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31 Internet Protocol (IP) Pipeline Application
32 ===========================================
37 The *Internet Protocol (IP) Pipeline* application is intended to be a vehicle for rapid development of packet processing
38 applications running on multi-core CPUs.
40 The application provides a library of reusable functional blocks called pipelines.
41 These pipelines can be seen as prefabricated blocks that can be instantiated and inter-connected through packet queues
42 to create complete applications (super-pipelines).
44 Pipelines are created and inter-connected through the application configuration file.
45 By using different configuration files, different applications are effectively created, therefore this application
46 can be seen as an application generator.
47 The configuration of each pipeline can be updated at run-time through the application Command Line Interface (CLI).
49 Main application components are:
51 **A Library of reusable pipelines**
53 * Each pipeline represents a functional block, e.g. flow classification, firewall, routing, master, etc.
55 * Each pipeline type can be instantiated several times in the same application, which each instance configured
56 separately and mapped to a single CPU core.
57 Each CPU core can run one or several pipeline instances, which can be of same or different type.
59 * Pipeline instances are inter-connected through packet queues (for packet processing) and message queues
60 (for run-time configuration).
62 * Pipelines are implemented using DPDK Packet Framework.
64 * More pipeline types can always be built and added to the existing pipeline types.
66 **The Configuration file**
68 * The configuration file defines the application structure.
69 By using different configuration files, different applications are created.
71 * All the application resources are created and configured through the application configuration file:
72 pipeline instances, buffer pools, links (i.e. network interfaces), hardware device RX/TX queues,
73 software queues, traffic manager devices, EAL startup arguments, etc.
75 * The configuration file syntax is “define by reference”, meaning that resources are defined as they are referenced.
76 First time a resource name is detected, it is registered with default parameters.
77 Optionally, the resource parameters can be further refined through a configuration file section dedicated to
80 * Command Line Interface (CLI)
82 **Global CLI commands: link configuration, etc.**
84 * Common pipeline CLI commands: ping (keep-alive), statistics, etc.
86 * Pipeline type specific CLI commands: used to configure instances of specific pipeline type.
87 These commands are registered with the application when the pipeline type is registered.
88 For example, the commands for routing pipeline instances include: route add, route delete, route list, etc.
90 * CLI commands can be grouped into scripts that can be invoked at initialization and at runtime.
100 This application enables rapid development through quick connectivity of standard components called pipelines.
101 These components are built using DPDK Packet Framework and encapsulate packet processing features at different levels:
102 ports, tables, actions, pipelines and complete applications.
104 Pipeline instances are instantiated, configured and inter-connected through low complexity configuration files loaded
105 during application initialization.
106 Each pipeline instance is mapped to a single CPU core, with each CPU core able to run one or multiple pipeline
107 instances of same or different types. By loading a different configuration file, a different application is
114 Each packet processing application is typically represented as a chain of functional stages which is often called
115 the functional pipeline of the application.
116 These stages are mapped to CPU cores to create chains of CPU cores (pipeline model), clusters of CPU cores
117 (run-to-completion model) or chains of clusters of CPU cores (hybrid model).
119 This application allows all the above programming models.
120 By applying changes to the configuration file, the application provides the flexibility to reshuffle its
121 building blocks in different ways until the configuration providing the best performance is identified.
124 Move pipelines around
125 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
127 The mapping of pipeline instances to CPU cores can be reshuffled through the configuration file.
128 One or several pipeline instances can be mapped to the same CPU core.
130 .. _figure_ip_pipelines_1:
132 .. figure:: img/ip_pipelines_1.*
134 Example of moving pipeline instances across different CPU cores
140 There is some degree of flexibility for moving tables from one pipeline instance to another.
141 Based on the configuration arguments passed to each pipeline instance in the configuration file, specific tables
142 can be enabled or disabled.
143 This way, a specific table 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 Due to requirement to have simple syntax for the configuration file, moving tables across different pipeline
147 instances is not as flexible as the mapping of pipeline instances to CPU cores, or mapping actions to pipeline tables.
148 Complete flexibility in moving tables from one pipeline to another could be achieved through a complex pipeline
149 description language that would detail the structural elements of the pipeline (ports, tables and actions) and
150 their connectivity, resulting in complex syntax for the configuration file, which is not acceptable.
151 Good configuration file readability through simple syntax is preferred.
153 *Example*: the IP routing pipeline can run the routing function only (with ARP function run by a different
154 pipeline instance), or it can run both the routing and ARP functions as part of the same pipeline instance.
157 .. _figure_ip_pipelines_2:
159 .. figure:: img/ip_pipelines_2.*
161 Example of moving tables across different pipeline instances
167 When it makes sense, packet processing actions can be moved from one pipeline instance to another.
168 Based on the configuration arguments passed to each pipeline instance in the configuration file, specific actions
169 can be enabled or disabled.
170 This way, a specific action can be "moved" from pipeline instance A to pipeline instance B by simply disabling its
171 associated functionality for pipeline instance A while enabling it for pipeline instance B.
173 *Example*: The flow actions of accounting, traffic metering, application identification, NAT, etc can be run as part
174 of the flow classification pipeline instance or split across several flow actions pipeline instances, depending on
175 the number of flow instances and their compute requirements.
178 .. _figure_ip_pipelines_3:
180 .. figure:: img/ip_pipelines_3.*
182 Example of moving actions across different tables and pipeline instances
188 Performance of the application is the highest priority requirement.
189 Flexibility is not provided at the expense of performance.
191 The purpose of flexibility is to provide an incremental development methodology that allows monitoring the
192 performance evolution:
194 * Apply incremental changes in the configuration (e.g. mapping on pipeline instances to CPU cores)
195 in order to identify the configuration providing the best performance for a given application;
197 * Add more processing incrementally (e.g. by enabling more actions for specific pipeline instances) until
198 the application is feature complete while checking the performance impact at each step.
204 The application provides a significant set of debug capabilities:
206 * Command Line Interface (CLI) support for statistics polling: pipeline instance ping (keep-alive checks),
207 pipeline instance statistics per input port/output port/table, link statistics, etc;
209 * Logging: Turn on/off application log messages based on priority level;
211 Running the application
212 -----------------------
214 The application startup command line is::
216 ip_pipeline [-f CONFIG_FILE] [-s SCRIPT_FILE] -p PORT_MASK [-l LOG_LEVEL]
218 The application startup arguments are:
224 * Default: ``./config/ip_pipeline.cfg``
226 * Argument: Path to the configuration file to be loaded by the application.
227 Please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_configuration_file` for details on how to write the configuration file.
233 * Default: Not present
235 * Argument: Path to the CLI script file to be run by the master pipeline at application startup.
236 No CLI script file will be run at startup of this argument is not present.
244 * Argument: Hexadecimal mask of NIC port IDs to be used by the application.
245 First port enabled in this mask will be referenced as LINK0 as part of the application configuration file,
246 next port as LINK1, etc.
252 * Default: 1 (High priority)
254 * Argument: Log level to determine which application messages are to be printed to standard output.
255 Available log levels are: 0 (None), 1 (High priority), 2 (Low priority).
256 Only application messages whose priority is higher than or equal to the application log level will be printed.
266 During this stage, the application configuration file is parsed and its content is loaded into the application data
268 In case of any configuration file parse error, an error message is displayed and the application is terminated.
269 Please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_configuration_file` for a description of the application configuration file format.
272 Configuration checking
273 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
275 In the absence of any parse errors, the loaded content of application data structures is checked for overall consistency.
276 In case of any configuration check error, an error message is displayed and the application is terminated.
282 During this stage, the application resources are initialized and the handles to access them are saved into the
283 application data structures.
284 In case of any initialization error, an error message is displayed and the application is terminated.
286 The typical resources to be initialized are: pipeline instances, buffer pools, links (i.e. network interfaces),
287 hardware device RX/TX queues, software queues, traffic management devices, etc.
290 .. _ip_pipeline_runtime:
295 Each CPU core runs the pipeline instances assigned to it in time sharing mode and in round robin order:
297 1. *Packet processing task*: The pipeline run-time code is typically a packet *processing* task built on top of
298 DPDK Packet Framework rte_pipeline library, which reads bursts of packets from the pipeline input ports,
299 performs table lookups and executes the identified actions for all tables in the pipeline, with packet
300 eventually written to pipeline output ports or dropped.
302 2. *Message handling task*: Each CPU core will also periodically execute the *message handling* code of each
303 of the pipelines mapped to it.
304 The pipeline message handling code is processing the messages that are pending in the pipeline input message
305 queues, which are typically sent by the master CPU core for the on-the-fly pipeline configuration: check
306 that pipeline is still alive (ping), add/delete entries in the pipeline tables, get statistics, etc.
307 The frequency of executing the message handling code is usually much smaller than the frequency of executing
308 the packet processing work.
310 Please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_pipeline_section` for more details about the application pipeline module encapsulation.
312 .. _ip_pipeline_configuration_file:
314 Configuration file syntax
315 -------------------------
320 The syntax of the configuration file is designed to be simple, which favors readability.
321 The configuration file is parsed using the DPDK library librte_cfgfile, which supports simple
322 `INI file format <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INI_file>`__ for configuration files.
324 As result, the configuration file is split into several sections, with each section containing one or more entries.
325 The scope of each entry is its section, and each entry specifies a variable that is assigned a specific value.
326 Any text after the ``;`` character is considered a comment and is therefore ignored.
328 The following are application specific: number of sections, name of each section, number of entries of each section,
329 name of the variables used for each section entry, the value format (e.g. signed/unsigned integer, string, etc)
330 and range of each section entry variable.
332 Generic example of configuration file section:
338 <variable_name_1> = <value_1>
342 <variable_name_N> = <value_N>
345 Application resources present in the configuration file
346 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
348 .. _table_ip_pipelines_resource_name:
350 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{4cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
352 .. table:: Application resource names in the configuration file
354 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
355 | Resource type | Format | Examples |
356 +==========================+=============================+=================================================+
357 | Pipeline | ``PIPELINE<ID>`` | ``PIPELINE0``, ``PIPELINE1`` |
358 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
359 | Mempool | ``MEMPOOL<ID>`` | ``MEMPOOL0``, ``MEMPOOL1`` |
360 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
361 | Link (network interface) | ``LINK<ID>`` | ``LINK0``, ``LINK1`` |
362 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
363 | Link RX queue | ``RXQ<LINK_ID>.<QUEUE_ID>`` | ``RXQ0.0``, ``RXQ1.5`` |
364 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
365 | Link TX queue | ``TXQ<LINK_ID>.<QUEUE_ID>`` | ``TXQ0.0``, ``TXQ1.5`` |
366 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
367 | Software queue | ``SWQ<ID>`` | ``SWQ0``, ``SWQ1`` |
368 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
369 | Traffic Manager | ``TM<LINK_ID>`` | ``TM0``, ``TM1`` |
370 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
371 | Source | ``SOURCE<ID>`` | ``SOURCE0``, ``SOURCE1`` |
372 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
373 | Sink | ``SINK<ID>`` | ``SINK0``, ``SINK1`` |
374 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
375 | Message queue | ``MSGQ<ID>`` | ``MSGQ0``, ``MSGQ1``, |
376 | | ``MSGQ-REQ-PIPELINE<ID>`` | ``MSGQ-REQ-PIPELINE2``, ``MSGQ-RSP-PIPELINE2,`` |
377 | | ``MSGQ-RSP-PIPELINE<ID>`` | ``MSGQ-REQ-CORE-s0c1``, ``MSGQ-RSP-CORE-s0c1`` |
378 | | ``MSGQ-REQ-CORE-<CORE_ID>`` | |
379 | | ``MSGQ-RSP-CORE-<CORE_ID>`` | |
380 +--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
382 ``LINK`` instances are created implicitly based on the ``PORT_MASK`` application startup argument.
383 ``LINK0`` is the first port enabled in the ``PORT_MASK``, port 1 is the next one, etc.
384 The LINK ID is different than the DPDK PMD-level NIC port ID, which is the actual position in the bitmask mentioned above.
385 For example, if bit 5 is the first bit set in the bitmask, then ``LINK0`` is having the PMD ID of 5.
386 This mechanism creates a contiguous LINK ID space and isolates the configuration file against changes in the board
387 PCIe slots where NICs are plugged in.
389 ``RXQ``, ``TXQ`` and ``TM`` instances have the LINK ID as part of their name.
390 For example, ``RXQ2.1``, ``TXQ2.1`` and ``TM2`` are all associated with ``LINK2``.
393 Rules to parse the configuration file
394 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
396 The main rules used to parse the configuration file are:
398 1. Application resource name determines the type of resource based on the name prefix.
400 *Example*: all software queues need to start with ``SWQ`` prefix, so ``SWQ0`` and ``SWQ5`` are valid software
403 2. An application resource is defined by creating a configuration file section with its name.
404 The configuration file section allows fine tuning on any of the resource parameters.
405 Some resource parameters are mandatory, in which case it is required to have them specified as part of the
406 section, while some others are optional, in which case they get assigned their default value when not present.
408 *Example*: section ``SWQ0`` defines a software queue named SWQ0, whose parameters are detailed as part of this section.
410 3. An application resource can also be defined by referencing it.
411 Referencing a resource takes place by simply using its name as part of the value assigned to a variable in any
412 configuration file section.
413 In this case, the resource is registered with all its parameters having their default values.
414 Optionally, a section with the resource name can be added to the configuration file to fine tune some or all
415 of the resource parameters.
417 *Example*: in section ``PIPELINE3``, variable ``pktq_in`` includes ``SWQ5`` as part of its list, which results
418 in defining a software queue named ``SWQ5``; when there is no ``SWQ5`` section present in the configuration file,
419 ``SWQ5`` gets registered with default parameters.
422 .. _ip_pipeline_pipeline_section:
427 .. _table_ip_pipelines_pipeline_section_1:
429 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
431 .. table:: Configuration file PIPELINE section (1/2)
433 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
434 | Section | Description | Optional | Range | Default value |
435 +===============+===========================================================+===============+========================+================+
436 | type | Pipeline type. Defines the functionality to be | NO | See "List | N/A |
437 | | executed. | | of pipeline types" | |
438 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
439 | core | CPU core to run the current pipeline. | YES | See "CPU Core | CPU socket 0, |
440 | | | | notation" | core 0, |
441 | | | | | hyper-thread 0 |
442 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
443 | pktq_in | Packet queues to serve as input ports for the | YES | List of input | Empty list |
444 | | current pipeline instance. The acceptable packet | | packet queue IDs | |
445 | | queue types are: ``RXQ``, ``SWQ``, ``TM`` and ``SOURCE``. | | | |
446 | | First device in this list is used as pipeline input port | | | |
447 | | 0, second as pipeline input port 1, etc. | | | |
448 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
449 | pktq_out | Packet queues to serve as output ports for the | YES | List of output | Empty list |
450 | | current pipeline instance. The acceptable packet | | packet queue IDs. | |
451 | | queue types are: ``TXQ``, ``SWQ``, ``TM`` and ``SINK``. | | | |
452 | | First device in this list is used as pipeline output | | | |
453 | | port 0, second as pipeline output port 1, etc. | | | |
454 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
456 .. _table_ip_pipelines_pipeline_section_2:
458 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
460 .. table:: Configuration file PIPELINE section (2/2)
462 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
463 | Section | Description | Optional | Range | Default value |
464 +===============+===========================================================+===============+========================+================+
465 | msgq_in | Input message queues. These queues contain | YES | List of message | Empty list |
466 | | request messages that need to be handled by the | | queue IDs | |
467 | | current pipeline instance. The type and format of | | | |
468 | | request messages is defined by the pipeline type. | | | |
469 | | For each pipeline instance, there is an input | | | |
470 | | message queue defined implicitly, whose name is: | | | |
471 | | ``MSGQ-REQ-<PIPELINE_ID>``. This message queue | | | |
472 | | should not be mentioned as part of msgq_in list. | | | |
473 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
474 | msgq_out | Output message queues. These queues are used by | YES | List of message | Empty list |
475 | | the current pipeline instance to write response | | queue IDs | |
476 | | messages as result of request messages being | | | |
477 | | handled. The type and format of response | | | |
478 | | messages is defined by the pipeline type. | | | |
479 | | For each pipeline instance, there is an output | | | |
480 | | message queue defined implicitly, whose name is: | | | |
481 | | ``MSGQ-RSP-<PIPELINE_ID>``. This message queue | | | |
482 | | should not be mentioned as part of msgq_out list. | | | |
483 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
484 | timer_period | Time period, measured in milliseconds, | YES | milliseconds | 1 ms |
485 | | for handling the input message queues. | | | |
486 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
487 | <any other> | Arguments to be passed to the current pipeline | Depends on | Depends on | Depends on |
488 | | instance. Format of the arguments, their type, | pipeline type | pipeline type | pipeline type |
489 | | whether each argument is optional or mandatory | | | |
490 | | and its default value (when optional) are defined | | | |
491 | | by the pipeline type. | | | |
492 | | The value of the arguments is applicable to the | | | |
493 | | current pipeline instance only. | | | |
494 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------+------------------------+----------------+
500 The CPU Core notation is::
502 <CPU core> ::= [s|S<CPU socket ID>][c|C]<CPU core ID>[h|H]
506 CPU socket 0, core 0, hyper-thread 0: 0, c0, s0c0
508 CPU socket 0, core 0, hyper-thread 1: 0h, c0h, s0c0h
510 CPU socket 3, core 9, hyper-thread 1: s3c9h
516 .. _table_ip_pipelines_mempool_section:
518 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{6cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{3cm}|
520 .. table:: Configuration file MEMPOOL section
522 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
523 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
524 +===============+===============================================+==========+==========+===========================+
525 | buffer_size | Buffer size (in bytes) for the current | YES | uint32_t | 2048 |
526 | | buffer pool. | | | + sizeof(struct rte_mbuf) |
527 | | | | | + HEADROOM |
528 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
529 | pool_size | Number of buffers in the current buffer pool. | YES | uint32_t | 32K |
530 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
531 | cache_size | Per CPU thread cache size (in number of | YES | uint32_t | 256 |
532 | | buffers) for the current buffer pool. | | | |
533 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
534 | cpu | CPU socket ID where to allocate memory for | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
535 | | the current buffer pool. | | | |
536 +---------------+-----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------------------+
542 .. _table_ip_pipelines_link_section:
544 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|
546 .. table:: Configuration file LINK section
548 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
549 | Section entry | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
550 +=================+==============================================+==========+==========+===================+
551 | arp_q | NIC RX queue where ARP packets should | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
552 | | be filtered. | | | |
553 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
554 | tcp_syn_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with SYN | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
555 | | flag should be filtered. | | | |
556 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
557 | ip_local_q | NIC RX queue where IP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
558 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
559 | | When TCP, UDP and SCTP local queues are | | | |
560 | | defined, they take higher priority than this | | | |
562 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
563 | tcp_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
564 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
565 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
566 | udp_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
567 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
568 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
569 | sctp_local_q | NIC RX queue where TCP packets with local | YES | 0 .. 127 | 0 (default queue) |
570 | | destination should be filtered. | | | |
571 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
572 | promisc | Indicates whether current link should be | YES | YES/NO | YES |
573 | | started in promiscuous mode. | | | |
574 +-----------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+----------+-------------------+
580 .. _table_ip_pipelines_rxq_section:
582 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|
584 .. table:: Configuration file RXQ section
586 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
587 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
588 +===============+============================================+==========+==========+===============+
589 | mempool | Mempool to use for buffer allocation for | YES | uint32_t | MEMPOOL0 |
590 | | current NIC RX queue. The mempool ID has | | | |
591 | | to be associated with a valid instance | | | |
592 | | defined in the mempool entry of the global | | | |
594 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
595 | Size | NIC RX queue size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 128 |
596 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
597 | burst | Read burst size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
598 +---------------+--------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
604 .. _table_ip_pipelines_txq_section:
606 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|p{1.5cm}|
608 .. table:: Configuration file TXQ section
610 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
611 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
612 +===============+==============================================+==========+==================+===============+
613 | size | NIC TX queue size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 512 |
614 | | | | power of 2 | |
616 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
617 | burst | Write burst size (number of descriptors) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
618 | | | | power of 2 | |
619 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
620 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
621 | dropless | When dropless is set to NO, packets can be | YES | YES/NO | NO |
622 | | dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
623 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
624 | | write operation to the queue is non- | | | |
625 | | blocking. | | | |
626 | | When dropless is set to YES, packets cannot | | | |
627 | | be dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
628 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
629 | | write operation to the queue is blocking, as | | | |
630 | | the write operation is retried until enough | | | |
631 | | free slots become available and all the | | | |
632 | | packets are successfully written to the | | | |
634 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
635 | n_retries | Number of retries. Valid only when dropless | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
636 | | is set to YES. When set to 0, it indicates | | | |
637 | | unlimited number of retries. | | | |
638 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
644 .. _table_ip_pipelines_swq_section:
646 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
648 .. table:: Configuration file SWQ section
650 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
651 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
652 +===============+==============================================+==========+==================+===============+
653 | size | Queue size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 256 |
654 | | | | power of 2 | |
655 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
656 | burst_read | Read burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
657 | | | | power of 2 | |
658 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
659 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
660 | burst_write | Write burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
661 | | | | power of 2 | |
662 | | | | 0 < burst < size | |
663 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
664 | dropless | When dropless is set to NO, packets can be | YES | YES/NO | NO |
665 | | dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
666 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
667 | | write operation to the queue is non- | | | |
668 | | blocking. | | | |
669 | | When dropless is set to YES, packets cannot | | | |
670 | | be dropped if not enough free slots are | | | |
671 | | currently available in the queue, so the | | | |
672 | | write operation to the queue is blocking, as | | | |
673 | | the write operation is retried until enough | | | |
674 | | free slots become available and all the | | | |
675 | | packets are successfully written to the | | | |
677 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
678 | n_retries | Number of retries. Valid only when dropless | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
679 | | is set to YES. When set to 0, it indicates | | | |
680 | | unlimited number of retries. | | | |
681 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
682 | cpu | CPU socket ID where to allocate memory | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
683 | | for this SWQ. | | | |
684 +---------------+----------------------------------------------+----------+------------------+---------------+
690 .. _table_ip_pipelines_tm_section:
692 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
694 .. table:: Configuration file TM section
696 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
697 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
698 +===============+=============================================+==========+==========+===============+
699 | Cfg | File name to parse for the TM configuration | YES | string | tm_profile |
700 | | to be applied. The syntax of this file is | | | |
701 | | described in the examples/qos_sched DPDK | | | |
702 | | application documentation. | | | |
703 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
704 | burst_read | Read burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 64 |
705 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
706 | burst_write | Write burst size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 32 |
707 +---------------+---------------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
713 .. _table_ip_pipelines_source_section:
715 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{2cm}|
717 .. table:: Configuration file SOURCE section
719 +---------------+---------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
720 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
721 +===============+=======================================+==========+==========+===============+
722 | Mempool | Mempool to use for buffer allocation. | YES | uint32_t | MEMPOOL0 |
723 +---------------+---------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
724 | Burst | Read burst size (number of packets) | | uint32_t | 32 |
725 +---------------+---------------------------------------+----------+----------+---------------+
731 Currently, there are no parameters to be passed to a sink device, so
732 SINK section is not allowed.
737 .. _table_ip_pipelines_msgq_section:
739 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{2.5cm}|p{7cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|p{1.5cm}|
741 .. table:: Configuration file MSGQ section
743 +---------+--------------------------------------------+----------+------------+---------------+
744 | Section | Description | Optional | Type | Default value |
745 +=========+============================================+==========+============+===============+
746 | size | Queue size (number of packets) | YES | uint32_t | 64 |
748 | | | | power of 2 | |
749 +---------+--------------------------------------------+----------+------------+---------------+
750 | cpu | CPU socket ID where to allocate memory for | YES | uint32_t | 0 |
751 | | the current queue. | | | |
752 +---------+--------------------------------------------+----------+------------+---------------+
758 The application generates the EAL parameters rather than reading them from the command line.
760 The CPU core mask parameter is generated based on the core entry of all PIPELINE sections.
761 All the other EAL parameters can be set from this section of the application configuration file.
764 Library of pipeline types
765 -------------------------
770 A pipeline is a self-contained module that implements a packet processing function and is typically implemented on
771 top of the DPDK Packet Framework *librte_pipeline* library.
772 The application provides a run-time mechanism to register different pipeline types.
774 Depending on the required configuration, each registered pipeline type (pipeline class) is instantiated one or
775 several times, with each pipeline instance (pipeline object) assigned to one of the available CPU cores.
776 Each CPU core can run one or more pipeline instances, which might be of same or different types.
777 For more information of the CPU core threading model, please refer to the :ref:`ip_pipeline_runtime` section.
783 Each pipeline type is made up of a back-end and a front-end. The back-end represents the packet processing engine
784 of the pipeline, typically implemented using the DPDK Packet Framework libraries, which reads packets from the
785 input packet queues, handles them and eventually writes them to the output packet queues or drops them.
786 The front-end represents the run-time configuration interface of the pipeline, which is exposed as CLI commands.
787 The front-end communicates with the back-end through message queues.
789 .. _table_ip_pipelines_back_end:
791 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{1cm}|p{2cm}|p{12cm}|
793 .. table:: Pipeline back-end
795 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
796 | Field name | Field type | Description |
797 +============+==================+====================================================================+
798 | f_init | Function pointer | Function to initialize the back-end of the current pipeline |
799 | | | instance. Typical work implemented by this function for the |
800 | | | current pipeline instance: |
801 | | | Memory allocation; |
802 | | | Parse the pipeline type specific arguments; |
803 | | | Initialize the pipeline input ports, output ports and tables, |
804 | | | interconnect input ports to tables; |
805 | | | Set the message handlers. |
806 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
807 | f_free | Function pointer | Function to free the resources allocated by the back-end of the |
808 | | | current pipeline instance. |
809 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
810 | f_run | Function pointer | Set to NULL for pipelines implemented using the DPDK library |
811 | | | librte_pipeline (typical case), and to non-NULL otherwise. This |
812 | | | mechanism is made available to support quick integration of |
814 | | | This function is expected to provide the packet processing |
815 | | | related code to be called as part of the CPU thread dispatch |
816 | | | loop, so this function is not allowed to contain an infinite loop. |
817 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
818 | f_timer | Function pointer | Function to read the pipeline input message queues, handle |
819 | | | the request messages, create response messages and write |
820 | | | the response queues. The format of request and response |
821 | | | messages is defined by each pipeline type, with the exception |
822 | | | of some requests which are mandatory for all pipelines (e.g. |
823 | | | ping, statistics). |
824 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
825 | f_track | Function pointer | See section Tracking pipeline output port to physical link |
826 +------------+------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
829 .. _table_ip_pipelines_front_end:
831 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{1cm}|p{2cm}|p{12cm}|
833 .. table:: Pipeline front-end
835 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
836 | Field name | Field type | Description |
837 +============+=======================+===================================================================+
838 | f_init | Function pointer | Function to initialize the front-end of the current pipeline |
840 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
841 | f_free | Function pointer | Function to free the resources allocated by the front-end of |
842 | | | the current pipeline instance. |
843 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
844 | cmds | Array of CLI commands | Array of CLI commands to be registered to the application CLI |
845 | | | for the current pipeline type. Even though the CLI is executed |
846 | | | by a different pipeline (typically, this is the master pipeline), |
847 | | | from modularity perspective is more efficient to keep the |
848 | | | message client side (part of the front-end) together with the |
849 | | | message server side (part of the back-end). |
850 +------------+-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
853 Tracking pipeline output port to physical link
854 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
856 Each pipeline instance is a standalone block that does not have visibility into the other pipeline instances or
857 the application-level pipeline inter-connectivity.
858 In some cases, it is useful for a pipeline instance to get application level information related to pipeline
859 connectivity, such as to identify the output link (e.g. physical NIC port) where one of its output ports connected,
860 either directly or indirectly by traversing other pipeline instances.
862 Tracking can be successful or unsuccessful.
863 Typically, tracking for a specific pipeline instance is successful when each one of its input ports can be mapped
864 to a single output port, meaning that all packets read from the current input port can only go out on a single
866 Depending on the pipeline type, some exceptions may be allowed: a small portion of the packets, considered exception
867 packets, are sent out on an output port that is pre-configured for this purpose.
869 For pass-through pipeline type, the tracking is always successful.
870 For pipeline types as flow classification, firewall or routing, the tracking is only successful when the number of
871 output ports for the current pipeline instance is 1.
873 This feature is used by the IP routing pipeline for adding/removing implicit routes every time a link is brought
880 Fast table copy: pipeline table used by pipeline for the packet processing task, updated through messages, table
881 data structures are optimized for lookup operation.
883 Slow table copy: used by the configuration layer, typically updated through CLI commands, kept in sync with the fast
884 copy (its update triggers the fast copy update).
885 Required for executing advanced table queries without impacting the packet processing task, therefore the slow copy
886 is typically organized using different criteria than the fast copy.
890 * Flow classification: Search through current set of flows (e.g. list all flows with a specific source IP address);
892 * Firewall: List rules in descending order of priority;
894 * Routing table: List routes sorted by prefix depth and their type (local, remote, default);
896 * ARP: List entries sorted per output interface.
902 Packet meta-data field offsets provided as argument to pipeline instances are essentially defining the data structure
903 for the packet meta-data used by the current application use-case.
904 It is very useful to put it in the configuration file as a comment in order to facilitate the readability of the
907 The reason to use field offsets for defining the data structure for the packet meta-data is due to the C language
908 limitation of not being able to define data structures at run-time.
909 Feature to consider: have the configuration file parser automatically generate and print the data structure defining
910 the packet meta-data for the current application use-case.
912 Packet meta-data typically contains:
914 1. Pure meta-data: intermediate data per packet that is computed internally, passed between different tables of
915 the same pipeline instance (e.g. lookup key for the ARP table is obtained from the routing table), or between
916 different pipeline instances (e.g. flow ID, traffic metering color, etc);
918 2. Packet fields: typically, packet header fields that are read directly from the packet, or read from the packet
919 and saved (duplicated) as a working copy at a different location within the packet meta-data (e.g. Diffserv
920 5-tuple, IP destination address, etc).
922 Several strategies are used to design the packet meta-data, as described in the next subsections.
925 Store packet meta-data in a different cache line as the packet headers
926 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
928 This approach is able to support protocols with variable header length, like MPLS, where the offset of IP header
929 from the start of the packet (and, implicitly, the offset of the IP header in the packet buffer) is not fixed.
930 Since the pipelines typically require the specification of a fixed offset to the packet fields (e.g. Diffserv
931 5-tuple, used by the flow classification pipeline, or the IP destination address, used by the IP routing pipeline),
932 the workaround is to have the packet RX pipeline copy these fields at fixed offsets within the packet meta-data.
934 As this approach duplicates some of the packet fields, it requires accessing more cache lines per packet for filling
935 in selected packet meta-data fields (on RX), as well as flushing selected packet meta-data fields into the
943 ; struct app_pkt_metadata {
948 ; } __attribute__((__packed__));
952 ; Packet meta-data offsets
953 ip_da_offset = 0; Used by: routing
954 hash_offset = 4; Used by: RX, flow classification
955 flow_id_offset = 8; Used by: flow classification, flow actions
956 color_offset = 12; Used by: flow actions, routing
959 Overlay the packet meta-data in the same cache line with the packet headers
960 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
962 This approach is minimizing the number of cache line accessed per packet by storing the packet metadata in the
963 same cache line with the packet headers.
964 To enable this strategy, either some headroom is reserved for meta-data at the beginning of the packet headers
965 cache line (e.g. if 16 bytes are needed for meta-data, then the packet headroom can be set to 128+16 bytes, so
966 that NIC writes the first byte of the packet at offset 16 from the start of the first packet cache line),
967 or meta-data is reusing the space of some packet headers that are discarded from the packet (e.g. input Ethernet
974 ; struct app_pkt_metadata {
975 ; uint8_t headroom[RTE_PKTMBUF_HEADROOM]; /* 128 bytes (default) */
978 ; struct ether_hdr ether; /* 14 bytes */
979 ; struct qinq_hdr qinq; /* 8 bytes */
987 ; struct ipv4_hdr ip; /* 20 bytes */
988 ; } __attribute__((__packed__));
991 ; Packet meta-data offsets
992 qinq_offset = 142; Used by: RX, flow classification
993 ip_da_offset = 166; Used by: routing
994 hash_offset = 128; Used by: RX, flow classification
995 flow_id_offset = 132; Used by: flow classification, flow actions
996 color_offset = 136; Used by: flow actions, routing
999 List of pipeline types
1000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1002 .. _table_ip_pipelines_types:
1004 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{5cm}|p{4cm}|p{4cm}|
1006 .. table:: List of pipeline types provided with the application
1008 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1009 | Name | Table(s) | Actions | Messages |
1010 +=======================+=============================+=======================+==========================================+
1011 | Pass-through | Passthrough | 1. Pkt metadata build | 1. Ping |
1012 | | | 2. Flow hash | 2. Stats |
1013 | Note: depending on | | 3. Pkt checks | |
1014 | port type, can be | | 4. Load balancing | |
1015 | used for RX, TX, IP | | | |
1016 | fragmentation, IP | | | |
1017 | reassembly or Traffic | | | |
1018 | Management | | | |
1019 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1020 | Flow classification | Exact match | 1. Flow ID | 1. Ping |
1022 | | * Key = byte array | 2. Flow stats | 2. Stats |
1023 | | (source: pkt metadata) | 3. Metering | 3. Flow stats |
1024 | | * Data = action dependent | 4. Network Address | 4. Action stats |
1025 | | | 5. Translation (NAT) | 5. Flow add/ update/ delete |
1026 | | | | 6. Default flow add/ update/ delete |
1027 | | | | 7. Action update |
1028 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1029 | Flow actions | Array | 1. Flow stats | 1. Ping |
1031 | | * Key = Flow ID | 2. Metering | 2. Stats |
1032 | | (source: pkt metadata) | 3. Network Address | 3. Action stats |
1033 | | * Data = action dependent | 4. Translation (NAT) | 4. Action update |
1034 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1035 | Firewall | ACL | 1. Allow/Drop | 1. Ping |
1037 | | * Key = n-tuple | | 2. Stats |
1038 | | (source: pkt headers) | | 3. Rule add/ update/ delete |
1039 | | * Data = none | | 4. Default rule add/ update/ delete |
1040 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1041 | IP routing | LPM (IPv4 or IPv6, | 1. TTL decrement and | 1. Ping |
1042 | | depending on pipeline type) | 2. IPv4 checksum | 2. Stats |
1044 | | * Key = IP destination | 3. update | 3. Route add/ update/ delete |
1045 | | (source: pkt metadata) | 4. Header | 4. Default route add/ update/ delete |
1046 | | * Data = Dependent on | 5. encapsulation | 5. ARP entry add/ update/ delete |
1047 | | actions and next hop | 6. (based on next hop | 6. Default ARP entry add/ update/ delete |
1048 | | type | 7. type) | |
1050 | | Hash table (for ARP, only | | |
1052 | | when ARP is enabled) | | |
1054 | | * Key = (Port ID, | | |
1055 | | next hop IP address) | | |
1056 | | (source: pkt meta-data) | | |
1057 | | * Data: MAC address | | |
1058 +-----------------------+-----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------------------------+
1062 Command Line Interface (CLI)
1063 ----------------------------
1068 .. _table_ip_pipelines_cli_commands:
1070 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
1072 .. table:: Global CLI commands
1074 +---------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1075 | Command | Description | Syntax |
1076 +=========+=======================================+============================================+
1077 | run | Run CLI commands script file. | run <file> |
1078 | | | <file> = path to file with CLI commands to |
1080 +---------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1081 | quit | Gracefully terminate the application. | quit |
1082 +---------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1085 CLI commands for link configuration
1086 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1088 .. _table_ip_pipelines_runtime_config:
1090 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
1092 .. table:: List of run-time configuration commands for link configuration
1094 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1095 | Command | Description | Syntax |
1096 +=============+====================+============================================+
1097 | link config | Link configuration | link <link ID> config <IP address> <depth> |
1098 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1099 | link up | Link up | link <link ID> up |
1100 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1101 | link down | Link down | link <link ID> down |
1102 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1103 | link ls | Link list | link ls |
1104 +-------------+--------------------+--------------------------------------------+
1107 CLI commands common for all pipeline types
1108 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1110 .. _table_ip_pipelines_mandatory:
1112 .. tabularcolumns:: |p{3cm}|p{6cm}|p{6cm}|
1114 .. table:: CLI commands mandatory for all pipelines
1116 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1117 | Command | Description | Syntax |
1118 +====================+======================================================+==============================================+
1119 | ping | Check whether specific pipeline instance is alive. | p <pipeline ID> ping |
1120 | | The master pipeline sends a ping request | |
1121 | | message to given pipeline instance and waits for | |
1122 | | a response message back. | |
1123 | | Timeout message is displayed when the response | |
1124 | | message is not received before the timer | |
1126 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1127 | stats | Display statistics for specific pipeline input port, | p <pipeline ID> stats port in <port in ID> |
1128 | | output port or table. | p <pipeline ID> stats port out <port out ID> |
1129 | | | p <pipeline ID> stats table <table ID> |
1130 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1131 | input port enable | Enable given input port for specific pipeline | p <pipeline ID> port in <port ID> enable |
1133 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1134 | input port disable | Disable given input port for specific pipeline | p <pipeline ID> port in <port ID> disable |
1136 +--------------------+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
1138 Pipeline type specific CLI commands
1139 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1141 The pipeline specific CLI commands are part of the pipeline type front-end.
Code Review / deb_dpdk.git / blob