tcp: Ensure DCTCP reacts to losses
RFC8257 §3.5 explicitly states that "A DCTCP sender MUST react to loss episodes in the same way as conventional TCP". Currently, Linux DCTCP performs no cwnd reduction when losses are encountered. Optionally, the dctcp_clamp_alpha_on_loss resets alpha to its maximal value if a RTO happens. This behavior is sub-optimal for at least two reasons: i) it ignores losses triggering fast retransmissions; and ii) it causes unnecessary large cwnd reduction in the future if the loss was isolated as it resets the historical term of DCTCP's alpha EWMA to its maximal value (i.e., denoting a total congestion). The second reason has an especially noticeable effect when using DCTCP in high BDP environments, where alpha normally stays at low values. This patch replace the clamping of alpha by setting ssthresh to half of cwnd for both fast retransmissions and RTOs, at most once per RTT. Consequently, the dctcp_clamp_alpha_on_loss module parameter has been removed. The table below shows experimental results where we measured the drop probability of a PIE AQM (not applying ECN marks) at a bottleneck in the presence of a single TCP flow with either the alpha-clamping option enabled or the cwnd halving proposed by this patch. Results using reno or cubic are given for comparison. | Link | RTT | Drop TCP CC | speed | base+AQM | probability ==================|=========|==========|============ CUBIC | 40Mbps | 7+20ms | 0.21% RENO | | | 0.19% DCTCP-CLAMP-ALPHA | | | 25.80% DCTCP-HALVE-CWND | | | 0.22% ------------------|---------|----------|------------ CUBIC | 100Mbps | 7+20ms | 0.03% RENO | | | 0.02% DCTCP-CLAMP-ALPHA | | | 23.30% DCTCP-HALVE-CWND | | | 0.04% ------------------|---------|----------|------------ CUBIC | 800Mbps | 1+1ms | 0.04% RENO | | | 0.05% DCTCP-CLAMP-ALPHA | | | 18.70% DCTCP-HALVE-CWND | | | 0.06% We see that, without halving its cwnd for all source of losses, DCTCP drives the AQM to large drop probabilities in order to keep the queue length under control (i.e., it repeatedly faces RTOs). Instead, if DCTCP reacts to all source of losses, it can then be controlled by the AQM using similar drop levels than cubic or reno. Signed-off-by:Koen De Schepper <koen.de_schepper@nokia-bell-labs.com> Signed-off-by:
Olivier Tilmans <olivier.tilmans@nokia-bell-labs.com> Cc: Bob Briscoe <research@bobbriscoe.net> Cc: Lawrence Brakmo <brakmo@fb.com> Cc: Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de> Cc: Daniel Borkmann <borkmann@iogearbox.net> Cc: Yuchung Cheng <ycheng@google.com> Cc: Neal Cardwell <ncardwell@google.com> Cc: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com> Cc: Andrew Shewmaker <agshew@gmail.com> Cc: Glenn Judd <glenn.judd@morganstanley.com> Acked-by:
Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de> Acked-by:
Neal Cardwell <ncardwell@google.com> Acked-by:
Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net> Signed-off-by:
David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
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