Re: [PATCH v2 1/6] eal: add static per-lcore memory allocation facility

[fengchengwen <fengchengwen@huawei.com>]

On 2024/9/12 1:04, Mattias Rönnblom wrote:
> Introduce DPDK per-lcore id variables, or lcore variables for short.
> 
> An lcore variable has one value for every current and future lcore
> id-equipped thread.
> 
> The primary <rte_lcore_var.h> use case is for statically allocating
> small, frequently-accessed data structures, for which one instance
> should exist for each lcore.
> 
> Lcore variables are similar to thread-local storage (TLS, e.g., C11
> _Thread_local), but decoupling the values' life time with that of the
> threads.
> 
> Lcore variables are also similar in terms of functionality provided by
> FreeBSD kernel's DPCPU_*() family of macros and the associated
> build-time machinery. DPCPU uses linker scripts, which effectively
> prevents the reuse of its, otherwise seemingly viable, approach.
> 
> The currently-prevailing way to solve the same problem as lcore
> variables is to keep a module's per-lcore data as RTE_MAX_LCORE-sized
> array of cache-aligned, RTE_CACHE_GUARDed structs. The benefit of
> lcore variables over this approach is that data related to the same
> lcore now is close (spatially, in memory), rather than data used by
> the same module, which in turn avoid excessive use of padding,
> polluting caches with unused data.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Mattias Rönnblom <mattias.ronnblom@ericsson.com>
> Acked-by: Morten Brørup <mb@smartsharesystems.com>
> 
> --
> 
> PATCH v2:
>  * Add Windows support. (Morten Brørup)
>  * Fix lcore variables API index reference. (Morten Brørup)
>  * Various improvements of the API documentation. (Morten Brørup)
>  * Elimination of unused symbol in version.map. (Morten Brørup)

these history could move to the cover letter.

> 
> PATCH:
>  * Update MAINTAINERS and release notes.
>  * Stop covering included files in extern "C" {}.
> 
> RFC v6:
>  * Include <stdlib.h> to get aligned_alloc().
>  * Tweak documentation (grammar).
>  * Provide API-level guarantees that lcore variable values take on an
>    initial value of zero.
>  * Fix misplaced __rte_cache_aligned in the API doc example.
> 
> RFC v5:
>  * In Doxygen, consistenly use @<cmd> (and not \<cmd>).
>  * The RTE_LCORE_VAR_GET() and SET() convience access macros
>    covered an uncommon use case, where the lcore value is of a
>    primitive type, rather than a struct, and is thus eliminated
>    from the API. (Morten Brørup)
>  * In the wake up GET()/SET() removeal, rename RTE_LCORE_VAR_PTR()
>    RTE_LCORE_VAR_VALUE().
>  * The underscores are removed from __rte_lcore_var_lcore_ptr() to
>    signal that this function is a part of the public API.
>  * Macro arguments are documented.
> 
> RFV v4:
>  * Replace large static array with libc heap-allocated memory. One
>    implication of this change is there no longer exists a fixed upper
>    bound for the total amount of memory used by lcore variables.
>    RTE_MAX_LCORE_VAR has changed meaning, and now represent the
>    maximum size of any individual lcore variable value.
>  * Fix issues in example. (Morten Brørup)
>  * Improve access macro type checking. (Morten Brørup)
>  * Refer to the lcore variable handle as "handle" and not "name" in
>    various macros.
>  * Document lack of thread safety in rte_lcore_var_alloc().
>  * Provide API-level assurance the lcore variable handle is
>    always non-NULL, to all applications to use NULL to mean
>    "not yet allocated".
>  * Note zero-sized allocations are not allowed.
>  * Give API-level guarantee the lcore variable values are zeroed.
> 
> RFC v3:
>  * Replace use of GCC-specific alignof(<expression>) with alignof(<type>).
>  * Update example to reflect FOREACH macro name change (in RFC v2).
> 
> RFC v2:
>  * Use alignof to derive alignment requirements. (Morten Brørup)
>  * Change name of FOREACH to make it distinct from <rte_lcore.h>'s
>    *per-EAL-thread* RTE_LCORE_FOREACH(). (Morten Brørup)
>  * Allow user-specified alignment, but limit max to cache line size.
> ---
>  MAINTAINERS                            |   6 +
>  config/rte_config.h                    |   1 +
>  doc/api/doxy-api-index.md              |   1 +
>  doc/guides/rel_notes/release_24_11.rst |  14 +
>  lib/eal/common/eal_common_lcore_var.c  |  78 +++++
>  lib/eal/common/meson.build             |   1 +
>  lib/eal/include/meson.build            |   1 +
>  lib/eal/include/rte_lcore_var.h        | 385 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  lib/eal/version.map                    |   2 +
>  9 files changed, 489 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 lib/eal/common/eal_common_lcore_var.c
>  create mode 100644 lib/eal/include/rte_lcore_var.h
> 
> diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
> index c5a703b5c0..362d9a3f28 100644
> --- a/MAINTAINERS
> +++ b/MAINTAINERS
> @@ -282,6 +282,12 @@ F: lib/eal/include/rte_random.h
>  F: lib/eal/common/rte_random.c
>  F: app/test/test_rand_perf.c
>  
> +Lcore Variables
> +M: Mattias Rönnblom <mattias.ronnblom@ericsson.com>
> +F: lib/eal/include/rte_lcore_var.h
> +F: lib/eal/common/eal_common_lcore_var.c
> +F: app/test/test_lcore_var.c
> +
>  ARM v7
>  M: Wathsala Vithanage <wathsala.vithanage@arm.com>
>  F: config/arm/
> diff --git a/config/rte_config.h b/config/rte_config.h
> index dd7bb0d35b..311692e498 100644
> --- a/config/rte_config.h
> +++ b/config/rte_config.h
> @@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
>  /* EAL defines */
>  #define RTE_CACHE_GUARD_LINES 1
>  #define RTE_MAX_HEAPS 32
> +#define RTE_MAX_LCORE_VAR 1048576
>  #define RTE_MAX_MEMSEG_LISTS 128
>  #define RTE_MAX_MEMSEG_PER_LIST 8192
>  #define RTE_MAX_MEM_MB_PER_LIST 32768
> diff --git a/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md b/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md
> index f9f0300126..ed577f14ee 100644
> --- a/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md
> +++ b/doc/api/doxy-api-index.md
> @@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ The public API headers are grouped by topics:
>    [interrupts](@ref rte_interrupts.h),
>    [launch](@ref rte_launch.h),
>    [lcore](@ref rte_lcore.h),
> +  [lcore variables](@ref rte_lcore_var.h),
>    [per-lcore](@ref rte_per_lcore.h),
>    [service cores](@ref rte_service.h),
>    [keepalive](@ref rte_keepalive.h),
> diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_24_11.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_24_11.rst
> index 0ff70d9057..a3884f7491 100644
> --- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_24_11.rst
> +++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_24_11.rst
> @@ -55,6 +55,20 @@ New Features
>       Also, make sure to start the actual text at the margin.
>       =======================================================
>  
> +* **Added EAL per-lcore static memory allocation facility.**
> +
> +    Added EAL API <rte_lcore_var.h> for statically allocating small,
> +    frequently-accessed data structures, for which one instance should
> +    exist for each EAL thread and registered non-EAL thread.
> +
> +    With lcore variables, data is organized spatially on a per-lcore id
> +    basis, rather than per library or PMD, avoiding the need for cache
> +    aligning (or RTE_CACHE_GUARDing) data structures, which in turn
> +    reduces CPU cache internal fragmentation, improving performance.
> +
> +    Lcore variables are similar to thread-local storage (TLS, e.g.,
> +    C11 _Thread_local), but decoupling the values' life time from that
> +    of the threads.
>  
>  Removed Items
>  -------------
> diff --git a/lib/eal/common/eal_common_lcore_var.c b/lib/eal/common/eal_common_lcore_var.c
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..309822039b
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/lib/eal/common/eal_common_lcore_var.c
> @@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
> +/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
> + * Copyright(c) 2024 Ericsson AB
> + */
> +
> +#include <inttypes.h>
> +#include <stdlib.h>
> +
> +#ifdef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
> +#include <malloc.h>
> +#endif
> +
> +#include <rte_common.h>
> +#include <rte_debug.h>
> +#include <rte_log.h>
> +
> +#include <rte_lcore_var.h>
> +
> +#include "eal_private.h"
> +
> +#define LCORE_BUFFER_SIZE (RTE_MAX_LCORE_VAR * RTE_MAX_LCORE)
> +
> +static void *lcore_buffer;
> +static size_t offset = RTE_MAX_LCORE_VAR;
> +
> +static void *
> +lcore_var_alloc(size_t size, size_t align)
> +{
> +	void *handle;
> +	void *value;
> +
> +	offset = RTE_ALIGN_CEIL(offset, align);
> +
> +	if (offset + size > RTE_MAX_LCORE_VAR) {
> +#ifdef RTE_EXEC_ENV_WINDOWS
> +		lcore_buffer = _aligned_malloc(LCORE_BUFFER_SIZE,
> +					       RTE_CACHE_LINE_SIZE);
> +#else
> +		lcore_buffer = aligned_alloc(RTE_CACHE_LINE_SIZE,
> +					     LCORE_BUFFER_SIZE);
> +#endif
> +		RTE_VERIFY(lcore_buffer != NULL);
> +
> +		offset = 0;
> +	}
> +
> +	handle = RTE_PTR_ADD(lcore_buffer, offset);
> +
> +	offset += size;
> +
> +	RTE_LCORE_VAR_FOREACH_VALUE(value, handle)
> +		memset(value, 0, size);
> +
> +	EAL_LOG(DEBUG, "Allocated %"PRIuPTR" bytes of per-lcore data with a "
> +		"%"PRIuPTR"-byte alignment", size, align);

Currrent the data was malloc by libc function, I think it's mainly for such INIT macro which will be init before main.
But it will introduce following problem:
1\ it can't benefit from huge-pages. this patch may reserved many 1MBs for each lcore, if we could place it in huge-pages it will reduce the TLB miss rate, especially it freq access data.
2\ it can't across multi-process. many of current lcore-data also don't support multi-process, but I think it worth do that, and it will help us to some service recovery when sub-process failed and reboot.

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