[net-next PATCH v2 2/3] net: TCP thin linear timeouts

Major change: Limit number of thin linear timeout tries to TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES (currently 6).

From ec71404702149bc9197c749e5d1d68656c87f98f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001

From: Andreas Petlund <redacted>
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 14:05:53 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] net: TCP thin linear timeouts


Signed-off-by: Andreas Petlund <redacted>
---
 include/linux/sysctl.h     |    1 +
 include/linux/tcp.h        |    3 +++
 include/net/tcp.h          |    4 ++++
 net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c |    7 +++++++
 net/ipv4/tcp.c             |    5 +++++
 net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c       |   19 ++++++++++++++++++-
 6 files changed, 38 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/sysctl.h b/include/linux/sysctl.h
index 9f236cd..d840d75 100644
--- a/include/linux/sysctl.h
+++ b/include/linux/sysctl.h

@@ -425,6 +425,7 @@ enum
 	NET_TCP_ALLOWED_CONG_CONTROL=123,
 	NET_TCP_MAX_SSTHRESH=124,
 	NET_TCP_FRTO_RESPONSE=125,
+	NET_TCP_FORCE_THIN_LINEAR_TIMEOUTS=126,
 };
 
 enum {

diff --git a/include/linux/tcp.h b/include/linux/tcp.h
index 7fee8a4..67da706 100644
--- a/include/linux/tcp.h
+++ b/include/linux/tcp.h

@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ enum {
 #define TCP_CONGESTION		13	/* Congestion control algorithm */
 #define TCP_MD5SIG		14	/* TCP MD5 Signature (RFC2385) */
 #define TCP_COOKIE_TRANSACTIONS	15	/* TCP Cookie Transactions */
+#define TCP_THIN_LT             16      /* Use linear timeouts for thin streams*/
 
 /* for TCP_INFO socket option */
 #define TCPI_OPT_TIMESTAMPS	1

@@ -341,6 +342,8 @@ struct tcp_sock {
 	u16	advmss;		/* Advertised MSS			*/
 	u8	frto_counter;	/* Number of new acks after RTO */
 	u8	nonagle;	/* Disable Nagle algorithm?             */
+	u8      thin_lt     : 1,/* Use linear timeouts for thin streams */
+		thin_undef  : 7;
 
 /* RTT measurement */
 	u32	srtt;		/* smoothed round trip time << 3	*/

diff --git a/include/net/tcp.h b/include/net/tcp.h
index e5e2056..bc5856a 100644
--- a/include/net/tcp.h
+++ b/include/net/tcp.h

@@ -196,6 +196,9 @@ extern void tcp_time_wait(struct sock *sk, int state, int timeo);
 #define TCP_NAGLE_CORK		2	/* Socket is corked	    */
 #define TCP_NAGLE_PUSH		4	/* Cork is overridden for already queued data */
 
+/* TCP thin-stream limits */
+#define TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES     6       /* After 6 linear retries, do exp. backoff */
+
 extern struct inet_timewait_death_row tcp_death_row;
 
 /* sysctl variables for tcp */

@@ -241,6 +244,7 @@ extern int sysctl_tcp_workaround_signed_windows;
 extern int sysctl_tcp_slow_start_after_idle;
 extern int sysctl_tcp_max_ssthresh;
 extern int sysctl_tcp_cookie_size;
+extern int sysctl_tcp_force_thin_linear_timeouts;
 
 extern atomic_t tcp_memory_allocated;
 extern struct percpu_counter tcp_sockets_allocated;

diff --git a/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c b/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
index 7e3712c..cb2ed35 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/sysctl_net_ipv4.c

@@ -576,6 +576,13 @@ static struct ctl_table ipv4_table[] = {
 		.proc_handler	= proc_dointvec
 	},
 	{
+		.procname       = "tcp_force_thin_linear_timeouts",
+		.data           = &sysctl_tcp_force_thin_linear_timeouts,
+		.maxlen         = sizeof(int),
+		.mode           = 0644,
+		.proc_handler   = proc_dointvec
+	},
+	{
 		.procname	= "udp_mem",
 		.data		= &sysctl_udp_mem,
 		.maxlen		= sizeof(sysctl_udp_mem),

diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp.c b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
index d5d69ea..cbc1ee3 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp.c

@@ -2229,6 +2229,11 @@ static int do_tcp_setsockopt(struct sock *sk, int level,
 		}
 		break;
 
+	case TCP_THIN_LT:
+		if (val)
+			tp->thin_lt = 1;
+		break;
+
 	case TCP_CORK:
 		/* When set indicates to always queue non-full frames.
 		 * Later the user clears this option and we transmit

diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
index de7d1bf..f01a585 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ int sysctl_tcp_keepalive_intvl __read_mostly = TCP_KEEPALIVE_INTVL;
 int sysctl_tcp_retries1 __read_mostly = TCP_RETR1;
 int sysctl_tcp_retries2 __read_mostly = TCP_RETR2;
 int sysctl_tcp_orphan_retries __read_mostly;
+int sysctl_tcp_force_thin_linear_timeouts __read_mostly;
 
 static void tcp_write_timer(unsigned long);
 static void tcp_delack_timer(unsigned long);

@@ -415,7 +416,23 @@ void tcp_retransmit_timer(struct sock *sk)
 	icsk->icsk_retransmits++;
 
 out_reset_timer:
-	icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	/* If stream is thin, use linear timeouts. Since 'icsk_backoff' is
+	 * used to reset timer, set to 0. Recalculate 'icsk_rto' as this
+	 * might be increased if the stream oscillates between thin and thick,
+	 * thus the old value might already be too high compared to the value
+	 * set by 'tcp_set_rto' in tcp_input.c which resets the rto without
+	 * backoff. Limit to TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES before initiating exponential
+	 * backoff behaviour to avoid continue hammering linear-timeout 
+	 * retransmissions into a black hole*/
+	if ((tp->thin_lt || sysctl_tcp_force_thin_linear_timeouts) &&
+	    tcp_stream_is_thin(sk) && sk->sk_state == TCP_ESTABLISHED &&
+	    icsk->icsk_retransmits <= TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES) {
+		icsk->icsk_backoff = 0;
+		icsk->icsk_rto = min(__tcp_set_rto(tp), TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	} else {
+		/* Use normal (exponential) backoff */
+		icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	}
 	inet_csk_reset_xmit_timer(sk, ICSK_TIME_RETRANS, icsk->icsk_rto, TCP_RTO_MAX);
 	if (retransmits_timed_out(sk, sysctl_tcp_retries1 + 1))
 		__sk_dst_reset(sk);

-- 
1.6.3.3

Andreas Petlund schrieb:

Hi,
I think, this value should be at least 1, as icsk_backoff
might be decreased to -1 and used for bit-shifting in tcp_v4_err().
A lower boundary check might be even better.

Regards
 Damian

+		icsk->icsk_rto = min(__tcp_set_rto(tp), TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	} else {
+		/* Use normal (exponential) backoff */
+		icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	}
 	inet_csk_reset_xmit_timer(sk, ICSK_TIME_RETRANS, icsk->icsk_rto, TCP_RTO_MAX);
 	if (retransmits_timed_out(sk, sysctl_tcp_retries1 + 1))
 		__sk_dst_reset(sk);

Le lundi 08 février 2010 à 15:25 +0100, Andreas Petlund a écrit :

 
+	case TCP_THIN_LT:
+		if (val)
+			tp->thin_lt = 1;
+		break;
+

Why not allowing user to clear thin_lt ?

On 02/08/2010 09:50 PM, Damian Lukowski wrote:

quoted

 out_reset_timer:
-	icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	/* If stream is thin, use linear timeouts. Since 'icsk_backoff' is
+	 * used to reset timer, set to 0. Recalculate 'icsk_rto' as this
+	 * might be increased if the stream oscillates between thin and thick,
+	 * thus the old value might already be too high compared to the value
+	 * set by 'tcp_set_rto' in tcp_input.c which resets the rto without
+	 * backoff. Limit to TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES before initiating exponential
+	 * backoff behaviour to avoid continue hammering linear-timeout 
+	 * retransmissions into a black hole*/
+	if ((tp->thin_lt || sysctl_tcp_force_thin_linear_timeouts) &&
+	    tcp_stream_is_thin(sk) && sk->sk_state == TCP_ESTABLISHED &&
+	    icsk->icsk_retransmits <= TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES) {
+		icsk->icsk_backoff = 0;

Hi,
I think, this value should be at least 1, as icsk_backoff
might be decreased to -1 and used for bit-shifting in tcp_v4_err().
A lower boundary check might be even better.

Hi

Thanks for the feedback.

As far as I can see, the check a couple of lines above the decrementation
stops the icsk->icsk_backoff from being decremented if already zero.
Beyond that I cannot find any more places where this situation may arise.
Please correct me if I'm wrong and a boundary check is indeed warranted.


Excerpt from tcp_ipv4.c
------------------
                if (seq != tp->snd_una  || !icsk->icsk_retransmits ||
                    !icsk->icsk_backoff)
                        break;

                icsk->icsk_backoff--;
                inet_csk(sk)->icsk_rto = __tcp_set_rto(tp) <<
                                         icsk->icsk_backoff;
------------------

Best regards,
Andreas

On 02/09/2010 07:31 AM, Eric Dumazet wrote:

Le lundi 08 février 2010 à 15:25 +0100, Andreas Petlund a écrit :

quoted

 
+	case TCP_THIN_LT:
+		if (val)
+			tp->thin_lt = 1;
+		break;
+

Why not allowing user to clear thin_lt ?

That is a very good point. I will fix that in the next iteration,
as well as error handling for out of bounds values.

Best regards,
Andreas

Am 09.02.2010, 17:40 Uhr, schrieb Andreas Petlund [off-list ref]:

On 02/08/2010 09:50 PM, Damian Lukowski wrote:

quoted

quoted

 out_reset_timer:
-	icsk->icsk_rto = min(icsk->icsk_rto << 1, TCP_RTO_MAX);
+	/* If stream is thin, use linear timeouts. Since 'icsk_backoff' is
+	 * used to reset timer, set to 0. Recalculate 'icsk_rto' as this
+	 * might be increased if the stream oscillates between thin and  
thick,
+	 * thus the old value might already be too high compared to the value
+	 * set by 'tcp_set_rto' in tcp_input.c which resets the rto without
+	 * backoff. Limit to TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES before initiating  
exponential
+	 * backoff behaviour to avoid continue hammering linear-timeout
+	 * retransmissions into a black hole*/
+	if ((tp->thin_lt || sysctl_tcp_force_thin_linear_timeouts) &&
+	    tcp_stream_is_thin(sk) && sk->sk_state == TCP_ESTABLISHED &&
+	    icsk->icsk_retransmits <= TCP_THIN_LT_RETRIES) {
+		icsk->icsk_backoff = 0;

Hi,
I think, this value should be at least 1, as icsk_backoff
might be decreased to -1 and used for bit-shifting in tcp_v4_err().
A lower boundary check might be even better.

Hi

Thanks for the feedback.

As far as I can see, the check a couple of lines above the decrementation
stops the icsk->icsk_backoff from being decremented if already zero.
Beyond that I cannot find any more places where this situation may arise.
Please correct me if I'm wrong and a boundary check is indeed warranted.

Oops, you are right, of course ...
I just had in mind, that a thin stream might also be a candidate for
backoff reversion when connectivity breaks down, that's why I said
"at least 1". And I really have forgotten the already existing check,  
sorry.
So, setting icsk_backoff = 0 will prevent a backoff reversion, but that's
ok, as the RTO is not doubled in the first place.

It might have been an issue, if you had not used __tcp_set_rto() but left
the value unchanged *and* a non-thin stream became thin at some point in
the RTO retransmission phase (if that is even possible).

Damian