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From: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel•org>
To: Vladimir Oltean <vladimir.oltean@nxp•com>
Cc: "Russell King (Oracle)" <linux@armlinux•org.uk>,
	"Andrew Lunn" <andrew@lunn•ch>,
	"Köry Maincent" <kory.maincent@bootlin•com>,
	netdev@vger•kernel.org, glipus@gmail•com,
	maxime.chevallier@bootlin•com, vadim.fedorenko@linux•dev,
	richardcochran@gmail•com, gerhard@engleder-embedded•com,
	thomas.petazzoni@bootlin•com, krzysztof.kozlowski+dt@linaro•org,
	robh+dt@kernel•org
Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next RFC v4 2/5] net: Expose available time stamping layers to user space.
Date: Thu, 11 May 2023 16:16:25 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20230511161625.2e3f0161@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20230511230717.hg7gtrq5ppvuzmcx@skbuf>

On Fri, 12 May 2023 02:07:17 +0300 Vladimir Oltean wrote:
> On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 03:09:02PM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> > Exactly, think Tx. For Rx hauling the TS in metadata from PHY/MAC to
> > descriptor is easy. For Tx device will buffer the packet so the DMA
> > completion happens before the packet actually left onto the wire.
> > 
> > Which is not to say that some devices may not generate the Rx timestamp
> > when the packet is DMA'ed out of laziness, too.
> >   
> > > timestamps is an alternate solution to the same problem as DMA
> > > timestamps, or whatever:
> > > https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20221018010733.4765-1-muhammad.husaini.zulkifli@intel.com/  
> > 
> > What I was thinking was:
> > 
> >  - PHY - per spec, at the RS layer
> >  - MAC - "close to the wire" in the MAC, specifically the pipeline
> >    delay (PHY stamp vs MAC stamp) should be constant for all packets;
> >    there must be no variable-time buffering and (for Tx) the time
> >    stamping must be past the stage of the pipeline affected by pause
> >    frames
> >  - DMA - worst quality, variable delay timestamp, usually taken when
> >    packets DMA descriptors (Rx or completion) are being written
> > 
> > With these definitions MAC and PHY timestamps are pretty similar
> > from the perspective of accuracy.  
> 
> So if I add a call to ptp_clock_info :: gettimex64() where the
> skb_tx_timestamp() call is located in a driver, could that pass as
> a DMA timestamp?

Yes.

> The question is how much do we want to encourage these DMA timestamps:
> enough to make them a first-class citizen in the UAPI? Are users even
> happy with their existence?

I don't want to call anyone out, but multiple high speed devices
with the current, in tree drivers report DMA timestamps when you 
ask for HW timestamps. DMA stamps are still 2 orders of magnitude
better than SW stamping.

> I mean, I can't ignore the fact that there are NICs that can provide
> 2-step TX timestamps at line rate for all packets (not just PTP) for
> line rates exceeding 10G, in band with the descriptor in its TX
> completion queue. I don't want to give any names, just to point out
> that there isn't any inherent limitation in the technology.

Oh, you should tell me, maybe off-list then. 'Cause I don't know any.

> AFAIU from igc_ptp_tx_hwtstamp(), it's just that the igc DMA
> controller did not bother to transport the timestamps from the MAC
> back into the descriptor, leaving it up to software to do it out of
> band, which of course may cause correlation bugs and limits
> throughput. Surely they can do better.

It's not that simple. Any packet loss or diversion and you may end up
missing a completion.

  reply	other threads:[~2023-05-11 23:16 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 76+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2023-04-06 17:33 [PATCH net-next RFC v4 0/5] net: Make MAC/PHY time stamping selectable Köry Maincent
2023-04-06 17:33 ` [PATCH net-next RFC v4 1/5] net: ethtool: Refactor identical get_ts_info implementations Köry Maincent
2023-04-12 13:16   ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-04-12 13:49     ` Köry Maincent
2023-04-12 16:56       ` Richard Cochran
2023-04-06 17:33 ` [PATCH net-next RFC v4 2/5] net: Expose available time stamping layers to user space Köry Maincent
2023-04-07  1:46   ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-04-07  8:58     ` Köry Maincent
2023-04-07 14:26       ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-04-07 14:44         ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-17 19:58       ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-12 10:50     ` Michael Walle
2023-04-12 11:08       ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-04-12 11:12         ` Michael Walle
2023-04-12 12:19         ` Köry Maincent
2023-05-11 20:36     ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 20:50       ` Andrew Lunn
2023-05-11 20:55         ` Russell King (Oracle)
2023-05-11 21:02           ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 22:09             ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-11 23:07               ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 23:16                 ` Jakub Kicinski [this message]
2023-05-12 10:29                   ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-12 17:38                     ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-17 19:19                       ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-17 19:46                         ` Andrew Lunn
2023-05-17 20:07                           ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-09-04 15:22                             ` Köry Maincent
2023-09-04 17:47                               ` Richard Cochran
2023-09-05 18:47                                 ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-09-05 20:29                                   ` Andrew Lunn
2023-09-06  9:22                                     ` Köry Maincent
2023-09-07  9:29                                     ` Russell King (Oracle)
2023-05-19 13:28                       ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-19 20:22                         ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-22  3:56                           ` Zulkifli, Muhammad Husaini
2023-05-22 20:04                             ` Richard Cochran
2023-05-22 20:21                               ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-23  3:54                                 ` Richard Cochran
2023-05-17 22:01                   ` Jacob Keller
2023-05-17 22:13     ` Jacob Keller
2023-05-17 22:46       ` Richard Cochran
2023-05-18 23:23         ` Jacob Keller
2023-05-19 12:50           ` Andrew Lunn
2023-05-19 13:50             ` Richard Cochran
2023-05-19 15:18               ` Andrew Lunn
2023-04-08 14:06   ` Richard Cochran
2023-04-06 17:33 ` [PATCH net-next RFC v4 3/5] dt-bindings: net: phy: add timestamp preferred choice property Köry Maincent
2023-04-12 13:14   ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-04-12 13:44     ` Köry Maincent
2023-04-29 17:42       ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-02  9:10         ` Köry Maincent
2023-05-11 13:10           ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 13:25             ` Köry Maincent
2023-05-11 13:56               ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 14:22                 ` Köry Maincent
2023-04-12 14:14   ` Krzysztof Kozlowski
2023-04-06 17:33 ` [PATCH net-next RFC v4 4/5] net: Let the active time stamping layer be selectable Köry Maincent
2023-04-07  1:47   ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-04-29 17:58   ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-02 11:05     ` Köry Maincent
2023-05-11 13:48       ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 15:36         ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-11 15:56           ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 16:25             ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-11 20:54               ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 23:08                 ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-11 23:18                   ` Vladimir Oltean
2023-05-11 23:35                     ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-15  9:04                       ` Köry Maincent
2023-05-16 19:28                         ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-11 21:06               ` Russell King (Oracle)
2023-05-11 22:54                 ` Jakub Kicinski
2023-05-17 22:19               ` Jacob Keller
2023-04-06 17:33 ` [PATCH net-next RFC v4 5/5] net: fix up drivers WRT phy time stamping Köry Maincent
2023-04-06 17:59 ` [PATCH net-next RFC v4 0/5] net: Make MAC/PHY time stamping selectable Köry Maincent

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