Packet Sets

A packet set is a 2 MB chunk of packet buffers being used by an Onload application. An application might use buffers from a single set or from several sets depending on its complexity and packet buffer requirements.

With an aim to further reduce TLB thrashing and eliminate packets drops, Onload will try to reuse buffers from the same set.

The onload_stackdump lots command will report on the current use of packets sets. For example:

$ onload_stackdump lots | grep pkt_set

  pkt_sets: pkt_size=2048 set_size=1024 max=32 alloc=2
  pkt_set[0]: free=544
  pkt_set[1]: free=442 current

In the above output there are two packet sets, the counters identify the number of free packet buffers in each set and identify the set currently being used.

The packet sets feature is not available to user applications using the ef_vi layer directly.