All of lore.kernel.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Po Liu <po.liu@nxp.com>
To: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Cc: "davem@davemloft.net" <davem@davemloft.net>,
	"linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
	"netdev@vger.kernel.org" <netdev@vger.kernel.org>,
	"vinicius.gomes@intel.com" <vinicius.gomes@intel.com>,
	Claudiu Manoil <claudiu.manoil@nxp.com>,
	Vladimir Oltean <vladimir.oltean@nxp.com>,
	Alexandru Marginean <alexandru.marginean@nxp.com>,
	Xiaoliang Yang <xiaoliang.yang_1@nxp.com>,
	Roy Zang <roy.zang@nxp.com>, Mingkai Hu <mingkai.hu@nxp.com>,
	Jerry Huang <jerry.huang@nxp.com>, Leo Li <leoyang.li@nxp.com>,
	"michael.chan@broadcom.com" <michael.chan@broadcom.com>,
	"vishal@chelsio.com" <vishal@chelsio.com>,
	"saeedm@mellanox.com" <saeedm@mellanox.com>,
	"leon@kernel.org" <leon@kernel.org>,
	"jiri@mellanox.com" <jiri@mellanox.com>,
	"idosch@mellanox.com" <idosch@mellanox.com>,
	"alexandre.belloni@bootlin.com" <alexandre.belloni@bootlin.com>,
	"UNGLinuxDriver@microchip.com" <UNGLinuxDriver@microchip.com>,
	"jhs@mojatatu.com" <jhs@mojatatu.com>,
	"xiyou.wangcong@gmail.com" <xiyou.wangcong@gmail.com>,
	"john.hurley@netronome.com" <john.hurley@netronome.com>,
	"simon.horman@netronome.com" <simon.horman@netronome.com>,
	"pieter.jansenvanvuuren@netronome.com" 
	<pieter.jansenvanvuuren@netronome.com>,
	"pablo@netfilter.org" <pablo@netfilter.org>,
	"moshe@mellanox.com" <moshe@mellanox.com>,
	"ivan.khoronzhuk@linaro.org" <ivan.khoronzhuk@linaro.org>,
	"m-karicheri2@ti.com" <m-karicheri2@ti.com>,
	"andre.guedes@linux.intel.com" <andre.guedes@linux.intel.com>,
	"jakub.kicinski@netronome.com" <jakub.kicinski@netronome.com>
Subject: RE: [EXT] Re: [RFC,net-next  2/9] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action
Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2020 06:05:28 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <VE1PR04MB64968E356A5125BD2D899AE992E00@VE1PR04MB6496.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20200306111106.09416f43@kicinski-fedora-PC1C0HJN>

Hi Jakub,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
> Sent: 2020年3月7日 3:11
> To: Po Liu <po.liu@nxp.com>
> Cc: davem@davemloft.net; linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org;
> netdev@vger.kernel.org; vinicius.gomes@intel.com; Claudiu Manoil
> <claudiu.manoil@nxp.com>; Vladimir Oltean <vladimir.oltean@nxp.com>;
> Alexandru Marginean <alexandru.marginean@nxp.com>; Xiaoliang Yang
> <xiaoliang.yang_1@nxp.com>; Roy Zang <roy.zang@nxp.com>; Mingkai Hu
> <mingkai.hu@nxp.com>; Jerry Huang <jerry.huang@nxp.com>; Leo Li
> <leoyang.li@nxp.com>; michael.chan@broadcom.com; vishal@chelsio.com;
> saeedm@mellanox.com; leon@kernel.org; jiri@mellanox.com;
> idosch@mellanox.com; alexandre.belloni@bootlin.com;
> UNGLinuxDriver@microchip.com; jhs@mojatatu.com;
> xiyou.wangcong@gmail.com; john.hurley@netronome.com;
> simon.horman@netronome.com;
> pieter.jansenvanvuuren@netronome.com; pablo@netfilter.org;
> moshe@mellanox.com; ivan.khoronzhuk@linaro.org; m-karicheri2@ti.com;
> andre.guedes@linux.intel.com; jakub.kicinski@netronome.com
> Subject: [EXT] Re: [RFC,net-next 2/9] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow
> action
> 
> Caution: EXT Email
> 
> On Fri,  6 Mar 2020 20:56:00 +0800 Po Liu wrote:
> > Introduce a ingress frame gate control flow action. tc create a gate
> > action would provide a gate list to control when open/close state.
> > when the gate open state, the flow could pass but not when gate state
> > is close. The driver would repeat the gate list cyclically. User also
> > could assign a time point to start the gate list by the basetime
> > parameter. if the basetime has passed current time, start time would
> > calculate by the cycletime of the gate list.
> > The action gate behavior try to keep according to the IEEE 802.1Qci spec.
> > For the software simulation, require the user input the clock type.
> >
> > Below is the setting example in user space:
> >
> > > tc qdisc add dev eth0 ingress
> >
> > > tc filter add dev eth0 parent ffff: protocol ip \
> >          flower src_ip 192.168.0.20 \
> >          action gate index 2 \
> >          sched-entry OPEN 200000000 -1 -1 \
> >          sched-entry CLOSE 100000000 -1 -1
> >
> > > tc chain del dev eth0 ingress chain 0
> >
> > "sched-entry" follow the name taprio style. gate state is
> > "OPEN"/"CLOSE". Follow the period nanosecond. Then next -1 is internal
> > priority value means which ingress queue should put. "-1" means
> > wildcard. The last value optional specifies the maximum number of
> MSDU
> > octets that are permitted to pass the gate during the specified time
> > interval.
> >
> > NOTE: This software simulator version not separate the
> admin/operation
> > state machine. Update setting would overwrite stop the previos setting
> > and waiting new cycle start.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Po Liu <Po.Liu@nxp.com>
> 
> > diff --git a/net/sched/act_gate.c b/net/sched/act_gate.c new file mode
> > 100644 index 000000000000..c2c243ca028c
> > --- /dev/null
> > +++ b/net/sched/act_gate.c
> > @@ -0,0 +1,645 @@
> > +// SPDX-License-Identifier: (GPL-2.0+)
> 
> Why the parenthesis?

Will changed to GPL-2.0-or-later.

> 
> > +static const struct nla_policy entry_policy[TCA_GATE_ENTRY_MAX + 1]
> = {
> > +     [TCA_GATE_ENTRY_INDEX]          = { .type = NLA_U32 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_ENTRY_GATE]           = { .type = NLA_FLAG },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_ENTRY_INTERVAL]       = { .type = NLA_U32 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_ENTRY_IPV]            = { .type = NLA_S32 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_ENTRY_MAX_OCTETS]     = { .type = NLA_S32 },
> > +};
> > +
> > +static const struct nla_policy gate_policy[TCA_GATE_MAX + 1] = {
> > +     [TCA_GATE_PARMS]                = { .len = sizeof(struct tc_gate) },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_PRIORITY]             = { .type = NLA_S32 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_ENTRY_LIST]           = { .type = NLA_NESTED },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_BASE_TIME]            = { .type = NLA_U64 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_CYCLE_TIME]           = { .type = NLA_U64 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_CYCLE_TIME_EXT]       = { .type = NLA_U64 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_FLAGS]                = { .type = NLA_U32 },
> > +     [TCA_GATE_CLOCKID]              = { .type = NLA_S32 },
> > +};
> > +
> > +static int fill_gate_entry(struct nlattr **tb, struct tcfg_gate_entry *entry,
> > +                        struct netlink_ext_ack *extack) {
> > +     u32 interval = 0;
> > +
> > +     if (tb[TCA_GATE_ENTRY_GATE])
> > +             entry->gate_state = 1;
> > +     else
> > +             entry->gate_state = 0;
> 
> nla_get_flag()

Ok,  will parse by the nla_get_flag()

> 
> > +
> > +     if (tb[TCA_GATE_ENTRY_INTERVAL])
> > +             interval = nla_get_u32(tb[TCA_GATE_ENTRY_INTERVAL]);
> > +
> > +     if (interval == 0) {
> > +             NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "Invalid interval for schedule entry");
> > +             return -EINVAL;
> > +     }
> 
> > +static int parse_gate_list(struct nlattr *list,
> > +                        struct tcf_gate_params *sched,
> > +                        struct netlink_ext_ack *extack) {
> > +     struct nlattr *n;
> > +     int err, rem;
> > +     int i = 0;
> > +
> > +     if (!list)
> > +             return -EINVAL;
> > +
> > +     nla_for_each_nested(n, list, rem) {
> > +             struct tcfg_gate_entry *entry;
> > +
> > +             if (nla_type(n) != TCA_GATE_ONE_ENTRY) {
> > +                     NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "Attribute isn't type 'entry'");
> > +                     continue;
> > +             }
> > +
> > +             entry = kzalloc(sizeof(*entry), GFP_KERNEL);
> > +             if (!entry) {
> > +                     NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "Not enough memory for entry");
> > +                     return -ENOMEM;
> > +             }
> > +
> > +             err = parse_gate_entry(n, entry, i, extack);
> > +             if (err < 0) {
> > +                     kfree(entry);
> 
> doesn't this leak previously added entries?

Ok, will fix it.

> 
> > +                     return err;
> > +             }
> > +
> > +             list_add_tail(&entry->list, &sched->entries);
> > +             i++;
> > +     }
> > +
> > +     sched->num_entries = i;
> > +
> > +     return i;
> > +}
> 
> 
> > +static int parse_gate_entry(struct nlattr *n, struct  tcfg_gate_entry
> *entry,
> > +                         int index, struct netlink_ext_ack *extack) {
> > +     struct nlattr *tb[TCA_GATE_ENTRY_MAX + 1] = { };
> > +     int err;
> > +
> > +     err = nla_parse_nested_deprecated(tb, TCA_GATE_ENTRY_MAX, n,
> 
> Please don't use the deprecated calls in new code.

Understand, will change to nla_parse_nested()

> 
> > +                                       entry_policy, NULL);
> > +     if (err < 0) {
> > +             NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "Could not parse nested entry");
> > +             return -EINVAL;
> > +     }
> > +
> > +     entry->index = index;
> > +
> > +     return fill_gate_entry(tb, entry, extack); }

Thanks!

Po Liu


  reply	other threads:[~2020-03-07  6:05 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 129+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2020-03-06 12:55 [RFC,net-next 0/9] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:55 ` [RFC,net-next 1/9] net: qos offload add flow status with dropped count Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 2/9] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action Po Liu
2020-03-06 19:11   ` Jakub Kicinski
2020-03-07  6:05     ` Po Liu [this message]
2020-03-12 22:14   ` Vinicius Costa Gomes
2020-03-13  3:47     ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-03-13 18:36   ` Cong Wang
2020-03-14  4:09     ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 3/9] net: schedule: add action gate offloading Po Liu
2020-03-06 19:02   ` Jakub Kicinski
2020-03-06 19:19     ` Jakub Kicinski
2020-03-07  4:38       ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 4/9] net: enetc: add hw tc hw offload features for PSPF capability Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 5/9] net: enetc: add tc flower psfp offload driver Po Liu
2020-03-12 22:14   ` Vinicius Costa Gomes
2020-03-13  5:59     ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 6/9] net: qos: add tc police offloading action with max frame size limit Po Liu
2020-06-23  6:34   ` [v1,net-next 1/4] " Po Liu
2020-06-23  6:34     ` [v1,net-next 2/4] net: enetc: add support max frame size for tc flower offload Po Liu
2020-06-23  6:34     ` [v1,net-next 3/4] net: qos: police action add index for tc flower offloading Po Liu
2020-06-23  7:09       ` Ido Schimmel
2020-06-23  7:39         ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-06-23 10:08       ` Jamal Hadi Salim
2020-06-23  6:34     ` [v1,net-next 4/4] net: enetc add tc flower offload flow metering policing action Po Liu
2020-06-23 14:54       ` kernel test robot
2020-06-23 14:54         ` [v1, net-next " kernel test robot
2020-06-23 15:08       ` [v1,net-next " kernel test robot
2020-06-23 15:08         ` [v1, net-next " kernel test robot
2020-06-24  9:36       ` [v2,net-next 1/4] net: qos: add tc police offloading action with max frame size limit Po Liu
2020-06-24  9:36         ` [v2,net-next 2/4] net: enetc: add support max frame size for tc flower offload Po Liu
2020-06-25  5:04           ` David Miller
2020-06-24  9:36         ` [v2,net-next 3/4] net: qos: police action add index for tc flower offloading Po Liu
2020-06-25  5:04           ` David Miller
2020-06-24  9:36         ` [v2,net-next 4/4] net: enetc add tc flower offload flow metering policing action Po Liu
2020-06-25  5:04           ` David Miller
2020-06-25  5:04         ` [v2,net-next 1/4] net: qos: add tc police offloading action with max frame size limit David Miller
2020-06-23  7:01     ` [v1,net-next " Ido Schimmel
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 7/9] net: enetc: add support max frame size for tc flower offload Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 8/9] net: qos: police action add index for tc flower offloading Po Liu
2020-06-21 10:04   ` Ido Schimmel
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC,net-next 9/9] net: enetc add tc flower offload flow metering policing action Po Liu
2020-03-06 12:56 ` [RFC, iproute2-next] iproute2:tc:action: add a gate control action Po Liu
2020-03-24  3:47   ` [v1,net-next 0/5] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE Po Liu
2020-03-24  3:47     ` [v1,net-next 1/5] net: qos offload add flow status with dropped count Po Liu
2020-03-24 10:01       ` Jiri Pirko
2020-03-24 13:04         ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-03-24  3:47     ` [v1,net-next 2/5] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action Po Liu
2020-03-24 10:19       ` Jiri Pirko
2020-03-24 10:28         ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-03-24  3:47     ` [v1,net-next 3/5] net: schedule: add action gate offloading Po Liu
2020-03-24  3:47     ` [v1,net-next 4/5] net: enetc: add hw tc hw offload features for PSPF capability Po Liu
2020-03-24 11:18       ` kbuild test robot
2020-03-24 11:18         ` [v1, net-next " kbuild test robot
2020-03-24 12:14       ` [v1,net-next " Jiri Pirko
2020-03-24  3:47     ` [v1,net-next 5/5] net: enetc: add tc flower psfp offload driver Po Liu
2020-03-24 12:53       ` kbuild test robot
2020-03-24 12:53         ` [v1, net-next " kbuild test robot
2020-03-24  3:47     ` [v1,iproute2 1/2] iproute2:tc:action: add a gate control action Po Liu
2020-03-24 21:59       ` Stephen Hemminger
2020-03-25  2:40         ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-03-24  3:47     ` [v1,iproute2 2/2] iproute2: add gate action man page Po Liu
2020-04-14  5:40       ` [v2,net-next 0/4] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE Po Liu
2020-04-14  5:40         ` [ v2,net-next 1/4] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action Po Liu
2020-04-14  5:40         ` [ v2,net-next 2/4] net: schedule: add action gate offloading Po Liu
2020-04-14  5:40         ` [ v2,net-next 3/4] net: enetc: add hw tc hw offload features for PSPF capability Po Liu
2020-04-14  5:40         ` [ v2,net-next 4/4] net: enetc: add tc flower psfp offload driver Po Liu
2020-04-14 23:41         ` [v2,net-next 0/4] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE David Miller
2020-04-18  1:12       ` Po Liu
2020-04-18  1:12         ` [ v2,net-next 1/4] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action Po Liu
2020-04-18  1:12         ` [ v2,net-next 2/4] net: schedule: add action gate offloading Po Liu
2020-04-18  1:12         ` [ v2,net-next 3/4] net: enetc: add hw tc hw offload features for PSPF capability Po Liu
2020-04-18  1:12         ` [ v2,net-next 4/4] net: enetc: add tc flower psfp offload driver Po Liu
2020-04-18 22:52           ` Vladimir Oltean
2020-04-19  1:44             ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-04-22  2:48           ` [v3,net-next 0/4] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE Po Liu
2020-04-22  2:48             ` [v3,net-next 1/4] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action Po Liu
2020-04-22 13:23               ` Vlad Buslov
2020-04-23  3:14                 ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-04-23  7:43                   ` Vlad Buslov
2020-04-23  8:32                     ` Po Liu
2020-04-23  9:15                       ` Po Liu
2020-04-23 11:14                         ` Vlad Buslov
2020-04-23 11:03                       ` Vlad Buslov
2020-04-22 19:19               ` Allan W. Nielsen
2020-04-22 19:28                 ` Vladimir Oltean
2020-04-22 20:05                   ` Dave Taht
2020-04-23  3:29                     ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-04-23 19:11                   ` Allan W. Nielsen
2020-04-23  3:27                 ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-04-23 17:38               ` Vinicius Costa Gomes
2020-04-23 19:17                 ` Allan W. Nielsen
2020-04-24  3:23                 ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-04-24 17:41                   ` Vinicius Costa Gomes
2020-04-25  1:49                     ` Po Liu
2020-04-22  2:48             ` [v3,net-next 2/4] net: schedule: add action gate offloading Po Liu
2020-04-22 14:14               ` Vlad Buslov
2020-04-22  2:48             ` [v3,net-next 3/4] net: enetc: add hw tc hw offload features for PSPF capability Po Liu
2020-04-22  2:48             ` [v3,net-next 4/4] net: enetc: add tc flower psfp offload driver Po Liu
2020-04-28  3:34               ` [v4,net-next 0/4] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE Po Liu
2020-04-28  3:34                 ` [v4,net-next 1/4] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action Po Liu
2020-04-29 17:04                   ` Vlad Buslov
2020-04-30  0:52                     ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-04-28  3:34                 ` [v4,net-next 2/4] net: schedule: add action gate offloading Po Liu
2020-04-29 17:40                   ` Vlad Buslov
2020-04-28  3:34                 ` [v4,net-next 3/4] net: enetc: add hw tc hw offload features for PSPF capability Po Liu
2020-04-28  3:34                 ` [v4,net-next 4/4] net: enetc: add tc flower psfp offload driver Po Liu
2020-05-01  0:53                   ` [v5,net-next 0/4] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE Po Liu
2020-05-01  0:53                     ` [v5,net-next 1/4] net: qos: introduce a gate control flow action Po Liu
2020-05-01  0:53                     ` [v5,net-next 2/4] net: schedule: add action gate offloading Po Liu
2020-05-01  0:53                     ` [v5,net-next 3/4] net: enetc: add hw tc hw offload features for PSPF capability Po Liu
2020-05-01  0:53                     ` [v5,net-next 4/4] net: enetc: add tc flower psfp offload driver Po Liu
2020-05-03  6:32                       ` [v3,iproute2 1/2] iproute2:tc:action: add a gate control action Po Liu
2020-05-03  6:32                         ` [v3,iproute2 2/2] iproute2: add gate action man page Po Liu
2020-05-06  8:40                           ` [v4,iproute2-next 1/2] iproute2-next:tc:action: add a gate control action Po Liu
2020-05-06  8:40                             ` [v4,iproute2-next 2/2] iproute2-next: add gate action man page Po Liu
2020-05-08  7:02                               ` [v5,iproute2-next 1/2] iproute2-next:tc:action: add a gate control action Po Liu
2020-05-08  7:02                                 ` [v5,iproute2-next 2/2] iproute2-next: add gate action man page Po Liu
2020-05-13  2:21                                 ` [v5,iproute2-next 1/2] iproute2-next:tc:action: add a gate control action David Ahern
2020-05-06 12:54                             ` [v4,iproute2-next " Davide Caratti
2020-05-07  2:28                               ` [EXT] " Po Liu
2020-05-06 15:21                             ` Stephen Hemminger
2020-05-05  0:05                         ` [v3,iproute2 1/2] iproute2:tc:action: " Stephen Hemminger
2020-05-05  0:06                         ` Stephen Hemminger
2020-05-01 23:08                     ` [v5,net-next 0/4] Introduce a flow gate control action and apply IEEE David Miller
2020-06-19  6:01     ` [v2,net-next] net: qos offload add flow status with dropped count Po Liu
2020-06-19  7:03       ` Simon Horman
2020-06-19 18:00       ` Vlad Buslov
2020-06-19 19:54       ` David Miller

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=VE1PR04MB64968E356A5125BD2D899AE992E00@VE1PR04MB6496.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com \
    --to=po.liu@nxp.com \
    --cc=UNGLinuxDriver@microchip.com \
    --cc=alexandre.belloni@bootlin.com \
    --cc=alexandru.marginean@nxp.com \
    --cc=andre.guedes@linux.intel.com \
    --cc=claudiu.manoil@nxp.com \
    --cc=davem@davemloft.net \
    --cc=idosch@mellanox.com \
    --cc=ivan.khoronzhuk@linaro.org \
    --cc=jakub.kicinski@netronome.com \
    --cc=jerry.huang@nxp.com \
    --cc=jhs@mojatatu.com \
    --cc=jiri@mellanox.com \
    --cc=john.hurley@netronome.com \
    --cc=kuba@kernel.org \
    --cc=leon@kernel.org \
    --cc=leoyang.li@nxp.com \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=m-karicheri2@ti.com \
    --cc=michael.chan@broadcom.com \
    --cc=mingkai.hu@nxp.com \
    --cc=moshe@mellanox.com \
    --cc=netdev@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=pablo@netfilter.org \
    --cc=pieter.jansenvanvuuren@netronome.com \
    --cc=roy.zang@nxp.com \
    --cc=saeedm@mellanox.com \
    --cc=simon.horman@netronome.com \
    --cc=vinicius.gomes@intel.com \
    --cc=vishal@chelsio.com \
    --cc=vladimir.oltean@nxp.com \
    --cc=xiaoliang.yang_1@nxp.com \
    --cc=xiyou.wangcong@gmail.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.