[PATCH net-next 0/5] net: ethtool: make netdev_rss_key_fill() spread flows over all queues
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COLD16d
From: Eric Dumazet <hidden>
Date: 2026-09-21 18:38:01
netdev_rss_key_fill() hands drivers a uniformly random key. Because the Toeplitz hash is linear over GF(2), a random key is singular for a given header field and queue count with probability 1/2: flows differing only in the low order bits of that field (such as a burst of consecutive ephemeral ports) then cannot reach all RX queues. On one affected 16-queue host, only 4 queues received traffic until the key was replaced. Patch 1 synchronizes proc_do_rss_key() with netdev_rss_key_fill() using an smp_wmb()/smp_rmb() pair and a boolean flag so readers of /proc/sys/net/core/netdev_rss_key print zero bytes until the key is fully populated. Patch 2 keeps the key random but constrains 1008 of its 2048 bits so that, at every 16-bit aligned position and for every power-of-two queue count up to 256, consecutive values of a field ending there visit every queue once. Applying the fixup on the 16-bit grid covers standard 2-tuple/4-tuple hashes as well as encapsulated or bitmap-selected layouts (such as PSP inner TCP ports at byte 78) without enumerating them in the core. The fixup is a bijection onto the set of valid keys, and redraws in the ~1 in 5 case where two 32-bit windows a multiple of 8 bits apart alias. Patch 3 adds a KUnit suite verifying full rank across standard and encapsulated fields, the full 16-bit grid, window non-aliasing, and end-to-end flow spreading. Patches 4 and 5 add kselftests for keys on a running system: patch 4 checks /proc/sys/net/core/netdev_rss_key, and patch 5 checks the live RSS key and indirection table reported by a device via ethtool. Eric Dumazet (5): net: synchronize proc_do_rss_key() with netdev_rss_key_fill() net: ethtool: generate RSS keys that spread flows over all queues net: ethtool: add KUnit tests for the generated RSS key selftests: net: check the quality of the host RSS key selftests: drivers: net: check the RSS key a device uses Documentation/networking/scaling.rst | 9 + net/Kconfig | 14 + net/core/dev.h | 1 + net/core/sysctl_net_core.c | 7 +- net/ethtool/Makefile | 2 + net/ethtool/common.h | 11 + net/ethtool/ioctl.c | 170 +++++++++- net/ethtool/rss_key_test.c | 314 ++++++++++++++++++ .../testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/Makefile | 1 + .../drivers/net/hw/lib/py/__init__.py | 5 + .../selftests/drivers/net/hw/rss_key.py | 172 ++++++++++ tools/testing/selftests/net/Makefile | 1 + .../testing/selftests/net/lib/py/__init__.py | 5 + tools/testing/selftests/net/lib/py/rsskey.py | 108 ++++++ tools/testing/selftests/net/netdev_rss_key.py | 117 +++++++ 15 files changed, 935 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) create mode 100644 net/ethtool/rss_key_test.c create mode 100755 tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/rss_key.py create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/net/lib/py/rsskey.py create mode 100755 tools/testing/selftests/net/netdev_rss_key.py -- 2.55.0.1082.g2b9226bbc0-goog