When cwnd is not a multiple of the TSO skb size of N*MSS, we can get
into persistent scenarios where we have the following sequence:
(1) ACK for full-sized skb of N*MSS arrives
-> tcp_write_xmit() transmit full-sized skb with N*MSS
-> move pacing release time forward
-> exit tcp_write_xmit() because pacing time is in the future
(2) TSQ callback or TCP internal pacing timer fires
-> try to transmit next skb, but TSO deferral finds remainder of
available cwnd is not big enough to trigger an immediate send
now, so we defer sending until the next ACK.
(3) repeat...
So we can get into a case where we never mark ourselves as
cwnd-limited for many seconds at a time, even with
bulk/infinite-backlog senders, because:
o In case (1) above, every time in tcp_write_xmit() we have enough
cwnd to send a full-sized skb, we are not fully using the cwnd
(because cwnd is not a multiple of the TSO skb size). So every time we
send data, we are not cwnd limited, and so in the cwnd-limited
tracking code in tcp_cwnd_validate() we mark ourselves as not
cwnd-limited.
o In case (2) above, every time in tcp_write_xmit() that we try to
transmit the "remainder" of the cwnd but defer, we set the local
variable is_cwnd_limited to true, but we do not send any packets, so
sent_pkts is zero, so we don't call the cwnd-limited logic to update
tp->is_cwnd_limited.
Fixes: ca8a226343 ("tcp: make cwnd-limited checks measurement-based, and gentler")
Reported-by: Ingemar Johansson <ingemar.s.johansson@ericsson.com>
Signed-off-by: Neal Cardwell <ncardwell@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Yuchung Cheng <ycheng@google.com>
Acked-by: Soheil Hassas Yeganeh <soheil@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20201209035759.1225145-1-ncardwell.kernel@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
299bcb55ec