Elastic Compute Service:TCP-RT configurations

Principle

The following figure shows different phases when TCP-RT is used for a connection that carries one concurrent request and response.

In the preceding figure, the Nth request sent by the client to the server is displayed as ReqN. The request is composed of the ReqN-1 and ReqN-2 data packets. The time when the server receives the first packet is recorded as T0 and the time when the second packet is received is recorded as T1. The server processes the received request and sends the RspN-1 and RspN-2 response packets to the client. The time when the server sends the first response packet is recorded as T2. When the client receives a response packet, it sends an acknowledgement (ACK) message to the server. The time when the server receives the final ACK message is recorded as T3.

Information output

Output formats

• Log file format
  In log files, each column of a record corresponds to a different set of information. The following figure shows an example of a log file. The following section describes the parameters from left to right as recorded in the figure.

  • The version number. In this example, the version number is V6.
  • The scenario record identifier. The identifiers are divided into five types: R, E, W, N, and P.
    • R: An R record is generated for the TCP connection when a request is received by the local server and a response is sent.
    • E: An E record is generated when the connection is closed.
    • W: A W record is generated when the connection is closed during data transmission.
    • N: An N record is generated when the connection is closed during data reception.
    • P: A P record is generated for the TCP connection when the local server sends a request to the peer server and a response is sent.
  • The seconds portion of the start time of the task.
  • The microseconds portion of the start time of the task.
  • The peer IP address of the TCP connection.
  • The peer port of the TCP connection.
  • The local IP address of the TCP connection.
  • The local port of the TCP connection.
  The preceding parameters are followed by different parameters in different scenarios. The following table describes the parameters.

  Scenario record identifier	Parameter
  R	An R record records the normal startup and shutdown of a task. Each TCP connection can have multiple R records. The amount of data sent by the task. Unit: bytes. The duration of the task, which is the interval between the time when the TCP service receives a request from the client and the time when the ACK message is received from the client. Unit: μs. The minimum TCP round trip time (RTT) for the task. Unit: μs. The number of TCP segments retransmitted by the task. The sequence number of the task. After a TCP connection is established, the sequence number of the first task is 1. The latency of the task, which is the interval between the time when the final request segment is received and the time when the first response segment is sent. Unit: μs. The latency for sending request segments of the task, which is the interval between the time when the final request segment is received and the time when the final request segment is received. Unit: μs. The amount of data received by the task. Unit: bytes. Specifies whether unordered reception occurs during the task. A value of 1 indicates that unordered reception occurs, and a value of 0 indicates that unordered reception did not occur. The TCP maximum segment length (MSS) used during the task. Unit: bytes.
  P	A P record records the normal startup and shutdown of a task. Each TCP connection can have multiple P records. P is a new record type in V6 and indicates the request information from the client. This record is available only when the pports or pports_range option is configured. The amount of data sent by the task. Unit: bytes. The duration of the task. The task starts when the local server sends data and ends when the local server receives the final response from the peer end. Unit: μs. The minimum TCP RTT for the task. Unit: μs. The number of TCP segments retransmitted by the task. The sequence number of the task. After a TCP connection is established, the sequence number of the first task is 1. The service time of the task. It is the period that starts when the request is sent and ends when the first response is received. Unit: μs. The amount of time during which the response for the task are received, which is from the time when the first response packet is received to the time when the final response packet is received. Unit: μs. The total size of the response packets received by the task. Unit: bytes. Specifies whether unordered reception occurs during the task. A value of 1 indicates that unordered reception occurs, and a value of 0 indicates that unordered reception did not occur. The TCP MSS used during the task. Unit: bytes.
  E	An E record records information of a closed TCP connection. Each closed TCP connection has an E record. TCP connections that have the pports or pports_range option configured also have this record. The sequence number of the final task. The amount of data sent during the TCP connection lifecycle. Unit: bytes. The amount of data for which the TCP connection has sent a response but has not received the ACK message. A value of 0 indicates that no such data exists. Unit: bytes. The amount of data received during the TCP connection lifecycle. Unit: bytes. The number of TCP segments retransmitted by the task. The minimum TCP RTT in the TCP lifecycle. Unit: μs.
  N	An N record records information about a TCP connection that is closed when the task is requesting response segments. Each TCP connection may have one N record or none. The sequence number of the final task. The duration of the final task. Only the receiving time is available because the connection is closed. Unit: μs. The amount of data received during the TCP connection lifecycle. Unit: bytes. Specifies whether unordered reception occurs during the task. A value of 1 indicates that unordered reception occurs, and a value of 0 indicates that unordered reception did not occur. The TCP MSS used during the task. Unit: bytes.
  W	A W record records information about a TCP connection that is closed when the task is responding to request segments. Each TCP connection may have one W record or none. The amount of data sent in the response of the final task. Unit: bytes. The duration of the final task. The receiving time is incomplete because the connection is closed. Unit: μs. The minimum TCP RTT for the final task. Unit: μs. The number of TCP segments retransmitted by the final task. The sequence number of the final task. The latency of the final task. Unit: μs. The latency for sending request segments of the final task. Unit: μs. The amount of data for which the final task has sent a response but has not received the ACK message. A value of 0 indicates that no such data exists. Unit: bytes. The TCP MSS used during the final task. Unit: bytes.

  Note If the connection was closed normally, the snd_nxt value is deducted from the amount of data sent by the final task. However, if the connection was closed in an abnormal manner, for example, if a reset packet is received after a task is complete and the connection is ended by responding to reset, the actual amount of data sent is one byte larger than the displayed value. Typically, parameter values related to the amount of data sent by a task are correct, and the margin of error is only one byte.
• stats file format

  The following section describes the parameters from left to right as recorded:

  • The timestamp encoded at the time the record was generated.
  • The reserved field. Valid value: all.
  • The port number.
  • The average value of the total time taken by tasks recorded in R records.
  • The average latency of tasks recorded in R records.
  • The number of packets lost per 1,000 packets.
  • The average value of RTT. Unit: μs.
  • The number of tasks closed per 1,000 tasks in the data sent by requests.
  • The average size of data sent by tasks.
  • The average latency for sending requests of tasks.
  • The average amount of data received by tasks.
  • The number of tasks.

Operations

You can perform the following operations to use TCP-RP:

1. Load and configure a module.
   You can use one of the following methods to load and configure a module:

   • Configure the parameters when you load the module.

     Example: modprobe tcp_rt lports=80.

   • Load the module and then configure the parameters.
     1. Run the following command to load the module:

        modprobe tcp_rt

     2. After the module is loaded, run a command and configure the parameters in the /sys/module/tcp_rt/parameters/ directory. The following table describes the parameters and corresponding command configurations.

        Parameter	Description	Default value	Command configuration
        stats	Specifies whether to generate stats files. A value of 0 indicates that stats files are generated, and a value of 1 indicates that stats files are not generated.	0	echo 0 > stats
        stats_interval	The interval at which to generate stats files. Unit: seconds.	60	echo 60 > stats_interval
        lports	The local server ports for collecting data. A maximum of six ports can be specified.	None	echo 80,800,8080 > lports
        pports	The peer port of the TCP connection.	None	echo 80,800,8080 > pports
        lports_range	The local server port range. Set a start port number and an end port number to specify a port range. Examples: port 80 to port 200, and port 1000 to port 2000.	None	echo 80,100,1000,2000 >lports_range
        pports_range	The peer port range of the TCP connection. Set a start port number and an end port number to specify a port range. Examples: port 80 to port 200, and port 1000 to port 2000.	None	echo 80,100,1000,2000 >pports_range
        log_buf_num	The number of buffers. The maximum size of a log file is log_buf_num * 256 k. This parameter can be configured only when you load the module.	8	modprobe tcp_rt log_buf_num=10
        stats_buf_num	The number of buffers. The maximum size of a stats file is stats_buf_num * 16 k. This parameter can be configured only when you load the module.	8	modprobe tcp_rt stats_buf_num=10

2. Uninstall the module.
   1. Run the following command to disable the tcp-rt module to ensure that no new connections use TCP-RT:

      echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tcp-rt/deactivate

   2. Run the following command to ensure that no connections are using the tcp-rt module:

      lsmod

      If Used by in the tcp-rt module is displayed as 0, no connections are using the tcp-rt module.
   3. When no connections are using the tcp-rt module, run the following command to uninstall the tcp-rt module:

      rmmod tcp_rt