DPDK Performance decreases with more threads

tomg · December 9, 2023, 1:19pm

Hello all,

My setup:
DPDK 23.11, compiled on the host
Suricata 7.0.2 compilled with DPDK and hyperscan
Debian 12.2

Hardware:
Intel XL710 40GbE on Numa-node 1
CPU 2x Intel 6258R

Got suricata configured with workers, pinned on numa-node 1. Mgmt workers also on numa-node1

DPDK config:

dpdk:
  eal-params:
    proc-type: primary
    allow: ["0000:d8:00.0"]

  interfaces:
    - interface: 0000:d8:00.0 
      threads: 8
      promisc: true 
      multicast: true
      checksum-checks: true 
      checksum-checks-offload: true 
      mtu: 9200 
      mempool-size: 1048575 
      mempool-cache-size: 512
      rx-descriptors: 1024
      tx-descriptors: 1024
      copy-mode: none
      copy-iface: none

CPU affinity:

  cpu-affinity:
    - management-cpu-set:
        cpu: [ 30,31 ]  # include only these CPUs in affinity settings
    - worker-cpu-set:
        cpu: [ "32-39" ]
        mode: "exclusive"
        # Use explicitly 3 threads and don't compute number by using
        # detect-thread-ratio variable:
        # threads: 3
        prio:
          low: [  ]
          medium: [ 30,31 ]
          high: [ "32-39" ]
          default: "high"

Sending PCAPs with TRex, transmitting data at approximately 27 Gbit/s. The objective is to compare DPDK and AF_Packet performance. I’m observing something unusual; perhaps someone here can identify the problem.

When i am testing AF_Packet without rulesset and 8 cores i get 0% packetdrop.

With DPDK and 8 cores, without ruleset i get:
packets: 326116636, drops: 150255720 (46.07%)

And with perf i see it’s bussy with common_ring_mp_(en|de)queue:

with DPDK and 4 cores, without ruleset i get:
packets: 326116636, drops: 76801980 (23.55%)

perf:

And with DPDK, 8 cores and ET_OPEN ruleset i get:
packets: 326116664, drops: 120004997 (36.80%)

This doesn’t make much sense to me, I expected more packet drop with rules enabled. And less with more threads/cores. Is DPDK without a ruleset competing for something with 8 cores? Or have I misconfigured something?

lukashino · December 13, 2023, 7:30pm

Hi there,

can you try to increase the number of rx/tx descriptors? The cores might be competing for the descriptors. Try to set it to e.g. 8192, possibly higher if the system allows.
Also, can you run Suricata with -vvvv argument and paste the port xstats here?

tomg · December 14, 2023, 7:24am

Hi Lukas,

I have set both to 8192, looks like its only able to use 4096, or im reading the output wrong:
Sadly with the same results:

Notice: suricata: This is Suricata version 7.0.2 RELEASE running in SYSTEM mode [LogVersion:suricata.c:1148]
Info: cpu: CPUs/cores online: 112 [UtilCpuPrintSummary:util-cpu.c:182]
Config: affinity: Found affinity definition for "management-cpu-set" [AffinitySetupLoadFromConfig:util-affinity.c:201]
Config: affinity: Found affinity definition for "worker-cpu-set" [AffinitySetupLoadFromConfig:util-affinity.c:201]
Config: affinity: Using default prio 'high' for set 'worker-cpu-set' [AffinitySetupLoadFromConfig:util-affinity.c:248]
Config: device: Adding interface 0000:d8:00.0 from config file [LiveBuildDeviceListCustom:util-device.c:294]
Info: suricata: Setting engine mode to IDS mode by default [PostConfLoadedSetup:suricata.c:2689]
Info: exception-policy: master exception-policy set to: auto [ExceptionPolicyMasterParse:util-exception-policy.c:200]
Config: exception-policy: app-layer.error-policy: ignore (defined via 'exception-policy' master switch) [ExceptionPolicyGetDefault:util-exception-policy.c:219]
Config: app-layer-htp: 'default' server has 'request-body-minimal-inspect-size' set to 32820 and 'request-body-inspect-window' set to 3955 after randomization. [HTPConfigSetDefaultsPhase2:app-layer-htp.c:2564]
Config: app-layer-htp: 'default' server has 'response-body-minimal-inspect-size' set to 41719 and 'response-body-inspect-window' set to 15790 after randomization. [HTPConfigSetDefaultsPhase2:app-layer-htp.c:2577]
Config: smb: read: max record size: 16777216, max queued chunks 64, max queued size 67108864 [suricata::smb::smb::rs_smb_register_parser:smb.rs:2428]
Config: smb: write: max record size: 16777216, max queued chunks 64, max queued size 67108864 [suricata::smb::smb::rs_smb_register_parser:smb.rs:2430]
Config: app-layer-enip: Protocol detection and parser disabled for enip protocol. [RegisterENIPUDPParsers:app-layer-enip.c:538]
Config: app-layer-dnp3: Protocol detection and parser disabled for DNP3. [RegisterDNP3Parsers:app-layer-dnp3.c:1565]
Config: host: allocated 262144 bytes of memory for the host hash... 4096 buckets of size 64 [HostInitConfig:host.c:256]
Config: host: preallocated 1000 hosts of size 136 [HostInitConfig:host.c:282]
Config: host: host memory usage: 398144 bytes, maximum: 33554432 [HostInitConfig:host.c:284]
Config: coredump-config: Core dump size set to unlimited. [CoredumpLoadConfig:util-coredump-config.c:155]
Config: exception-policy: defrag.memcap-policy: ignore (defined via 'exception-policy' master switch) [ExceptionPolicyGetDefault:util-exception-policy.c:219]
Config: defrag-hash: allocated 3670016 bytes of memory for the defrag hash... 65536 buckets of size 56 [DefragInitConfig:defrag-hash.c:251]
Config: defrag-hash: preallocated 65535 defrag trackers of size 160 [DefragInitConfig:defrag-hash.c:280]
Config: defrag-hash: defrag memory usage: 14155616 bytes, maximum: 1073741824 [DefragInitConfig:defrag-hash.c:287]
Config: exception-policy: flow.memcap-policy: ignore (defined via 'exception-policy' master switch) [ExceptionPolicyGetDefault:util-exception-policy.c:219]
Config: flow: flow size 296, memcap allows for 58040098 flows. Per hash row in perfect conditions 55 [FlowInitConfig:flow.c:673]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "prealloc-sessions": 2048 (per thread) [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:392]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "memcap": 15032385536 [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:412]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "midstream" session pickups: disabled [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:420]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "async-oneside": disabled [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:428]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "checksum-validation": disabled [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:443]
Config: exception-policy: stream.memcap-policy: ignore (defined via 'exception-policy' master switch) [ExceptionPolicyGetDefault:util-exception-policy.c:219]
Config: exception-policy: stream.reassembly.memcap-policy: ignore (defined via 'exception-policy' master switch) [ExceptionPolicyGetDefault:util-exception-policy.c:219]
Config: exception-policy: stream.midstream-policy: ignore (defined via 'exception-policy' master switch) [ExceptionPolicyGetDefault:util-exception-policy.c:219]
Config: stream-tcp: stream."inline": enabled [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:475]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "bypass": disabled [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:488]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "max-syn-queued": 10 [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:512]
Config: stream-tcp: stream "max-synack-queued": 5 [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:525]
Config: stream-tcp: stream.reassembly "memcap": 21474836480 [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:546]
Config: stream-tcp: stream.reassembly "depth": 1048576 [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:565]
Config: stream-tcp: stream.reassembly "toserver-chunk-size": 2621 [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:637]
Config: stream-tcp: stream.reassembly "toclient-chunk-size": 2453 [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:639]
Config: stream-tcp: stream.reassembly.raw: enabled [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:652]
Config: stream-tcp: stream.liberal-timestamps: disabled [StreamTcpInitConfig:stream-tcp.c:661]
Config: stream-tcp-reassemble: stream.reassembly "segment-prealloc": 200000 [StreamTcpReassemblyConfig:stream-tcp-reassemble.c:491]
Config: stream-tcp-reassemble: stream.reassembly "max-regions": 8 [StreamTcpReassemblyConfig:stream-tcp-reassemble.c:514]
Info: conf: Running in live mode, activating unix socket [ConfUnixSocketIsEnable:util-conf.c:154]
Info: logopenfile: fast output device (regular) initialized: fast.log [SCConfLogOpenGeneric:util-logopenfile.c:617]
Info: logopenfile: stats output device (regular) initialized: stats.log [SCConfLogOpenGeneric:util-logopenfile.c:617]
Config: landlock: Landlock is not enabled in configuration [LandlockSandboxing:util-landlock.c:183]
Config: suricata: Delayed detect disabled [SetupDelayedDetect:suricata.c:2406]
Config: detect: pattern matchers: MPM: hs, SPM: hs [DetectEngineCtxInitReal:detect-engine.c:2496]
Config: detect: grouping: tcp-whitelist (default) 53, 80, 139, 443, 445, 1433, 3306, 3389, 6666, 6667, 8080 [DetectEngineCtxLoadConf:detect-engine.c:2910]
Config: detect: grouping: udp-whitelist (default) 53, 135, 5060 [DetectEngineCtxLoadConf:detect-engine.c:2936]
Config: detect: prefilter engines: MPM and keywords [DetectEngineCtxLoadConf:detect-engine.c:2969]
Config: reputation: IP reputation disabled [SRepInit:reputation.c:612]
Warning: detect: No rule files match the pattern /usr/local/var/lib/suricata/rules/suricata.rules [ProcessSigFiles:detect-engine-loader.c:230]
Config: detect: No rules loaded from suricata.rules. [SigLoadSignatures:detect-engine-loader.c:317]
Warning: detect: No rule files match the pattern /src/ [ProcessSigFiles:detect-engine-loader.c:230]
Config: detect: No rules loaded from /src/ [SigLoadSignatures:detect-engine-loader.c:335]
Warning: detect: 2 rule files specified, but no rules were loaded! [SigLoadSignatures:detect-engine-loader.c:342]
Warning: threshold-config: Error opening file: "/opt/suricata-suricata-7.0.2/treshold.config": No such file or directory [SCThresholdConfInitContext:util-threshold-config.c:177]
Info: detect: 0 signatures processed. 0 are IP-only rules, 0 are inspecting packet payload, 0 inspect application layer, 0 are decoder event only [SigAddressPrepareStage1:detect-engine-build.c:1499]
Config: detect: building signature grouping structure, stage 1: preprocessing rules... complete [SigAddressPrepareStage1:detect-engine-build.c:1505]
Perf: detect: TCP toserver: 0 port groups, 0 unique SGH's, 0 copies [RulesGroupByPorts:detect-engine-build.c:1293]
Perf: detect: TCP toclient: 0 port groups, 0 unique SGH's, 0 copies [RulesGroupByPorts:detect-engine-build.c:1293]
Perf: detect: UDP toserver: 0 port groups, 0 unique SGH's, 0 copies [RulesGroupByPorts:detect-engine-build.c:1293]
Perf: detect: UDP toclient: 0 port groups, 0 unique SGH's, 0 copies [RulesGroupByPorts:detect-engine-build.c:1293]
Perf: detect: OTHER toserver: 0 proto groups, 0 unique SGH's, 0 copies [RulesGroupByProto:detect-engine-build.c:1049]
Perf: detect: OTHER toclient: 0 proto groups, 0 unique SGH's, 0 copies [RulesGroupByProto:detect-engine-build.c:1082]
Perf: detect: Unique rule groups: 0 [SigAddressPrepareStage4:detect-engine-build.c:1858]
Perf: detect: Builtin MPM "toserver TCP packet": 0 [MpmStoreReportStats:detect-engine-mpm.c:1480]
Perf: detect: Builtin MPM "toclient TCP packet": 0 [MpmStoreReportStats:detect-engine-mpm.c:1480]
Perf: detect: Builtin MPM "toserver TCP stream": 0 [MpmStoreReportStats:detect-engine-mpm.c:1480]
Perf: detect: Builtin MPM "toclient TCP stream": 0 [MpmStoreReportStats:detect-engine-mpm.c:1480]
Perf: detect: Builtin MPM "toserver UDP packet": 0 [MpmStoreReportStats:detect-engine-mpm.c:1480]
Perf: detect: Builtin MPM "toclient UDP packet": 0 [MpmStoreReportStats:detect-engine-mpm.c:1480]
Perf: detect: Builtin MPM "other IP packet": 0 [MpmStoreReportStats:detect-engine-mpm.c:1480]
TELEMETRY: No legacy callbacks, legacy socket not created
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_VLAN_STRIP - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:996]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_IPV4_CKSUM - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:998]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_UDP_CKSUM - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1000]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_TCP_CKSUM - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1002]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_TCP_LRO - NOT available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1004]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_QINQ_STRIP - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1006]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_OUTER_IPV4_CKSUM - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1008]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_MACSEC_STRIP - NOT available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1010]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_VLAN_FILTER - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1016]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_VLAN_EXTEND - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1018]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_SCATTER - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1020]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_TIMESTAMP - NOT available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1022]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_SECURITY - NOT available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1024]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_KEEP_CRC - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1026]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_SCTP_CKSUM - NOT available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1028]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_OUTER_UDP_CKSUM - NOT available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1030]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_RSS_HASH - available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1032]
Config: dpdk: RTE_ETH_RX_OFFLOAD_BUFFER_SPLIT - NOT available [DumpRXOffloadCapabilities:runmode-dpdk.c:1035]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: RSS enabled for 8 queues [DeviceInitPortConf:runmode-dpdk.c:1112]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: IP, TCP and UDP checksum validation offloaded [DeviceInitPortConf:runmode-dpdk.c:1152]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: setting MTU to 9200 [DeviceConfigure:runmode-dpdk.c:1478]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: creating packet mbuf pool mempool_0000:d8:00.0 of size 1048575, cache size 512, mbuf size 10368 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1182]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:0 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:1 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:2 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:3 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:4 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:5 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:6 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:7 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:0 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:1 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:2 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:3 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:4 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:5 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:6 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: tx queue setup: queue:7 port:0 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1222]
Info: runmodes: 0000:d8:00.0: creating 8 threads [RunModeSetLiveCaptureWorkersForDevice:util-runmodes.c:254]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#01-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 32, thread id 6505 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#02-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 33, thread id 6506 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#03-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 34, thread id 6507 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#04-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 35, thread id 6508 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#05-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 36, thread id 6509 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#06-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 37, thread id 6510 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#07-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 38, thread id 6511 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Perf: threads: Setting prio -2 for thread "W#08-d8:00.0" to cpu/core 39, thread id 6512 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:876]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW queue region created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceSetRSSFlowQueues:util-dpdk-i40e.c:211]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Info: dpdk-i40e: RTE_FLOW flow rule created for port 0000:d8:00.0 [i40eDeviceCreateRSSFlow:util-dpdk-i40e.c:246]
Config: flow-manager: using 1 flow manager threads [FlowManagerThreadSpawn:flow-manager.c:948]
Perf: threads: Setting prio 0 for thread "FM#01", thread id 6513 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:882]
Config: flow-manager: using 1 flow recycler threads [FlowRecyclerThreadSpawn:flow-manager.c:1154]
Perf: threads: Setting prio 0 for thread "FR#01", thread id 6514 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:882]
Perf: threads: Setting prio 0 for thread "CW", thread id 6515 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:882]
Perf: threads: Setting prio 0 for thread "CS", thread id 6516 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:882]
Info: unix-manager: unix socket '/usr/local/var/run/suricata/suricata-command.socket' [UnixNew:unix-manager.c:136]
Perf: threads: Setting prio 0 for thread "US", thread id 6517 [TmThreadSetupOptions:tm-threads.c:882]
Notice: threads: Threads created -> W: 8 FM: 1 FR: 1   Engine started. [TmThreadWaitOnThreadRunning:tm-threads.c:1893]
Info: dpdk: 27463 of 32768 of hugepages are free - number of hugepages can be lowered to e.g. 6101 [MemInfoEvaluateHugepages:util-dpdk.c:137]
^CNotice: suricata: Signal Received.  Stopping engine. [SuricataMainLoop:suricata.c:2816]
Info: suricata: time elapsed 124.131s [SCPrintElapsedTime:suricata.c:1168]
Perf: flow-manager: 260651 flows processed [FlowRecycler:flow-manager.c:1123]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_good_packets: 172432797 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_good_bytes: 223002372875 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_missed_errors: 153683842 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_unicast_packets: 326116634 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_multicast_packets: 5 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_unknown_protocol_packets: 326116639 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - mac_local_errors: 1 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_size_64_packets: 29108126 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_size_65_to_127_packets: 62721725 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_size_128_to_255_packets: 45020766 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_size_256_to_511_packets: 21911636 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_size_512_to_1023_packets: 48344790 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: Port 0 (0000:d8:00.0) - rx_size_1024_to_1522_packets: 119009596 [PrintDPDKPortXstats:source-dpdk.c:620]
Perf: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: total RX stats: packets 172432797 bytes: 223002372875 missed: 153683842 errors: 0 nombufs: 0 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:647]
Perf: dpdk: (W#01-d8:00.0) received packets 21668277 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Perf: dpdk: (W#02-d8:00.0) received packets 21581805 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Perf: dpdk: (W#03-d8:00.0) received packets 21502171 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Perf: dpdk: (W#04-d8:00.0) received packets 21459999 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Perf: dpdk: (W#05-d8:00.0) received packets 21629595 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Perf: dpdk: (W#06-d8:00.0) received packets 21353246 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Perf: dpdk: (W#07-d8:00.0) received packets 21622006 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Perf: dpdk: (W#08-d8:00.0) received packets 21615698 [ReceiveDPDKThreadExitStats:source-dpdk.c:657]
Info: counters: Alerts: 0 [StatsLogSummary:counters.c:878]
Perf: ippair: ippair memory usage: 414144 bytes, maximum: 16777216 [IPPairPrintStats:ippair.c:296]
Perf: host: host memory usage: 398144 bytes, maximum: 33554432 [HostPrintStats:host.c:299]
Perf: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: closing device [DPDKCloseDevice:util-dpdk.c:52]
Notice: device: 0000:d8:00.0: packets: 326116639, drops: 153683842 (47.13%), invalid chksum: 0 [LiveDeviceListClean:util-device.c:325]

To me it also looks like the cores/threads are fighting for someting, but just cant get my finger behind it what it is. Setting the MTU from 9200 to 1500 doesn’t make a difference.

lukashino · December 17, 2023, 9:34pm

Hey Tom, just to give you an update - I was looking into it and can confirm that X710 on my machine only allows 4096 descriptors as well…
When I was doing the performance tuning, I was primarily working with MLX5 cards and those allow you to set rx/tx descriptors even to 32K which seems to do the trick to get 0 packet drop on multigig connections.

I’ll try to investigate this further and see if Suri could somehow run well with fewer descriptors.
I have also tried AFP and had 8K rx descriptors configured (through ethtool) and that had 0% packet drop. It was all on MLX card but the results were comparable to yours. The main diff is that MLX card allows more descriptors and thus can overcome this issue.

I guess, so far I can conclude your observations with this NIC are correct, you have it well configured. I didn’t experience worse performance when scaling to more cores but I guess we have identified the root cause - lack of RX descriptors - workers are fighting to get that handle (rx desc) to do some work.

lukashino · February 6, 2024, 5:46pm

Hi there,

I have bad news, unfortunately, Suricata seems to need more than 4K descriptors which is the maximum limit for X710. While investigating this, I bumped into another problem related to CPU stalls when running Suricata with 8 cores on a Mellanox card. I have written it down in Support #6747: dpdk: synchronized CPU stalls on Suricata workers - Suricata - Open Information Security Foundation

At this moment I can only advise you to try other than the X710 card or limit your evaluation to only the number of cores that DPDK is taking benefit of.

lukashino · February 11, 2024, 8:11pm

Hi @tomg

maybe I’ve found something helpful.
It seems like the Intel NICs have their descriptors capped at the SW level. This is defined in their PMDs by macros like IXGBE_MAX_RING_DESC or I40E_MAX_RING_DESC. I expect that you could change that in the DPDK source file, recompile, and install it to benefit from more descriptors.

If you decide to try it out please let me know how it turned out.
Thanks!

Found about this while browsing through where this limitation is mentioned:
https://doc.dpdk.org/guides/nics/ixgbe.html

atbohmer · February 15, 2024, 3:53pm

Interesting thread, confused because I run sort of the same setup, but with a low level of drops?!

dpdk:
eal-params:
proc-type: primary

interfaces:
- interface: 0000:10:00.0

  mempool-size: 262144

  mempool-cache-size: 511 
  rx-descriptors: 32768
  tx-descriptors: 32768
  copy-mode: none

- interface: default
  promisc: true
  multicast: true
  checksum-checks: true
  checksum-checks-offload: true
  mtu: 1518
  rss-hash-functions: auto
  mempool-size: 262144
  mempool-cache-size: 511
  rx-descriptors: 32768
  tx-descriptors: 32768 
  copy-mode: none
  copy-iface: none
- interface: 0000:84:00.0
- interface: 0000:10:00.1
  threads: 16
- interface: 0000:0f:00.0
  threads: 16
- interface: 0000:84:00.1 
  threads: 18

]# dpdk-devbind.py -s

Network devices using DPDK-compatible driver
============================================
0000:0f:00.0 ‘82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection 10fb’ drv=vfio-pci unused=ixgbe
0000:10:00.0 ‘Ethernet Controller E810-C for QSFP 1592’ drv=vfio-pci unused=ice
0000:10:00.1 ‘Ethernet Controller E810-C for QSFP 1592’ drv=vfio-pci unused=ice
0000:84:00.0 ‘Ethernet Controller E810-C for QSFP 1592’ drv=vfio-pci unused=ice
0000:84:00.1 ‘Ethernet Controller E810-C for QSFP 1592’ drv=vfio-pci unused=ice

[1020758 - Suricata-Main] 2024-02-15 15:37:15 Notice: device: 0000:10:00.0: packets: 14825575996, drops: 113376757 (0.76%), invalid chksum: 270
[1020758 - Suricata-Main] 2024-02-15 15:37:15 Notice: device: 0000:84:00.0: packets: 14887129401, drops: 30594928 (0.21%), invalid chksum: 250
[1020758 - Suricata-Main] 2024-02-15 15:37:15 Notice: device: 0000:10:00.1: packets: 25835331694, drops: 144796126 (0.56%), invalid chksum: 787527
[1020758 - Suricata-Main] 2024-02-15 15:37:15 Notice: device: 0000:0f:00.0: packets: 17867880267, drops: 165945891 (0.93%), invalid chksum: 0
[1020758 - Suricata-Main] 2024-02-15 15:37:15 Notice: device: 0000:84:00.1: packets: 7664200107, drops: 3643829 (0.05%), invalid chksum: 748

lukashino · February 26, 2024, 10:13am

Hi André, the difference might be here in the NIC used? Tom and I used X710 whereas you used E810.I haven’t been able to verify if the issue persist on that card for me as well. However I’ve noticed that Intel cards seem to only accept 4096 RX/TX descriptors. You can notice that if enable the most verbose option of Suricata (-vvvv) and it will be printed out:
Config: dpdk: 0000:d8:00.0: rx queue setup: queue:2 port:0 rx_desc:4096 tx_desc:4096 rx: hthresh: 0 pthresh 0 wthresh 0 free_thresh 0 drop_en 0 offloads 14 [DeviceConfigureQueues:runmode-dpdk.c:1202]

I think this reduction of RX/TX descriptors should happen on E810 too. I’ve added an extra warning when the adjustment of RX/TX happens and it can altered by recompiling the DPDK with appropriate settings.

atbohmer · February 26, 2024, 10:49am

Hi Lukas,
Indeed it happens too on the E810 so that is why I am so surprised the drop numbers are so low in comparison. Do you think I can gain evevn a lower drop ratio when recompiling DPDK with modified settings fot the ice driver?

0000:84:00.1 ‘Ethernet Controller E810-C for QSFP 1592’ drv=vfio-pci unused=ice
Config: dpdk: 0000:84:00.1: setting up RX queue 17: rx_desc: 4096 offloads: 0xe hthresh: 0 pthresh: 0 wthresh: 0 free_thresh: 0 drop_en: 0

atbohmer · February 26, 2024, 11:30am

Huum this worries me a bit:

$ vim dpdk_23110/drivers/net/ice/ice_rxtx.h
…
#define ICE_MAX_RING_DESC 4096
#define ICE_DMA_MEM_ALIGN 4096

Lukas, do you think this is interlinked somehow or just 2 values which are the same?

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