tcp: Ensure DCTCP reacts to losses

tcp: Ensure DCTCP reacts to losses

RFC8257 §3.5 explicitly states that "A DCTCP sender MUST react to
loss episodes in the same way as conventional TCP".

Currently, Linux DCTCP performs no cwnd reduction when losses
are encountered. Optionally, the dctcp_clamp_alpha_on_loss resets
alpha to its maximal value if a RTO happens. This behavior
is sub-optimal for at least two reasons: i) it ignores losses
triggering fast retransmissions; and ii) it causes unnecessary large
cwnd reduction in the future if the loss was isolated as it resets
the historical term of DCTCP's alpha EWMA to its maximal value (i.e.,
denoting a total congestion). The second reason has an especially
noticeable effect when using DCTCP in high BDP environments, where
alpha normally stays at low values.

This patch replace the clamping of alpha by setting ssthresh to
half of cwnd for both fast retransmissions and RTOs, at most once
per RTT. Consequently, the dctcp_clamp_alpha_on_loss module parameter
has been removed.

The table below shows experimental results where we measured the
drop probability of a PIE AQM (not applying ECN marks) at a
bottleneck in the presence of a single TCP flow with either the
alpha-clamping option enabled or the cwnd halving proposed by this
patch. Results using reno or cubic are given for comparison.

                          |  Link   |   RTT    |    Drop
                 TCP CC   |  speed  | base+AQM | probability
        ==================|=========|==========|============
                    CUBIC |  40Mbps |  7+20ms  |    0.21%
                     RENO |         |          |    0.19%
        DCTCP-CLAMP-ALPHA |         |          |   25.80%
         DCTCP-HALVE-CWND |         |          |    0.22%
        ------------------|---------|----------|------------
                    CUBIC | 100Mbps |  7+20ms  |    0.03%
                     RENO |         |          |    0.02%
        DCTCP-CLAMP-ALPHA |         |          |   23.30%
         DCTCP-HALVE-CWND |         |          |    0.04%
        ------------------|---------|----------|------------
                    CUBIC | 800Mbps |   1+1ms  |    0.04%
                     RENO |         |          |    0.05%
        DCTCP-CLAMP-ALPHA |         |          |   18.70%
         DCTCP-HALVE-CWND |         |          |    0.06%

We see that, without halving its cwnd for all source of losses,
DCTCP drives the AQM to large drop probabilities in order to keep
the queue length under control (i.e., it repeatedly faces RTOs).
Instead, if DCTCP reacts to all source of losses, it can then be
controlled by the AQM using similar drop levels than cubic or reno.

Signed-off-by: Koen De Schepper <koen.de_schepper@nokia-bell-labs.com>
Signed-off-by: Olivier Tilmans <olivier.tilmans@nokia-bell-labs.com>
Cc: Bob Briscoe <research@bobbriscoe.net>
Cc: Lawrence Brakmo <brakmo@fb.com>
Cc: Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de>
Cc: Daniel Borkmann <borkmann@iogearbox.net>
Cc: Yuchung Cheng <ycheng@google.com>
Cc: Neal Cardwell <ncardwell@google.com>
Cc: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>
Cc: Andrew Shewmaker <agshew@gmail.com>
Cc: Glenn Judd <glenn.judd@morganstanley.com>
Acked-by: Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de>
Acked-by: Neal Cardwell <ncardwell@google.com>
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>