Chapter 36. Getting started with Multipath TCP

Procedure

1. Enable MPTCP sockets in the kernel:

   # echo "net.mptcp.enabled=1" > /etc/sysctl.d/90-enable-MPTCP.conf
   # sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/90-enable-MPTCP.conf

2. Start the iperf3 server, and force it to create MPTCP sockets instead of TCP sockets:

   # mptcpize run iperf3 -s
   
   Server listening on 5201

3. Connect the client to the server, and force it to create MPTCP sockets instead of TCP sockets:

   # mptcpize iperf3 -c 127.0.0.1 -t 3

4. After the connection is established, verify the ss output to see the subflow-specific status:

   # ss -nti '( dport :5201 )'
   
   State Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address:Port Peer Address:Port Process
   ESTAB 0      0      127.0.0.1:41842    127.0.0.1:5201
   cubic wscale:7,7 rto:205 rtt:4.455/8.878 ato:40 mss:21888 pmtu:65535 rcvmss:536 advmss:65483 cwnd:10 bytes_sent:141 bytes_acked:142 bytes_received:4 segs_out:8 segs_in:7 data_segs_out:3 data_segs_in:3 send 393050505bps lastsnd:2813 lastrcv:2772 lastack:2772 pacing_rate 785946640bps delivery_rate 10944000000bps delivered:4 busy:41ms rcv_space:43690 rcv_ssthresh:43690 minrtt:0.008 tcp-ulp-mptcp flags:Mmec token:0000(id:0)/2ff053ec(id:0) seq:3e2cbea12d7673d4 sfseq:3 ssnoff:ad3d00f4 maplen:2

5. Verify MPTCP counters:

   # nstat MPTcp*
   
   #kernel
   MPTcpExtMPCapableSYNRX          2                  0.0
   MPTcpExtMPCapableSYNTX          2                  0.0
   MPTcpExtMPCapableSYNACKRX       2                  0.0
   MPTcpExtMPCapableACKRX          2                  0.0

Procedure

1. Configure the client to accept up to 1 additional remote address, as provided by the server:

   # ip mptcp limits set add_addr_accepted 1

2. Add IP address 198.51.100.1 as a new MPTCP endpoint on the server:

   # ip mptcp endpoint add 198.51.100.1 dev enp1s0 signal

   The signal option ensures that the ADD_ADDR packet is sent after the three-way-handshake.

3. Start the iperf3 server, and force it to create MPTCP sockets instead of TCP sockets:

   # mptcpize run iperf3 -s
   
   Server listening on 5201

4. Connect the client to the server, and force it to create MPTCP sockets instead of TCP sockets:

   # mptcpize iperf3 -c 192.0.2.1 -t 3

Verification

1. Verify the connection is established:

   # ss -nti '( sport :5201 )'

2. Verify the connection and IP address limit:

   # ip mptcp limit show

3. Verify the newly added endpoint:

   # ip mptcp endpoint show

4. Verify MPTCP counters by using the nstat MPTcp* command on a server:

   # nstat MPTcp*
   
   #kernel
   MPTcpExtMPCapableSYNRX          2                  0.0
   MPTcpExtMPCapableACKRX          2                  0.0
   MPTcpExtMPJoinSynRx             2                  0.0
   MPTcpExtMPJoinAckRx             2                  0.0
   MPTcpExtEchoAdd                 2                  0.0

Procedure

1. Enable MPTCP sockets in the kernel:

   # echo "net.mptcp.enabled=1" > /etc/sysctl.d/90-enable-MPTCP.conf
   # sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/90-enable-MPTCP.conf

2. Optional: The RHEL kernel default for subflow limit is 2. If you require more:

   1. Create the /etc/systemd/system/set_mptcp_limit.service file with the following content:

      [Unit]
      Description=Set MPTCP subflow limit to 3
      After=network.target
      
      [Service]
      ExecStart=ip mptcp limits set subflows 3
      Type=oneshot
      
      [Install]
      WantedBy=multi-user.target

      The oneshot unit executes the ip mptcp limits set subflows 3 command after your network (network.target) is operational during every boot process.

      The ip mptcp limits set subflows 3 command sets the maximum number of additional subflows for each connection, so 4 in total. It is possible to add maximally 3 additional subflows.

   2. Enable the set_mptcp_limit service:

      # systemctl enable --now set_mptcp_limit

3. Enable MPTCP on all connection profiles that you want to use for connection aggregation:

   # nmcli connection modify <profile_name> connection.mptcp-flags signal,subflow,also-without-default-route

   The connection.mptcp-flags parameter configures MPTCP endpoints and the IP address flags. If MPTCP is enabled in a NetworkManager connection profile, the setting will configure the IP addresses of the relevant network interface as MPTCP endpoints.

   By default, NetworkManager does not add MPTCP flags to IP addresses if there is no default gateway. If you want to bypass that check, you need to use the also-without-default-route flag.

Verification

1. Verify that you enabled the MPTCP kernel parameter:

   # sysctl net.mptcp.enabled
   net.mptcp.enabled = 1

2. Verify that you set the subflow limit correctly, in case the default was not enough:

   # ip mptcp limit show
   add_addr_accepted 2 subflows 3

3. Verify that you configured the per-address MPTCP setting correctly:

   # ip mptcp endpoint show
   192.0.2.1 id 1 subflow dev enp4s0
   198.51.100.1 id 2 subflow dev enp1s0
   192.0.2.3 id 3 subflow dev enp7s0
   192.0.2.4 id 4 subflow dev enp3s0
   ...

Procedure

1. Set the per connection additional subflow limits to 1 on both client and server:

   # ip mptcp limits set add_addr_accepted 0 subflows 1

2. On the server, to simulate a MPTCP server application, start netcat (nc) in listen mode with enforced MPTCP sockets instead of TCP sockets:

   # mptcpize run nc -l -k -p 12345

   The -k option causes that nc does not close the listener after the first accepted connection. This is required to demonstrate the monitoring of sub-flows.

3. On the client:

   1. Identify the interface with the lowest metric:

      # ip -4 route
      192.0.2.0/24 dev enp1s0 proto kernel scope link src 192.0.2.2 metric 100
      192.0.2.0/24 dev wlp1s0 proto kernel scope link src 192.0.2.3 metric 600

      The enp1s0 interface has a lower metric than wlp1s0. Therefore, RHEL uses enp1s0 by default.

   2. On the first terminal, start the monitoring:

      # ip mptcp monitor

   3. On the second terminal, start a MPTCP connection to the server:

      # mptcpize run nc 192.0.2.1 12345

      RHEL uses the enp1s0 interface and its associated IP address as a source for this connection.

      On the monitoring terminal, the ip mptcp monitor command now logs:

      [       CREATED] token=63c070d2 remid=0 locid=0 saddr4=192.0.2.2 daddr4=192.0.2.1 sport=36444 dport=12345

      The token identifies the MPTCP socket as an unique ID, and later it enables you to correlate MPTCP events on the same socket.

   4. On the terminal with the running nc connection to the server, press Enter. This first data packet fully establishes the connection. Note that, as long as no data has been sent, the connection is not established.

      On the monitoring terminal, ip mptcp monitor now logs:

      [   ESTABLISHED] token=63c070d2 remid=0 locid=0 saddr4=192.0.2.2 daddr4=192.0.2.1 sport=36444 dport=12345

   5. Optional: Display the connections to port 12345 on the server:

      # ss -taunp | grep ":12345"
      tcp ESTAB  0  0         192.0.2.2:36444 192.0.2.1:12345

      At this point, only one connection to the server has been established.

   6. On a third terminal, create another endpoint:

      # ip mptcp endpoint add dev wlp1s0 192.0.2.3 subflow

      This command sets the name and IP address of the WiFi interface of the client in this command.

      On the monitoring terminal, ip mptcp monitor now logs:

      [SF_ESTABLISHED] token=63c070d2 remid=0 locid=2 saddr4=192.0.2.3 daddr4=192.0.2.1 sport=53345 dport=12345 backup=0 ifindex=3

      The locid field displays the local address ID of the new sub-flow and identifies this sub-flow even if the connection uses network address translation (NAT). The saddr4 field matches the endpoint’s IP address from the ip mptcp endpoint add command.

   7. Optional: Display the connections to port 12345 on the server:

      # ss -taunp | grep ":12345"
      tcp ESTAB  0  0         192.0.2.2:36444 192.0.2.1:12345
      tcp ESTAB  0  0  192.0.2.3%wlp1s0:53345 192.0.2.1:12345

      The command now displays two connections:

      • The connection with source address 192.0.2.2 corresponds to the first MPTCP sub-flow that you established previously.
      • The connection from the sub-flow over the wlp1s0 interface with source address 192.0.2.3.

   8. On the third terminal, delete the endpoint:

      # ip mptcp endpoint delete id 2

      Use the ID from the locid field from the ip mptcp monitor output, or retrieve the endpoint ID using the ip mptcp endpoint show command.

      On the monitoring terminal, ip mptcp monitor now logs:

      [     SF_CLOSED] token=63c070d2 remid=0 locid=2 saddr4=192.0.2.3 daddr4=192.0.2.1 sport=53345 dport=12345 backup=0 ifindex=3

   9. On the first terminal with the nc client, press Ctrl+C to terminate the session.

      On the monitoring terminal, ip mptcp monitor now logs:

      [        CLOSED] token=63c070d2