Re: [PATCH v8 8/9] KVM: arm/arm64: Avoid work when userspace iqchips are not used

Marc Zyngier
2017-12-19T14:32:47Z

On 19/12/17 14:18, Christoffer Dall wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 01:55:25PM +0000, Marc Zyngier wrote:
>> On 19/12/17 13:34, Christoffer Dall wrote:
>>> On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 08:05:33PM +0000, Marc Zyngier wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 13 Dec 2017 10:46:01 +0000,
>>>> Christoffer Dall wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> We currently check if the VM has a userspace irqchip on every exit from
>>>>> the VCPU, and if so, we do some work to ensure correct timer behavior.
>>>>> This is unfortunate, as we could avoid doing any work entirely, if we
>>>>> didn't have to support irqchip in userspace.
>>>>>
>>>>> Realizing the userspace irqchip on ARM is mostly a developer or hobby
>>>>> feature, and is unlikely to be used in servers or other scenarios where
>>>>> performance is a priority, we can use a refcounted static key to only
>>>>> check the irqchip configuration when we have at least one VM that uses
>>>>> an irqchip in userspace.
>>>>>
>>>>> Reviewed-by: Eric Auger <eric.auger@redhat.com>
>>>>> Signed-off-by: Christoffer Dall <christoffer.dall@linaro.org>
>>>>
>>>> On its own, this doesn't seem to be that useful. As far as I can see,
>>>> it saves us a load from the kvm structure before giving up.
>>>
>>> A load and a conditional. But what I really wanted to also avoid was
>>> the function call from the main run loop, which I neglected as well. I
>>> think I can achieve that with a static inline wrapper in the arch timer
>>> header file which first evaluates the static key and then calls into the
>>> arch timer code.
>>>
>>>
>>>> I think it
>>>> is more the cumulative effect of this load that could have an impact,
>>>> but you're only dealing with it at a single location.
>>>>
>>>> How about making this a first class helper and redefine
>>>> irqchip_in_kernel as such:
>>>>
>>>> static inline bool irqchip_in_kernel(struct kvm *kvm)
>>>> {
>>>> if (static_branch_unlikely(&userspace_irqchip_in_use) &&
>>>> unlikely(!irqchip_in_kernel(kvm)))
>>>> return true;
>>>>
>>>> return false;
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> and move that static key to a more central location?
>>>>
>>>
>>> That's a neat idea. The only problem is that creating a new VM would
>>> then flip the static key, and then we'd have to flip it back when a vgic
>>> is created on that VM, and I don't particularly like the idea of doing
>>> this too often.
>>
>> Fair enough.
>>
>>>
>>> What I'd suggest then is to have two versions of the function:
>>> irqchip_in_kernel() which is what it is today, and then
>>> __irqchip_in_kernel() which can only be called from within the critical
>>> path of the run loop, so that we can increment the static key on
>>> kvm_vcpu_first_run_init() when we don't have a VGIC.
>>>
>>> How does that sound?
>>
>> OK, you only patch once per non-VGIC VM instead of twice per VGIC VM.
>> But you now create a distinction between what can be used at runtime and
>> what can be used at config time. The distinction is a bit annoying.
>>
>> Also, does this actually show up on the radar?
>>
>
> Honestly, I don't know for this particular version of the patch.
>
> But when I did the VHE optimization work, which was before the userspace
> irqchip support went in, getting rid of calling kvm_timer_sync_hwstate()
> and the load+conditional in there (also prior to the level mapped
> patches), was measurable, between 50 to 100 cycles.
>
> Of course, that turned out to be buggy when rebooting VMs, so I never
> actually included that in my measurements, but it left me wanting to get
> rid of this.
>
> It's a bit of a delicate balance. On the one hand, it's silly to try to
> over-optimize, but on the other hand it's exactly the cumulative effect
> of optimizing every bit that managed to get us good results on VHE.
>
> How about this: I write up the patch in the complicated version as part
> of the next version, and if you think it's too difficult to maintain, we
> can just drop it an apply the series without it?

Sounds like a good plan.

Thanks,

M.
--
Jazz is not dead. It just smells funny...