Re: Expose ltr/obff interface by sysfs

[Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@oracle.com>]

On Fri, Apr 06, 2012 at 02:43:59AM +0000, Hao, Xudong wrote:
> Hi, 
> 
> I'm working on virtualization Xen/KVM. I saw there are ltr/obff enabling/disabling function in pci.c, but no called till now. I want to know if anybody(driver developer) are working for using it? Can driver change the LTR latency value dynamically?
> 
> /*
> LTR(Latency tolerance reporting) allows devices to send messages to the root complex indicating their latency tolerance for snooped & unsnooped memory transactions.
> OBFF (optimized buffer flush/fill), where supported, can help improve energy efficiency by giving devices information about when interrupts and other activity will have a reduced power impact.
> */
> 
> One way to control ltr/obff is used by driver, however, I'm considering that in virtualization, how guest OS driver control them. I have an idea that expose an inode interface by sysfs, like "reset" inode implemented in pci-sysfs.c, so that system user/administrator can enable/disable ltr/obff or set latency value on userspace, but not limited on driver. Comments?

So right now the driver inside the guest can probably see it, but can't change them.
(As those requests end up being filtered).

But there is nothing wrong with your changing those values from within the host.

But a better question is - why should this be done - especially from the guest which
has a limited view of the machine? The machine might be running a lot of other
requests so the OBFF inside the guest could be invalid.


> 
> < pls CC me when reply this mail, thanks >
> 
> Best Regards,
> Xudong Hao
> 
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