Re: [PATCH net v1 1/2] lan743x: improve performance: fix rx_napi_poll/interrupt ping-pong

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Sat,  5 Dec 2020 22:44:07 -0500 Sven Van Asbroeck wrote:
> From: Sven Van Asbroeck <thesven73@xxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Even if the rx ring is completely full, and there is more rx data
> waiting on the chip, the rx napi poll fn will never run more than
> once - it will always immediately bail out and re-enable interrupts.
> Which results in ping-pong between napi and interrupt.
> 
> This defeats the purpose of napi, and is bad for performance.
> 
> Fix by addressing two separate issues:
> 
> 1. Ensure the rx napi poll fn always updates the rx ring tail
>    when returning, even when not re-enabling interrupts.
> 
> 2. Up to half of elements in a full rx ring are extension
>    frames, which do not generate any skbs. Limit the default
>    napi weight to the smallest no. of skbs that can be generated
>    by a full rx ring.
> 
> Tested-by: Sven Van Asbroeck <thesven73@xxxxxxxxx> # lan7430
> Signed-off-by: Sven Van Asbroeck <thesven73@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> 
> Tree: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net.git # 905b2032fa42
> 
> To: Bryan Whitehead <bryan.whitehead@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: Microchip Linux Driver Support <UNGLinuxDriver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "David S. Miller" <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Andrew Lunn <andrew@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
>  drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c | 11 +++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c
> index 87b6c59a1e03..ebb5e0bc516b 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c
> @@ -2260,10 +2260,11 @@ static int lan743x_rx_napi_poll(struct napi_struct *napi, int weight)
>  				  INT_BIT_DMA_RX_(rx->channel_number));
>  	}
>  
> +done:
>  	/* update RX_TAIL */
>  	lan743x_csr_write(adapter, RX_TAIL(rx->channel_number),
>  			  rx_tail_flags | rx->last_tail);
> -done:
> +

I assume this rings the doorbell to let the device know that more
buffers are available? If so it's a little unusual to do this at the
end of NAPI poll. The more usual place would be to do this every n
times a new buffer is allocated (in lan743x_rx_init_ring_element()?)
That's to say for example ring the doorbell every time a buffer is put
at an index divisible by 16.

>  	return count;
>  }
>  
> @@ -2405,9 +2406,15 @@ static int lan743x_rx_open(struct lan743x_rx *rx)
>  	if (ret)
>  		goto return_error;
>  
> +	/* up to half of elements in a full rx ring are
> +	 * extension frames. these do not generate skbs.
> +	 * to prevent napi/interrupt ping-pong, limit default
> +	 * weight to the smallest no. of skbs that can be
> +	 * generated by a full rx ring.
> +	 */
>  	netif_napi_add(adapter->netdev,
>  		       &rx->napi, lan743x_rx_napi_poll,
> -		       rx->ring_size - 1);
> +		       (rx->ring_size - 1) / 2);

This is rather unusual, drivers should generally pass NAPI_POLL_WEIGHT
here.