[PATCH v2 0/4] implement vcpu preempted check

[Wanpeng Li]

2016-07-07 18:12 GMT+08:00 Wanpeng Li <kernellwp at gmail.com>:
> 2016-07-07 17:42 GMT+08:00 Peter Zijlstra <peterz at infradead.org>:
>> On Thu, Jul 07, 2016 at 04:48:05PM +0800, Wanpeng Li wrote:
>>> 2016-07-06 20:28 GMT+08:00 Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini at redhat.com>:
>>> > Hmm, you're right.  We can use bit 0 of struct kvm_steal_time's flags to
>>> > indicate that pad[0] is a "VCPU preempted" field; if pad[0] is 1, the
>>> > VCPU has been scheduled out since the last time the guest reset the bit.
>>> >  The guest can use an xchg to test-and-clear it.  The bit can be
>>> > accessed at any time, independent of the version field.
>>>
>>> If one vCPU is preempted, and guest check it several times before this
>>> vCPU is scheded in, then the first time we can get "vCPU is
>>> preempted", however, since the field is cleared, the second time we
>>> will get "vCPU is running".
>>>
>>> Do you mean we should call record_steal_time() in both kvm_sched_in()
>>> and kvm_sched_out() to record this field? Btw, if we should keep both
>>> vcpu->preempted and kvm_steal_time's "vCPU preempted" field present
>>> simultaneous?
>>
>> I suspect you want something like so; except this has holes in.
>>
>> We clear KVM_ST_PAD_PREEMPT before disabling preemption and we set it
>> after enabling it, this means that if we get preempted in between, the
>> vcpu is reported as running even though it very much is not.
>
> Paolo also point out this to me offline yesterday: "Please change
> pad[12] to "__u32 preempted; __u32 pad[11];" too, and remember to
> update Documentation/virtual/kvm/msr.txt!". Btw, do this in preemption
> notifier means that the vCPU is real preempted on host, however,
> depends on vmexit is different semantic I think.

In addition, I see xen's vcpu_runstate_info::state is updated during
schedule, so I think I can do this similarly through kvm preemption
notifier. IIUC, xen hypervisor has VCPUOP_get_runstate_info hypercall
implemention, so the desired interface can be implemented if they add
hypercall callsite in domU. I can add hypercall to kvm similarly.

Paolo, thoughts?

Regards,
Wanpeng Li