Re: [PATCH] KVM: x86: Include host suspended time in steal time.

Sean Christopherson
2024-08-13T17:06:47Z

On Tue, Jul 30, 2024, Suleiman Souhlal wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 10:26:30AM +0800, Chao Gao wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 04:44:10PM +0900, Suleiman Souhlal wrote:
> > >When the host resumes from a suspend, the guest thinks any task
> > >that was running during the suspend ran for a long time, even though
> > >the effective run time was much shorter, which can end up having
> > >negative effects with scheduling. This can be particularly noticeable
> > >if the guest task was RT, as it can end up getting throttled for a
> > >long time.
> > >
> > >To mitigate this issue, we include the time that the host was
> > >suspended in steal time, which lets the guest can subtract the
> > >duration from the tasks' runtime.
> > >
> > >Signed-off-by: Suleiman Souhlal <suleiman@google.com>
> > >---
> > > arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 23 ++++++++++++++++++++++-
> > > include/linux/kvm_host.h | 4 ++++
> > > 2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> > >
> > >diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
> > >index 0763a0f72a067f..94bbdeef843863 100644
> > >--- a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
> > >+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
> > >@@ -3669,7 +3669,7 @@ static void record_steal_time(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> > > struct kvm_steal_time __user *st;
> > > struct kvm_memslots *slots;
> > > gpa_t gpa = vcpu->arch.st.msr_val & KVM_STEAL_VALID_BITS;
> > >- u64 steal;
> > >+ u64 steal, suspend_duration;
> > > u32 version;
> > >
> > > if (kvm_xen_msr_enabled(vcpu->kvm)) {
> > >@@ -3696,6 +3696,12 @@ static void record_steal_time(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> > > return;
> > > }
> > >
> > >+ suspend_duration = 0;
> > >+ if (READ_ONCE(vcpu->suspended)) {
> > >+ suspend_duration = vcpu->kvm->last_suspend_duration;
> > >+ vcpu->suspended = 0;
> >
> > Can you explain why READ_ONCE() is necessary here, but WRITE_ONCE() isn't used
> > for clearing vcpu->suspended?
>
> Because this part of the code is essentially single-threaded, it didn't seem
> like WRITE_ONCE() was needed. I can add it in an eventual future version of
> the patch if it makes things less confusing (if this code still exists).

{READ,WRITE}_ONCE() don't provide ordering, they only ensure that the compiler
emits a load/store. But (a) forcing the compiler to emit a load/store is only
necessary when it's possible for the compiler to know/prove that the load/store
won't affect functionalty, and (b) this code doesn't have have the correct
ordering even if there were the appropriate smp_wmb() and smp_rmb() annotations.

The writer needs to ensure the write to last_suspend_duration is visible before
vcpu->suspended is set, and the reader needs to ensure it reads last_suspend_duration
after vcpu->suspended.

That said, it's likely a moot point, because I assume the PM notifier runs while
tasks are frozen, i.e. its writes are guaranteed to be ordered before
record_steal_time().

And _that_ said, I don't see any reason for two fields, nor do I see any reason
to track the suspended duration in the VM instead of the vCPU. Similar to what
Chao pointed out, per-VM tracking falls apart if only some vCPUs consume the
suspend duration. I.e. just accumulate the suspend duration directly in the
vCPU.

> > >+ }
> > >+
> > > st = (struct kvm_steal_time __user *)ghc->hva;
> > > /*
> > > * Doing a TLB flush here, on the guest's behalf, can avoid
> > >@@ -3749,6 +3755,7 @@ static void record_steal_time(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
> > > unsafe_get_user(steal, &st->steal, out);
> > > steal += current->sched_info.run_delay -
> > > vcpu->arch.st.last_steal;
> > >+ steal += suspend_duration;
> > > vcpu->arch.st.last_steal = current->sched_info.run_delay;
> > > unsafe_put_user(steal, &st->steal, out);
> > >
> > >@@ -6920,6 +6927,7 @@ static int kvm_arch_suspend_notifier(struct kvm *kvm)
> > >
> > > mutex_lock(&kvm->lock);
> > > kvm_for_each_vcpu(i, vcpu, kvm) {
> > >+ WRITE_ONCE(vcpu->suspended, 1);
> > > if (!vcpu->arch.pv_time.active)
> > > continue;
> > >
> > >@@ -6932,15 +6940,28 @@ static int kvm_arch_suspend_notifier(struct kvm *kvm)
> > > }
> > > mutex_unlock(&kvm->lock);
> > >
> > >+ kvm->suspended_time = ktime_get_boottime_ns();
> > >+
> > > return ret ? NOTIFY_BAD : NOTIFY_DONE;
> > > }
> > >
> > >+static int
> > >+kvm_arch_resume_notifier(struct kvm *kvm)

Do not wrap before the function name. Linus has a nice explanation/rant on this[*].

[*] https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAHk-=wjoLAYG446ZNHfg=GhjSY6nFmuB_wA8fYd5iLBNXjo9Bw@mail.gmail.com

> > >+{
> > >+ kvm->last_suspend_duration = ktime_get_boottime_ns() -
> > >+ kvm->suspended_time;
> >
> > Is it possible that a vCPU doesn't get any chance to run (i.e., update steal
> > time) between two suspends? In this case, only the second suspend would be
> > recorded.
>
> Good point. I'll address this.
>
> >
> > Maybe we need an infrastructure in the PM subsystem to record accumulated
> > suspended time. When updating steal time, KVM can add the additional suspended
> > time since the last update into steal_time (as how KVM deals with
> > current->sched_info.run_deley). This way, the scenario I mentioned above won't
> > be a problem and KVM needn't calculate the suspend duration for each guest. And
> > this approach can potentially benefit RISC-V and ARM as well, since they have
> > the same logic as x86 regarding steal_time.
>
> Thanks for the suggestion.
> I'm a bit wary of making a whole PM subsystem addition for such a counter, but
> maybe I can make a architecture-independent KVM change for it, with a PM
> notifier in kvm_main.c.

Yes. Either that, or the fields need to be in kvm_vcpu_arch, not kvm_vcpu.

> > Additionally, it seems that if a guest migrates to another system after a
> > suspend and before updating steal time, the suspended time is lost during
> > migration. I'm not sure if this is a practical issue.
>
> The systems where the host suspends don't usually do VM migrations. Or at
> least the ones where we're encountering the problem this patch is trying to
> address don't (laptops).
>
> But even if they did, it doesn't seem that likely that the migration would
> happen over a host suspend.

I think we want to account for this straightaway, or at least have defined and
documented behavior, else we risk rehashing the issues with marking a vCPU as
preempted when it's loaded, but not running. Which causes problems for live
migration as it results in KVM marking the steal-time page as dirty after vCPUs
have been paused.

[*] https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20240503181734.1467938-4-dmatlack%40google.com