[Cake] [PATCH net-next v8 3/7] sch_cake: Add optional ACK filter

Toke Høiland-Jørgensen toke at toke.dk
Fri May 4 10:02:33 EDT 2018


The ACK filter is an optional feature of CAKE which is designed to improve
performance on links with very asymmetrical rate limits. On such links
(which are unfortunately quite prevalent, especially for DSL and cable
subscribers), the downstream throughput can be limited by the number of
ACKs capable of being transmitted in the *upstream* direction.

Filtering ACKs can, in general, have adverse effects on TCP performance
because it interferes with ACK clocking (especially in slow start), and it
reduces the flow's resiliency to ACKs being dropped further along the path.
To alleviate these drawbacks, the ACK filter in CAKE tries its best to
always keep enough ACKs queued to ensure forward progress in the TCP flow
being filtered. It does this by only filtering redundant ACKs. In its
default 'conservative' mode, the filter will always keep at least two
redundant ACKs in the queue, while in 'aggressive' mode, it will filter
down to a single ACK.

The ACK filter works by inspecting the per-flow queue on every packet
enqueue. Starting at the head of the queue, the filter looks for another
eligible packet to drop (so the ACK being dropped is always closer to the
head of the queue than the packet being enqueued). An ACK is eligible only
if it ACKs *fewer* cumulative bytes than the new packet being enqueued.
This prevents duplicate ACKs from being filtered (unless there is also SACK
options present), to avoid interfering with retransmission logic. In
aggressive mode, an eligible packet is always dropped, while in
conservative mode, at least two ACKs are kept in the queue. Only pure ACKs
(with no data segments) are considered eligible for dropping, but when an
ACK with data segments is enqueued, this can cause another pure ACK to
become eligible for dropping.

The approach described above ensures that this ACK filter avoids most of
the drawbacks of a naive filtering mechanism that only keeps flow state but
does not inspect the queue. This is the rationale for including the ACK
filter in CAKE itself rather than as separate module (as the TC filter, for
instance).

Our performance evaluation has shown that on a 30/1 Mbps link with a
bidirectional traffic test (RRUL), turning on the ACK filter on the
upstream link improves downstream throughput by ~20% (both modes) and
upstream throughput by ~12% in conservative mode and ~40% in aggressive
mode, at the cost of ~5ms of inter-flow latency due to the increased
congestion.

In *really* pathological cases, the effect can be a lot more; for instance,
the ACK filter increases the achievable downstream throughput on a link
with 100 Kbps in the upstream direction by an order of magnitude (from ~2.5
Mbps to ~25 Mbps).

Finally, even though we consider the ACK filter to be safer than most, we
do not recommend turning it on everywhere: on more symmetrical link
bandwidths the effect is negligible at best.

Signed-off-by: Toke Høiland-Jørgensen <toke at toke.dk>
---
 net/sched/sch_cake.c |  261 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 255 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/sched/sch_cake.c b/net/sched/sch_cake.c
index 7ca86e3ed14c..9a70e99afe7e 100644
--- a/net/sched/sch_cake.c
+++ b/net/sched/sch_cake.c
@@ -127,7 +127,6 @@ struct cake_flow {
 	/* this stuff is all needed per-flow at dequeue time */
 	struct sk_buff	  *head;
 	struct sk_buff	  *tail;
-	struct sk_buff	  *ackcheck;
 	struct list_head  flowchain;
 	s32		  deficit;
 	struct cobalt_vars cvars;
@@ -712,9 +711,6 @@ static struct sk_buff *dequeue_head(struct cake_flow *flow)
 	if (skb) {
 		flow->head = skb->next;
 		skb->next = NULL;
-
-		if (skb == flow->ackcheck)
-			flow->ackcheck = NULL;
 	}
 
 	return skb;
@@ -732,6 +728,239 @@ static void flow_queue_add(struct cake_flow *flow, struct sk_buff *skb)
 	skb->next = NULL;
 }
 
+static struct iphdr *cake_get_iphdr(const struct sk_buff *skb,
+				    struct ipv6hdr *buf)
+{
+	unsigned int offset = skb_network_offset(skb);
+	struct iphdr *iph;
+
+	iph = skb_header_pointer(skb, offset, sizeof(struct iphdr), buf);
+
+	if (!iph)
+		return NULL;
+
+	if (iph->version == 4 && iph->protocol == IPPROTO_IPV6)
+		return skb_header_pointer(skb, offset + iph->ihl * 4,
+					  sizeof(struct ipv6hdr), buf);
+
+	else if (iph->version == 4)
+		return iph;
+
+	else if (iph->version == 6)
+		return skb_header_pointer(skb, offset, sizeof(struct ipv6hdr),
+					  buf);
+
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+static struct tcphdr *cake_get_tcphdr(const struct sk_buff *skb,
+				      void *buf, unsigned int bufsize)
+{
+	unsigned int offset = skb_network_offset(skb);
+	const struct ipv6hdr *ipv6h;
+	const struct tcphdr *tcph;
+	const struct iphdr *iph;
+	struct ipv6hdr _ipv6h;
+	struct tcphdr _tcph;
+
+	ipv6h = skb_header_pointer(skb, offset, sizeof(_ipv6h), &_ipv6h);
+
+	if (!ipv6h)
+		return NULL;
+
+	if (ipv6h->version == 4) {
+		iph = (struct iphdr *)ipv6h;
+		offset += iph->ihl * 4;
+
+		/* special-case 6in4 tunnelling, as that is a common way to get
+		 * v6 connectivity in the home
+		 */
+		if (iph->protocol == IPPROTO_IPV6) {
+			ipv6h = skb_header_pointer(skb, offset,
+						   sizeof(_ipv6h), &_ipv6h);
+
+			if (!ipv6h || ipv6h->nexthdr != IPPROTO_TCP)
+				return NULL;
+
+			offset += sizeof(struct ipv6hdr);
+
+		} else if (iph->protocol != IPPROTO_TCP) {
+			return NULL;
+		}
+
+	} else if (ipv6h->version == 6) {
+		if (ipv6h->nexthdr != IPPROTO_TCP)
+			return NULL;
+
+		offset += sizeof(struct ipv6hdr);
+	} else {
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	tcph = skb_header_pointer(skb, offset, sizeof(_tcph), &_tcph);
+	if (!tcph)
+		return NULL;
+
+	return skb_header_pointer(skb, offset,
+				  min(__tcp_hdrlen(tcph), bufsize), buf);
+}
+
+static bool cake_tcph_is_sack(const struct tcphdr *tcph)
+{
+	/* inspired by tcp_parse_options in tcp_input.c */
+	int length = __tcp_hdrlen(tcph) - sizeof(struct tcphdr);
+	const u8 *ptr = (const u8 *)(tcph + 1);
+
+	while (length > 0) {
+		int opcode = *ptr++;
+		int opsize;
+
+		if (opcode == TCPOPT_EOL)
+			break;
+		if (opcode == TCPOPT_NOP) {
+			length--;
+			continue;
+		}
+		opsize = *ptr++;
+		if (opsize < 2 || opsize > length)
+			break;
+		if (opcode == TCPOPT_SACK)
+			return true;
+		ptr += opsize - 2;
+		length -= opsize;
+	}
+
+	return false;
+}
+
+static struct sk_buff *cake_ack_filter(struct cake_sched_data *q,
+				       struct cake_flow *flow)
+{
+	bool aggressive = q->ack_filter == CAKE_ACK_AGGRESSIVE;
+	struct sk_buff *elig_ack = NULL, *elig_ack_prev = NULL;
+	struct sk_buff *skb_check, *skb_prev = NULL;
+	const struct ipv6hdr *ipv6h, *ipv6h_check;
+	const struct tcphdr *tcph, *tcph_check;
+	const struct iphdr *iph, *iph_check;
+	const struct sk_buff *skb;
+	struct ipv6hdr _iph, _iph_check;
+	struct tcphdr _tcph_check;
+	unsigned char _tcph[64]; /* need to hold maximum hdr size */
+	int seglen, num_found = 0;
+
+	/* no other possible ACKs to filter */
+	if (flow->head == flow->tail)
+		return NULL;
+
+	skb = flow->tail;
+	tcph = cake_get_tcphdr(skb, _tcph, sizeof(_tcph));
+	iph = cake_get_iphdr(skb, &_iph);
+	if (!tcph)
+		return NULL;
+
+	/* the 'triggering' packet need only have the ACK flag set.
+	 * also check that SYN is not set, as there won't be any previous ACKs.
+	 */
+	if ((tcp_flag_word(tcph) &
+	     (TCP_FLAG_ACK | TCP_FLAG_SYN)) != TCP_FLAG_ACK)
+		return NULL;
+
+	/* the 'triggering' ACK is at the tail of the queue, we have already
+	 * returned if it is the only packet in the flow. loop through the rest
+	 * of the queue looking for pure ACKs with the same 5-tuple as the
+	 * triggering one.
+	 */
+	for (skb_check = flow->head;
+	     skb_check && skb_check != skb;
+	     skb_prev = skb_check, skb_check = skb_check->next) {
+		iph_check = cake_get_iphdr(skb_check, &_iph_check);
+		tcph_check = cake_get_tcphdr(skb_check, &_tcph_check,
+					     sizeof(_tcph_check));
+
+		/* only TCP packets with matching 5-tuple are eligible */
+		if (!tcph_check || iph->version != iph_check->version ||
+		    tcph_check->source != tcph->source ||
+		    tcph_check->dest != tcph->dest)
+			continue;
+
+		if (iph_check->version == 4) {
+			if (iph_check->saddr != iph->saddr ||
+			    iph_check->daddr != iph->daddr)
+				continue;
+
+			seglen = ntohs(iph_check->tot_len) -
+				       (4 * iph_check->ihl);
+		} else if (iph_check->version == 6) {
+			ipv6h = (struct ipv6hdr *)iph;
+			ipv6h_check = (struct ipv6hdr *)iph_check;
+
+			if (ipv6_addr_cmp(&ipv6h_check->saddr, &ipv6h->saddr) ||
+			    ipv6_addr_cmp(&ipv6h_check->daddr, &ipv6h->daddr))
+				continue;
+
+			seglen = ntohs(ipv6h_check->payload_len);
+		} else {
+			WARN_ON(1);  /* shouldn't happen */
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		/* stricter criteria apply to ACKs that we may filter
+		 * 3 reserved flags must be unset to avoid future breakage
+		 * ECE/CWR/NS can be safely ignored
+		 * ACK must be set
+		 * All other flags URG/PSH/RST/SYN/FIN must be unset
+		 * 0x0FFF0000 = all TCP flags (confirm ACK=1, others zero)
+		 * 0x01C00000 = NS/CWR/ECE (safe to ignore)
+		 * 0x0E3F0000 = 0x0FFF0000 & ~0x01C00000
+		 * must be 'pure' ACK, contain zero bytes of segment data
+		 * options are ignored
+		 */
+		if (((tcp_flag_word(tcph_check) &
+			   cpu_to_be32(0x0E3F0000)) != TCP_FLAG_ACK) ||
+			 ((seglen - __tcp_hdrlen(tcph_check)) != 0))
+			continue;
+
+		/* The triggering packet must ACK more data than the ACK under
+		 * consideration, either because is has a strictly higher ACK
+		 * sequence number or because it is a SACK
+		 */
+		if ((ntohl(tcph_check->ack_seq) == ntohl(tcph->ack_seq) &&
+		     !cake_tcph_is_sack(tcph)) ||
+		    (int32_t)(ntohl(tcph_check->ack_seq) -
+			      ntohl(tcph->ack_seq)) > 0)
+			continue;
+
+		/* At this point we have found an eligible pure ACK to drop; if
+		 * we are in aggressive mode, we are done. Otherwise, keep
+		 * searching unless this is the second eligible ACK we
+		 * found.
+		 *
+		 * Since we want to drop ACK closest to the head of the queue,
+		 * save the first eligible ACK we find, even if we need to loop
+		 * again.
+		 */
+		if (!elig_ack) {
+			elig_ack = skb_check;
+			elig_ack_prev = skb_prev;
+		}
+
+		if (num_found++ > 0 || aggressive)
+			goto found;
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
+
+found:
+	if (elig_ack_prev)
+		elig_ack_prev->next = elig_ack->next;
+	else
+		flow->head = elig_ack->next;
+
+	elig_ack->next = NULL;
+
+	return elig_ack;
+}
+
 static cobalt_time_t cake_ewma(cobalt_time_t avg, cobalt_time_t sample,
 				      u32 shift)
 {
@@ -908,6 +1137,7 @@ static s32 cake_enqueue(struct sk_buff *skb, struct Qdisc *sch,
 	/* signed len to handle corner case filtered ACK larger than trigger */
 	int len = qdisc_pkt_len(skb);
 	u64 now = cobalt_get_time();
+	struct sk_buff *ack = NULL;
 
 	tin = 0;
 	b = &q->tins[tin];
@@ -941,8 +1171,24 @@ static s32 cake_enqueue(struct sk_buff *skb, struct Qdisc *sch,
 	cobalt_set_enqueue_time(skb, now);
 	flow_queue_add(flow, skb);
 
-	sch->q.qlen++;
-	q->buffer_used      += skb->truesize;
+	if (q->ack_filter)
+		ack = cake_ack_filter(q, flow);
+
+	if (ack) {
+		b->ack_drops++;
+		sch->qstats.drops++;
+		b->bytes += qdisc_pkt_len(ack);
+		len -= qdisc_pkt_len(ack);
+		q->buffer_used += skb->truesize - ack->truesize;
+		if (q->rate_flags & CAKE_FLAG_INGRESS)
+			cake_advance_shaper(q, b, ack, now, true);
+
+		qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog(sch, 1, qdisc_pkt_len(ack));
+		consume_skb(ack);
+	} else {
+		sch->q.qlen++;
+		q->buffer_used      += skb->truesize;
+	}
 
 	/* stats */
 	b->packets++;
@@ -1455,6 +1701,9 @@ static int cake_change(struct Qdisc *sch, struct nlattr *opt,
 			q->rate_flags &= ~CAKE_FLAG_INGRESS;
 	}
 
+	if (tb[TCA_CAKE_ACK_FILTER])
+		q->ack_filter = nla_get_u32(tb[TCA_CAKE_ACK_FILTER]);
+
 	if (tb[TCA_CAKE_MEMORY])
 		q->buffer_config_limit = nla_get_u32(tb[TCA_CAKE_MEMORY]);
 



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