1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 2 3===================== 4Multipath TCP (MPTCP) 5===================== 6 7Introduction 8============ 9 10Multipath TCP or MPTCP is an extension to the standard TCP and is described in 11`RFC 8684 (MPTCPv1) <https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc8684.html>`_. It allows a 12device to make use of multiple interfaces at once to send and receive TCP 13packets over a single MPTCP connection. MPTCP can aggregate the bandwidth of 14multiple interfaces or prefer the one with the lowest latency. It also allows a 15fail-over if one path is down, and the traffic is seamlessly reinjected on other 16paths. 17 18For more details about Multipath TCP in the Linux kernel, please see the 19official website: `mptcp.dev <https://www.mptcp.dev>`_. 20 21 22Use cases 23========= 24 25Thanks to MPTCP, being able to use multiple paths in parallel or simultaneously 26brings new use-cases, compared to TCP: 27 28- Seamless handovers: switching from one path to another while preserving 29 established connections, e.g. to be used in mobility use-cases, like on 30 smartphones. 31- Best network selection: using the "best" available path depending on some 32 conditions, e.g. latency, losses, cost, bandwidth, etc. 33- Network aggregation: using multiple paths at the same time to have a higher 34 throughput, e.g. to combine fixed and mobile networks to send files faster. 35 36 37Concepts 38======== 39 40Technically, when a new socket is created with the ``IPPROTO_MPTCP`` protocol 41(Linux-specific), a *subflow* (or *path*) is created. This *subflow* consists of 42a regular TCP connection that is used to transmit data through one interface. 43Additional *subflows* can be negotiated later between the hosts. For the remote 44host to be able to detect the use of MPTCP, a new field is added to the TCP 45*option* field of the underlying TCP *subflow*. This field contains, amongst 46other things, a ``MP_CAPABLE`` option that tells the other host to use MPTCP if 47it is supported. If the remote host or any middlebox in between does not support 48it, the returned ``SYN+ACK`` packet will not contain MPTCP options in the TCP 49*option* field. In that case, the connection will be "downgraded" to plain TCP, 50and it will continue with a single path. 51 52This behavior is made possible by two internal components: the path manager, and 53the packet scheduler. 54 55Path Manager 56------------ 57 58The Path Manager is in charge of *subflows*, from creation to deletion, and also 59address announcements. Typically, it is the client side that initiates subflows, 60and the server side that announces additional addresses via the ``ADD_ADDR`` and 61``REMOVE_ADDR`` options. 62 63Path managers are controlled by the ``net.mptcp.pm_type`` sysctl knob -- see 64mptcp-sysctl.rst. There are two types: the in-kernel one (type ``0``) where the 65same rules are applied for all the connections (see: ``ip mptcp``) ; and the 66userspace one (type ``1``), controlled by a userspace daemon (i.e. `mptcpd 67<https://mptcpd.mptcp.dev/>`_) where different rules can be applied for each 68connection. The path managers can be controlled via a Netlink API; see 69netlink_spec/mptcp_pm.rst. 70 71To be able to use multiple IP addresses on a host to create multiple *subflows* 72(paths), the default in-kernel MPTCP path-manager needs to know which IP 73addresses can be used. This can be configured with ``ip mptcp endpoint`` for 74example. 75 76Packet Scheduler 77---------------- 78 79The Packet Scheduler is in charge of selecting which available *subflow(s)* to 80use to send the next data packet. It can decide to maximize the use of the 81available bandwidth, only to pick the path with the lower latency, or any other 82policy depending on the configuration. 83 84Packet schedulers are controlled by the ``net.mptcp.scheduler`` sysctl knob -- 85see mptcp-sysctl.rst. 86 87 88Sockets API 89=========== 90 91Creating MPTCP sockets 92---------------------- 93 94On Linux, MPTCP can be used by selecting MPTCP instead of TCP when creating the 95``socket``: 96 97.. code-block:: C 98 99 int sd = socket(AF_INET(6), SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_MPTCP); 100 101Note that ``IPPROTO_MPTCP`` is defined as ``262``. 102 103If MPTCP is not supported, ``errno`` will be set to: 104 105- ``EINVAL``: (*Invalid argument*): MPTCP is not available, on kernels < 5.6. 106- ``EPROTONOSUPPORT`` (*Protocol not supported*): MPTCP has not been compiled, 107 on kernels >= v5.6. 108- ``ENOPROTOOPT`` (*Protocol not available*): MPTCP has been disabled using 109 ``net.mptcp.enabled`` sysctl knob; see mptcp-sysctl.rst. 110 111MPTCP is then opt-in: applications need to explicitly request it. Note that 112applications can be forced to use MPTCP with different techniques, e.g. 113``LD_PRELOAD`` (see ``mptcpize``), eBPF (see ``mptcpify``), SystemTAP, 114``GODEBUG`` (``GODEBUG=multipathtcp=1``), etc. 115 116Switching to ``IPPROTO_MPTCP`` instead of ``IPPROTO_TCP`` should be as 117transparent as possible for the userspace applications. 118 119Socket options 120-------------- 121 122MPTCP supports most socket options handled by TCP. It is possible some less 123common options are not supported, but contributions are welcome. 124 125Generally, the same value is propagated to all subflows, including the ones 126created after the calls to ``setsockopt()``. eBPF can be used to set different 127values per subflow. 128 129There are some MPTCP specific socket options at the ``SOL_MPTCP`` (284) level to 130retrieve info. They fill the ``optval`` buffer of the ``getsockopt()`` system 131call: 132 133- ``MPTCP_INFO``: Uses ``struct mptcp_info``. 134- ``MPTCP_TCPINFO``: Uses ``struct mptcp_subflow_data``, followed by an array of 135 ``struct tcp_info``. 136- ``MPTCP_SUBFLOW_ADDRS``: Uses ``struct mptcp_subflow_data``, followed by an 137 array of ``mptcp_subflow_addrs``. 138- ``MPTCP_FULL_INFO``: Uses ``struct mptcp_full_info``, with one pointer to an 139 array of ``struct mptcp_subflow_info`` (including the 140 ``struct mptcp_subflow_addrs``), and one pointer to an array of 141 ``struct tcp_info``, followed by the content of ``struct mptcp_info``. 142 143Note that at the TCP level, ``TCP_IS_MPTCP`` socket option can be used to know 144if MPTCP is currently being used: the value will be set to 1 if it is. 145 146 147Design choices 148============== 149 150A new socket type has been added for MPTCP for the userspace-facing socket. The 151kernel is in charge of creating subflow sockets: they are TCP sockets where the 152behavior is modified using TCP-ULP. 153 154MPTCP listen sockets will create "plain" *accepted* TCP sockets if the 155connection request from the client didn't ask for MPTCP, making the performance 156impact minimal when MPTCP is enabled by default. 157