[TCP]: Update sysctl and congestion control documentation.
Update the documentation to remove the old sysctl values and include the new congestion control infrastructure. Includes changes to tcp.txt by Ian McDonald. Signed-off-by: Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@osdl.org> Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
This commit is contained in:
committed by
David S. Miller
parent
056ede6cfa
commit
9d7bcfc6b8
@@ -1,5 +1,72 @@
|
||||
How the new TCP output machine [nyi] works.
|
||||
TCP protocol
|
||||
============
|
||||
|
||||
Last updated: 21 June 2005
|
||||
|
||||
Contents
|
||||
========
|
||||
|
||||
- Congestion control
|
||||
- How the new TCP output machine [nyi] works
|
||||
|
||||
Congestion control
|
||||
==================
|
||||
|
||||
The following variables are used in the tcp_sock for congestion control:
|
||||
snd_cwnd The size of the congestion window
|
||||
snd_ssthresh Slow start threshold. We are in slow start if
|
||||
snd_cwnd is less than this.
|
||||
snd_cwnd_cnt A counter used to slow down the rate of increase
|
||||
once we exceed slow start threshold.
|
||||
snd_cwnd_clamp This is the maximum size that snd_cwnd can grow to.
|
||||
snd_cwnd_stamp Timestamp for when congestion window last validated.
|
||||
snd_cwnd_used Used as a highwater mark for how much of the
|
||||
congestion window is in use. It is used to adjust
|
||||
snd_cwnd down when the link is limited by the
|
||||
application rather than the network.
|
||||
|
||||
As of 2.6.13, Linux supports pluggable congestion control algorithms.
|
||||
A congestion control mechanism can be registered through functions in
|
||||
tcp_cong.c. The functions used by the congestion control mechanism are
|
||||
registered via passing a tcp_congestion_ops struct to
|
||||
tcp_register_congestion_control. As a minimum name, ssthresh,
|
||||
cong_avoid, min_cwnd must be valid.
|
||||
|
||||
Private data for a congestion control mechanism is stored in tp->ca_priv.
|
||||
tcp_ca(tp) returns a pointer to this space. This is preallocated space - it
|
||||
is important to check the size of your private data will fit this space, or
|
||||
alternatively space could be allocated elsewhere and a pointer to it could
|
||||
be stored here.
|
||||
|
||||
There are three kinds of congestion control algorithms currently: The
|
||||
simplest ones are derived from TCP reno (highspeed, scalable) and just
|
||||
provide an alternative the congestion window calculation. More complex
|
||||
ones like BIC try to look at other events to provide better
|
||||
heuristics. There are also round trip time based algorithms like
|
||||
Vegas and Westwood+.
|
||||
|
||||
Good TCP congestion control is a complex problem because the algorithm
|
||||
needs to maintain fairness and performance. Please review current
|
||||
research and RFC's before developing new modules.
|
||||
|
||||
The method that is used to determine which congestion control mechanism is
|
||||
determined by the setting of the sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_congestion_control.
|
||||
The default congestion control will be the last one registered (LIFO);
|
||||
so if you built everything as modules. the default will be reno. If you
|
||||
build with the default's from Kconfig, then BIC will be builtin (not a module)
|
||||
and it will end up the default.
|
||||
|
||||
If you really want a particular default value then you will need
|
||||
to set it with the sysctl. If you use a sysctl, the module will be autoloaded
|
||||
if needed and you will get the expected protocol. If you ask for an
|
||||
unknown congestion method, then the sysctl attempt will fail.
|
||||
|
||||
If you remove a tcp congestion control module, then you will get the next
|
||||
available one. Since reno can not be built as a module, and can not be
|
||||
deleted, it will always be available.
|
||||
|
||||
How the new TCP output machine [nyi] works.
|
||||
===========================================
|
||||
|
||||
Data is kept on a single queue. The skb->users flag tells us if the frame is
|
||||
one that has been queued already. To add a frame we throw it on the end. Ack
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user