Re: [RFC][PATCH 4/9] create aggregate kvm_total_used_mmu_pages value

Dave Hansen
2010-06-16T15:06:01Z

On Wed, 2010-06-16 at 11:48 +0300, Avi Kivity wrote:
> On 06/15/2010 04:55 PM, Dave Hansen wrote:
> > +/*
> > + * This value is the sum of all of the kvm instances's
> > + * kvm->arch.n_used_mmu_pages values. We need a global,
> > + * aggregate version in order to make the slab shrinker
> > + * faster
> > + */
> > +static unsigned int kvm_total_used_mmu_pages;
> >
>
> The variable needs to be at the top of the file.

Gotcha, will do.

> > +static inline void kvm_mod_used_mmu_pages(struct kvm *kvm, int nr)
> > +{
> > + kvm->arch.n_used_mmu_pages += nr;
> > + kvm_total_used_mmu_pages += nr;
> >
>
> Needs an atomic operation, since there's no global lock here. To avoid
> bouncing this cacheline around, make the variable percpu and make
> readers take a sum across all cpus. Side benefit is that you no longer
> need an atomic but a local_t, which is considerably cheaper.

That's a good point. All of the modifications are done under locks, but
the fast path isn't any more. I'll fix it up.

-- Dave