[Make-wifi-fast] a cheer up tweet for y'all

[XianJun Jiao]

Regarding the forwarding, I feel that you two are argue different thing?

If I remember correctly, the mac80211 framework also re-use the ethernet data-path above some level, so the Linux kernel stack can handle both Wi-Fi data and Ethernet data. I think we all agree on this level of forwarding.

I think Bob raise an interesting observation about the NIC on a server: Ethernet VS Wi-Fi.

To my understanding about why Ethernet NIC works fine (or pretty good) on a server is that now a days the Ethernet NIC actually faces a non-shared media (medias are isolated by a switch). So the queue/packet in the Ethernet NIC till on the media could achieve so called 'line rate forwarding' easily?

On the contrary, the Wi-Fi always faces a shared media (ISM band, CSMA/CA/etc.), and this bring a big difference compared to the Ethernet NIC. I can elaborate further on this: (because I am doing Wi-Fi chip/FPGA implementation since 2017 – the openwifi project, and now we have implemented our Wi-Fi6.)


  *
More and more complications are packed into the chip level instead of the driver level, Especially since Wi-Fi6. – it doesn't matter there is "binary firmware blobs" or not. Even there isn't "binary firmware blobs", the complications will still be there. This is somehow the requirement from the real-time behaviour/aspect defined in the standard.
  *   The Wi-Fi LMAC has to operate precisely in terms of the time (normally order of microsecond, or sub-microsecond). – this has to be in chip.
  *   The Wi-Fi LMAC in the chip will decide: when (depends on CSMA/CA, queue status/priority, packet priority/etc ) the packet should be transmitted on which sub-band (called RU in Wi-Fi6/7, OFDMA) through which spatial stream (MIMO, MU-MIMO). In summary: time, frequency and spatial for a packet.
  *   Again reminding: the time, frequency, spatial are controlled by chip not driver due to their real-time aspects. After the driver handles the packet to Wi-Fi chip (doesn't matter how good/up-to-date/open the driver is), then the only thing driver can do is waiting for the packet transmission result from the chip.
  *   I haven't mentioned that in the chip there could also be multiple re-transmission processes, if the first attempts fail. The final packet delivery report only happens after all re-transmission attempts end.

In summary, in the case of Wi-Fi there are more and more complicated low-level behaviors out of the driver control, and this is not the case (most probably, or less the case) for Ethernet NIC (I guess).

Best regards,
--
Xianjun Jiao

________________________________
From: Make-wifi-fast <make-wifi-fast-bounces at lists.bufferbloat.net> on behalf of Toke Høiland-Jørgensen via Make-wifi-fast <make-wifi-fast at lists.bufferbloat.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 12:23 PM
To: Bob McMahon <bob.mcmahon at broadcom.com>
Cc: Make-Wifi-fast <make-wifi-fast at lists.bufferbloat.net>
Subject: Re: [Make-wifi-fast] a cheer up tweet for y'all

Bob McMahon <bob.mcmahon at broadcom.com> writes:

> This approach is not going to work. Sun workstations as the forwarding
> planes for WiFi doesn't work nor scale and is cost & power inefficient. The
> WiFi forwarding plane needs to be all hardware and not based off of BSD. It
> has to be like a port asic in an ethernet switch. No SoC.
>
> Ethernet NICs are targeting servers where the workstation/NIC model does
> work. WiFi is never going to be the basis for cloud servers.

Well, the original context of the question was "Linux WiFi drivers are
terrible, what can we do about that", and, well, providing proper
upstream drivers at HW launch is the way to solve that.

And even so, every Linux-based CPE in existence is a contradiction of
you assertion that software-based WiFi forwarding is "not going to
work". On the contrary, the SOCs with proper open source drivers and
support are the ones that work the best, because that means we can run
OpenWrt on them instead of the vendor crapware that they ship with.

-Toke
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