The general use-case of using external memory is well covered by
existing external memory API's. However, certain use cases require
manual management of externally allocated memory areas, so this
memory should not be added to the heap. It should, however, be
added to DPDK's internal structures, so that API's like
``rte_virt2memseg`` would work on such external memory segments.
This commit adds such an API to DPDK. The new functions will allow
to register and unregister externally allocated memory areas, as
well as documentation for them.
Signed-off-by: Anatoly Burakov <anatoly.bura...@intel.com>
---
.../prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst | 60 ++++++++++++---
lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_memory.c | 74 +++++++++++++++++++
lib/librte_eal/common/include/rte_memory.h | 63 ++++++++++++++++
lib/librte_eal/rte_eal_version.map | 2 +
4 files changed, 189 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
b/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
index 8b5d050c7..d7799b626 100644
--- a/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/env_abstraction_layer.rst
@@ -212,17 +212,26 @@ Normally, these options do not need to be changed.
Support for Externally Allocated Memory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-It is possible to use externally allocated memory in DPDK, using a set of malloc
-heap API's. Support for externally allocated memory is implemented through
-overloading the socket ID - externally allocated heaps will have socket ID's
-that would be considered invalid under normal circumstances. Requesting an
-allocation to take place from a specified externally allocated memory is a
-matter of supplying the correct socket ID to DPDK allocator, either directly
-(e.g. through a call to ``rte_malloc``) or indirectly (through data
-structure-specific allocation API's such as ``rte_ring_create``).
+It is possible to use externally allocated memory in DPDK. There are two ways
in
+which using externally allocated memory can work: the malloc heap API's, and
+manual memory management.
-Since there is no way DPDK can verify whether memory are is available or valid,
-this responsibility falls on the shoulders of the user. All multiprocess
++ Using heap API's for externally allocated memory
+
+Using using a set of malloc heap API's is the recommended way to use externally
+allocated memory in DPDK. In this way, support for externally allocated memory
+is implemented through overloading the socket ID - externally allocated heaps
+will have socket ID's that would be considered invalid under normal
+circumstances. Requesting an allocation to take place from a specified
+externally allocated memory is a matter of supplying the correct socket ID to
+DPDK allocator, either directly (e.g. through a call to ``rte_malloc``) or
+indirectly (through data structure-specific allocation API's such as
+``rte_ring_create``). Using these API's also ensures that mapping of externally
+allocated memory for DMA is also performed on any memory segment that is added
+to a DPDK malloc heap.
+
+Since there is no way DPDK can verify whether memory is available or valid,
this
+responsibility falls on the shoulders of the user. All multiprocess
synchronization is also user's responsibility, as well as ensuring that all
calls to add/attach/detach/remove memory are done in the correct order. It is
not required to attach to a memory area in all processes - only attach to
memory
@@ -246,6 +255,37 @@ The expected workflow is as follows:
For more information, please refer to ``rte_malloc`` API documentation,
specifically the ``rte_malloc_heap_*`` family of function calls.
++ Using externally allocated memory without DPDK API's
+
+While using heap API's is the recommended method of using externally allocated
+memory in DPDK, there are certain use cases where the overhead of DPDK heap API
+is undesirable - for example, when manual memory management is performed on an
+externally allocated area. To support use cases where externally allocated
+memory will not be used as part of normal DPDK workflow, there is also another
+set of API's under the ``rte_extmem_*`` namespace.
+
+These API's are (as their name implies) intended to allow registering or
+unregistering externally allocated memory to/from DPDK's internal page table,
to
+allow API's like ``rte_virt2memseg`` etc. to work with externally allocated
+memory. Memory added this way will not be available for any regular DPDK
+allocators; DPDK will leave this memory for the user application to manage.
+
+The expected workflow is as follows:
+
+* Get a pointer to memory area
+* Register memory within DPDK
+ - If IOVA table is not specified, IOVA addresses will be assumed to be
+ unavailable
+* Perform DMA mapping with ``rte_vfio_dma_map`` if needed
+* Use the memory area in your application
+* If memory area is no longer needed, it can be unregistered
+ - If the area was mapped for DMA, unmapping must be performed before
+ unregistering memory
+
+Since these externally allocated memory areas will not be managed by DPDK, it
is
+therefore up to the user application to decide how to use them and what to do
+with them once they're registered.
+
Per-lcore and Shared Variables
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_memory.c b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_memory.c
index d47ea4938..a2e085ae8 100644
--- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_memory.c
+++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_memory.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
#include "eal_memalloc.h"
#include "eal_private.h"
#include "eal_internal_cfg.h"
+#include "malloc_heap.h"
/*
* Try to mmap *size bytes in /dev/zero. If it is successful, return the
@@ -775,6 +776,79 @@ rte_memseg_get_fd_offset(const struct rte_memseg *ms,
size_t *offset)
return ret;
}
+int __rte_experimental
+rte_extmem_register(void *va_addr, size_t len, rte_iova_t iova_addrs[],
+ unsigned int n_pages, size_t page_sz)
+{
+ struct rte_mem_config *mcfg = rte_eal_get_configuration()->mem_config;
+ unsigned int socket_id;
+ int ret = 0;
+
+ if (va_addr == NULL || page_sz == 0 || len == 0 ||
+ !rte_is_power_of_2(page_sz) ||
+ RTE_ALIGN(len, page_sz) != len) {
+ rte_errno = EINVAL;
+ return -1;
+ }
