[PATCH net-next v7 5/5] veth: time-based BQL completion coalescing via ethtool tx-usecs

From: hawk

Date: Fri Jun 12 2026 - 04:40:49 EST


From: Simon Schippers <simon.schippers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Per-packet BQL completion forces DQL to converge on limit=2, causing
excessive NAPI scheduling overhead and qdisc requeues.

Accumulate BQL completions and flush them when a configurable time
threshold (tx-usecs) is exceeded, letting DQL discover a limit that
bounds actual queuing delay to the configured interval. Coalescing
state persists across NAPI polls in struct veth_rq so completions can
accumulate beyond a single budget=64 cycle.

The flush condition is:

state->time + bql_flush_ns <= current_time || state->n_bql > dql.limit

Flushing when n_bql exceeds dql.limit handles BQL starvation.

The comparison is strictly greater-than because netdev_tx_sent_queue()
always lets the producer exceed the limit by one before it stops, so
n_bql == dql.limit is a normal in-flight state. dql.limit lives in
the same cacheline as the completion path, so the check is cheap.

Add ethtool tx-usecs support for runtime tuning. Default is 100 us;
setting tx-usecs to 0 disables coalescing and falls back to per-packet
completion.

ethtool -C <veth-dev> tx-usecs 500 # 500us coalescing
ethtool -C <veth-dev> tx-usecs 0 # per-packet (no coalescing)

Co-developed-by: Jesper Dangaard Brouer <hawk@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Jesper Dangaard Brouer <hawk@xxxxxxxxxx>
Co-developed-by: Jonas Köppeler <j.koeppeler@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Jonas Köppeler <j.koeppeler@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Simon Schippers <simon.schippers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/veth.c | 123 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 117 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/veth.c b/drivers/net/veth.c
index 2473f730734b..c62d87a8402c 100644
--- a/drivers/net/veth.c
+++ b/drivers/net/veth.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
#include <linux/bpf_trace.h>
#include <linux/net_tstamp.h>
#include <linux/skbuff_ref.h>
+#include <linux/sched/clock.h>
#include <net/page_pool/helpers.h>

#define DRV_NAME "veth"
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@
* delay => 64 * 250 ms = 16 s.
*/
#define VETH_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS (64 * 250)
+#define VETH_BQL_COAL_TX_USECS 100 /* default tx-usecs for BQL batching */

struct veth_stats {
u64 rx_drops;
@@ -69,6 +71,11 @@ struct veth_rq_stats {
struct u64_stats_sync syncp;
};

+struct veth_bql_state {
+ u64 time; /* sched_clock() when current coalescing window started */
+ uint n_bql; /* BQL completions batched in the current window */
+};
+
struct veth_rq {
struct napi_struct xdp_napi;
struct napi_struct __rcu *napi; /* points to xdp_napi when the latter is initialized */
@@ -76,6 +83,7 @@ struct veth_rq {
struct bpf_prog __rcu *xdp_prog;
struct xdp_mem_info xdp_mem;
struct veth_rq_stats stats;
+ struct veth_bql_state bql_state;
bool rx_notify_masked;
struct ptr_ring xdp_ring;
struct xdp_rxq_info xdp_rxq;
@@ -88,6 +96,7 @@ struct veth_priv {
struct bpf_prog *_xdp_prog;
struct veth_rq *rq;
unsigned int requested_headroom;
+ unsigned int tx_coal_usecs; /* BQL completion coalescing */
};

struct veth_xdp_tx_bq {
@@ -272,7 +281,56 @@ static void veth_get_channels(struct net_device *dev,
static int veth_set_channels(struct net_device *dev,
struct ethtool_channels *ch);

+static int veth_get_coalesce(struct net_device *dev,
+ struct ethtool_coalesce *ec,
+ struct kernel_ethtool_coalesce *kernel_coal,
+ struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
+{
+ struct veth_priv *priv = netdev_priv(dev);
+
+ ec->tx_coalesce_usecs = priv->tx_coal_usecs;
+ return 0;
+}
+
+static int veth_set_coalesce(struct net_device *dev,
+ struct ethtool_coalesce *ec,
+ struct kernel_ethtool_coalesce *kernel_coal,
+ struct netlink_ext_ack *extack)
+{
+ struct veth_priv *priv = netdev_priv(dev);
+ struct net_device *peer;
+
+ /* The coalescing window delays BQL completions, so keep tx-usecs well
+ * below the tx_timeout watchdog; otherwise a large value could stall a
+ * stopped queue long enough to trip a false watchdog timeout. Cap at
+ * half the watchdog to leave a generous safety margin. tx-usecs is
+ * microseconds, the watchdog is milliseconds.
+ */
+ if (ec->tx_coalesce_usecs > VETH_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS / 2 * USEC_PER_MSEC) {
+ NL_SET_ERR_MSG_MOD(extack,
+ "tx-usecs must stay below half the tx_timeout watchdog");
+ return -ERANGE;
+ }
+
+ /* Paired with READ_ONCE in veth_xdp_rcv(). */
+ WRITE_ONCE(priv->tx_coal_usecs, ec->tx_coalesce_usecs);
+
+ /* veth_xdp_rcv() reads each device's own value, so mirror it onto
+ * the peer to keep the pair symmetric: both directions coalesce
+ * with the same tx-usecs. Called under RTNL, rtnl_dereference() is safe.
+ */
+ peer = rtnl_dereference(priv->peer);
+ if (peer) {
+ struct veth_priv *peer_priv = netdev_priv(peer);
+
+ WRITE_ONCE(peer_priv->tx_coal_usecs, ec->tx_coalesce_usecs);
+ }
+
+ return 0;
+}
+
static const struct ethtool_ops veth_ethtool_ops = {
+ .supported_coalesce_params = ETHTOOL_COALESCE_TX_USECS,
.get_drvinfo = veth_get_drvinfo,
.get_link = ethtool_op_get_link,
.get_strings = veth_get_strings,
@@ -282,6 +340,8 @@ static const struct ethtool_ops veth_ethtool_ops = {
.get_ts_info = ethtool_op_get_ts_info,
.get_channels = veth_get_channels,
.set_channels = veth_set_channels,
+ .get_coalesce = veth_get_coalesce,
+ .set_coalesce = veth_set_coalesce,
};

/* general routines */
@@ -969,13 +1029,54 @@ static struct sk_buff *veth_xdp_rcv_skb(struct veth_rq *rq,
return NULL;
}

+static void veth_bql_maybe_complete(struct veth_bql_state *state,
+ struct netdev_queue *peer_txq,
+ u64 bql_flush_ns)
+{
+ u64 current_time;
+
+ /* There is no reason to complete with 0 and
+ * peer_txq could go away.
+ */
+ if (!state->n_bql || !peer_txq)
+ return;
+
+ current_time = sched_clock();
+
+ /* We complete if:
+ * 1. We reach bql_flush_ns.
+ * 2. We potentially have BQL starvation.
+ */
+ if (state->time + bql_flush_ns <= current_time ||
+ state->n_bql > peer_txq->dql.limit) {
+ netdev_tx_completed_queue(peer_txq, state->n_bql,
+ state->n_bql * VETH_BQL_UNIT);
+ state->time = current_time;
+ state->n_bql = 0;
+ }
+}
+
static int veth_xdp_rcv(struct veth_rq *rq, int budget,
struct veth_xdp_tx_bq *bq,
struct veth_stats *stats,
struct netdev_queue *peer_txq)
{
+ struct veth_priv *priv = netdev_priv(rq->dev);
+ struct veth_bql_state *state = &rq->bql_state;
int i, done = 0, n_xdpf = 0;
void *xdpf[VETH_XDP_BATCH];
+ u64 bql_flush_ns;
+
+ /* Mirrored to both peers; paired with WRITE_ONCE() in veth_set_coalesce */
+ bql_flush_ns = (u64)READ_ONCE(priv->tx_coal_usecs) * 1000;
+
+ /* Clamp stored timestamp in case we migrated to a CPU with a behind
+ * sched_clock(); tries to reduce late BQL flushes.
+ */
+ state->time = min(state->time, sched_clock());
+
+ /* Flush completions that timed out since the previous NAPI poll. */
+ veth_bql_maybe_complete(state, peer_txq, bql_flush_ns);

for (i = 0; i < budget; i++) {
void *ptr = __ptr_ring_consume(&rq->xdp_ring);
@@ -1000,12 +1101,11 @@ static int veth_xdp_rcv(struct veth_rq *rq, int budget,
}
} else {
/* ndo_start_xmit */
- bool bql_charged = veth_ptr_is_bql(ptr);
struct sk_buff *skb = veth_ptr_to_skb(ptr);

+ if (veth_ptr_is_bql(ptr))
+ state->n_bql++;
stats->xdp_bytes += skb->len;
- if (peer_txq && bql_charged)
- netdev_tx_completed_queue(peer_txq, 1, VETH_BQL_UNIT);

skb = veth_xdp_rcv_skb(rq, skb, bq, stats);
if (skb) {
@@ -1015,6 +1115,7 @@ static int veth_xdp_rcv(struct veth_rq *rq, int budget,
napi_gro_receive(&rq->xdp_napi, skb);
}
}
+ veth_bql_maybe_complete(state, peer_txq, bql_flush_ns);
done++;
}

@@ -1123,6 +1224,9 @@ static int __veth_napi_enable_range(struct net_device *dev, int start, int end)
for (i = start; i < end; i++) {
struct veth_rq *rq = &priv->rq[i];

+ rq->bql_state.time = sched_clock();
+ rq->bql_state.n_bql = 0;
+
napi_enable(&rq->xdp_napi);
rcu_assign_pointer(priv->rq[i].napi, &priv->rq[i].xdp_napi);
}
@@ -1172,11 +1276,15 @@ static void veth_napi_del_range(struct net_device *dev, int start, int end)

rq->rx_notify_masked = false;

- /* Drain leftover ring frames, counting BQL-charged SKBs that
- * were charged via netdev_tx_sent_queue() but never consumed.
+ /* Drain leftover ring frames, counting BQL-charged SKBs, and
+ * add the completions still pending in the coalescing window
+ * (consumed by NAPI but not yet flushed). Both were charged
+ * via netdev_tx_sent_queue() and are still outstanding.
*/
- n_bql = veth_ptr_ring_drain(&rq->xdp_ring);
+ n_bql = veth_ptr_ring_drain(&rq->xdp_ring) + rq->bql_state.n_bql;
ptr_ring_cleanup(&rq->xdp_ring, veth_ptr_free);
+ rq->bql_state.n_bql = 0;
+ rq->bql_state.time = 0;

if (!peer || i >= peer->num_tx_queues)
continue;
@@ -1865,6 +1973,8 @@ static const struct xdp_metadata_ops veth_xdp_metadata_ops = {

static void veth_setup(struct net_device *dev)
{
+ struct veth_priv *priv = netdev_priv(dev);
+
ether_setup(dev);

dev->priv_flags &= ~IFF_TX_SKB_SHARING;
@@ -1889,6 +1999,7 @@ static void veth_setup(struct net_device *dev)
dev->pcpu_stat_type = NETDEV_PCPU_STAT_TSTATS;
dev->max_mtu = ETH_MAX_MTU;
dev->watchdog_timeo = msecs_to_jiffies(VETH_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_MS);
+ priv->tx_coal_usecs = VETH_BQL_COAL_TX_USECS;

dev->hw_features = VETH_FEATURES;
dev->hw_enc_features = VETH_FEATURES;
--
2.43.0