xref: /illumos-gate/usr/src/man/man9e/mc_tx.9e (revision 42b53e0fbc5c05289c3d334bb864b784fafe5ce4)
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12.\" Copyright (c) 2017, Joyent, Inc.
13.\" Copyright 2022 Oxide Computer Company
14.\"
15.Dd December 11, 2022
16.Dt MC_TX 9E
17.Os
18.Sh NAME
19.Nm mc_tx ,
20.Nm mri_tx
21.Nd transmit a message block chain
22.Sh SYNOPSIS
23.In sys/mac_provider.h
24.Ft "mblk_t *"
25.Fo prefix_m_tx
26.Fa "void *driver"
27.Fa "mblk_t *mp_chain"
28.Fc
29.Ft "mblk_t *"
30.Fo prefix_ring_tx
31.Fa "void *driver_rh"
32.Fa "mblk_t *mp_chain"
33.Fc
34.Sh INTERFACE LEVEL
35illumos DDI specific
36.Pp
37The
38.Fn mri_tx
39entry point is
40.Sy Uncommitted -
41API and ABI stability is not guaranteed.
42.Sh PARAMETERS
43.Bl -tag -width Fa
44.It Fa driver
45A pointer to the driver's private data that was passed in via the
46.Fa m_pdata
47member of the
48.Xr mac_register 9S
49structure to the
50.Xr mac_register 9F
51function.
52.It Fa driver_rh
53A pointer to the driver's private data for the ring that was passed in
54via the
55.Fa mri_driver
56member of the
57.Xr mac_ring_info 9S
58structure.
59This is initialized by the driver when its
60.Xr mr_rget 9E
61is called by MAC.
62.It Fa mp_chain
63A series of
64.Xr mblk 9S
65structures that may have multiple independent packets linked together on
66their
67.Fa b_next
68member.
69.El
70.Sh DESCRIPTION
71The
72.Fn mc_tx
73entry point is called when the system requires a device driver to
74transmit data.
75The device driver will receive a chain of message blocks.
76The
77.Fa mp_chain
78argument represents the first frame.
79The frame may be spread out across one or more
80.Xr mblk 9S
81structures that are linked together by the
82.Fa b_cont
83member.
84There may be multiple frames, linked together by the
85.Fa b_next
86pointer of the
87.Xr mblk 9S .
88.Pp
89For each frame, the driver should allocate the required resources and
90prepare it for being transmitted on the wire.
91The driver may opt to copy those resources to a DMA buffer or it may bind them.
92For more information on these options, see the
93.Sx MBLKS AND DMA
94section of
95.Xr mac 9E .
96.Pp
97As it processes each frame in the chain, if the device driver has
98advertised either of the
99.Dv MAC_CAPAB_HCKSUM
100or
101.Dv MAC_CAPAB_LSO
102flags, it must check whether either apply for the given frame using the
103.Xr mac_hcksum_get 9F
104and
105.Xr mac_lso_get 9F
106functions respectively.
107If either is enabled for the given frame, the hardware must arrange for that to
108be taken care of.
109.Pp
110For each frame that the device driver processes it is responsible for
111doing one of three things with it:
112.Bl -enum
113.It
114Transmit the frame.
115.It
116Drop the frame by calling
117.Xr freemsg 9F
118on the individual mblk_t.
119.It
120Return the frames to indicate that resources are not available.
121.El
122.Pp
123The device driver is in charge of the memory associated with
124.Fa mp_chain .
125If the device driver does not return the message blocks to the MAC
126framework, then it must call
127.Xr freemsg 9F
128on the frames.
129If it does not, the memory associated with them will be leaked.
130When a frame is being transmitted, if the device driver performed DMA binding,
131it should not free the message block until after it is guaranteed that the frame
132has been transmitted.
133If the message block was copied to a DMA buffer, then it is allowed to call
134.Xr freemsg 9F
135at any point.
136.Pp
137In general, the device driver should not drop frames without
138transmitting them unless it has no other choice.
139Times when this happens may include the device driver being in a state where it
140can't transmit, an error was found in the frame while trying to establish the
141checksum or LSO state, or some other kind of error that represents an issue with
142the passed frame.
143.Pp
144The device driver should not free the chain when it does not have enough
145resources.
146For example, if entries in a device's descriptor ring fill up, then it should
147not drop those frames and instead should return all of the frames that were not
148transmitted.
149This indicates to the stack that the device is full and that flow control should
150be asserted.
151Back pressure will be applied to the rest of the stack, allowing most systems
152to behave better.
153.Pp
154Once a device driver has returned unprocessed frames from its
155.Fn mc_tx
156entry point, then the device driver will not receive any additional
157calls to its
158.Fn mc_tx
159entry point until it calls the
160.Xr mac_tx_update 9F
161function to indicate that resources are available again.
162Note that because it is the device driver that is calling this function to
163indicate resources are available, it is very important that it only return
164frames in cases where the device driver itself will be notified that resources
165are available again.
166For example, when it receives an interrupt indicating that the data that it
167transmitted has been completed so it can use entries in its descriptor ring or
168other data structures again.
169.Pp
170The device driver can obtain access to its soft state through the
171.Fa driver
172member.
173It should cast it to the appropriate structure.
174The device driver should employ any necessary locking to access the transmit
175related data structures.
176Note that the device driver should expect that it may have its transmit
177endpoints called into from other threads while it's servicing device interrupts
178related to them.
179.Pp
180The
181.Fn mri_tx
182entry point is similar to the
183.Fn mc_tx
184entry point, except that it is used by device drivers that have
185negotiated the
186.Dv MAC_CAPAB_RINGS
187capability with transmit rings.
188The driver should follow all of the same rules described earlier, except
189that it will access a ring-specific data structure through
190.Fa driver_rh
191and when it needs to update that there is additional space available, it
192must use
193.Xr mac_tx_ring_update 9F
194and not
195.Xr mac_tx_update 9F .
196.Pp
197When the
198.Fn mri_tx
199entry point is called, the ring that should be used has been specified.
200The driver must not attempt to use any other ring than the one specified
201by
202.Fa driver_rh
203for any reason, including a lack of resources or an attempt to perform
204its own hashing.
205.Sh CONTEXT
206The
207.Fn mc_tx
208entry point may be called from
209.Sy kernel
210or
211.Sy interrupt
212context.
213.Sh RETURN VALUES
214Upon successful completion, the device driver should return
215.Dv NULL .
216Otherwise, it should return all unprocessed message blocks and ensure
217that it calls either
218.Xr mac_tx_update 9F
219or
220.Xr mac_tx_ring_update 9F
221some time in the future.
222.Sh SEE ALSO
223.Xr mac 9E ,
224.Xr mac_capab_rings 9E ,
225.Xr mr_rget 9E ,
226.Xr freemsg 9F ,
227.Xr mac_hcksum_get 9F ,
228.Xr mac_lso_get 9F ,
229.Xr mac_register 9F ,
230.Xr mac_tx_ring_update 9F ,
231.Xr mac_tx_update 9F ,
232.Xr mac_register 9S ,
233.Xr mac_ring_info 9S ,
234.Xr mblk 9S
235