1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2 Copyright(c) 2015-2016 Intel Corporation.
4 Internet Protocol (IP) Pipeline Application
5 ===========================================
10 The *Internet Protocol (IP) Pipeline* application is intended to be a vehicle for rapid development of packet processing
11 applications running on multi-core CPUs.
13 The application provides a library of reusable functional blocks called pipelines.
14 These pipelines can be seen as prefabricated blocks that can be instantiated and inter-connected through packet queues
15 to create complete applications (super-pipelines).
17 Pipelines are created and inter-connected through the application configuration file.
18 By using different configuration files, different applications are effectively created, therefore this application
19 can be seen as an application generator.
20 The configuration of each pipeline can be updated at run-time through the application Command Line Interface (CLI).
22 Main application components are:
24 **A Library of reusable pipelines**
26 * Each pipeline represents a functional block, e.g. flow classification, firewall, routing, master, etc.
28 * Each pipeline type can be instantiated several times in the same application, which each instance configured
29 separately and mapped to a single CPU core.
30 Each CPU core can run one or several pipeline instances, which can be of same or different type.
32 * Pipeline instances are inter-connected through packet queues (for packet processing) and message queues
33 (for run-time configuration).
35 * Pipelines are implemented using DPDK Packet Framework.
37 * More pipeline types can always be built and added to the existing pipeline types.
39 **The Configuration file**
41 * The configuration file defines the application structure.
42 By using different configuration files, different applications are created.
44 * All the application resources are created and configured through the application configuration file:
45 pipeline instances, buffer pools, links (i.e. network interfaces), hardware device RX/TX queues,
46 software queues, traffic manager devices, EAL startup arguments, etc.
48 * The configuration file syntax is “define by reference”, meaning that resources are defined as they are referenced.
49 First time a resource name is detected, it is registered with default parameters.
50 Optionally, the resource parameters can be further refined through a configuration file section dedicated to
53 * Command Line Interface (CLI)
55 **Global CLI commands: link configuration, etc.**
57 * Common pipeline CLI commands: ping (keep-alive), statistics, etc.
59 * Pipeline type specific CLI commands: used to configure instances of specific pipeline type.
60 These commands are registered with the application when the pipeline type is registered.
61 For example, the commands for routing pipeline instances include: route add, route delete, route list, etc.
63 * CLI commands can be grouped into scripts that can be invoked at initialization and at runtime.
73 This application enables rapid development through quick connectivity of standard components called pipelines.
74 These components are built using DPDK Packet Framework and encapsulate packet processing features at different levels:
75 ports, tables, actions, pipelines and complete applications.
77 Pipeline instances are instantiated, configured and inter-connected through low complexity configuration files loaded
78 during application initialization.
79 Each pipeline instance is mapped to a single CPU core, with each CPU core able to run one or multiple pipeline
80 instances of same or different types. By loading a different configuration file, a different application is
87 Each packet processing application is typically represented as a chain of functional stages which is often called
88 the functional pipeline of the application.
89 These stages are mapped to CPU cores to create chains of CPU cores (pipeline model), clusters of CPU cores
90 (run-to-completion model) or chains of clusters of CPU cores (hybrid model).
92 This application allows all the above programming models.
93 By applying changes to the configuration file, the application provides the flexibility to reshuffle its
94 building blocks in different ways until the configuration providing the best performance is identified.
100 The mapping of pipeline instances to CPU cores can be reshuffled through the configuration file.
101 One or several pipeline instances can be mapped to the same CPU core.
103 .. _figure_ip_pipelines_1:
105 .. figure:: img/ip_pipelines_1.*
107 Example of moving pipeline instances across different CPU cores
113 There is some degree of flexibility for moving tables from one pipeline instance to another.
114 Based on the configuration arguments passed to each pipeline instance in the configuration file, specific tables
115 can be enabled or disabled.
116 This way, a specific table can be “moved” from pipeline instance A to pipeline instance B by simply disabling its
117 associated functionality for pipeline instance A while enabling it for pipeline instance B.
119 Due to requirement to have simple syntax for the configuration file, moving tables across different pipeline
120 instances is not as flexible as the mapping of pipeline instances to CPU cores, or mapping actions to pipeline tables.
121 Complete flexibility in moving tables from one pipeline to another could be achieved through a complex pipeline
122 description language that would detail the structural elements of the pipeline (ports, tables and actions) and
123 their connectivity, resulting in complex syntax for the configuration file, which is not acceptable.
124 Good configuration file readability through simple syntax is preferred.
126 *Example*: the IP routing pipeline can run the routing function only (with ARP function run by a different
127 pipeline instance), or it can run both the routing and ARP functions as part of the same pipeline instance.
130 .. _figure_ip_pipelines_2:
132 .. figure:: img/ip_pipelines_2.*
134 Example of moving tables across different pipeline instances
140 When it makes sense, packet processing actions can be moved from one pipeline instance to another.
141 Based on the configuration arguments passed to each pipeline instance in the configuration file, specific actions
142 can be enabled or disabled.
143 This way, a specific action can be "moved" from pipeline instance A to pipeline instance B by simply disabling its
144 associated functionality for pipeline instance A while enabling it for pipeline instance B.
146 *Example*: The flow actions of accounting, traffic metering, application identification, NAT, etc can be run as part
147 of the flow classification pipeline instance or split across several flow actions pipeline instances, depending on
148 the number of flow instances and their compute requirements.
151 .. _figure_ip_pipelines_3:
153 .. figure:: img/ip_pipelines_3.*
155 Example of moving actions across different tables and pipeline instances
161 Performance of the application is the highest priority requirement.
162 Flexibility is not provided at the expense of performance.
164 The purpose of flexibility is to provide an incremental development methodology that allows monitoring the
165 performance evolution:
167 * Apply incremental changes in the configuration (e.g. mapping on pipeline instances to CPU cores)
168 in order to identify the configuration providing the best performance for a given application;
170 * Add more processing incrementally (e.g. by enabling more actions for specific pipeline instances) until
171 the application is feature complete while checking the performance impact at each step.
177 The application provides a significant set of debug capabilities:
179 * Command Line Interface (CLI) support for statistics polling: pipeline instance ping (keep-alive checks),
180 pipeline instance statistics per input port/output port/table, link statistics, etc;
182 * Logging: Turn on/off application log messages based on priority level;
184 Running the application
185 -----------------------
187 The application startup command line is::
189 ip_pipeline [-f CONFIG_FILE] [-s SCRIPT_FILE] -p PORT_MASK [-l LOG_LEVEL]
191 The application startup arguments are:
197 * Default: ``./config/ip_pipeline.cfg``
199 * Argument: Path to the configuration file to be loaded by the application.
200 Please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_configuration_file` for details on how to write the configuration file.
206 * Default: Not present
208 * Argument: Path to the CLI script file to be run by the master pipeline at application startup.
209 No CLI script file will be run at startup if this argument is not present.
217 * Argument: Hexadecimal mask of NIC port IDs to be used by the application.
218 First port enabled in this mask will be referenced as LINK0 as part of the application configuration file,
219 next port as LINK1, etc.
225 * Default: 1 (High priority)
227 * Argument: Log level to determine which application messages are to be printed to standard output.
228 Available log levels are: 0 (None), 1 (High priority), 2 (Low priority).
229 Only application messages whose priority is higher than or equal to the application log level will be printed.
239 During this stage, the application configuration file is parsed and its content is loaded into the application data
241 In case of any configuration file parse error, an error message is displayed and the application is terminated.
242 Please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_configuration_file` for a description of the application configuration file format.
245 Configuration checking
246 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
248 In the absence of any parse errors, the loaded content of application data structures is checked for overall consistency.
249 In case of any configuration check error, an error message is displayed and the application is terminated.
255 During this stage, the application resources are initialized and the handles to access them are saved into the
256 application data structures.
257 In case of any initialization error, an error message is displayed and the application is terminated.
259 The typical resources to be initialized are: pipeline instances, buffer pools, links (i.e. network interfaces),
260 hardware device RX/TX queues, software queues, traffic management devices, etc.
263 .. _ip_pipeline_runtime:
268 Each CPU core runs the pipeline instances assigned to it in time sharing mode and in round robin order:
270 1. *Packet processing task*: The pipeline run-time code is typically a packet *processing* task built on top of
271 DPDK Packet Framework rte_pipeline library, which reads bursts of packets from the pipeline input ports,
272 performs table lookups and executes the identified actions for all tables in the pipeline, with packet
273 eventually written to pipeline output ports or dropped.
275 2. *Message handling task*: Each CPU core will also periodically execute the *message handling* code of each
276 of the pipelines mapped to it.
277 The pipeline message handling code is processing the messages that are pending in the pipeline input message
278 queues, which are typically sent by the master CPU core for the on-the-fly pipeline configuration: check
279 that pipeline is still alive (ping), add/delete entries in the pipeline tables, get statistics, etc.
280 The frequency of executing the message handling code is usually much smaller than the frequency of executing
281 the packet processing work.
283 Please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_pipeline_section` for more details about the application pipeline module encapsulation.
285 .. _ip_pipeline_configuration_file:
287 Configuration file syntax
288 -------------------------
293 The syntax of the configuration file is designed to be simple, which favors readability.
294 The configuration file is parsed using the DPDK library librte_cfgfile, which supports simple
295 `INI file format <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INI_file>`__ for configuration files.
297 As result, the configuration file is split into several sections, with each section containing one or more entries.
298 The scope of each entry is its section, and each entry specifies a variable that is assigned a specific value.
299 Any text after the ``;`` character is considered a comment and is therefore ignored.
301 The following are application specific: number of sections, name of each section, number of entries of each section,
302 name of the variables used for each section entry, the value format (e.g. signed/unsigned integer, string, etc)
303 and range of each section entry variable.
305 Generic example of configuration file section:
311 <variable_name_1> = <value_1>
315 <variable_name_N> = <value_N>
318 Application resources present in the configuration file
319 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
321 .. _table_ip_pipelines_resource_name:
323 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{4cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
325 .. table:: Application resource names in the configuration file
327 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
328 | Resource type | Format | Examples |
329 +============================+=============================+=================================================+
330 | Pipeline | ``PIPELINE<ID>`` | ``PIPELINE0``, ``PIPELINE1`` |
331 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
332 | Mempool | ``MEMPOOL<ID>`` | ``MEMPOOL0``, ``MEMPOOL1`` |
333 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
334 | Link (network interface) | ``LINK<ID>`` | ``LINK0``, ``LINK1`` |
335 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
336 | Link RX queue | ``RXQ<LINK_ID>.<QUEUE_ID>`` | ``RXQ0.0``, ``RXQ1.5`` |
337 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
338 | Link TX queue | ``TXQ<LINK_ID>.<QUEUE_ID>`` | ``TXQ0.0``, ``TXQ1.5`` |
339 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
340 | Software queue | ``SWQ<ID>`` | ``SWQ0``, ``SWQ1`` |
341 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
342 | Traffic Manager | ``TM<LINK_ID>`` | ``TM0``, ``TM1`` |
343 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
344 | KNI (kernel NIC interface) | ``KNI<LINK_ID>`` | ``KNI0``, ``KNI1`` |
345 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
346 | Source | ``SOURCE<ID>`` | ``SOURCE0``, ``SOURCE1`` |
347 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
348 | Sink | ``SINK<ID>`` | ``SINK0``, ``SINK1`` |
349 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
350 | Message queue | ``MSGQ<ID>`` | ``MSGQ0``, ``MSGQ1``, |
351 | | ``MSGQ-REQ-PIPELINE<ID>`` | ``MSGQ-REQ-PIPELINE2``, ``MSGQ-RSP-PIPELINE2,`` |
352 | | ``MSGQ-RSP-PIPELINE<ID>`` | ``MSGQ-REQ-CORE-s0c1``, ``MSGQ-RSP-CORE-s0c1`` |
353 | | ``MSGQ-REQ-CORE-<CORE_ID>`` | |
354 | | ``MSGQ-RSP-CORE-<CORE_ID>`` | |
355 +----------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
357 ``LINK`` instances are created implicitly based on the ``PORT_MASK`` application startup argument.
358 ``LINK0`` is the first port enabled in the ``PORT_MASK``, port 1 is the next one, etc.
359 The LINK ID is different than the DPDK PMD-level NIC port ID, which is the actual position in the bitmask mentioned above.
360 For example, if bit 5 is the first bit set in the bitmask, then ``LINK0`` is having the PMD ID of 5.
361 This mechanism creates a contiguous LINK ID space and isolates the configuration file against changes in the board
362 PCIe slots where NICs are plugged in.
364 ``RXQ``, ``TXQ``, ``TM`` and ``KNI`` instances have the LINK ID as part of their name.
365 For example, ``RXQ2.1``, ``TXQ2.1`` and ``TM2`` are all associated with ``LINK2``.
368 Rules to parse the configuration file
369 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
371 The main rules used to parse the configuration file are:
373 1. Application resource name determines the type of resource based on the name prefix.
375 *Example*: all software queues need to start with ``SWQ`` prefix, so ``SWQ0`` and ``SWQ5`` are valid software
378 2. An application resource is defined by creating a configuration file section with its name.
379 The configuration file section allows fine tuning on any of the resource parameters.
380 Some resource parameters are mandatory, in which case it is required to have them specified as part of the
381 section, while some others are optional, in which case they get assigned their default value when not present.
383 *Example*: section ``SWQ0`` defines a software queue named SWQ0, whose parameters are detailed as part of this section.
385 3. An application resource can also be defined by referencing it.
386 Referencing a resource takes place by simply using its name as part of the value assigned to a variable in any
387 configuration file section.
388 In this case, the resource is registered with all its parameters having their default values.
389 Optionally, a section with the resource name can be added to the configuration file to fine tune some or all
390 of the resource parameters.
392 *Example*: in section ``PIPELINE3``, variable ``pktq_in`` includes ``SWQ5`` as part of its list, which results
393 in defining a software queue named ``SWQ5``; when there is no ``SWQ5`` section present in the configuration file,
394 ``SWQ5`` gets registered with default parameters.
397 .. _ip_pipeline_pipeline_section:
402 .. _table_ip_pipelines_pipeline_section_1:
404 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
406 .. table:: Configuration file PIPELINE section (1/2)
408 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
409 | Section | Description | Optional | Range | Default value |
410 +===============+===========================================================+===============+========================+================+
411 | type | Pipeline type. Defines the functionality to be | NO | See "List | N/A |
412 | | executed. | | of pipeline types" | |
413 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
414 | core | CPU core to run the current pipeline. | YES | See "CPU Core | CPU socket 0, |
415 | | | | notation" | core 0, |
416 | | | | | hyper-thread 0 |
417 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
418 | pktq_in | Packet queues to serve as input ports for the | YES | List of input | Empty list |
419 | | current pipeline instance. The acceptable packet | | packet queue IDs | |
420 | | queue types are: ``RXQ``, ``SWQ``, ``TM`` and ``SOURCE``. | | | |
421 | | First device in this list is used as pipeline input port | | | |
422 | | 0, second as pipeline input port 1, etc. | | | |
423 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
424 | pktq_out | Packet queues to serve as output ports for the | YES | List of output | Empty list |
425 | | current pipeline instance. The acceptable packet | | packet queue IDs. | |
426 | | queue types are: ``TXQ``, ``SWQ``, ``TM`` and ``SINK``. | | | |
427 | | First device in this list is used as pipeline output | | | |
428 | | port 0, second as pipeline output port 1, etc. | | | |
429 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
431 .. _table_ip_pipelines_pipeline_section_2:
433 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
435 .. table:: Configuration file PIPELINE section (2/2)
437 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
438 | Section | Description | Optional | Range | Default value |
439 +===============+===========================================================+===============+========================+================+
440 | msgq_in | Input message queues. These queues contain | YES | List of message | Empty list |
441 | | request messages that need to be handled by the | | queue IDs | |
442 | | current pipeline instance. The type and format of | | | |
443 | | request messages is defined by the pipeline type. | | | |
444 | | For each pipeline instance, there is an input | | | |
445 | | message queue defined implicitly, whose name is: | | | |
446 | | ``MSGQ-REQ-<PIPELINE_ID>``. This message queue | | | |
447 | | should not be mentioned as part of msgq_in list. | | | |
448 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
449 | msgq_out | Output message queues. These queues are used by | YES | List of message | Empty list |
450 | | the current pipeline instance to write response | | queue IDs | |
451 | | messages as result of request messages being | | | |
452 | | handled. The type and format of response | | | |
453 | | messages is defined by the pipeline type. | | | |
454 | | For each pipeline instance, there is an output | | | |
455 | | message queue defined implicitly, whose name is: | | | |
456 | | ``MSGQ-RSP-<PIPELINE_ID>``. This message queue | | | |
457 | | should not be mentioned as part of msgq_out list. | | | |
458 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
459 | timer_period | Time period, measured in milliseconds, | YES | milliseconds | 1 ms |
460 | | for handling the input message queues. | | | |
461 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
462 | <any other> | Arguments to be passed to the current pipeline | Depends on | Depends on | Depends on |
463 | | instance. Format of the arguments, their type, | pipeline type | pipeline type | pipeline type |
464 | | whether each argument is optional or mandatory | | | |
465 | | and its default value (when optional) are defined | | | |
466 | | by the pipeline type. | | | |
467 | | The value of the arguments is applicable to the | | | |
468 | | current pipeline instance only. | | | |
469 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
475 The CPU Core notation is::
477 <CPU core> ::= [s|S<CPU socket ID>][c|C]<CPU core ID>[h|H]
481 CPU socket 0, core 0, hyper-thread 0: 0, c0, s0c0
483 CPU socket 0, core 0, hyper-thread 1: 0h, c0h, s0c0h
485 CPU socket 3, core 9, hyper-thread 1: s3c9h
491 .. _table_ip_pipelines_mempool_section:
493 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{6cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{3cm}|
495 .. table:: Configuration file MEMPOOL section
497 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
498 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
499 +===============+===============================================+==========+==========+===========================+
500 | buffer_size | Buffer size (in bytes) for the current | YES | uint32_t | 2048 |
501 | | buffer pool. | | | + sizeof(struct rte_mbuf) |
502 | | | | | + HEADROOM |
503 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
504 | pool_size | Number of buffers in the current buffer pool. | YES | uint32_t | 32K |
505 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
506 | cache_size | Per CPU thread cache size (in number of | YES | uint32_t | 256 |
507 | | buffers) for the current buffer pool. | | | |
508 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
509 | cpu | CPU socket ID where to allocate memory for | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
510 | | the current buffer pool. | | | |
511 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
517 .. _table_ip_pipelines_link_section:
519 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|
521 .. table:: Configuration file LINK section
523 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
524 | Section entry | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
525 +=================+==============================================+==========+==========+===================+
526 | arp_q | NIC RX queue where ARP packets should | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
527 | | be filtered. | | | |
528 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
529 | tcp_syn_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with SYN | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
530 | | flag should be filtered. | | | |
531 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
532 | ip_local_q | NIC RX queue where IP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
533 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
534 | | When TCP, UDP and SCTP local queues are | | | |
535 | | defined, they take higher priority than this | | | |
537 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
538 | tcp_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
539 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
540 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
541 | udp_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
542 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
543 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
544 | sctp_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
545 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
546 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
547 | promisc | Indicates whether current link should be | YES | YES/NO | YES |
548 | | started in promiscuous mode. | | | |
549 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
555 .. _table_ip_pipelines_rxq_section:
557 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|
559 .. table:: Configuration file RXQ section
561 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
562 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
563 +===============+============================================+==========+==========+===============+
564 | mempool | Mempool to use for buffer allocation for | YES | uint32_t | MEMPOOL0 |
565 | | current NIC RX queue. The mempool ID has | | | |
566 | | to be associated with a valid instance | | | |
567 | | defined in the mempool entry of the global | | | |
569 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
570 | Size | NIC RX queue size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 128 |
571 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
572 | burst | Read burst size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
573 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
579 .. _table_ip_pipelines_txq_section:
581 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|p{1.5cm}|
583 .. table:: Configuration file TXQ section
585 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
586 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
587 +===============+==============================================+==========+==================+===============+
588 | size | NIC TX queue size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 512 |
589 | | | | power of 2 | |
591 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
592 | burst | Write burst size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
593 | | | | power of 2 | |
594 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
595 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
596 | dropless | When dropless is set to NO, packets can be | YES | YES/NO | NO |
597 | | dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
598 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
599 | | write operation to the queue is non- | | | |
600 | | blocking. | | | |
601 | | When dropless is set to YES, packets cannot | | | |
602 | | be dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
603 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
604 | | write operation to the queue is blocking, as | | | |
605 | | the write operation is retried until enough | | | |
606 | | free slots become available and all the | | | |
607 | | packets are successfully written to the | | | |
609 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
610 | n_retries | Number of retries. Valid only when dropless | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
611 | | is set to YES. When set to 0, it indicates | | | |
612 | | unlimited number of retries. | | | |
613 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
619 .. _table_ip_pipelines_swq_section:
621 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
623 .. table:: Configuration file SWQ section
625 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
626 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
627 +===============+==============================================+==========+==================+===============+
628 | size | Queue size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 256 |
629 | | | | power of 2 | |
630 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
631 | burst_read | Read burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
632 | | | | power of 2 | |
633 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
634 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
635 | burst_write | Write burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
636 | | | | power of 2 | |
637 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
638 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
639 | dropless | When dropless is set to NO, packets can be | YES | YES/NO | NO |
640 | | dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
641 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
642 | | write operation to the queue is non- | | | |
643 | | blocking. | | | |
644 | | When dropless is set to YES, packets cannot | | | |
645 | | be dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
646 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
647 | | write operation to the queue is blocking, as | | | |
648 | | the write operation is retried until enough | | | |
649 | | free slots become available and all the | | | |
650 | | packets are successfully written to the | | | |
652 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
653 | n_retries | Number of retries. Valid only when dropless | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
654 | | is set to YES. When set to 0, it indicates | | | |
655 | | unlimited number of retries. | | | |
656 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
657 | cpu | CPU socket ID where to allocate memory | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
658 | | for this SWQ. | | | |
659 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
665 .. _table_ip_pipelines_tm_section:
667 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
669 .. table:: Configuration file TM section
671 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
672 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
673 +===============+=============================================+==========+==========+===============+
674 | Cfg | File name to parse for the TM configuration | YES | string | tm_profile |
675 | | to be applied. The syntax of this file is | | | |
676 | | described in the examples/qos_sched DPDK | | | |
677 | | application documentation. | | | |
678 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
679 | burst_read | Read burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 64 |
680 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
681 | burst_write | Write burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
682 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
688 .. _table_ip_pipelines_kni_section:
690 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
692 .. table:: Configuration file KNI section
694 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
695 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
696 +===============+==============================================+==========+==================+===============+
697 | core | CPU core to run the KNI kernel thread. | YES | See "CPU Core | Not set |
698 | | When core config is set, the KNI kernel | | notation" | |
699 | | thread will be bound to the particular core. | | | |
700 | | When core config is not set, the KNI kernel | | | |
701 | | thread will be scheduled by the OS. | | | |
702 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
703 | mempool | Mempool to use for buffer allocation for | YES | uint32_t | MEMPOOL0 |
704 | | current KNI port. The mempool ID has | | | |
705 | | to be associated with a valid instance | | | |
706 | | defined in the mempool entry of the global | | | |
708 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
709 | burst_read | Read burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
710 | | | | power of 2 | |
711 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
712 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
713 | burst_write | Write burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
714 | | | | power of 2 | |
715 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
716 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
717 | dropless | When dropless is set to NO, packets can be | YES | YES/NO | NO |
718 | | dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
719 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
720 | | write operation to the queue is non- | | | |
721 | | blocking. | | | |
722 | | When dropless is set to YES, packets cannot | | | |
723 | | be dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
724 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
725 | | write operation to the queue is blocking, as | | | |
726 | | the write operation is retried until enough | | | |
727 | | free slots become available and all the | | | |
728 | | packets are successfully written to the | | | |
730 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
731 | n_retries | Number of retries. Valid only when dropless | YES | uint64_t | 0 |
732 | | is set to YES. When set to 0, it indicates | | | |
733 | | unlimited number of retries. | | | |
734 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
740 .. _table_ip_pipelines_source_section:
742 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|
744 .. table:: Configuration file SOURCE section
746 +---------------+---------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
747 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
748 +===============+=======================================+==========+==========+===============+
749 | Mempool | Mempool to use for buffer allocation. | YES | uint32_t | MEMPOOL0 |
750 +---------------+---------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
751 | Burst | Read burst size (number of packets) | | uint32_t | 32 |
752 +---------------+---------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
758 Currently, there are no parameters to be passed to a sink device, so
759 SINK section is not allowed.
764 .. _table_ip_pipelines_msgq_section:
766 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
768 .. table:: Configuration file MSGQ section
770 +---------+--------------------------------------------+----------+------------+---------------+
771 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
772 +=========+============================================+==========+============+===============+
773 | size | Queue size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 64 |
775 | | | | power of 2 | |
776 +---------+--------------------------------------------+----------+------------+---------------+
777 | cpu | CPU socket ID where to allocate memory for | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
778 | | the current queue. | | | |
779 +---------+--------------------------------------------+----------+------------+---------------+
785 The application generates the EAL parameters rather than reading them from the command line.
787 The CPU core mask parameter is generated based on the core entry of all PIPELINE sections.
788 All the other EAL parameters can be set from this section of the application configuration file.
791 Library of pipeline types
792 -------------------------
797 A pipeline is a self-contained module that implements a packet processing function and is typically implemented on
798 top of the DPDK Packet Framework *librte_pipeline* library.
799 The application provides a run-time mechanism to register different pipeline types.
801 Depending on the required configuration, each registered pipeline type (pipeline class) is instantiated one or
802 several times, with each pipeline instance (pipeline object) assigned to one of the available CPU cores.
803 Each CPU core can run one or more pipeline instances, which might be of same or different types.
804 For more information of the CPU core threading model, please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_runtime` section.
810 Each pipeline type is made up of a back-end and a front-end. The back-end represents the packet processing engine
811 of the pipeline, typically implemented using the DPDK Packet Framework libraries, which reads packets from the
812 input packet queues, handles them and eventually writes them to the output packet queues or drops them.
813 The front-end represents the run-time configuration interface of the pipeline, which is exposed as CLI commands.
814 The front-end communicates with the back-end through message queues.
816 .. _table_ip_pipelines_back_end:
818 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{1cm}|p{2cm}|p{12cm}|
820 .. table:: Pipeline back-end
822 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
823 | Field name | Field type | Description |
824 +============+==================+====================================================================+
825 | f_init | Function pointer | Function to initialize the back-end of the current pipeline |
826 | | | instance. Typical work implemented by this function for the |
827 | | | current pipeline instance: |
828 | | | Memory allocation; |
829 | | | Parse the pipeline type specific arguments; |
830 | | | Initialize the pipeline input ports, output ports and tables, |
831 | | | interconnect input ports to tables; |
832 | | | Set the message handlers. |
833 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
834 | f_free | Function pointer | Function to free the resources allocated by the back-end of the |
835 | | | current pipeline instance. |
836 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
837 | f_run | Function pointer | Set to NULL for pipelines implemented using the DPDK library |
838 | | | librte_pipeline (typical case), and to non-NULL otherwise. This |
839 | | | mechanism is made available to support quick integration of |
841 | | | This function is expected to provide the packet processing |
842 | | | related code to be called as part of the CPU thread dispatch |
843 | | | loop, so this function is not allowed to contain an infinite loop. |
844 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
845 | f_timer | Function pointer | Function to read the pipeline input message queues, handle |
846 | | | the request messages, create response messages and write |
847 | | | the response queues. The format of request and response |
848 | | | messages is defined by each pipeline type, with the exception |
849 | | | of some requests which are mandatory for all pipelines (e.g. |
850 | | | ping, statistics). |
851 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
854 .. _table_ip_pipelines_front_end:
856 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{1cm}|p{2cm}|p{12cm}|
858 .. table:: Pipeline front-end
860 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
861 | Field name | Field type | Description |
862 +============+=======================+===================================================================+
863 | f_init | Function pointer | Function to initialize the front-end of the current pipeline |
865 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
866 | f_post_init| Function pointer | Function to run once after f_init. |
867 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
868 | f_track | Function pointer | See section Tracking pipeline output port to physical link. |
869 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
870 | f_free | Function pointer | Function to free the resources allocated by the front-end of |
871 | | | the current pipeline instance. |
872 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
873 | cmds | Array of CLI commands | Array of CLI commands to be registered to the application CLI |
874 | | | for the current pipeline type. Even though the CLI is executed |
875 | | | by a different pipeline (typically, this is the master pipeline), |
876 | | | from modularity perspective is more efficient to keep the |
877 | | | message client side (part of the front-end) together with the |
878 | | | message server side (part of the back-end). |
879 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
882 Tracking pipeline output port to physical link
883 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
885 Each pipeline instance is a standalone block that does not have visibility into the other pipeline instances or
886 the application-level pipeline inter-connectivity.
887 In some cases, it is useful for a pipeline instance to get application level information related to pipeline
888 connectivity, such as to identify the output link (e.g. physical NIC port) where one of its output ports connected,
889 either directly or indirectly by traversing other pipeline instances.
891 Tracking can be successful or unsuccessful.
892 Typically, tracking for a specific pipeline instance is successful when each one of its input ports can be mapped
893 to a single output port, meaning that all packets read from the current input port can only go out on a single
895 Depending on the pipeline type, some exceptions may be allowed: a small portion of the packets, considered exception
896 packets, are sent out on an output port that is pre-configured for this purpose.
898 For pass-through pipeline type, the tracking is always successful.
899 For pipeline types as flow classification, firewall or routing, the tracking is only successful when the number of
900 output ports for the current pipeline instance is 1.
902 This feature is used by the IP routing pipeline for adding/removing implicit routes every time a link is brought
909 Fast table copy: pipeline table used by pipeline for the packet processing task, updated through messages, table
910 data structures are optimized for lookup operation.
912 Slow table copy: used by the configuration layer, typically updated through CLI commands, kept in sync with the fast
913 copy (its update triggers the fast copy update).
914 Required for executing advanced table queries without impacting the packet processing task, therefore the slow copy
915 is typically organized using different criteria than the fast copy.
919 * Flow classification: Search through current set of flows (e.g. list all flows with a specific source IP address);
921 * Firewall: List rules in descending order of priority;
923 * Routing table: List routes sorted by prefix depth and their type (local, remote, default);
925 * ARP: List entries sorted per output interface.
931 Packet meta-data field offsets provided as argument to pipeline instances are essentially defining the data structure
932 for the packet meta-data used by the current application use-case.
933 It is very useful to put it in the configuration file as a comment in order to facilitate the readability of the
936 The reason to use field offsets for defining the data structure for the packet meta-data is due to the C language
937 limitation of not being able to define data structures at run-time.
938 Feature to consider: have the configuration file parser automatically generate and print the data structure defining
939 the packet meta-data for the current application use-case.
941 Packet meta-data typically contains:
943 1. Pure meta-data: intermediate data per packet that is computed internally, passed between different tables of
944 the same pipeline instance (e.g. lookup key for the ARP table is obtained from the routing table), or between
945 different pipeline instances (e.g. flow ID, traffic metering color, etc);
947 2. Packet fields: typically, packet header fields that are read directly from the packet, or read from the packet
948 and saved (duplicated) as a working copy at a different location within the packet meta-data (e.g. Diffserv
949 5-tuple, IP destination address, etc).
951 Several strategies are used to design the packet meta-data, as described in the next subsections.
954 Store packet meta-data in a different cache line as the packet headers
955 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
957 This approach is able to support protocols with variable header length, like MPLS, where the offset of IP header
958 from the start of the packet (and, implicitly, the offset of the IP header in the packet buffer) is not fixed.
959 Since the pipelines typically require the specification of a fixed offset to the packet fields (e.g. Diffserv
960 5-tuple, used by the flow classification pipeline, or the IP destination address, used by the IP routing pipeline),
961 the workaround is to have the packet RX pipeline copy these fields at fixed offsets within the packet meta-data.
963 As this approach duplicates some of the packet fields, it requires accessing more cache lines per packet for filling
964 in selected packet meta-data fields (on RX), as well as flushing selected packet meta-data fields into the
972 ; struct app_pkt_metadata {
977 ; } __attribute__((__packed__));
981 ; Packet meta-data offsets
982 ip_da_offset = 0; Used by: routing
983 hash_offset = 4; Used by: RX, flow classification
984 flow_id_offset = 8; Used by: flow classification, flow actions
985 color_offset = 12; Used by: flow actions, routing
988 Overlay the packet meta-data in the same cache line with the packet headers
989 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
991 This approach is minimizing the number of cache line accessed per packet by storing the packet metadata in the
992 same cache line with the packet headers.
993 To enable this strategy, either some headroom is reserved for meta-data at the beginning of the packet headers
994 cache line (e.g. if 16 bytes are needed for meta-data, then the packet headroom can be set to 128+16 bytes, so
995 that NIC writes the first byte of the packet at offset 16 from the start of the first packet cache line),
996 or meta-data is reusing the space of some packet headers that are discarded from the packet (e.g. input Ethernet
1003 ; struct app_pkt_metadata {
1004 ; uint8_t headroom[RTE_PKTMBUF_HEADROOM]; /* 128 bytes (default) */
1007 ; struct ether_hdr ether; /* 14 bytes */
1008 ; struct qinq_hdr qinq; /* 8 bytes */
1016 ; struct ipv4_hdr ip; /* 20 bytes */
1017 ; } __attribute__((__packed__));
1020 ; Packet meta-data offsets
1021 qinq_offset = 142; Used by: RX, flow classification
1022 ip_da_offset = 166; Used by: routing
1023 hash_offset = 128; Used by: RX, flow classification
1024 flow_id_offset = 132; Used by: flow classification, flow actions
1025 color_offset = 136; Used by: flow actions, routing
1028 List of pipeline types
1029 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1031 .. _table_ip_pipelines_types:
1033 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{5cm}|p{4cm}|p{4cm}|
1035 .. table:: List of pipeline types provided with the application
1037 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1038 | Name | Table(s) | Actions | Messages |
1039 +=======================+=============================+=======================+==========================================+
1040 | Pass-through | Passthrough | 1. Pkt metadata build | 1. Ping |
1041 | | | 2. Flow hash | 2. Stats |
1042 | Note: depending on | | 3. Pkt checks | |
1043 | port type, can be | | 4. Load balancing | |
1044 | used for RX, TX, IP | | | |
1045 | fragmentation, IP | | | |
1046 | reassembly or Traffic | | | |
1047 | Management | | | |
1048 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1049 | Flow classification | Exact match | 1. Flow ID | 1. Ping |
1051 | | * Key = byte array | 2. Flow stats | 2. Stats |
1052 | | (source: pkt metadata) | 3. Metering | 3. Flow stats |
1053 | | * Data = action dependent | 4. Network Address | 4. Action stats |
1054 | | | 5. Translation (NAT) | 5. Flow add/ update/ delete |
1055 | | | | 6. Default flow add/ update/ delete |
1056 | | | | 7. Action update |
1057 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1058 | Flow actions | Array | 1. Flow stats | 1. Ping |
1060 | | * Key = Flow ID | 2. Metering | 2. Stats |
1061 | | (source: pkt metadata) | 3. Network Address | 3. Action stats |
1062 | | * Data = action dependent | 4. Translation (NAT) | 4. Action update |
1063 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1064 | Firewall | ACL | 1. Allow/Drop | 1. Ping |
1066 | | * Key = n-tuple | | 2. Stats |
1067 | | (source: pkt headers) | | 3. Rule add/ update/ delete |
1068 | | * Data = none | | 4. Default rule add/ update/ delete |
1069 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1070 | IP routing | LPM (IPv4 or IPv6, | 1. TTL decrement and | 1. Ping |
1071 | | depending on pipeline type) | 2. IPv4 checksum | 2. Stats |
1073 | | * Key = IP destination | 3. update | 3. Route add/ update/ delete |
1074 | | (source: pkt metadata) | 4. Header | 4. Default route add/ update/ delete |
1075 | | * Data = Dependent on | 5. encapsulation | 5. ARP entry add/ update/ delete |
1076 | | actions and next hop | 6. (based on next hop | 6. Default ARP entry add/ update/ delete |
1077 | | type | 7. type) | |
1079 | | Hash table (for ARP, only | | |
1081 | | when ARP is enabled) | | |
1083 | | * Key = (Port ID, | | |
1084 | | next hop IP address) | | |
1085 | | (source: pkt meta-data) | | |
1086 | | * Data: MAC address | | |
1087 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1091 Command Line Interface (CLI)
1092 ----------------------------
1097 .. _table_ip_pipelines_cli_commands:
1099 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
1101 .. table:: Global CLI commands
1103 +---------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1104 | Command | Description | Syntax |
1105 +=========+=======================================+============================================+
1106 | run | Run CLI commands script file. | run <file> |
1107 | | | <file> = path to file with CLI commands to |
1109 +---------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1110 | quit | Gracefully terminate the application. | quit |
1111 +---------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1114 CLI commands for link configuration
1115 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1117 .. _table_ip_pipelines_runtime_config:
1119 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
1121 .. table:: List of run-time configuration commands for link configuration
1123 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1124 | Command | Description | Syntax |
1125 +=============+====================+============================================+
1126 | link config | Link configuration | link <link ID> config <IP address> <depth> |
1127 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1128 | link up | Link up | link <link ID> up |
1129 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1130 | link down | Link down | link <link ID> down |
1131 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1132 | link ls | Link list | link ls |
1133 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1136 CLI commands common for all pipeline types
1137 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1139 .. _table_ip_pipelines_mandatory:
1141 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
1143 .. table:: CLI commands mandatory for all pipelines
1145 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1146 | Command | Description | Syntax |
1147 +====================+======================================================+==============================================+
1148 | ping | Check whether specific pipeline instance is alive. | p <pipeline ID> ping |
1149 | | The master pipeline sends a ping request | |
1150 | | message to given pipeline instance and waits for | |
1151 | | a response message back. | |
1152 | | Timeout message is displayed when the response | |
1153 | | message is not received before the timer | |
1155 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1156 | stats | Display statistics for specific pipeline input port, | p <pipeline ID> stats port in <port in ID> |
1157 | | output port or table. | p <pipeline ID> stats port out <port out ID> |
1158 | | | p <pipeline ID> stats table <table ID> |
1159 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1160 | input port enable | Enable given input port for specific pipeline | p <pipeline ID> port in <port ID> enable |
1162 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1163 | input port disable | Disable given input port for specific pipeline | p <pipeline ID> port in <port ID> disable |
1165 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1167 Pipeline type specific CLI commands
1168 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1170 The pipeline specific CLI commands are part of the pipeline type front-end.
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