> On 20 May, 2016, at 17:42, Kathleen Nichols <nich...@pollere.com> wrote:
> 
>> How big a problem is this in the real world? ARe we working on a
>> theoretical problem, or something that is actually hurting people?
> 
> The above seems like it should be the FIRST thing to consider.

Fragmented packets *are* a real-world problem, IMHO, in that iperf3 in UDP mode 
produces lots of them by default, and hardware vendors tend to use tools like 
iperf3 UDP (in a Faraday cage, no less) to demonstrate the throughput of their 
new kit.  Historically, that’s been the method which produces the biggest and 
most impressive numbers, because there is almost no reverse traffic contending 
for airtime.

Currently fq_codel does a *really bad* job of showing high iperf3 UDP numbers, 
even though it shows very good real-world TCP performance, and that is likely 
to severely put off hardware vendors from deploying fq_codel by default - 
because it’s not the TCP goodput numbers that they like to use for marketing.

And that’s a real-world problem when increasing AQM deployment is a real-world 
goal.

However, I think the relatively straightforward fix of isolating fragmented 
packets (including the initial fragment, in which the transport header remains 
visible) only by addresses should be sufficient.  This will keep the different 
parts of each packet together (to the extent they were together on ingress) and 
allow more of them to be successfully reassembled, allowing iperf3 to show 
numbers closer to the no-AQM case.  I’ve already described why it should be 
sufficient for real-world traffic as well.

Reassembling fragmented packets would also work, provided they are only 
re-fragmented *after* passing through the qdisc, but carries dangers of its own 
due to the resources required for reassembly.  Presently those costs are borne 
by the receiving host, which is in a better position to do so.

 - Jonathan Morton

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