diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/spider_net.txt | 204 |
1 files changed, 204 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/spider_net.txt b/Documentation/networking/spider_net.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..4b4adb8eb14f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/spider_net.txt @@ -0,0 +1,204 @@ + + The Spidernet Device Driver + =========================== + +Written by Linas Vepstas <linas@austin.ibm.com> + +Version of 7 June 2007 + +Abstract +======== +This document sketches the structure of portions of the spidernet +device driver in the Linux kernel tree. The spidernet is a gigabit +ethernet device built into the Toshiba southbridge commonly used +in the SONY Playstation 3 and the IBM QS20 Cell blade. + +The Structure of the RX Ring. +============================= +The receive (RX) ring is a circular linked list of RX descriptors, +together with three pointers into the ring that are used to manage its +contents. + +The elements of the ring are called "descriptors" or "descrs"; they +describe the received data. This includes a pointer to a buffer +containing the received data, the buffer size, and various status bits. + +There are three primary states that a descriptor can be in: "empty", +"full" and "not-in-use". An "empty" or "ready" descriptor is ready +to receive data from the hardware. A "full" descriptor has data in it, +and is waiting to be emptied and processed by the OS. A "not-in-use" +descriptor is neither empty or full; it is simply not ready. It may +not even have a data buffer in it, or is otherwise unusable. + +During normal operation, on device startup, the OS (specifically, the +spidernet device driver) allocates a set of RX descriptors and RX +buffers. These are all marked "empty", ready to receive data. This +ring is handed off to the hardware, which sequentially fills in the +buffers, and marks them "full". The OS follows up, taking the full +buffers, processing them, and re-marking them empty. + +This filling and emptying is managed by three pointers, the "head" +and "tail" pointers, managed by the OS, and a hardware current +descriptor pointer (GDACTDPA). The GDACTDPA points at the descr +currently being filled. When this descr is filled, the hardware +marks it full, and advances the GDACTDPA by one. Thus, when there is +flowing RX traffic, every descr behind it should be marked "full", +and everything in front of it should be "empty". If the hardware +discovers that the current descr is not empty, it will signal an +interrupt, and halt processing. + +The tail pointer tails or trails the hardware pointer. When the +hardware is ahead, the tail pointer will be pointing at a "full" +descr. The OS will process this descr, and then mark it "not-in-use", +and advance the tail pointer. Thus, when there is flowing RX traffic, +all of the descrs in front of the tail pointer should be "full", and +all of those behind it should be "not-in-use". When RX traffic is not +flowing, then the tail pointer can catch up to the hardware pointer. +The OS will then note that the current tail is "empty", and halt +processing. + +The head pointer (somewhat mis-named) follows after the tail pointer. +When traffic is flowing, then the head pointer will be pointing at +a "not-in-use" descr. The OS will perform various housekeeping duties +on this descr. This includes allocating a new data buffer and +dma-mapping it so as to make it visible to the hardware. The OS will +then mark the descr as "empty", ready to receive data. Thus, when there +is flowing RX traffic, everything in front of the head pointer should +be "not-in-use", and everything behind it should be "empty". If no +RX traffic is flowing, then the head pointer can catch up to the tail +pointer, at which point the OS will notice that the head descr is +"empty", and it will halt processing. + +Thus, in an idle system, the GDACTDPA, tail and head pointers will +all be pointing at the same descr, which should be "empty". All of the +other descrs in the ring should be "empty" as well. + +The show_rx_chain() routine will print out the the locations of the +GDACTDPA, tail and head pointers. It will also summarize the contents +of the ring, starting at the tail pointer, and listing the status +of the descrs that follow. + +A typical example of the output, for a nearly idle system, might be + +net eth1: Total number of descrs=256 +net eth1: Chain tail located at descr=20 +net eth1: Chain head is at 20 +net eth1: HW curr desc (GDACTDPA) is at 21 +net eth1: Have 1 descrs with stat=x40800101 +net eth1: HW next desc (GDACNEXTDA) is at 22 +net eth1: Last 255 descrs with stat=xa0800000 + +In the above, the hardware has filled in one descr, number 20. Both +head and tail are pointing at 20, because it has not yet been emptied. +Meanwhile, hw is pointing at 21, which is free. + +The "Have nnn decrs" refers to the descr starting at the tail: in this +case, nnn=1 descr, starting at descr 20. The "Last nnn descrs" refers +to all of the rest of the descrs, from the last status change. The "nnn" +is a count of how many descrs have exactly the same status. + +The status x4... corresponds to "full" and status xa... corresponds +to "empty". The actual value printed is RXCOMST_A. + +In the device driver source code, a different set of names are +used for these same concepts, so that + +"empty" == SPIDER_NET_DESCR_CARDOWNED == 0xa +"full" == SPIDER_NET_DESCR_FRAME_END == 0x4 +"not in use" == SPIDER_NET_DESCR_NOT_IN_USE == 0xf + + +The RX RAM full bug/feature +=========================== + +As long as the OS can empty out the RX buffers at a rate faster than +the hardware can fill them, there is no problem. If, for some reason, +the OS fails to empty the RX ring fast enough, the hardware GDACTDPA +pointer will catch up to the head, notice the not-empty condition, +ad stop. However, RX packets may still continue arriving on the wire. +The spidernet chip can save some limited number of these in local RAM. +When this local ram fills up, the spider chip will issue an interrupt +indicating this (GHIINT0STS will show ERRINT, and the GRMFLLINT bit +will be set in GHIINT1STS). When the RX ram full condition occurs, +a certain bug/feature is triggered that has to be specially handled. +This section describes the special handling for this condition. + +When the OS finally has a chance to run, it will empty out the RX ring. +In particular, it will clear the descriptor on which the hardware had +stopped. However, once the hardware has decided that a certain +descriptor is invalid, it will not restart at that descriptor; instead +it will restart at the next descr. This potentially will lead to a +deadlock condition, as the tail pointer will be pointing at this descr, +which, from the OS point of view, is empty; the OS will be waiting for +this descr to be filled. However, the hardware has skipped this descr, +and is filling the next descrs. Since the OS doesn't see this, there +is a potential deadlock, with the OS waiting for one descr to fill, +while the hardware is waiting for a different set of descrs to become +empty. + +A call to show_rx_chain() at this point indicates the nature of the +problem. A typical print when the network is hung shows the following: + +net eth1: Spider RX RAM full, incoming packets might be discarded! +net eth1: Total number of descrs=256 +net eth1: Chain tail located at descr=255 +net eth1: Chain head is at 255 +net eth1: HW curr desc (GDACTDPA) is at 0 +net eth1: Have 1 descrs with stat=xa0800000 +net eth1: HW next desc (GDACNEXTDA) is at 1 +net eth1: Have 127 descrs with stat=x40800101 +net eth1: Have 1 descrs with stat=x40800001 +net eth1: Have 126 descrs with stat=x40800101 +net eth1: Last 1 descrs with stat=xa0800000 + +Both the tail and head pointers are pointing at descr 255, which is +marked xa... which is "empty". Thus, from the OS point of view, there +is nothing to be done. In particular, there is the implicit assumption +that everything in front of the "empty" descr must surely also be empty, +as explained in the last section. The OS is waiting for descr 255 to +become non-empty, which, in this case, will never happen. + +The HW pointer is at descr 0. This descr is marked 0x4.. or "full". +Since its already full, the hardware can do nothing more, and thus has +halted processing. Notice that descrs 0 through 254 are all marked +"full", while descr 254 and 255 are empty. (The "Last 1 descrs" is +descr 254, since tail was at 255.) Thus, the system is deadlocked, +and there can be no forward progress; the OS thinks there's nothing +to do, and the hardware has nowhere to put incoming data. + +This bug/feature is worked around with the spider_net_resync_head_ptr() +routine. When the driver receives RX interrupts, but an examination +of the RX chain seems to show it is empty, then it is probable that +the hardware has skipped a descr or two (sometimes dozens under heavy +network conditions). The spider_net_resync_head_ptr() subroutine will +search the ring for the next full descr, and the driver will resume +operations there. Since this will leave "holes" in the ring, there +is also a spider_net_resync_tail_ptr() that will skip over such holes. + +As of this writing, the spider_net_resync() strategy seems to work very +well, even under heavy network loads. + + +The TX ring +=========== +The TX ring uses a low-watermark interrupt scheme to make sure that +the TX queue is appropriately serviced for large packet sizes. + +For packet sizes greater than about 1KBytes, the kernel can fill +the TX ring quicker than the device can drain it. Once the ring +is full, the netdev is stopped. When there is room in the ring, +the netdev needs to be reawakened, so that more TX packets are placed +in the ring. The hardware can empty the ring about four times per jiffy, +so its not appropriate to wait for the poll routine to refill, since +the poll routine runs only once per jiffy. The low-watermark mechanism +marks a descr about 1/4th of the way from the bottom of the queue, so +that an interrupt is generated when the descr is processed. This +interrupt wakes up the netdev, which can then refill the queue. +For large packets, this mechanism generates a relatively small number +of interrupts, about 1K/sec. For smaller packets, this will drop to zero +interrupts, as the hardware can empty the queue faster than the kernel +can fill it. + + + ======= END OF DOCUMENT ======== + |