[PATCH v3 3/3] virtio-net: enable virtio desc cache

Xuan Zhuo
Fri, 29 Oct 2021 06:28:14 -0000

If the VIRTIO_RING_F_INDIRECT_DESC negotiation succeeds, and the number
of sgs used for sending packets is greater than 1. We must constantly
call __kmalloc/kfree to allocate/release desc.

In the case of extremely fast package delivery, the overhead cannot be
ignored:

  27.46%  [kernel]  [k] virtqueue_add
  16.66%  [kernel]  [k] detach_buf_split
  16.51%  [kernel]  [k] virtnet_xsk_xmit
  14.04%  [kernel]  [k] virtqueue_add_outbuf
>  5.18%  [kernel]  [k] __kmalloc
>  4.08%  [kernel]  [k] kfree
   2.80%  [kernel]  [k] virtqueue_get_buf_ctx
   2.22%  [kernel]  [k] xsk_tx_peek_desc
   2.08%  [kernel]  [k] memset_erms
   0.83%  [kernel]  [k] virtqueue_kick_prepare
   0.76%  [kernel]  [k] virtnet_xsk_run
   0.62%  [kernel]  [k] __free_old_xmit_ptr
   0.60%  [kernel]  [k] vring_map_one_sg
   0.53%  [kernel]  [k] native_apic_mem_write
   0.46%  [kernel]  [k] sg_next
   0.43%  [kernel]  [k] sg_init_table
>  0.41%  [kernel]  [k] kmalloc_slab

Compared to not using virtio indirect cache, virtio-net can get a 16%
performance improvement when using virtio desc cache.

In the test case, the CPU where the package is sent has reached 100%.
The following are the PPS in two cases:

    indirect desc cache  | no cache
    3074658              | 2685132
    3111866              | 2666118
    3152527              | 2653632
    3125867              | 2669820
    3027147              | 2644464
    3069211              | 2669777
    3038522              | 2675645
    3034507              | 2671302
    3102257              | 2685504
    3083712              | 2692800
    3051771              | 2676928
    3080684              | 2695040
    3147816              | 2720876
    3123887              | 2705492
    3180963              | 2699520
    3191579              | 2676480
    3161670              | 2686272
    3189768              | 2692588
    3174272              | 2686692
    3143434              | 2682416

Signed-off-by: Xuan Zhuo <xuanzhuo at linux.alibaba.com>
---
 drivers/net/virtio_net.c | 11 +++++++++++
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
index 4ad25a8b0870..df2514281847 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
@@ -31,6 +31,12 @@ module_param(csum, bool, 0444);
 module_param(gso, bool, 0444);
 module_param(napi_tx, bool, 0644);

+/* Because virtio desc cache will increase memory overhead, users can turn it
+ * off or select an acceptable value. The maximum value is 2 + MAX_SKB_FRAGS.
+ */
+static u32 virtio_desc_cache_thr = 4;
+module_param(virtio_desc_cache_thr, uint, 0644);
+
 /* FIXME: MTU in config. */
 #define GOOD_PACKET_LEN (ETH_HLEN + VLAN_HLEN + ETH_DATA_LEN)
 #define GOOD_COPY_LEN	128
@@ -3214,6 +3220,11 @@ static int virtnet_probe(struct virtio_device *vdev)
 		vi->curr_queue_pairs = num_online_cpus();
 	vi->max_queue_pairs = max_queue_pairs;

+	if (virtio_desc_cache_thr > 2 + MAX_SKB_FRAGS)
+		virtio_set_desc_cache(vdev, 2 + MAX_SKB_FRAGS);
+	else
+		virtio_set_desc_cache(vdev, virtio_desc_cache_thr);
+
 	/* Allocate/initialize the rx/tx queues, and invoke find_vqs */
 	err = init_vqs(vi);
 	if (err)
--
2.31.0