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

NAME
     mod_cc, DECLARE_CC_MODULE, CCV -- Modular Congestion Control

SYNOPSIS
     #include <netinet/tcp.h>
     #include <netinet/cc/cc.h>
     #include <netinet/cc/cc_module.h>

     DECLARE_CC_MODULE(ccname, ccalgo);

     CCV(ccv, what);

DESCRIPTION
     The mod_cc framework allows congestion control algorithms to be implemented
     as  dynamically loadable kernel modules via the kld(4) facility.  Transport
     protocols can select from the list of available algorithms on a connection-
     by-connection basis, or use the system default (see mod_cc(4) for more  de-
     tails).

     mod_cc modules are identified by an ascii(7) name and set of hook functions
     encapsulated in a struct cc_algo, which has the following members:

	   struct cc_algo {
		   char    name[TCP_CA_NAME_MAX];
		   int	   (*mod_init) (void);
		   int	   (*mod_destroy) (void);
		   size_t  (*cc_data_sz)(void);
		   int	   (*cb_init) (struct cc_var *ccv, void *ptr);
		   void    (*cb_destroy) (struct cc_var *ccv);
		   void    (*conn_init) (struct cc_var *ccv);
		   void    (*ack_received) (struct cc_var *ccv, uint16_t type);
		   void    (*cong_signal) (struct cc_var *ccv, uint32_t type);
		   void    (*post_recovery) (struct cc_var *ccv);
		   void    (*after_idle) (struct cc_var *ccv);
		   int	   (*ctl_output)(struct cc_var *, struct sockopt *, void *);
		   void    (*rttsample)(struct cc_var *, uint32_t, uint32_t, uint32_t);
		   void    (*newround)(struct cc_var *, uint32_t);
	   };

     The  name	field identifies the unique name of the algorithm, and should be
     no longer than TCP_CA_NAME_MAX-1 characters in length (the  TCP_CA_NAME_MAX
     define lives in <netinet/tcp.h> for compatibility reasons).

     The mod_init function is called when a new module is loaded into the system
     but  before the registration process is complete.	It should be implemented
     if a module needs to set up some global state prior to being available  for
     use  by  new  connections.   Returning  a non-zero value from mod_init will
     cause the loading of the module to fail.

     The mod_destroy function is called prior to unloading  an	existing  module
     from  the	kernel.   It should be implemented if a module needs to clean up
     any global state before being removed from the kernel.  The return value is
     currently ignored.

     The cc_data_sz function is called by the socket option code to get the size
     of data that the cb_init function needs.  The socket option code then  pre-
     allocates	the  modules  memory  so that the cb_init function will not fail
     (the socket option code uses M_WAITOK with no locks held to do this).

     The cb_init function is called when a TCP control	block  struct  tcpcb  is
     created.  It should be implemented if a module needs to allocate memory for
     storing  private  per-connection  state.	Returning  a non-zero value from
     cb_init will cause the connection set up to  be  aborted,	terminating  the
     connection  as a result.  Note that the ptr argument passed to the function
     should be checked to see if it is non-NULL, if so it is preallocated memory
     that the cb_init function must use instead of calling malloc itself.

     The cb_destroy function is called when a TCP control block struct tcpcb  is
     destroyed.  It should be implemented if a module needs to free memory allo-
     cated in cb_init.

     The conn_init function is called when a new connection has been established
     and  variables  are  being  initialised.	It should be implemented to ini-
     tialise congestion control algorithm variables for  the  newly  established
     connection.

     The ack_received function is called when a TCP acknowledgement (ACK) packet
     is received.  Modules use the type argument as an input to their congestion
     management  algorithms.   The ACK types currently reported by the stack are
     CC_ACK and CC_DUPACK.  CC_ACK indicates the received ACK acknowledges  pre-
     viously unacknowledged data.  CC_DUPACK indicates the received ACK acknowl-
     edges data we have already received an ACK for.

     The  cong_signal  function is called when a congestion event is detected by
     the TCP stack.  Modules use the type argument as an input to their  conges-
     tion  management algorithms.  The congestion event types currently reported
     by the stack are CC_ECN, CC_RTO, CC_RTO_ERR and CC_NDUPACK.  CC_ECN is  re-
     ported  when  the	TCP  stack  receives an explicit congestion notification
     (RFC3168).  CC_RTO is reported  when  the	retransmission	time  out  timer
     fires.   CC_RTO_ERR  is reported if the retransmission time out timer fired
     in error.	CC_NDUPACK is reported if N duplicate ACKs  have  been	received
     back-to-back,  where  N is the fast retransmit duplicate ack threshold (N=3
     currently as per RFC5681).

     The post_recovery function is called after the TCP connection has recovered
     from a congestion event.  It should be implemented to adjust state  as  re-
     quired.

     The  after_idle function is called when data transfer resumes after an idle
     period.  It should be implemented to adjust state as required.

     The ctl_output function is called when getsockopt(2)  or  setsockopt(2)  is
     called on a tcp(4) socket with the struct sockopt pointer forwarded unmodi-
     fied from the TCP control, and a void * pointer to algorithm specific argu-
     ment.

     The rttsample function is called to pass round trip time information to the
     congestion  controller.   The  additional arguments to the function include
     the microsecond RTT that is being noted, the number of times that the  data
     being  acknowledged  was  retransmitted  as well as the flightsize at send.
     For transports that do not track flightsize at send, this variable will  be
     the current cwnd at the time of the call.

     The  newround  function  is  called each time a new round trip time begins.
     The montonically increasing round number is also passed to  the  congestion
     controller  as  well.  This can be used for various purposes by the conges-
     tion controller (e.g Hystart++).

     Note that currently not all TCP stacks  call  the	rttsample  and	newround
     function  so dependency on these functions is also dependent upon which TCP
     stack is in use.

     The DECLARE_CC_MODULE() macro provides a convenient wrapper around the  DE-
     CLARE_MODULE(9)  macro,  and  is  used to register a mod_cc module with the
     mod_cc framework.	The ccname argument specifies the  module's  name.   The
     ccalgo argument points to the module's struct cc_algo.

     mod_cc  modules must instantiate a struct cc_algo, but are only required to
     set the name field, and optionally any of the function pointers.  Note that
     if a module defines the cb_init function it also must define  a  cc_data_sz
     function.	 This is because when switching from one congestion control mod-
     ule to another the socket option  code  will  preallocate	memory	for  the
     cb_init  function.   If  no memory is allocated by the modules cb_init then
     the cc_data_sz function should return 0.

     The stack will skip calling any function pointer which is NULL, so there is
     no requirement to implement any of the function pointers (with  the  excep-
     tion  of the cb_init <-> cc_data_sz dependency noted above).  Using the C99
     designated initialiser feature to set fields is encouraged.

     Each function pointer which deals with congestion control state is passed a
     pointer to a struct cc_var, which has the following members:

	   struct cc_var {
		   void 	   *cc_data;
		   int		   bytes_this_ack;
		   tcp_seq	   curack;
		   uint32_t	   flags;
		   int		   type;
		   union ccv_container {
			   struct tcpcb 	   *tcp;
			   struct sctp_nets	   *sctp;
		   } ccvc;
		   uint16_t	   nsegs;
		   uint8_t	   labc;
	   };

     struct cc_var groups congestion control related variables	into  a  single,
     embeddable structure and adds a layer of indirection to accessing transport
     protocol  control	blocks.   The  eventual goal is to allow a single set of
     mod_cc modules to be shared between all congestion aware  transport  proto-
     cols, though currently only tcp(4) is supported.

     To  aid  the eventual transition towards this goal, direct use of variables
     from the transport protocol's  data  structures  is  strongly  discouraged.
     However,  it is inevitable at the current time to require access to some of
     these variables, and so the CCV() macro exists as a  convenience  accessor.
     The  ccv  argument  points to the struct cc_var passed into the function by
     the mod_cc framework.  The what argument specifies the name of the variable
     to access.

     Apart from the type and  ccv_container  fields,  the  remaining  fields  in
     struct cc_var are for use by mod_cc modules.

     The cc_data field is available for algorithms requiring additional per-con-
     nection  state to attach a dynamic memory pointer to.  The memory should be
     allocated and attached in the module's cb_init hook function.

     The bytes_this_ack field specifies the number of new bytes acknowledged  by
     the   most  recently  received  ACK  packet.   It	is  only  valid  in  the
     ack_received hook function.

     The curack field specifies the sequence number of	the  most  recently  re-
     ceived  ACK  packet.  It is only valid in the ack_received, cong_signal and
     post_recovery hook functions.

     The flags field is used to pass useful information  from  the  stack  to  a
     mod_cc  module.   The CCF_ABC_SENTAWND flag is relevant in ack_received and
     is set when appropriate byte counting  (RFC3465)  has  counted  a	window's
     worth  of	bytes has been sent.  It is the module's responsibility to clear
     the flag after it has processed the signal.  The CCF_CWND_LIMITED	flag  is
     relevant  in  ack_received and is set when the connection's ability to send
     data is currently constrained by the value of the congestion window.  Algo-
     rithms should use the absence of this flag being set to avoid  accumulating
     a large difference between the congestion window and send window.

     The  nsegs variable is used to pass in how much compression was done by the
     local LRO system.	So for example if LRO pushed three in-order acknowledge-
     ments into one acknowledgement the variable would be set to three.

     The labc variable is used in conjunction with the CCF_USE_LOCAL_ABC flag to
     override what labc variable the congestion controller  will  use  for  this
     particular acknowledgement.

SEE ALSO
     cc_cdg(4),   cc_chd(4),  cc_cubic(4),  cc_dctcp(4),  cc_hd(4),  cc_htcp(4),
     cc_newreno(4), cc_vegas(4), mod_cc(4), tcp(4)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
     Development and testing of this software were  made  possible  in	part  by
     grants  from  the	FreeBSD Foundation and Cisco University Research Program
     Fund at Community Foundation Silicon Valley.

FUTURE WORK
     Integrate with sctp(4).

HISTORY
     The  modular  Congestion  Control	(CC)   framework   first   appeared   in
     FreeBSD 9.0.

     The  framework was first released in 2007 by James Healy and Lawrence Stew-
     art whilst working on the NewTCP research project at  Swinburne  University
     of Technology's Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures, Melbourne, Aus-
     tralia,  which  was made possible in part by a grant from the Cisco Univer-
     sity Research Program Fund at Community Foundation  Silicon  Valley.   More
     details are available at:

     http://caia.swin.edu.au/urp/newtcp/

AUTHORS
     The   mod_cc   framework	was   written	by   Lawrence	Stewart  <lstew-
     art@FreeBSD.org>,	 James	 Healy	 <jimmy@deefa.com>   and   David   Hayes
     <david.hayes@ieee.org>.

     This  manual  page  was  written  by David Hayes <david.hayes@ieee.org> and
     Lawrence Stewart <lstewart@FreeBSD.org>.

FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly	  May 13, 2021			       MOD_CC(9)

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