.
47It was found that virtio-net performance was poor due to context switching and packet copying between host, guest, and QEMU.
48The following figure shows the system architecture for a virtio- based networking (virtio-net).
49
50.. _figure_16:
51
52**Figure16. QEMU Virtio-net (prior to vhost-net)**
53
54.. image19_png has been renamed
55
56|qemu_virtio_net|
57
58The Linux* Kernel vhost-net module was developed as an offload mechanism for virtio-net.
59The vhost-net module enables KVM (QEMU) to offload the servicing of virtio-net devices to the vhost-net kernel module,
60reducing the context switching and packet copies in the virtual dataplane.
61
62This is achieved by QEMU sharing the following information with the vhost-net module through the vhost-net API:
63
64*   The layout of the guest memory space, to enable the vhost-net module to translate addresses.
65
66*   The locations of virtual queues in QEMU virtual address space,
67    to enable the vhost module to read/write directly to and from the virtqueues.
68
69*   An event file descriptor (eventfd) configured in KVM to send interrupts to the virtio- net device driver in the guest.
70    This enables the vhost-net module to notify (call) the guest.
71
72*   An eventfd configured in KVM to be triggered on writes to the virtio-net device's
73    Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) config space.
74    This enables the vhost-net module to receive notifications (kicks) from the guest.
75
76The following figure shows the system architecture for virtio-net networking with vhost-net offload.
77
78.. _figure_17:
79
80**Figure 17. Virtio with Linux* Kernel Vhost**
81
82.. image20_png has been renamed
83
84|virtio_linux_vhost|
85
86Sample Code Overview
87--------------------
88
89The DPDK vhost-net sample code demonstrates KVM (QEMU) offloading the servicing of a Virtual Machine's (VM's)
90virtio-net devices to a DPDK-based application in place of the kernel's vhost-net module.
91
92The DPDK vhost-net sample code is a simple packet switching application with the following features:
93
94*   Management of virtio-net device creation/destruction events.
95
96*   Mapping of the VM's physical memory into the DPDK vhost-net sample code's address space.
97
98*   Triggering/receiving notifications to/from VMs via eventfds.
99
100*   A virtio-net back-end implementation providing a subset of virtio-net features.
101
102*   Packet switching between virtio-net devices and the network interface card,
103    including using VMDQs to reduce the switching that needs to be performed in software.
104
105The following figure shows the architecture of the Vhost sample application.
106
107.. _figure_18:
108
109**Figure 18. Vhost-net Architectural Overview**
110
111.. image21_png has been renamed
112
113|vhost_net_arch|
114
115The following figure shows the flow of packets through the vhost-net sample application.
116
117.. _figure_19:
118
119**Figure 19. Packet Flow Through the vhost-net Sample Application**
120
121.. image22_png  has been renamed
122
123|vhost_net_sample_app|
124
125Supported Distributions
126-----------------------
127
128The example in this section have been validated with the following distributions:
129
130*   Fedora* 18
131
132*   Fedora* 19
133
134Prerequisites
135-------------
136
137This section lists prerequisite packages that must be installed.
138
139Installing Packages on the Host
140~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
141
142The vhost sample code uses the following packages; fuse, fuse-devel, and kernel- modules-extra.
143
144#.  Install Fuse Development Libraries and headers:
145
146    .. code-block:: console
147
148        yum -y install fuse fuse-devel
149
150#.  Install the Cuse Kernel Module:
151
152    .. code-block:: console
153
154        yum -y install kernel-modules-extra
155
156Setting up the Execution Environment
157~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
158
159The vhost sample code requires that QEMU allocates a VM's memory on the hugetlbfs file system.
160As the vhost sample code requires hugepages,
161the best practice is to partition the system into separate hugepage mount points for the VMs and the vhost sample code.
162
163.. note::
164
165    This is best-practice only and is not mandatory.
166    For systems that only support 2 MB page sizes,
167    both QEMU and vhost sample code can use the same hugetlbfs mount point without issue.
168
169**QEMU**
170
171VMs with gigabytes of memory can benefit from having QEMU allocate their memory from 1 GB huge pages.
1721 GB huge pages must be allocated at boot time by passing kernel parameters through the grub boot loader.
173
174#.  Calculate the maximum memory usage of all VMs to be run on the system.
175    Then, round this value up to the nearest Gigabyte the execution environment will require.
176
177#.  Edit the /etc/default/grub file, and add the following to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX entry:
178
179    .. code-block:: console
180
181        GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="... hugepagesz=1G hugepages=<Number of hugepages required> default_hugepagesz=1G"
182
183#.  Update the grub boot loader:
184
185    .. code-block:: console
186
187        grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
188
189#.  Reboot the system.
190
191#.  The hugetlbfs mount point (/dev/hugepages) should now default to allocating gigabyte pages.
192
193.. note::
194
195    Making the above modification will change the system default hugepage size to 1 GB for all applications.
196
197**Vhost Sample Code**
198
199In this section, we create a second hugetlbs mount point to allocate hugepages for the DPDK vhost sample code.
200
201#.  Allocate sufficient 2 MB pages for the DPDK vhost sample code:
202
203    .. code-block:: console
204
205        echo 256 > /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/ nr_hugepages
206
207#.  Mount hugetlbs at a separate mount point for 2 MB pages:
208
209    .. code-block:: console
210
211        mount -t hugetlbfs nodev /mnt/huge -o pagesize=2M
212
213The above steps can be automated by doing the following:
214
215#.  Edit /etc/fstab to add an entry to automatically mount the second hugetlbfs mount point:
216
217    ::
218
219        hugetlbfs <tab> /mnt/huge <tab> hugetlbfs defaults,pagesize=1G 0 0
220
221#.  Edit the /etc/default/grub file, and add the following to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX entry:
222
223    ::
224
225        GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="... hugepagesz=2M hugepages=256 ... default_hugepagesz=1G"
226
227#.  Update the grub bootloader:
228
229    .. code-block:: console
230
231        grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
232
233#.  Reboot the system.
234
235.. note::
236
237    Ensure that the default hugepage size after this setup is 1 GB.
238
239Setting up the Guest Execution Environment
240~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
241
242It is recommended for testing purposes that the DPDK testpmd sample application is used in the guest to forward packets,
243the reasons for this are discussed in Section 22.7, "Running the Virtual Machine (QEMU)".
244
245The testpmd application forwards packets between pairs of Ethernet devices,
246it requires an even number of Ethernet devices (virtio or otherwise) to execute.
247It is therefore recommended to create multiples of two virtio-net devices for each Virtual Machine either through libvirt or
248at the command line as follows.
249
250.. note::
251
252    Observe that in the example, "-device" and "-netdev" are repeated for two virtio-net devices.
253
254.. code-block:: console
255
256    user@target:~$ qemu-system-x86_64 ... \
257    -netdev tap,id=hostnet1,vhost=on,vhostfd=<open fd> \
258    -device virtio-net-pci, netdev=hostnet1,id=net1 \
259    -netdev tap,id=hostnet2,vhost=on,vhostfd=<open fd> \
260    -device virtio-net-pci, netdev=hostnet2,id=net1
261
262
263Compiling the Sample Code
264-------------------------
265
266#.  Go to the examples directory:
267
268    .. code-block:: console
269
270        export RTE_SDK=/path/to/rte_sdk cd ${RTE_SDK}/examples/vhost-net
271
272#.  Set the target (a default target is used if not specified). For example:
273
274    .. code-block:: console
275
276        export RTE_TARGET=x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc
277
278    See the DPDK Getting Started Guide for possible RTE_TARGET values.
279
280#.  Build the application:
281
282    .. code-block:: console
283
284        make
285
286    .. note::
287
288        Note For zero copy, need firstly disable CONFIG_RTE_MBUF_SCATTER_GATHER,
289        CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_IP_FRAG and CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_DISTRIBUTOR
290        in the config file and then re-configure and compile the core lib, and then build the application:
291
292    .. code-block:: console
293
294        vi ${RTE_SDK}/config/common_linuxapp
295
296    change it as follows:
297
298    ::
299
300        CONFIG_RTE_MBUF_SCATTER_GATHER=n
301        CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_IP_FRAG=n
302        CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_DISTRIBUTOR=n
303
304    .. code-block:: console
305
306        cd ${RTE_SDK}
307        make config ${RTE_TARGET}
308        make install ${RTE_TARGET}
309        cd ${RTE_SDK}/examples/vhost
310        make
311
312#.  Go to the eventfd_link directory:
313
314    .. code-block:: console
315
316        cd ${RTE_SDK}/examples/vhost-net/eventfd_link
317
318#.  Build the eventfd_link kernel module:
319
320    .. code-block:: console
321
322        make
323
324Running the Sample Code
325-----------------------
326
327#.  Install the cuse kernel module:
328
329    .. code-block:: console
330
331        modprobe cuse
332
333#.  Go to the eventfd_link directory:
334
335    .. code-block:: console
336
337        export RTE_SDK=/path/to/rte_sdk
338        cd ${RTE_SDK}/examples/vhost-net/eventfd_link
339
340#.  Install the eventfd_link module:
341
342    .. code-block:: console
343
344        insmod ./eventfd_link.ko
345
346#.  Go to the examples directory:
347
348    .. code-block:: console
349
350        export RTE_SDK=/path/to/rte_sdk
351        cd ${RTE_SDK}/examples/vhost-net
352
353#.  Run the vhost-switch sample code:
354
355    .. code-block:: console
356
357        user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir / mnt/huge -- -p 0x1 --dev-basename usvhost --dev-index 1
358
359.. note::
360
361    Please note the huge-dir parameter instructs the DPDK to allocate its memory from the 2 MB page hugetlbfs.
362
363Parameters
364~~~~~~~~~~
365
366**Basename and Index.**
367The DPDK vhost-net sample code uses a Linux* character device to communicate with QEMU.
368The basename and the index are used to generate the character devices name.
369
370    /dev/<basename>-<index>
371
372The index parameter is provided for a situation where multiple instances of the virtual switch is required.
373
374For compatibility with the QEMU wrapper script, a base name of "usvhost" and an index of "1" should be used:
375
376.. code-block:: console
377
378    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir / mnt/huge -- -p 0x1 --dev-basename usvhost --dev-index 1
379
380**vm2vm.**
381The vm2vm parameter disable/set mode of packet switching between guests in the host.
382Value of "0" means disabling vm2vm implies that on virtual machine packet transmission will always go to the Ethernet port;
383Value of "1" means software mode packet forwarding between guests, it needs packets copy in vHOST,
384so valid only in one-copy implementation, and invalid for zero copy implementation;
385value of "2" means hardware mode packet forwarding between guests, it allows packets go to the Ethernet port,
386hardware L2 switch will determine which guest the packet should forward to or need send to external,
387which bases on the packet destination MAC address and VLAN tag.
388
389.. code-block:: console
390
391    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir /mnt/huge -- --vm2vm [0,1,2]
392
393**Mergeable Buffers.**
394The mergeable buffers parameter controls how virtio-net descriptors are used for virtio-net headers.
395In a disabled state, one virtio-net header is used per packet buffer;
396in an enabled state one virtio-net header is used for multiple packets.
397The default value is 0 or disabled since recent kernels virtio-net drivers show performance degradation with this feature is enabled.
398
399.. code-block:: console
400
401    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir / mnt/huge -- --mergeable [0,1]
402
403**Stats.**
404The stats parameter controls the printing of virtio-net device statistics.
405The parameter specifies an interval second to print statistics, with an interval of 0 seconds disabling statistics.
406
407.. code-block:: console
408
409    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir / mnt/huge -- --stats [0,n]
410
411**RX Retry.**
412The rx-retry option enables/disables enqueue retries when the guests RX queue is full.
413This feature resolves a packet loss that is observed at high data-rates,
414by allowing it to delay and retry in the receive path.
415This option is enabled by default.
416
417.. code-block:: console
418
419    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir / mnt/huge -- --rx-retry [0,1]
420
421**RX Retry Number.**
422The rx-retry-num option specifies the number of retries on an RX burst,
423it takes effect only when rx retry is enabled.
424The default value is 4.
425
426.. code-block:: console
427
428    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir / mnt/huge -- --rx-retry 1 --rx-retry-num 5
429
430**RX Retry Delay Time.**
431The rx-retry-delay option specifies the timeout (in micro seconds) between retries on an RX burst,
432it takes effect only when rx retry is enabled.
433The default value is 15.
434
435.. code-block:: console
436
437    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir / mnt/huge -- --rx-retry 1 --rx-retry-delay 20
438
439**Zero copy.**
440The zero copy option enables/disables the zero copy mode for RX/TX packet,
441in the zero copy mode the packet buffer address from guest translate into host physical address
442and then set directly as DMA address.
443If the zero copy mode is disabled, then one copy mode is utilized in the sample.
444This option is disabled by default.
445
446.. code-block:: console
447
448    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir /mnt/huge -- --zero-copy [0,1]
449
450**RX descriptor number.**
451The RX descriptor number option specify the Ethernet RX descriptor number,
452Linux legacy virtio-net has different behaviour in how to use the vring descriptor from DPDK based virtio-net PMD,
453the former likely allocate half for virtio header, another half for frame buffer,
454while the latter allocate all for frame buffer,
455this lead to different number for available frame buffer in vring,
456and then lead to different Ethernet RX descriptor number could be used in zero copy mode.
457So it is valid only in zero copy mode is enabled. The value is 32 by default.
458
459.. code-block:: console
460
461    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir /mnt/huge -- --zero-copy 1 --rx-desc-num [0, n]
462
463**TX descriptornumber.**
464The TX descriptor number option specify the Ethernet TX descriptor number, it is valid only in zero copy mode is enabled.
465The value is 64 by default.
466
467.. code-block:: console
468
469    user@target:~$ ./build/app/vhost-switch -c f -n 4 --huge-dir /mnt/huge -- --zero-copy 1 --tx-desc-num [0, n]
470
471Running the Virtual Machine (QEMU)
472----------------------------------
473
474QEMU must be executed with specific parameters to:
475
476*   Ensure the guest is configured to use virtio-net network adapters.
477
478    .. code-block:: console
479
480        user@target:~$ qemu-system-x86_64 ... -device virtio-net-pci, netdev=hostnet1,id=net1 ...
481
482*   Ensure the guest's virtio-net network adapter is configured with offloads disabled.
483
484    .. code-block:: console
485
486        user@target:~$ qemu-system-x86_64 ... -device virtio-net-pci, netdev=hostnet1,id=net1,csum=off,gso=off,guest_tso4=off,guest_ tso6=off,guest_ecn=off
487
488*   Redirect QEMU to communicate with the DPDK vhost-net sample code in place of the vhost-net kernel module.
489
490    .. code-block:: console
491
492        user@target:~$ qemu-system-x86_64 ... -netdev tap,id=hostnet1,vhost=on,vhostfd=<open fd> ...
493
494*   Enable the vhost-net sample code to map the VM's memory into its own process address space.
495
496    .. code-block:: console
497
498        user@target:~$ qemu-system-x86_64 ... -mem-prealloc -mem-path / dev/hugepages ...
499
500.. note::
501
502    The QEMU wrapper (qemu-wrap.py) is a Python script designed to automate the QEMU configuration described above.
503    It also facilitates integration with libvirt, although the script may also be used standalone without libvirt.
504
505Redirecting QEMU to vhost-net Sample Code
506~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
507
508To redirect QEMU to the vhost-net sample code implementation of the vhost-net API,
509an open file descriptor must be passed to QEMU running as a child process.
510
511.. code-block:: python
512
513    #!/usr/bin/python
514    fd = os.open("/dev/usvhost-1", os.O_RDWR)
515    subprocess.call("qemu-system-x86_64 ... . -netdev tap,id=vhostnet0,vhost=on,vhostfd=" + fd +"...", shell=True)
516
517.. note::
518
519    This process is automated in the QEMU wrapper script discussed in Section 22.7.3.
520
521Mapping the Virtual Machine's Memory
522~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
523
524For the DPDK vhost-net sample code to be run correctly, QEMU must allocate the VM's memory on hugetlbfs.
525This is done by specifying mem-prealloc and mem-path when executing QEMU.
526The vhost-net sample code accesses the virtio-net device's virtual rings and packet buffers
527by finding and mapping the VM's physical memory on hugetlbfs.
528In this case, the path passed to the guest should be that of the 1 GB page hugetlbfs:
529
530.. code-block:: console
531
532    user@target:~$ qemu-system-x86_64 ... -mem-prealloc -mem-path / dev/hugepages ...
533
534.. note::
535
536    This process is automated in the QEMU wrapper script discussed in Section 22.7.3.
537
538QEMU Wrapper Script
539~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
540
541The QEMU wrapper script automatically detects and calls QEMU with the necessary parameters required
542to integrate with the vhost sample code.
543It performs the following actions:
544
545*   Automatically detects the location of the hugetlbfs and inserts this into the command line parameters.
546
547*   Automatically open file descriptors for each virtio-net device and inserts this into the command line parameters.
548
549*   Disables offloads on each virtio-net device.
550
551*   Calls Qemu passing both the command line parameters passed to the script itself and those it has auto-detected.
552
553The QEMU wrapper script will automatically configure calls to QEMU:
554
555.. code-block:: console
556
557    user@target:~$ qemu-wrap.py -machine pc-i440fx-1.4,accel=kvm,usb=off -cpu SandyBridge -smp 4,sockets=4,cores=1,threads=1
558    -netdev tap,id=hostnet1,vhost=on -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=hostnet1,id=net1 -hda <disk img> -m 4096
559
560which will become the following call to QEMU:
561
562.. code-block:: console
563
564    /usr/local/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -machine pc-i440fx-1.4,accel=kvm,usb=off -cpu SandyBridge -smp 4,sockets=4,cores=1,threads=1
565    -netdev tap,id=hostnet1,vhost=on,vhostfd=<open fd> -device virtio-net- pci,netdev=hostnet1,id=net1,
566    csum=off,gso=off,guest_tso4=off,gu est_tso6=off,guest_ecn=off -hda <disk img> -m 4096 -mem-path /dev/hugepages -mem-prealloc
567
568Libvirt Integration
569~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
570
571The QEMU wrapper script (qemu-wrap.py) "wraps" libvirt calls to QEMU,
572such that QEMU is called with the correct parameters described above.
573To call the QEMU wrapper automatically from libvirt, the following configuration changes must be made:
574
575*   Place the QEMU wrapper script in libvirt's binary search PATH ($PATH).
576    A good location is in the directory that contains the QEMU binary.
577
578*   Ensure that the script has the same owner/group and file permissions as the QEMU binary.
579
580*   Update the VM xml file using virsh edit <vm name>:
581
582    *   Set the VM to use the launch script
583
584    *   Set the emulator path contained in the #<emulator><emulator/> tags For example,
585        replace <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-kvm<emulator/> with  <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-wrap.py<emulator/>
586
587    *   Set the VM's virtio-net device's to use vhost-net offload:
588
589        .. code-block:: xml
590
591            <interface type="network">
592            <model type="virtio"/>
593            <driver name="vhost"/>
594            <interface/>
595
596    *   Enable libvirt to access the DPDK Vhost sample code's character device file by adding it
597        to controllers cgroup for libvirtd using the following steps:
598
599        .. code-block:: xml
600
601            cgroup_controllers = [ ... "devices", ... ] clear_emulator_capabilities = 0
602            user = "root" group = "root"
603            cgroup_device_acl = [
604                "/dev/null", "/dev/full", "/dev/zero",
605                "/dev/random", "/dev/urandom",
606                "/dev/ptmx", "/dev/kvm", "/dev/kqemu",
607                "/dev/rtc", "/dev/hpet", "/dev/net/tun",
608                "/dev/<devbase-name>-<index>",
609            ]
610
611*   Disable SELinux  or set to permissive mode.
612
613
614*   Mount cgroup device controller:
615
616    .. code-block:: console
617
618        user@target:~$ mkdir /dev/cgroup
619        user@target:~$ mount -t cgroup none /dev/cgroup -o devices
620
621*   Restart the libvirtd system process
622
623    For example, on Fedora* "systemctl restart libvirtd.service"
624
625*   Edit the configuration parameters section of the script:
626
627    *   Configure the "emul_path" variable to point to the QEMU emulator.
628
629        .. code-block:: xml
630
631            emul_path = "/usr/local/bin/qemu-system-x86_64"
632
633    *   Configure the "us_vhost_path" variable to point to the DPDK vhost- net sample code's character devices name.
634        DPDK vhost-net sample code's character device will be in the format "/dev/<basename>-<index>".
635
636        .. code-block:: xml
637
638            us_vhost_path = "/dev/usvhost-1"
639
640Common Issues
641~~~~~~~~~~~~~
642
643**QEMU failing to allocate memory on hugetlbfs.**
644
645file_ram_alloc: can't mmap RAM pages: Cannot allocate memory
646
647When running QEMU the above error implies that it has failed to allocate memory for the Virtual Machine on the hugetlbfs.
648This is typically due to insufficient hugepages being free to support the allocation request.
649The number of free hugepages can be checked as follows:
650
651.. code-block:: console
652
653    user@target:cat /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-<pagesize> / nr_hugepages
654
655The command above indicates how many hugepages are free to support QEMU's allocation request.
656
657Running DPDK in the Virtual Machine
658-----------------------------------
659
660For the DPDK vhost-net sample code to switch packets into the VM,
661the sample code must first learn the MAC address of the VM's virtio-net device.
662The sample code detects the address from packets being transmitted from the VM, similar to a learning switch.
663
664This behavior requires no special action or configuration with the Linux* virtio-net driver in the VM
665as the Linux* Kernel will automatically transmit packets during device initialization.
666However, DPDK-based applications must be modified to automatically transmit packets during initialization
667to facilitate the DPDK vhost- net sample code's MAC learning.
668
669The DPDK testpmd application can be configured to automatically transmit packets during initialization
670and to act as an L2 forwarding switch.
671
672Testpmd MAC Forwarding
673~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
674
675At high packet rates, a minor packet loss may be observed.
676To resolve this issue, a "wait and retry" mode is implemented in the testpmd and vhost sample code.
677In the "wait and retry" mode if the virtqueue is found to be full, then testpmd waits for a period of time before retrying to enqueue packets.
678
679The "wait and retry" algorithm is implemented in DPDK testpmd as a forwarding method call "mac_retry".
680The following sequence diagram describes the algorithm in detail.
681
682.. _figure_20:
683
684**Figure 20. Packet Flow on TX in DPDK-testpmd**
685
686.. image23_png has been renamed
687
688|tx_dpdk_testpmd|
689
690Running Testpmd
691~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
692
693The testpmd application is automatically built when DPDK is installed.
694Run the testpmd application as follows:
695
696.. code-block:: console
697
698    user@target:~$ x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/testpmd -c 0x3 -- n 4 -socket-mem 128 -- --burst=64 -i
699
700The destination MAC address for packets transmitted on each port can be set at the command line:
701
702.. code-block:: console
703
704    user@target:~$ x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/testpmd -c 0x3 -- n 4 -socket-mem 128 -- --burst=64 -i --eth- peer=0,aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff --eth-peer=1,ff,ee,dd,cc,bb,aa
705
706*   Packets received on port 1 will be forwarded on port 0 to MAC address
707
708    aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff.
709
710*   Packets received on port 0 will be forwarded on port 1 to MAC address
711
712    ff,ee,dd,cc,bb,aa.
713
714The testpmd application can then be configured to act as an L2 forwarding application:
715
716.. code-block:: console
717
718    testpmd> set fwd mac_retry
719
720The testpmd can then be configured to start processing packets,
721transmitting packets first so the DPDK vhost sample code on the host can learn the MAC address:
722
723.. code-block:: console
724
725    testpmd> start tx_first
726
727.. note::
728
729    Please note "set fwd mac_retry" is used in place of "set fwd mac_fwd" to ensure the retry feature is activated.
730
731Passing Traffic to the Virtual Machine Device
732---------------------------------------------
733
734For a virtio-net device to receive traffic,
735the traffic's Layer 2 header must include both the virtio-net device's MAC address and VLAN tag.
736The DPDK sample code behaves in a similar manner to a learning switch in that
737it learns the MAC address of the virtio-net devices from the first transmitted packet.
738On learning the MAC address,
739the DPDK vhost sample code prints a message with the MAC address and VLAN tag virtio-net device.
740For example:
741
742.. code-block:: console
743
744    DATA: (0) MAC_ADDRESS cc:bb:bb:bb:bb:bb and VLAN_TAG 1000 registered
745
746The above message indicates that device 0 has been registered with MAC address cc:bb:bb:bb:bb:bb and VLAN tag 1000.
747Any packets received on the NIC with these values is placed on the devices receive queue.
748When a virtio-net device transmits packets, the VLAN tag is added to the packet by the DPDK vhost sample code.
749
750.. |vhost_net_arch| image:: img/vhost_net_arch.*
751
752.. |qemu_virtio_net| image:: img/qemu_virtio_net.*
753
754.. |tx_dpdk_testpmd| image:: img/tx_dpdk_testpmd.*
755
756.. |vhost_net_sample_app| image:: img/vhost_net_sample_app.*
757
758.. |virtio_linux_vhost| image:: img/virtio_linux_vhost.*
759