Ubuntu Manpage: skbprio - SKB Priority Queue

Provided by: iproute2_6.1.0-1ubuntu2_amd64

NAME

       skbprio - SKB Priority Queue

SYNOPSIS

       tc qdisc ... add skbprio [ limit packets ]

DESCRIPTION

SKB Priority Queue is a queueing discipline intended to prioritize the most important
packets during a denial-of-service ( DoS ) attack. The priority of a packet is given by
skb->priority , where a higher value places the packet closer to the exit of the queue.
When the queue is full, the lowest priority packet in the queue is dropped to make room
for the packet to be added if it has higher priority. If the packet to be added has lower
priority than all packets in the queue, it is dropped.

Without SKB priority queue, queue length limits must be imposed on individual sub-queues,
and there is no straightforward way to enforce a global queue length limit across all
priorities. SKBprio queue enforces a global queue length limit while not restricting the
lengths of individual sub-queues.

While SKB Priority Queue is agnostic to how skb->priority is assigned. A typical use case
is to copy the 6-bit DS field of IPv4 and IPv6 packets using tc-skbedit(8). If
skb->priority is greater or equal to 64, the priority is assumed to be 63. Priorities
less than 64 are taken at face value.

SKB Priority Queue enables routers to locally decide which packets to drop under a DoS
attack. Priorities should be assigned to packets such that the higher the priority, the
more expected behavior a source shows. So sources have an incentive to play by the rules.

ALGORITHM

       Skbprio maintains 64 lists (priorities go from 0 to 63).  When a packet  is  enqueued,  it
       gets  inserted at the tail of its priority list. When a packet needs to be sent out to the
       network, it is taken from the head of the highest priority list. When the queue  is  full,
       the  packet at the tail of the lowest priority list is dropped to serve the ingress packet
       - if it is of higher priority, otherwise the ingress packet  is  dropped.  This  algorithm
       allocates as much bandwidth as possible to high priority packets, while only servicing low
       priority packets when there is enough bandwidth.

PARAMETERS

       limit  Maximum queue size specified in packets. It defaults to 64.   The  range  for  this
              parameter is [0, UINT32_MAX].

AUTHORS