VNET (VPP Network Stack)

The files associated with the VPP network stack layer are located in the ./src/vnet folder. The Network Stack Layer is basically an instantiation of the code in the other layers. This layer has a vnet library that provides vectorized layer-2 and 3 networking graph nodes, a packet generator, and a packet tracer.

In terms of building a packet processing application, vnet provides a platform-independent subgraph to which one connects a couple of device-driver nodes.

Typical RX connections include "ethernet-input" [full software classification, feeds ipv4-input, ipv6-input, arp-input etc.] and "ipv4-input-no-checksum" [if hardware can classify, perform ipv4 header checksum].

List of features and layer areas that VNET works with:

Effective graph dispatch function coding

Over the 15 years, multiple coding styles have emerged: a single/dual/quad loop coding model (with variations) and a fully-pipelined coding model.

Single/dual loops

The single/dual/quad loop model variations conveniently solve problems where the number of items to process is not known in advance: typical hardware RX-ring processing. This coding style is also very effective when a given node will not need to cover a complex set of dependent reads.

Here is an quad/single loop which can leverage up-to-avx512 SIMD vector units to convert buffer indices to buffer pointers:

   static uword
   simulated_ethernet_interface_tx (vlib_main_t * vm,
   				 vlib_node_runtime_t *
   				 node, vlib_frame_t * frame)
   {
     u32 n_left_from, *from;
     u32 next_index = 0;
     u32 n_bytes;
     u32 thread_index = vm->thread_index;
     vnet_main_t *vnm = vnet_get_main ();
     vnet_interface_main_t *im = &vnm->interface_main;
     vlib_buffer_t *bufs[VLIB_FRAME_SIZE], **b;
     u16 nexts[VLIB_FRAME_SIZE], *next;

     n_left_from = frame->n_vectors;
     from = vlib_frame_args (frame);

     /* 
      * Convert up to VLIB_FRAME_SIZE indices in "from" to 
      * buffer pointers in bufs[]
      */
     vlib_get_buffers (vm, from, bufs, n_left_from);
     b = bufs;
     next = nexts;

     /* 
      * While we have at least 4 vector elements (pkts) to process.. 
      */
     while (n_left_from >= 4)
       {
         /* Prefetch next quad-loop iteration. */
         if (PREDICT_TRUE (n_left_from >= 8))
   	   {
   	     vlib_prefetch_buffer_header (b[4], STORE);
   	     vlib_prefetch_buffer_header (b[5], STORE);
   	     vlib_prefetch_buffer_header (b[6], STORE);
   	     vlib_prefetch_buffer_header (b[7], STORE);
           }

         /* 
          * $$$ Process 4x packets right here...
          * set next[0..3] to send the packets where they need to go
          */

          do_something_to (b[0]);
          do_something_to (b[1]);
          do_something_to (b[2]);
          do_something_to (b[3]);

         /* Process the next 0..4 packets */
   	 b += 4;
   	 next += 4;
   	 n_left_from -= 4;
   	}
     /* 
      * Clean up 0...3 remaining packets at the end of the incoming frame
      */
     while (n_left_from > 0)
       {
         /* 
          * $$$ Process one packet right here...
          * set next[0..3] to send the packets where they need to go
          */
          do_something_to (b[0]);

         /* Process the next packet */
         b += 1;
         next += 1;
         n_left_from -= 1;
       }

     /*
      * Send the packets along their respective next-node graph arcs
      * Considerable locality of reference is expected, most if not all
      * packets in the inbound vector will traverse the same next-node
      * arc
      */
     vlib_buffer_enqueue_to_next (vm, node, from, nexts, frame->n_vectors);

     return frame->n_vectors;
   }  

Given a packet processing task to implement, it pays to scout around looking for similar tasks, and think about using the same coding pattern. It is not uncommon to recode a given graph node dispatch function several times during performance optimization.

Packet tracer

Vlib includes a frame element [packet] trace facility, with a simple vlib cli interface. The cli is straightforward: "trace add input-node-name count".

To trace 100 packets on a typical x86_64 system running the dpdk plugin: "trace add dpdk-input 100". When using the packet generator: "trace add pg-input 100"

Each graph node has the opportunity to capture its own trace data. It is almost always a good idea to do so. The trace capture APIs are simple.

The packet capture APIs snapshoot binary data, to minimize processing at capture time. Each participating graph node initialization provides a vppinfra format-style user function to pretty-print data when required by the VLIB "show trace" command.

Set the VLIB node registration ".format_trace" member to the name of the per-graph node format function.

Here's a simple example:

    u8 * my_node_format_trace (u8 * s, va_list * args)
    {
        vlib_main_t * vm = va_arg (*args, vlib_main_t *);
        vlib_node_t * node = va_arg (*args, vlib_node_t *);
        my_node_trace_t * t = va_arg (*args, my_trace_t *);

        s = format (s, "My trace data was: %d", t-><whatever>);

        return s;
    } 

The trace framework hands the per-node format function the data it captured as the packet whizzed by. The format function pretty-prints the data as desired.