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ALTQ(9) 		    Kernel Developer's Manual			 ALTQ(9)

NAME
     ALTQ  -- kernel interfaces for manipulating output queues on network inter-
     faces

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <sys/socket.h>
     #include <net/if.h>
     #include <net/if_var.h>

   Enqueue macros
     IFQ_ENQUEUE(struct ifaltq *ifq, struct mbuf *m, int error);

     IFQ_HANDOFF(struct ifnet *ifp, struct mbuf *m, int error);

     IFQ_HANDOFF_ADJ(struct ifnet *ifp, struct mbuf *m, int adjust, int error);

   Dequeue macros
     IFQ_DEQUEUE(struct ifaltq *ifq, struct mbuf *m);

     IFQ_POLL_NOLOCK(struct ifaltq *ifq, struct mbuf *m);

     IFQ_PURGE(struct ifaltq *ifq);

     IFQ_IS_EMPTY(struct ifaltq *ifq);

   Driver managed dequeue macros
     IFQ_DRV_DEQUEUE(struct ifaltq *ifq, struct mbuf *m);

     IFQ_DRV_PREPEND(struct ifaltq *ifq, struct mbuf *m);

     IFQ_DRV_PURGE(struct ifaltq *ifq);

     IFQ_DRV_IS_EMPTY(struct ifaltq *ifq);

   General setup macros
     IFQ_SET_MAXLEN(struct ifaltq *ifq, int len);

     IFQ_INC_LEN(struct ifaltq *ifq);

     IFQ_DEC_LEN(struct ifaltq *ifq);

     IFQ_INC_DROPS(struct ifaltq *ifq);

     IFQ_SET_READY(struct ifaltq *ifq);

DESCRIPTION
     The ALTQ system is a framework to manage queuing disciplines on network in-
     terfaces.	ALTQ introduces new macros to  manipulate  output  queues.   The
     output  queue macros are used to abstract queue operations and not to touch
     the internal fields of the output queue structure.  The macros are indepen-
     dent from the ALTQ implementation,  and  compatible  with	the  traditional
     ifqueue macros for ease of transition.

     IFQ_ENQUEUE(),  IFQ_HANDOFF()  and  IFQ_HANDOFF_ADJ() enqueue a packet m to
     the queue ifq.  The underlying queuing discipline may discard  the  packet.
     The error argument is set to 0 on success, or ENOBUFS if the packet is dis-
     carded.   The  packet pointed to by m will be freed by the device driver on
     success, or by the queuing discipline on failure, so the caller should  not
     touch  m  after enqueuing.  IFQ_HANDOFF() and IFQ_HANDOFF_ADJ() combine the
     enqueue operation with statistic generation and call if_start()  upon  suc-
     cessful enqueue to initiate the actual send.

     IFQ_DEQUEUE() dequeues a packet from the queue.  The dequeued packet is re-
     turned in m, or m is set to NULL if no packet is dequeued.  The caller must
     always  check m since a non-empty queue could return NULL under rate-limit-
     ing.

     IFQ_POLL_NOLOCK() returns the next packet	without  removing  it  from  the
     queue.  The caller must hold the queue mutex when calling IFQ_POLL_NOLOCK()
     in  order	to  guarantee that a subsequent call to IFQ_DEQUEUE_NOLOCK() de-
     queues the same packet.

     IFQ_*_NOLOCK() variants (if available) always assume that the caller  holds
     the  queue  mutex.   They	can be grabbed with IFQ_LOCK() and released with
     IFQ_UNLOCK().

     IFQ_PURGE() discards all the packets in the queue.  The purge operation  is
     needed  since  a  non-work  conserving queue cannot be emptied by a dequeue
     loop.

     IFQ_IS_EMPTY() can be used to check if  the  queue  is  empty.   Note  that
     IFQ_DEQUEUE() could still return NULL if the queuing discipline is non-work
     conserving.

     IFQ_DRV_DEQUEUE() moves up to ifq->ifq_drv_maxlen packets from the queue to
     the "driver managed" queue and returns the first one via m.  As for IFQ_DE-
     QUEUE(),  m  can  be  NULL even for a non-empty queue.  Subsequent calls to
     IFQ_DRV_DEQUEUE() pass the packets from the "driver managed" queue  without
     obtaining	the queue mutex.  It is the responsibility of the caller to pro-
     tect against concurrent access.  Enabling	ALTQ  for  a  given  queue  sets
     ifq_drv_maxlen  to  0  as the "bulk dequeue" performed by IFQ_DRV_DEQUEUE()
     for higher values of ifq_drv_maxlen is adverse to ALTQ's  internal  timing.
     Note that a driver must not mix IFQ_DRV_*() macros with the default dequeue
     macros  as  the  default  macros  do not look at the "driver managed" queue
     which might lead to an mbuf leak.

     IFQ_DRV_PREPEND() prepends m to the "driver managed" queue  from  where  it
     will be obtained with the next call to IFQ_DRV_DEQUEUE().

     IFQ_DRV_PURGE() flushes all packets in the "driver managed" queue and calls
     to IFQ_PURGE() afterwards.

     IFQ_DRV_IS_EMPTY()  checks  for packets in the "driver managed" part of the
     queue.  If it is empty, it forwards to IFQ_IS_EMPTY().

     IFQ_SET_MAXLEN() sets the queue length limit to  the  default  FIFO  queue.
     The ifq_drv_maxlen member of the ifaltq structure controls the length limit
     of the "driver managed" queue.

     IFQ_INC_LEN()  and  IFQ_DEC_LEN()	increment or decrement the current queue
     length in packets.  This is mostly for internal purposes.

     IFQ_INC_DROPS() increments the drop counter and is identical to  IF_DROP().
     It is defined for naming consistency only.

     IFQ_SET_READY()  sets a flag to indicate that a driver was converted to use
     the new macros.  ALTQ can be enabled only on interfaces with this flag.

COMPATIBILITY
   ifaltq structure
     In order to keep compatibility with the existing code, the new output queue
     structure ifaltq has the same fields.  The traditional  IF_*()  macros  and
     the  code	directly  referencing  the  fields within if_snd still work with
     ifaltq.

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      struct ifqueue {			    | struct ifaltq {
	 struct mbuf *ifq_head; 	    |	 struct mbuf *ifq_head;
	 struct mbuf *ifq_tail; 	    |	 struct mbuf *ifq_tail;
	 int	      ifq_len;		    |	 int	      ifq_len;
	 int	      ifq_maxlen;	    |	 int	      ifq_maxlen;
      };				    |	 /* driver queue fields */
					    |	 ......
					    |	 /* altq related fields */
					    |	 ......
					    | };
					    |
     The new structure replaces struct ifqueue in struct ifnet.

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      struct ifnet {			    | struct ifnet {
	  ....				    |	  ....
					    |
	  struct ifqueue if_snd;	    |	  struct ifaltq if_snd;
					    |
	  ....				    |	  ....
      };				    | };
					    |
     The (simplified) new IFQ_*() macros look like:

	     #define IFQ_DEQUEUE(ifq, m)		     \
		     if (ALTQ_IS_ENABLED((ifq)) 	     \
			     ALTQ_DEQUEUE((ifq), (m));	     \
		     else				     \
			     IF_DEQUEUE((ifq), (m));

   Enqueue operation
     The semantics of the enqueue operation is changed.  In the new  style,  en-
     queue and packet drop are combined since they cannot be easily separated in
     many  queuing  disciplines.   The	new enqueue operation corresponds to the
     following macro that is written with the old macros.

     #define IFQ_ENQUEUE(ifq, m, error) 		     \
     do {						     \
	     if (IF_QFULL((ifq))) {			     \
		     m_freem((m));			     \
		     (error) = ENOBUFS; 		     \
		     IF_DROP(ifq);			     \
	     } else {					     \
		     IF_ENQUEUE((ifq), (m));		     \
		     (error) = 0;			     \
	     }						     \
     } while (0)

     IFQ_ENQUEUE() does the following:

     -	 queue a packet,
     -	 drop (and free) a packet if the enqueue operation fails.

     If the enqueue operation fails, error is set to ENOBUFS.	The  m	mbuf  is
     freed  by	the  queuing discipline.  The caller should not touch mbuf after
     calling IFQ_ENQUEUE() so that the caller may need to copy	m_pkthdr.len  or
     m_flags  field  beforehand  for  statistics.   IFQ_HANDOFF()  and IFQ_HAND-
     OFF_ADJ() can be used if only default interface statistics and an immediate
     call to if_start() are desired.  The caller should not use senderr()  since
     mbuf was already freed.

     The new style if_output() looks as follows:

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      int				    | int
      ether_output(ifp, m0, dst, rt0)	    | ether_output(ifp, m0, dst, rt0)
      { 				    | {
	  ......			    |	  ......
					    |
					    |	  mflags = m->m_flags;
					    |	  len = m->m_pkthdr.len;
	  s = splimp(); 		    |	  s = splimp();
	  if (IF_QFULL(&ifp->if_snd)) {     |	  IFQ_ENQUEUE(&ifp->if_snd, m,
					    |		      error);
	      IF_DROP(&ifp->if_snd);	    |	  if (error != 0) {
	      splx(s);			    |	      splx(s);
	      senderr(ENOBUFS); 	    |	      return (error);
	  }				    |	  }
	  IF_ENQUEUE(&ifp->if_snd, m);	    |
	  ifp->if_obytes +=		    |	  ifp->if_obytes += len;
			 m->m_pkthdr.len;   |
	  if (m->m_flags & M_MCAST)	    |	  if (mflags & M_MCAST)
	      ifp->if_omcasts++;	    |	      ifp->if_omcasts++;
					    |
	  if ((ifp->if_flags & IFF_OACTIVE) |	  if ((ifp->if_flags & IFF_OACTIVE)
	      == 0)			    |	      == 0)
	      (*ifp->if_start)(ifp);	    |	      (*ifp->if_start)(ifp);
	  splx(s);			    |	  splx(s);
	  return (error);		    |	  return (error);
					    |
      bad:				    | bad:
	  if (m)			    |	  if (m)
	      m_freem(m);		    |	      m_freem(m);
	  return (error);		    |	  return (error);
      } 				    | }
					    |

HOW TO CONVERT THE EXISTING DRIVERS
     First,  make sure the corresponding if_output() is already converted to the
     new style.

     Look for if_snd in the driver.  Probably, you need to make changes  to  the
     lines that include if_snd.

   Empty check operation
     If  the  code checks ifq_head to see whether the queue is empty or not, use
     IFQ_IS_EMPTY().

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      if (ifp->if_snd.ifq_head != NULL)     | if (!IFQ_IS_EMPTY(&ifp->if_snd))
					    |
     IFQ_IS_EMPTY() only checks if there is any  packet  stored  in  the  queue.
     Note  that even when IFQ_IS_EMPTY() is FALSE, IFQ_DEQUEUE() could still re-
     turn NULL if the queue is under rate-limiting.

   Dequeue operation
     Replace IF_DEQUEUE() by IFQ_DEQUEUE().  Always check whether  the	dequeued
     mbuf  is NULL or not.  Note that even when IFQ_IS_EMPTY() is FALSE, IFQ_DE-
     QUEUE() could return NULL due to rate-limiting.

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      IF_DEQUEUE(&ifp->if_snd, m);	    | IFQ_DEQUEUE(&ifp->if_snd, m);
					    | if (m == NULL)
					    |	  return;
					    |
     A driver is supposed to call if_start() from transmission	complete  inter-
     rupts in order to trigger the next dequeue.

   Poll-and-dequeue operation
     If the code polls the packet at the head of the queue and actually uses the
     packet before dequeuing it, use IFQ_POLL_NOLOCK() and IFQ_DEQUEUE_NOLOCK().

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
					    | IFQ_LOCK(&ifp->if_snd);
      m = ifp->if_snd.ifq_head; 	    | IFQ_POLL_NOLOCK(&ifp->if_snd, m);
      if (m != NULL) {			    | if (m != NULL) {
					    |
	  /* use m to get resources */	    |	  /* use m to get resources */
	  if (something goes wrong)	    |	  if (something goes wrong)
					    |	      IFQ_UNLOCK(&ifp->if_snd);
	      return;			    |	      return;
					    |
	  IF_DEQUEUE(&ifp->if_snd, m);	    |	  IFQ_DEQUEUE_NOLOCK(&ifp->if_snd, m);
					    |	  IFQ_UNLOCK(&ifp->if_snd);
					    |
	  /* kick the hardware */	    |	  /* kick the hardware */
      } 				    | }
					    |
     It  is guaranteed that IFQ_DEQUEUE_NOLOCK() under the same lock as a previ-
     ous IFQ_POLL_NOLOCK() returns the same packet.  Note that they need  to  be
     guarded by IFQ_LOCK().

   Eliminating IF_PREPEND()
     If  the code uses IF_PREPEND(), you have to eliminate it unless you can use
     a "driver managed" queue which allows the use  of	IFQ_DRV_PREPEND()  as  a
     substitute.   A  common usage of IF_PREPEND() is to cancel the previous de-
     queue operation.  You have to convert the logic into poll-and-dequeue.

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
					    | IFQ_LOCK(&ifp->if_snd);
      IF_DEQUEUE(&ifp->if_snd, m);	    | IFQ_POLL_NOLOCK(&ifp->if_snd, m);
      if (m != NULL) {			    | if (m != NULL) {
					    |
	  if (something_goes_wrong) {	    |	  if (something_goes_wrong) {
	      IF_PREPEND(&ifp->if_snd, m);  |	      IFQ_UNLOCK(&ifp->if_snd);
	      return;			    |	      return;
	  }				    |	  }
					    |
					    |	  /* at this point, the driver
					    |	   * is committed to send this
					    |	   * packet.
					    |	   */
					    |	  IFQ_DEQUEUE_NOLOCK(&ifp->if_snd, m);
					    |	  IFQ_UNLOCK(&ifp->if_snd);
					    |
	  /* kick the hardware */	    |	  /* kick the hardware */
      } 				    | }
					    |

   Purge operation
     Use IFQ_PURGE() to empty the queue.  Note that a non-work conserving  queue
     cannot be emptied by a dequeue loop.

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      while (ifp->if_snd.ifq_head != NULL) {|  IFQ_PURGE(&ifp->if_snd);
	  IF_DEQUEUE(&ifp->if_snd, m);	    |
	  m_freem(m);			    |
      } 				    |
					    |

   Conversion using a driver managed queue
     Convert   IF_*()	macros	 to  their  equivalent	IFQ_DRV_*()  and  employ
     IFQ_DRV_IS_EMPTY() where appropriate.

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      if (ifp->if_snd.ifq_head != NULL)     | if (!IFQ_DRV_IS_EMPTY(&ifp->if_snd))
					    |
     Make  sure  that  calls   to   IFQ_DRV_DEQUEUE(),	 IFQ_DRV_PREPEND()   and
     IFQ_DRV_PURGE() are protected with a mutex of some kind.

   Attach routine
     Use  IFQ_SET_MAXLEN()  to set ifq_maxlen to len.  Initialize ifq_drv_maxlen
     with a sensible value if you plan	to  use  the  IFQ_DRV_*()  macros.   Add
     IFQ_SET_READY()  to  show this driver is converted to the new style.  (This
     is used to distinguish new-style drivers.)

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      ifp->if_snd.ifq_maxlen = qsize;	    | IFQ_SET_MAXLEN(&ifp->if_snd, qsize);
					    | ifp->if_snd.ifq_drv_maxlen = qsize;
					    | IFQ_SET_READY(&ifp->if_snd);
      if_attach(ifp);			    | if_attach(ifp);
					    |

   Other issues
     The new macros for statistics:

		 ##old-style##				 ##new-style##
					    |
      IF_DROP(&ifp->if_snd);		    | IFQ_INC_DROPS(&ifp->if_snd);
					    |
      ifp->if_snd.ifq_len++;		    | IFQ_INC_LEN(&ifp->if_snd);
					    |
      ifp->if_snd.ifq_len--;		    | IFQ_DEC_LEN(&ifp->if_snd);
					    |

QUEUING DISCIPLINES
     Queuing disciplines need to  maintain  ifq_len  (used  by	IFQ_IS_EMPTY()).
     Queuing  disciplines  also need to guarantee that the same mbuf is returned
     if IFQ_DEQUEUE() is called immediately after IFQ_POLL().

SEE ALSO
     pf(4), pf.conf(5), pfctl(8)

HISTORY
     The ALTQ system first appeared in March 1997 and found  home  in  the  KAME
     project (https://www.kame.net).  It was imported to FreeBSD in 5.3 .

FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly	 March 20, 2018 			 ALTQ(9)

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