batch packets

inside.go

@@ -9,8 +9,75 @@ import (
 	"github.com/slackhq/nebula/iputil"
 	"github.com/slackhq/nebula/noiseutil"
 	"github.com/slackhq/nebula/routing"
+	"github.com/slackhq/nebula/udp"
 )
 
+// consumeInsidePacketBatched is a variant of consumeInsidePacket that queues
+// outgoing packets into pendingPackets instead of sending them immediately.
+// The caller is responsible for flushing pendingPackets with WriteBatch.
+func (f *Interface) consumeInsidePacketBatched(packet []byte, fwPacket *firewall.Packet, nb, out []byte, q int, localCache firewall.ConntrackCache, pendingPackets *[]udp.BatchPacket) {
+	err := newPacket(packet, false, fwPacket)
+	if err != nil {
+		if f.l.Level >= logrus.DebugLevel {
+			f.l.WithField("packet", packet).Debugf("Error while validating outbound packet: %s", err)
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Ignore local broadcast packets
+	if f.dropLocalBroadcast {
+		if f.myBroadcastAddrsTable.Contains(fwPacket.RemoteAddr) {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+
+	if f.myVpnAddrsTable.Contains(fwPacket.RemoteAddr) {
+		if immediatelyForwardToSelf {
+			_, err := f.readers[q].Write(packet)
+			if err != nil {
+				f.l.WithError(err).Error("Failed to forward to tun")
+			}
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Ignore multicast packets
+	if f.dropMulticast && fwPacket.RemoteAddr.IsMulticast() {
+		return
+	}
+
+	hostinfo, ready := f.getOrHandshakeConsiderRouting(fwPacket, func(hh *HandshakeHostInfo) {
+		hh.cachePacket(f.l, header.Message, 0, packet, f.sendMessageNow, f.cachedPacketMetrics)
+	})
+
+	if hostinfo == nil {
+		f.rejectInside(packet, out, q)
+		if f.l.Level >= logrus.DebugLevel {
+			f.l.WithField("vpnAddr", fwPacket.RemoteAddr).
+				WithField("fwPacket", fwPacket).
+				Debugln("dropping outbound packet, vpnAddr not in our vpn networks or in unsafe networks")
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
+	if !ready {
+		return
+	}
+
+	dropReason := f.firewall.Drop(*fwPacket, false, hostinfo, f.pki.GetCAPool(), localCache)
+	if dropReason == nil {
+		f.sendNoMetricsBatched(header.Message, 0, hostinfo.ConnectionState, hostinfo, netip.AddrPort{}, packet, nb, out, q, pendingPackets)
+	} else {
+		f.rejectInside(packet, out, q)
+		if f.l.Level >= logrus.DebugLevel {
+			hostinfo.logger(f.l).
+				WithField("fwPacket", fwPacket).
+				WithField("reason", dropReason).
+				Debugln("dropping outbound packet")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func (f *Interface) consumeInsidePacket(packet []byte, fwPacket *firewall.Packet, nb, out []byte, q int, localCache firewall.ConntrackCache) {
 	err := newPacket(packet, false, fwPacket)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -69,7 +136,6 @@ func (f *Interface) consumeInsidePacket(packet []byte, fwPacket *firewall.Packet
 	dropReason := f.firewall.Drop(*fwPacket, false, hostinfo, f.pki.GetCAPool(), localCache)
 	if dropReason == nil {
 		f.sendNoMetrics(header.Message, 0, hostinfo.ConnectionState, hostinfo, netip.AddrPort{}, packet, nb, out, q)
-
 	} else {
 		f.rejectInside(packet, out, q)
 		if f.l.Level >= logrus.DebugLevel {
@@ -410,3 +476,75 @@ func (f *Interface) sendNoMetrics(t header.MessageType, st header.MessageSubType
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// sendNoMetricsBatched is like sendNoMetrics but queues the packet for batched sending
+// instead of sending immediately. The caller must flush pendingPackets with WriteBatch.
+func (f *Interface) sendNoMetricsBatched(t header.MessageType, st header.MessageSubType, ci *ConnectionState, hostinfo *HostInfo, remote netip.AddrPort, p, nb, out []byte, q int, pendingPackets *[]udp.BatchPacket) {
+	if ci.eKey == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	useRelay := !remote.IsValid() && !hostinfo.remote.IsValid()
+	fullOut := out
+
+	if useRelay {
+		if len(out) < header.Len {
+			out = out[:header.Len]
+		}
+		out = out[header.Len:]
+	}
+
+	if noiseutil.EncryptLockNeeded {
+		ci.writeLock.Lock()
+	}
+	c := ci.messageCounter.Add(1)
+
+	out = header.Encode(out, header.Version, t, st, hostinfo.remoteIndexId, c)
+	f.connectionManager.Out(hostinfo)
+
+	if t != header.CloseTunnel && hostinfo.lastRebindCount != f.rebindCount {
+		f.lightHouse.QueryServer(hostinfo.vpnAddrs[0])
+		hostinfo.lastRebindCount = f.rebindCount
+		if f.l.Level >= logrus.DebugLevel {
+			f.l.WithField("vpnAddrs", hostinfo.vpnAddrs).Debug("Lighthouse update triggered for punch due to rebind counter")
+		}
+	}
+
+	var err error
+	out, err = ci.eKey.EncryptDanger(out, out, p, c, nb)
+	if noiseutil.EncryptLockNeeded {
+		ci.writeLock.Unlock()
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		hostinfo.logger(f.l).WithError(err).
+			WithField("udpAddr", remote).WithField("counter", c).
+			WithField("attemptedCounter", c).
+			Error("Failed to encrypt outgoing packet")
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Queue the packet for batched sending
+	var addr netip.AddrPort
+	if remote.IsValid() {
+		addr = remote
+	} else if hostinfo.remote.IsValid() {
+		addr = hostinfo.remote
+	} else {
+		// Relay path - send immediately, not batched
+		for _, relayIP := range hostinfo.relayState.CopyRelayIps() {
+			relayHostInfo, relay, err := f.hostMap.QueryVpnAddrsRelayFor(hostinfo.vpnAddrs, relayIP)
+			if err != nil {
+				hostinfo.relayState.DeleteRelay(relayIP)
+				hostinfo.logger(f.l).WithField("relay", relayIP).WithError(err).Info("sendNoMetricsBatched failed to find HostInfo")
+				continue
+			}
+			f.SendVia(relayHostInfo, relay, out, nb, fullOut[:header.Len+len(out)], true)
+			break
+		}
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Copy the payload since the buffer will be reused
+	payload := make([]byte, len(out))
+	copy(payload, out)
+	*pendingPackets = append(*pendingPackets, udp.BatchPacket{Payload: payload, Addr: addr})
+}

interface.go

@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ type InterfaceConfig struct {
 
 	ConntrackCacheTimeout time.Duration
 	l                     *logrus.Logger
+
+	tunBatchSize int // batch size for TUN read/write batching, 0 to disable
 }
 
 type Interface struct {
@@ -86,8 +88,9 @@ type Interface struct {
 
 	conntrackCacheTimeout time.Duration
 
-	writers []udp.Conn
-	readers []io.ReadWriteCloser
+	writers      []udp.Conn
+	readers      []io.ReadWriteCloser
+	tunBatchSize int // batch size for TUN read/write batching
 
 	metricHandshakes    metrics.Histogram
 	messageMetrics      *MessageMetrics
@@ -187,6 +190,7 @@ func NewInterface(ctx context.Context, c *InterfaceConfig) (*Interface, error) {
 		relayManager:          c.relayManager,
 		connectionManager:     c.connectionManager,
 		conntrackCacheTimeout: c.ConntrackCacheTimeout,
+		tunBatchSize:          c.tunBatchSize,
 
 		metricHandshakes: metrics.GetOrRegisterHistogram("handshakes", nil, metrics.NewExpDecaySample(1028, 0.015)),
 		messageMetrics:   c.MessageMetrics,
@@ -244,6 +248,15 @@ func (f *Interface) activate() {
 		f.readers[i] = reader
 	}
 
+	// Enable batch reading on all readers if batch size > 1
+	if f.tunBatchSize > 1 {
+		for i := 0; i < f.routines; i++ {
+			if err := overlay.EnableBatchReading(f.readers[i]); err != nil {
+				f.l.WithError(err).WithField("routine", i).Warn("Failed to enable batch reading, falling back to single reads")
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	if err := f.inside.Activate(); err != nil {
 		f.inside.Close()
 		f.l.Fatal(err)
@@ -287,13 +300,21 @@ func (f *Interface) listenOut(i int) {
 func (f *Interface) listenIn(reader io.ReadWriteCloser, i int) {
 	runtime.LockOSThread()
 
+	conntrackCache := firewall.NewConntrackCacheTicker(f.conntrackCacheTimeout)
+
+	// Check if batch reading is available and enabled
+	batchReader := overlay.AsBatchReader(reader)
+	if batchReader != nil && f.tunBatchSize > 1 {
+		f.listenInBatched(reader, batchReader, i, conntrackCache)
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Fallback to single-packet reading
 	packet := make([]byte, mtu)
 	out := make([]byte, mtu)
 	fwPacket := &firewall.Packet{}
 	nb := make([]byte, 12, 12)
 
-	conntrackCache := firewall.NewConntrackCacheTicker(f.conntrackCacheTimeout)
-
 	for {
 		n, err := reader.Read(packet)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -310,6 +331,54 @@ func (f *Interface) listenIn(reader io.ReadWriteCloser, i int) {
 	}
 }
 
+func (f *Interface) listenInBatched(reader io.ReadWriteCloser, batchReader overlay.BatchReader, i int, conntrackCache *firewall.ConntrackCacheTicker) {
+	batchSize := f.tunBatchSize
+
+	// Pre-allocate buffers for batch reading
+	packets := make([][]byte, batchSize)
+	for j := range packets {
+		packets[j] = make([]byte, mtu)
+	}
+	sizes := make([]int, batchSize)
+
+	// Pre-allocate buffers for packet processing
+	out := make([]byte, mtu)
+	fwPacket := &firewall.Packet{}
+	nb := make([]byte, 12, 12)
+
+	// Pre-allocate buffer for batched UDP writes
+	pendingPackets := make([]udp.BatchPacket, 0, batchSize)
+
+	for {
+		// Read a batch of packets from TUN
+		n, err := batchReader.ReadBatch(packets, sizes)
+		if err != nil {
+			if errors.Is(err, os.ErrClosed) && f.closed.Load() {
+				return
+			}
+
+			f.l.WithError(err).Error("Error while reading outbound packets")
+			os.Exit(2)
+		}
+
+		if n == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Process all packets in the batch
+		cache := conntrackCache.Get(f.l)
+		for j := 0; j < n; j++ {
+			f.consumeInsidePacketBatched(packets[j][:sizes[j]], fwPacket, nb, out, i, cache, &pendingPackets)
+		}
+
+		// Flush all pending UDP writes
+		if len(pendingPackets) > 0 {
+			f.writers[i].WriteBatch(pendingPackets)
+			pendingPackets = pendingPackets[:0]
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func (f *Interface) RegisterConfigChangeCallbacks(c *config.C) {
 	c.RegisterReloadCallback(f.reloadFirewall)
 	c.RegisterReloadCallback(f.reloadSendRecvError)

main.go

@@ -250,6 +250,7 @@ func Main(c *config.C, configTest bool, buildVersion string, logger *logrus.Logg
 		punchy:                punchy,
 		ConntrackCacheTimeout: conntrackCacheTimeout,
 		l:                     l,
+		tunBatchSize:          c.GetInt("listen.batch", 64),
 	}
 
 	var ifce *Interface

overlay/device.go

@@ -16,3 +16,38 @@ type Device interface {
 	SupportsMultiqueue() bool
 	NewMultiQueueReader() (io.ReadWriteCloser, error)
 }
+
+// BatchReader is an optional interface that devices can implement
+// to support reading multiple packets in a single batch operation.
+// This can significantly reduce syscall overhead under high load.
+type BatchReader interface {
+	// ReadBatch reads up to len(packets) packets into the provided buffers.
+	// Each packet is read into packets[i] and its length is stored in sizes[i].
+	// Returns the number of packets read, or an error.
+	// A return of (0, nil) indicates no packets were available (non-blocking).
+	ReadBatch(packets [][]byte, sizes []int) (int, error)
+}
+
+// AsBatchReader returns a BatchReader if the reader supports batch operations,
+// otherwise returns nil.
+func AsBatchReader(r io.ReadWriteCloser) BatchReader {
+	if br, ok := r.(BatchReader); ok {
+		return br
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// BatchEnabler is an optional interface for devices that need explicit
+// enabling of batch read support (e.g., setting non-blocking mode).
+type BatchEnabler interface {
+	EnableBatchReading() error
+}
+
+// EnableBatchReading enables batch reading on the device if supported.
+// Returns nil if the device doesn't support or need explicit enabling.
+func EnableBatchReading(d interface{}) error {
+	if be, ok := d.(BatchEnabler); ok {
+		return be.EnableBatchReading()
+	}
+	return nil
+}