[PATCH] virtio_net: introduce VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID

From: Jason Wang
Date: Fri Jun 10 2011 - 06:55:40 EST


There's no need for the guest to validate the checksum if it have been
validated by host nics. So this patch introduces a new flag -
VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID which is used to bypass the checksum
examing in guest. The backend (tap/macvtap) may set this flag when
met skbs with CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY to save cpu utilization.

No feature negotiation is needed as old driver just ignore this flag.

Iperf shows 12%-30% performance improvement for UDP traffic. For TCP,
when gro is on no difference as it produces skb with partial
checksum. But when gro is disabled, 20% or even higher improvement
could be measured by netperf.

Signed-off-by: Jason Wang <jasowang@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/macvtap.c | 2 ++
drivers/net/tun.c | 2 ++
drivers/net/virtio_net.c | 2 ++
include/linux/virtio_net.h | 1 +
net/packet/af_packet.c | 2 ++
5 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/macvtap.c b/drivers/net/macvtap.c
index 6696e56..ecee0fe 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macvtap.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macvtap.c
@@ -508,6 +508,8 @@ static int macvtap_skb_to_vnet_hdr(const struct sk_buff *skb,
vnet_hdr->flags = VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_NEEDS_CSUM;
vnet_hdr->csum_start = skb_checksum_start_offset(skb);
vnet_hdr->csum_offset = skb->csum_offset;
+ } else if (skb->ip_summed == CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY) {
+ vnet_hdr->flags = VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID;
} /* else everything is zero */

return 0;
diff --git a/drivers/net/tun.c b/drivers/net/tun.c
index 74e9405..f43fa45 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tun.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tun.c
@@ -788,6 +788,8 @@ static __inline__ ssize_t tun_put_user(struct tun_struct *tun,
gso.flags = VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_NEEDS_CSUM;
gso.csum_start = skb_checksum_start_offset(skb);
gso.csum_offset = skb->csum_offset;
+ } else if (skb->ip_summed == CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY) {
+ gso.flags = VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID;
} /* else everything is zero */

if (unlikely(memcpy_toiovecend(iv, (void *)&gso, total,
diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
index f685324..be3686a 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
@@ -274,6 +274,8 @@ static void receive_buf(struct net_device *dev, void *buf, unsigned int len)
hdr->hdr.csum_start,
hdr->hdr.csum_offset))
goto frame_err;
+ } else if (hdr->hdr.flags & VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID) {
+ skb->ip_summed = CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY;
}

skb->protocol = eth_type_trans(skb, dev);
diff --git a/include/linux/virtio_net.h b/include/linux/virtio_net.h
index 136040b..970d5a2 100644
--- a/include/linux/virtio_net.h
+++ b/include/linux/virtio_net.h
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ struct virtio_net_config {
* specify GSO or CSUM features, you can simply ignore the header. */
struct virtio_net_hdr {
#define VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_NEEDS_CSUM 1 // Use csum_start, csum_offset
+#define VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID 2 // Csum is valid
__u8 flags;
#define VIRTIO_NET_HDR_GSO_NONE 0 // Not a GSO frame
#define VIRTIO_NET_HDR_GSO_TCPV4 1 // GSO frame, IPv4 TCP (TSO)
diff --git a/net/packet/af_packet.c b/net/packet/af_packet.c
index c0c3cda..99ca471 100644
--- a/net/packet/af_packet.c
+++ b/net/packet/af_packet.c
@@ -1681,6 +1681,8 @@ static int packet_recvmsg(struct kiocb *iocb, struct socket *sock,
vnet_hdr.flags = VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_NEEDS_CSUM;
vnet_hdr.csum_start = skb_checksum_start_offset(skb);
vnet_hdr.csum_offset = skb->csum_offset;
+ } else if (skb->ip_summed == CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY) {
+ vnet_hdr.flags = VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID;
} /* else everything is zero */

err = memcpy_toiovec(msg->msg_iov, (void *)&vnet_hdr,
--
1.7.1

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