Re: [PATCH v1] ethdev: add direction info when creating the transfer table

[Andrew Rybchenko <andrew.rybchenko@oktetlabs.ru>]

On 9/21/22 12:40, Thomas Monjalon wrote:
> 21/09/2022 11:04, Ivan Malov:
>> Now it's clear to me that your intention is to match on exact ports,
>> as usual, but this time with a hint for the flow table. Got it.
>>
>> In your response, you say that matching on ALL vports is not what
>> the use case needs. OK, I understood. But please note that the
>> item name does not say "ALL", it says "ANY".
>>
>> OK. Say, "ANY" is also confusing. Let's then name it "VPORTS_ONLY"
>> and "PHY_PORTS_ONLY". This way, if user provides item VPORTS_ONLY
>> and then  provides item REPRESENTED_PORT, these two items do not
>> contradict each other. Item VPORTS_ONLY defines the scope of some
>> kind, then the following item, REPRESENTED_PORT, makes it narrower.
>>
>> And, in documentation, one can say clearly that the user *may*
>> omit item VPORTS_ONLY in the exact rule pattern provided that
>> they have already submitted this item as part of the template.
> 
> I think the problem that Rongwei & Ori are trying to solve
> is to allocate resources for the templates table in the right place.
> A table can have multiple templates.
> If all rules/templates for this table are dedicated to virtual ports,
> then the table will be allocated in a place managing only virtual ports.
> This allocation decision must be taken at table creation,
> whereas rules will be created later.
> In order to do this specific table allocation for vports,
> we need to restrict all templates of the table to be "vports only".
> 
> I hope it makes things clearer.
> Now the question is how to achieve this? Solutions are:
> 
> 1/ give a hint to the table allocation
> 2/ insert a pattern item in all templates of the table
> 
> I don't see any other solution. Please propose if there are more options.
> 
> 

See my mail

3/ use jump rule which ensures that all traffic meets out
    expectations

It means that the table creation could be postponed. Or the
table could be per-configured at the point of creation and
finalized when we know that all traffic will be from wires
or from vports. Yes, it complicates internals to achieve
the optimization.