Re: [PATCH net-next v2 2/4] net: dst_cache: add input_dst_cache API

[Leone Fernando]

Hi Eric

> It targets IPv4 only, which some of us no longer use.

The same optimization can be implemented and applied to IPv6 as well and
I'm planning to do so.

> Also, what is the behavior (loss of performance) of this cache under
> flood, when 16 slots need to be looked up for each packet ?

I did some more measurements under flood as you asked, those are the results:
Total PPS:
number of IPs(x# cache size)    mainline        patched         delta
                                  Kpps            Kpps            %
        20000(x40)                6498            6123          -5.7
        35000(x70)                6502            5261          -19
        50000(x100)               6503            4986          -23.3

I found out that most of the negative effect under extreme flood is
as a result of the atomic operations.
I have some ideas on how to solve this problem. it will demand a bit more memory
percpu, if that's reasonable I can do V3.
IMO the boost in the average case is worth the flood case penalty.

> This patch adds 10MB of memory per netns on host with 512 cpus,
> and adds netns creation and dismantle costs (45% on a host with 256 cpus)

Is such a memory penalty a deal breaker considering the performance gain?
Also I think adding a sysctl to control the size of the cache might be a good
solution for those who want to keep their memory usage lower. what do you think?

Thanks,
Leone