CBQ(8)				     Linux				CBQ(8)



NAME
       CBQ - Class Based Queueing

SYNOPSIS
       tc  qdisc  ... dev dev ( parent classid | root) [ handle major: ] cbq [
       allot bytes ] avpkt bytes bandwidth rate [ cell bytes ] [ ewma log ]  [
       mpu bytes ]

       tc  class  ... dev dev parent major:[minor] [ classid major:minor ] cbq
       allot bytes [ bandwidth rate ] [ rate rate ]  prio  priority  [	weight
       weight  ] [ minburst packets ] [ maxburst packets ] [ ewma log ] [ cell
       bytes ] avpkt bytes [ mpu bytes ] [ bounded isolated ] [ split handle &
       defmap defmap ] [ estimator interval timeconstant ]


DESCRIPTION
       Class  Based  Queueing  is  a  classful	qdisc  that  implements a rich
       linksharing hierarchy of classes. It contains shaping elements as  well
       as prioritizing capabilities. Shaping is performed using link idle time
       calculations based on the timing of dequeue events and underlying  link
       bandwidth.


SHAPING ALGORITHM
       When  shaping  a	 10mbit/s connection to 1mbit/s, the link will be idle
       90% of the time. If it isn't, it needs to be throttled so  that	it  IS
       idle 90% of the time.

       During operations, the effective idletime is measured using an exponen-
       tial weighted moving average (EWMA), which considers recent packets  to
       be exponentially more important than past ones. The Unix loadaverage is
       calculated in the same way.

       The calculated idle time is subtracted from the EWMA measured one,  the
       resulting  number  is  called 'avgidle'. A perfectly loaded link has an
       avgidle of zero: packets arrive exactly at the calculated interval.

       An overloaded link has a negative avgidle and if it gets too  negative,
       CBQ throttles and is then 'overlimit'.

       Conversely,  an	idle link might amass a huge avgidle, which would then
       allow infinite bandwidths after a few  hours  of	 silence.  To  prevent
       this, avgidle is capped at maxidle.

       If  overlimit, in theory, the CBQ could throttle itself for exactly the
       amount of time that was calculated to pass between  packets,  and  then
       pass  one  packet,  and	throttle  again.  Due to timer resolution con-
       straints, this may not be feasible, see the minburst parameter below.


CLASSIFICATION
       Within the one CBQ instance many	 classes  may  exist.  Each  of	 these
       classes contains another qdisc, by default tc-pfifo(8).

       When enqueueing a packet, CBQ starts at the root and uses various meth-
       ods to determine which class should receive the data.

       In the absence of uncommon configuration options, the process is rather
       easy.   At  each	 node  we  look for an instruction, and then go to the
       class the instruction refers us to. If the  class  found	 is  a	barren
       leaf-node (without children), we enqueue the packet there. If it is not
       yet a leaf node, we do the whole thing over again  starting  from  that
       node.

       The  following  actions	are performed, in order at each node we visit,
       until one sends us to another node, or terminates the process.

       (i)    Consult filters attached to the class. If sent to a leafnode, we
	      are done.	 Otherwise, restart.

       (ii)   Consult  the  defmap  for	 the priority assigned to this packet,
	      which depends on the TOS bits. Check if the  referral  is	 leaf-
	      less, otherwise restart.

       (iii)  Ask  the defmap for instructions for the 'best effort' priority.
	      Check the answer for leafness, otherwise restart.

       (iv)   If none of the above returned with an  instruction,  enqueue  at
	      this node.

       This  algorithm makes sure that a packet always ends up somewhere, even
       while you are busy building your configuration.

       For more details, see tc-cbq-details(8).


LINK SHARING ALGORITHM
       When dequeuing for sending to the network device, CBQ decides which  of
       its  classes  will be allowed to send. It does so with a Weighted Round
       Robin process in which each class with packets gets a chance to send in
       turn.  The  WRR	process	 starts by asking the highest priority classes
       (lowest numerically - highest semantically) for packets, and will  con-
       tinue to do so until they have no more data to offer, in which case the
       process repeats for lower priorities.

       Classes by default borrow bandwidth from their siblings. A class can be
       prevented  from	doing  so  by declaring it 'bounded'. A class can also
       indicate its unwillingness to lend out bandwidth by being 'isolated'.


QDISC
       The root of a CBQ qdisc class tree has the following parameters:


       parent major:minor | root
	      This  mandatory  parameter  determines  the  place  of  the  CBQ
	      instance, either at the root of an interface or within an exist-
	      ing class.

       handle major:
	      Like all other qdiscs, the CBQ can be assigned a handle.	Should
	      consist  only  of a major number, followed by a colon. Optional,
	      but very useful if classes will be generated within this qdisc.

       allot bytes
	      This allotment is the 'chunkiness' of link sharing and  is  used
	      for determining packet transmission time tables. The qdisc allot
	      differs slightly from the class allot discussed below. Optional.
	      Defaults to a reasonable value, related to avpkt.

       avpkt bytes
	      The  average size of a packet is needed for calculating maxidle,
	      and is also used for making  sure	 'allot'  has  a  safe	value.
	      Mandatory.

       bandwidth rate
	      To  determine the idle time, CBQ must know the bandwidth of your
	      underlying physical interface, or parent qdisc. This is a	 vital
	      parameter, more about it later. Mandatory.

       cell   The  cell	 size determines he granularity of packet transmission
	      time calculations. Has a sensible default.

       mpu    A zero sized packet may still take time to transmit. This	 value
	      is  the  lower  cap  for packet transmission time calculations -
	      packets smaller than this value are still deemed	to  have  this
	      size. Defaults to zero.

       ewma log
	      When  CBQ	 needs	to  measure  the average idle time, it does so
	      using an Exponentially Weighted Moving Average which smooths out
	      measurements  into a moving average. The EWMA LOG determines how
	      much smoothing occurs. Lower values imply	 greater  sensitivity.
	      Must be between 0 and 31. Defaults to 5.

       A CBQ qdisc does not shape out of its own accord. It only needs to know
       certain parameters about the underlying link. Actual shaping is done in
       classes.


CLASSES
       Classes have a host of parameters to configure their operation.


       parent major:minor
	      Place  of	 this class within the hierarchy. If attached directly
	      to a qdisc and not to  another  class,  minor  can  be  omitted.
	      Mandatory.

       classid major:minor
	      Like  qdiscs,  classes  can  be  named. The major number must be
	      equal to the major number of the	qdisc  to  which  it  belongs.
	      Optional, but needed if this class is going to have children.

       weight weight
	      When  dequeuing  to the interface, classes are tried for traffic
	      in a round-robin fashion. Classes with a higher configured qdisc
	      will  generally have more traffic to offer during each round, so
	      it makes sense to allow it to dequeue more traffic. All  weights
	      under  a	class  are  normalized,	 so  only  the	ratios matter.
	      Defaults to the configured rate, unless  the  priority  of  this
	      class is maximal, in which case it is set to 1.

       allot bytes
	      Allot  specifies	how many bytes a qdisc can dequeue during each
	      round of the process.  This  parameter  is  weighted  using  the
	      renormalized  class weight described above. Silently capped at a
	      minimum of 3/2 avpkt. Mandatory.


       prio priority
	      In the round-robin process, classes  with	 the  lowest  priority
	      field are tried for packets first. Mandatory.


       avpkt  See the QDISC section.


       rate rate
	      Maximum  rate  this class and all its children combined can send
	      at. Mandatory.


       bandwidth rate
	      This is different from the bandwidth specified when  creating  a
	      CBQ  disc! Only used to determine maxidle and offtime, which are
	      only calculated when specifying maxburst or minburst.  Mandatory
	      if specifying maxburst or minburst.


       maxburst
	      This number of packets is used to calculate maxidle so that when
	      avgidle is at maxidle, this number of  average  packets  can  be
	      burst before avgidle drops to 0. Set it higher to be more toler-
	      ant of bursts. You can't set maxidle  directly,  only  via  this
	      parameter.


       minburst
	      As mentioned before, CBQ needs to throttle in case of overlimit.
	      The ideal solution is to do so for exactly the  calculated  idle
	      time,  and pass 1 packet. However, Unix kernels generally have a
	      hard time scheduling events shorter than 10ms, so it  is	better
	      to  throttle for a longer period, and then pass minburst packets
	      in one go, and then sleep minburst times longer.

	      The time to wait is called the offtime. Higher  values  of  min-
	      burst  lead  to  more  accurate shaping in the long term, but to
	      bigger bursts at millisecond timescales. Optional.


       minidle
	      If avgidle is below 0, we are overlimits and need to wait	 until
	      avgidle will be big enough to send one packet. To prevent a sud-
	      den burst from shutting down the link for a prolonged period  of
	      time, avgidle is reset to minidle if it gets too low.

	      Minidle  is specified in negative microseconds, so 10 means that
	      avgidle is capped at -10us. Optional.


       bounded
	      Signifies that this class will not  borrow  bandwidth  from  its
	      siblings.

       isolated
	      Means that this class will not borrow bandwidth to its siblings


       split major:minor & defmap bitmap[/bitmap]
	      If  consulting  filters  attached to a class did not give a ver-
	      dict, CBQ can also classify  based  on  the  packet's  priority.
	      There are 16 priorities available, numbered from 0 to 15.

	      The  defmap  specifies  which  priorities	 this  class  wants to
	      receive, specified as a bitmap. The Least Significant Bit corre-
	      sponds  to priority zero. The split parameter tells CBQ at which
	      class the decision must be made, which should be a (grand)parent
	      of the class you are adding.

	      As  an example, 'tc class add ... classid 10:1 cbq .. split 10:0
	      defmap c0' configures class 10:0 to send packets with priorities
	      6 and 7 to 10:1.

	      The complimentary configuration would then be: 'tc class add ...
	      classid 10:2 cbq ... split 10:0 defmap 3f' Which would send  all
	      packets 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 to 10:1.

       estimator interval timeconstant
	      CBQ can measure how much bandwidth each class is using, which tc
	      filters can use to classify packets with. In order to  determine
	      the bandwidth it uses a very simple estimator that measures once
	      every interval microseconds how much traffic  has	 passed.  This
	      again  is	 a EWMA, for which the time constant can be specified,
	      also in microseconds. The time constant corresponds to the slug-
	      gishness	of  the measurement or, conversely, to the sensitivity
	      of the average to short bursts. Higher values mean  less	sensi-
	      tivity.


BUGS
       The actual bandwidth of the underlying link may not be known, for exam-
       ple in the case of PPoE or PPTP connections which in fact may send over
       a  pipe,	 instead  of over a physical device. CBQ is quite resilient to
       major errors in the  configured	bandwidth,  probably  a	 the  cost  of
       coarser shaping.

       Default kernels rely on coarse timing information for making decisions.
       These may make shaping precise in the long term, but inaccurate on sec-
       ond long scales.

       See tc-cbq-details(8) for hints on how to improve this.


SOURCES
       o      Sally Floyd and Van Jacobson, "Link-sharing and Resource Manage-
	      ment Models for Packet Networks", IEEE/ACM Transactions on  Net-
	      working, Vol.3, No.4, 1995


       o      Sally Floyd, "Notes on CBQ and Guaranteed Service", 1995


       o      Sally  Floyd,  "Notes  on	 Class-Based Queueing: Setting Parame-
	      ters", 1996


       o      Sally Floyd and Michael Speer, "Experimental Results for	Class-
	      Based Queueing", 1998, not published.




SEE ALSO
       tc(8)


AUTHOR
       Alexey N. Kuznetsov, <kuznet@ms2.inr.ac.ru>. This manpage maintained by
       bert hubert <ahu@ds9a.nl>



iproute2		       16 December 2001				CBQ(8)