using mapped vcpu_runstate_info in hvm guest

[Juergen Gross <juergen.gross@ts.fujitsu.com>]

Hi,

I'm trying to obtain runstate information from the hypervisor in a hvm guest
via VCPUOP_register_runstate_memory_area. This works, but the information is
not completely suitable for a hvm guest:

I can see the time summed up in the different states, but I'm not able to
deduce the exact time the current vcpu has been running. I see the time when
the last change to the running state happened (state_entry_time), but this
time is the hypervisor system time obtained via NOW(). I can't see how to
map this information to any time information available to the guest (e.g. the
tsc value).

A solution would be to modify the runstate information mapped via
VCPUOP_register_runstate_memory_area: it could contain state_entry_time
rebased to the guests tsc. I tried to patch the hypervisor accordingly, but
failed to find the correct time offset. The following patch returned a value
for state_entry_time about 60 seconds in the past:

diff --git a/xen/arch/x86/domain.c b/xen/arch/x86/domain.c
index b67fcb8..c89bbaf 100644
--- a/xen/arch/x86/domain.c
+++ b/xen/arch/x86/domain.c
@@ -1292,19 +1292,32 @@ static void paravirt_ctxt_switch_to(struct vcpu *v)
  /* Update per-VCPU guest runstate shared memory area (if registered). */
  static void update_runstate_area(struct vcpu *v)
  {
+    struct vcpu_runstate_info info_local;
+
      if ( guest_handle_is_null(runstate_guest(v)) )
          return;

+    info_local = v->runstate;
+    if ( is_hvm_vcpu(v) )
+    {
+        if ( v->arch.hvm_vcpu.cache_tsc_offset < 0 )
+            info_local.state_entry_time -=
+                tsc_ticks2ns(-v->arch.hvm_vcpu.cache_tsc_offset);
+        else
+            info_local.state_entry_time +=
+                tsc_ticks2ns(v->arch.hvm_vcpu.cache_tsc_offset);
+    }
+
      if ( has_32bit_shinfo(v->domain) )
      {
          struct compat_vcpu_runstate_info info;

-        XLAT_vcpu_runstate_info(&info, &v->runstate);
+        XLAT_vcpu_runstate_info(&info, &info_local);
          __copy_to_guest(v->runstate_guest.compat, &info, 1);
          return;
      }

-    __copy_to_guest(runstate_guest(v), &v->runstate, 1);
+    __copy_to_guest(runstate_guest(v), &info_local, 1);
  }

  static inline int need_full_gdt(struct vcpu *v)


What am I missing? Is there any additional offset to take into account?

Another problem is the consistency of the mapped data: I can use the data of
the current vcpu by doing a local copy and a binary compare afterwards. Only
in case of a match I can be sure no update has happened between interpreting
different members of the copied structure.

It is not possible, however, to verify the consistency of the runstate of a
foreign vcpu. The __copy_to_guest() in update_runstate_area() could have
been interrupted (e.g. by a NMI) without any chance to detect this on another
physical cpu currently examining the data.

The only way to avoid this would be a version count (like in vcpu_time_info)
which is updated before and after modifying the runstate data. Any thoughts?


Juergen

-- 
Juergen Gross                 Principal Developer Operating Systems
PBG PDG ES&S SWE OS6                   Telephone: +49 (0) 89 62060 2932
Fujitsu                                   e-mail: juergen.gross@ts.fujitsu.com
Mies-van-der-Rohe-Str. 8                Internet: ts.fujitsu.com
D-80807 Muenchen                 Company details: ts.fujitsu.com/imprint.html