The h_ertt Khelp module works within the khelp(9) framework to provide TCP with a per-connection, low
noise estimate of the instantaneous RTT. The implementation attempts to be robust in the face of delayed
acknowledgements, TCP Segmentation Offload (TSO), receivers who manipulate TCP timestamps and lack of the
TCP timestamp option altogether.
TCP receivers using delayed acknowledgements either acknowledge every second packet (reflecting the time
stamp of the first) or use a timeout to trigger the acknowledgement if no second packet arrives. If the
heuristic used by h_ertt determines that the receiver is using delayed acknowledgements, it measures the
RTT using the second packet (the one that triggers the acknowledgement). It does not measure the RTT if
the acknowledgement is for the first packet, since it cannot be accurately determined.
When TSO is in use, h_ertt will momentarily disable TSO whilst marking a packet to use for a new
measurement. The process has negligible impact on the connection.
h_ertt associates the following struct with each connection's TCP control block:
struct ertt {
TAILQ_HEAD(txseginfo_head, txseginfo) txsegi_q; /* Private. */
long bytes_tx_in_rtt; /* Private. */
long bytes_tx_in_marked_rtt;
unsigned long marked_snd_cwnd;
int rtt;
int maxrtt;
int minrtt;
int dlyack_rx; /* Private. */
int timestamp_errors; /* Private. */
int markedpkt_rtt; /* Private. */
uint32_t flags;
};
The fields marked as private should not be manipulated by any code outside of the h_ertt implementation.
The non-private fields provide the following data:
bytes_tx_in_marked_rtt The number of bytes transmitted in the markedpkt_rtt.
marked_snd_cwnd The value of cwnd for the marked rtt measurement.
rtt The most recent RTT measurement.
maxrtt The longest RTT measurement that has been taken.
minrtt The shortest RTT measurement that has been taken.
flags The ERTT_NEW_MEASUREMENT flag will be set by the implementation when a new
measurement is available. It is the responsibility of h_ertt consumers to
unset the flag if they wish to use it as a notification method for new
measurements.