From: Alexander Graf <graf@amazon.com>
To: "Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>, Jason Wang <jasowangio@gmail.com>
Cc: "Xuan Zhuo" <xuanzhuo@linux.alibaba.com>,
"Eugenio Pérez" <eperezma@redhat.com>,
"Jonathan Corbet" <corbet@lwn.net>,
"Shuah Khan" <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>,
virtualization@lists.linux.dev, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, "Jens Axboe" <axboe@kernel.dk>,
linux-block@vger.kernel.org, "David Airlie" <airlied@redhat.com>,
"Gerd Hoffmann" <kraxel@redhat.com>,
"Dmitry Osipenko" <dmitry.osipenko@collabora.com>,
dri-devel@lists.freedesktop.org,
"Pankaj Gupta" <pankaj.gupta.linux@gmail.com>,
nvdimm@lists.linux.dev, nh-open-source@amazon.com,
"Stefan Hajnoczi" <stefanha@redhat.com>,
"Paolo Bonzini" <pbonzini@redhat.com>
Subject: [RFC PATCH 11/12] virtio: expose device memory buffer occupancy over debugfs
Date: Sun, 9 Aug 2026 18:20:09 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260809182010.32931-12-graf@amazon.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260809182010.32931-1-graf@amazon.com>
Running out of room in the pool is routine for a device with a bounded
one: vring_map_errno() reports it as the -ENOSPC a full queue reports,
so the driver retries and carries on. The allocator must not log that at
any level a working device prints, or an undersized region turns into a
log flood. That leaves an operator nothing but unexplained throughput
loss to go on.
swiotlb can afford dev_warn_ratelimited() because exhaustion there is a
misconfiguration, and it exports io_tlb_used and io_tlb_used_hiwater
through debugfs, which a log line cannot do for a sampled quantity.
Follow it, plus one file swiotlb has no need for:
dmb/pages pages the allocator can hand out
dmb/areas pool areas the pool is divided into
dmb/area_pages pages one pool area covers
dmb/used_pages pages allocated now
dmb/used_pages_hiwater the largest used_pages has been
dmb/alloc_failed buffer mappings the pool had no room for
used_pages_hiwater is the number to size a region against, because a
burst that fills the pool between two samples of used_pages leaves no
other trace. Writing 0 restarts the measurement from the occupancy now,
so a peak never reads below the used_pages read alongside it.
alloc_failed counts only the mapping path, so that a virtqueue area
rejected during vring_alloc_queue_split()'s search for a size that fits
does not make a correctly sized region look undersized.
There is no sysfs file, because a sysfs attribute is ABI and nothing
here should be. Every file and every counter behind one sits
under CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG, so a production build carries none of them.
Assisted-by: Kiro:claude-opus-5 checkpatch sparse
Signed-off-by: Alexander Graf <graf@amazon.com>
---
.../driver-api/virtio/virtio-dmb.rst | 52 ++++-
drivers/virtio/virtio_dmb.c | 215 +++++++++++++++++-
2 files changed, 262 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/virtio/virtio-dmb.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/virtio/virtio-dmb.rst
index 4cd23e25901f..610db080dee5 100644
--- a/Documentation/driver-api/virtio/virtio-dmb.rst
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/virtio/virtio-dmb.rst
@@ -255,8 +255,10 @@ The last area is short unless ``area_pages`` divides ``pages``. A region
small enough for one area to cover behaves exactly as a single lock over
the whole pool does, which includes every region up to 2 MiB on a 4 KiB
page, and more than that on a guest with few possible CPUs.
-Both values are printed at probe time, so a device implementer can read
-back what a guest derived from the region it offered.
+Both values are printed at probe time and are readable under
+``CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG`` in ``dmb/areas`` and ``dmb/area_pages``, so a
+device implementer can read back what a guest derived from the region it
+offered.
A device cannot influence the count and should not try to: it is derived
from the guest's page size, cacheline size and possible-CPU count, none of
@@ -619,7 +621,51 @@ a guest with three or more possible CPUs; a guest with one or two derives
fewer, larger areas from the same region.
The claimed range also appears in ``/proc/iomem`` as
``virtio-dmb``, but only where the claim was granted, and the ``shmid``
-appears nowhere else at all.
+appears nowhere else at all. The three counts appear again in
+``dmb/pages``, ``dmb/areas`` and ``dmb/area_pages`` below.
+
+With ``CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG`` the state of the region is also available
+under the device's virtio debugfs directory, in ``dmb/``. The directory
+exists only while the device has a region, so a device that did not
+negotiate the feature has no ``dmb/`` at all. These files are
+diagnostics and not ABI: their names, their contents and the one write
+they accept may change or go away.
+
+``pages``
+ how many pages the allocator can hand out.
+
+``areas``
+ how many pool areas the pool is divided into.
+
+``area_pages``
+ how many pages one pool area covers. ``areas`` is
+ ``ceil(pages / area_pages)``, so the last area covers fewer unless
+ ``area_pages`` divides ``pages``. Both are fixed when the region is
+ installed and are the same two values the probe-time message prints.
+
+``used_pages``
+ how many of them are allocated. One counter maintained across all areas
+ rather than a sum of per-area figures read at different moments, so it
+ never reports a torn total; it is raised just outside the area lock, so a
+ read taken during a claim or a release can lag the bitmap by that claim.
+
+``used_pages_hiwater``
+ the largest ``used_pages`` has been. This, rather than a sample of
+ ``used_pages``, is what a region should be sized against: a burst
+ that fills the region between two samples leaves no other trace.
+ Writing ``0`` restarts the measurement from the current occupancy.
+
+``alloc_failed``
+ how many buffer mappings the pool had no room for. Because running
+ out of room is an ordinary condition it is not logged above debug
+ level, so this is the cheapest indication that a region is too small
+ for what is running on it: a non-zero value means the pool could not
+ fit a mapping the workload asked for, either because it is smaller
+ than the workload needs or because no single pool area held a long
+ enough run of free pages. A virtqueue area that did not fit is not
+ counted here, since it is logged instead, and neither is a mapping
+ refused for exceeding the per-mapping cap, which ``max_mapping_size``
+ advertises.
Notes for kernel code
=====================
diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio_dmb.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio_dmb.c
index 42126f928bc0..fe556d585f24 100644
--- a/drivers/virtio/virtio_dmb.c
+++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio_dmb.c
@@ -20,10 +20,12 @@
*/
#include <linux/align.h>
+#include <linux/atomic.h>
#include <linux/bitmap.h>
#include <linux/bits.h>
#include <linux/cache.h>
#include <linux/cpumask.h>
+#include <linux/debugfs.h>
#include <linux/dma-mapping.h>
#include <linux/export.h>
#include <linux/highmem.h>
@@ -126,7 +128,12 @@ struct virtio_dmb_area {
* @area_slots: slots one area covers, a power of two; the last area covers
* fewer when @nslots is not a multiple of it
* @area_shift: ilog2(@area_slots), so slot >> @area_shift names its area
+ * @total_used: slots allocated across every area, exact; CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG
+ * @used_hiwater: the largest @total_used has been since the last reset through
+ * debugfs, or since init; CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG
+ * @alloc_failed: buffer mappings the pool had no room for; CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG
* @shm_id: shared memory id the device reported for the region
+ * @debugfs_dir: directory holding this region's debugfs files
*/
struct virtio_dmb {
struct virtio_device *vdev;
@@ -145,7 +152,20 @@ struct virtio_dmb {
unsigned int nareas;
unsigned int area_slots;
unsigned int area_shift;
+#ifdef CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG
+ /*
+ * Exact occupancy for the two debugfs files, kept outside the area
+ * locks. A production build has neither: summing the per-area counts
+ * would need every lock, and the hot path is what this file exists to
+ * make cheap. kernel/dma/swiotlb.c draws the same line at
+ * CONFIG_DEBUG_FS.
+ */
+ atomic_long_t total_used;
+ atomic_long_t used_hiwater;
+ atomic_long_t alloc_failed;
+#endif
u16 shm_id;
+ struct dentry *debugfs_dir;
};
/* First slot of area @i. */
@@ -210,6 +230,61 @@ static size_t virtio_dmb_max_mapping(const struct virtio_dmb *dmb)
return max_t(size_t, min(eighth, half_area), PAGE_SIZE);
}
+#ifdef CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG
+
+/*
+ * Exact global occupancy, kept outside every area lock.
+ *
+ * Summing the per-area counts would be imprecise, because no two of them are
+ * read under the same lock, and taking every lock to read one debugfs file
+ * would put a whole-pool serialisation back into a file whose only purpose is
+ * to observe. An atomic add-return instead yields a value @total_used
+ * genuinely held, so raising the high-water mark to the largest such value
+ * makes both figures exact rather than approximate: two racing claims each
+ * observe a distinct real total and the larger wins.
+ *
+ * This is kernel/dma/swiotlb.c's inc_used_and_hiwater()/dec_used() pair, for
+ * the same reason and with the same empty stubs when the option is off.
+ */
+static void virtio_dmb_inc_used(struct virtio_dmb *dmb, unsigned int nr)
+{
+ long old_hiwater, new_used;
+
+ new_used = atomic_long_add_return(nr, &dmb->total_used);
+ old_hiwater = atomic_long_read(&dmb->used_hiwater);
+ do {
+ if (new_used <= old_hiwater)
+ break;
+ } while (!atomic_long_try_cmpxchg(&dmb->used_hiwater, &old_hiwater,
+ new_used));
+}
+
+static void virtio_dmb_dec_used(struct virtio_dmb *dmb, unsigned int nr)
+{
+ atomic_long_sub(nr, &dmb->total_used);
+}
+
+static void virtio_dmb_inc_alloc_failed(struct virtio_dmb *dmb)
+{
+ atomic_long_inc(&dmb->alloc_failed);
+}
+
+#else /* !CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG */
+
+static void virtio_dmb_inc_used(struct virtio_dmb *dmb, unsigned int nr)
+{
+}
+
+static void virtio_dmb_dec_used(struct virtio_dmb *dmb, unsigned int nr)
+{
+}
+
+static void virtio_dmb_inc_alloc_failed(struct virtio_dmb *dmb)
+{
+}
+
+#endif /* CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG */
+
/*
* Claim @nr contiguous slots from area @i, or -ENOMEM when that one area
* cannot satisfy the request. Takes and drops that area's lock and touches
@@ -254,6 +329,12 @@ static long virtio_dmb_area_claim(struct virtio_dmb *dmb, unsigned int i,
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&area->lock, flags);
+ /*
+ * Outside the lock, which is where swiotlb_search_pool_area() does it
+ * too: it touches no area state, so holding one buys nothing.
+ */
+ virtio_dmb_inc_used(dmb, nr);
+
return slot;
not_found:
@@ -271,7 +352,9 @@ static long virtio_dmb_area_claim(struct virtio_dmb *dmb, unsigned int i,
* buffer, and repolls instead. Reporting it at any level a working device
* would print would therefore be a log flood, and it is the only signal an
* undersized region produces at all, so it is reported through dynamic debug
- * where it costs nothing until somebody asks for it.
+ * where it costs nothing until somebody asks for it. The map_page() caller
+ * counts it as well, so that a debug build offers a sampled reader as well as
+ * a log.
*
* Next fit within one area, from a hint that advances past each claim and
* rewinds to each release, beginning in the area belonging to the running CPU
@@ -390,6 +473,18 @@ static void virtio_dmb_release(struct virtio_dmb *dmb, unsigned int slot,
area->used -= nr;
area->index = slot - virtio_dmb_area_base(dmb, a);
+ spin_unlock_irqrestore(&area->lock, flags);
+
+ /*
+ * Outside the lock, and deliberately not below the label: the guard
+ * above rejects a range that is not wholly allocated, and only slots
+ * that were counted in are counted out, so the total tracks the bitmap
+ * rather than the caller's arithmetic.
+ */
+ virtio_dmb_dec_used(dmb, nr);
+
+ return;
+
out:
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&area->lock, flags);
}
@@ -717,8 +812,22 @@ static dma_addr_t virtio_dmb_op_map_page(union virtio_map map,
nr = virtio_dmb_slots(size);
ret = virtio_dmb_claim(dmb, nr);
- if (ret < 0)
+ if (ret < 0) {
+ /*
+ * Counted here rather than in virtio_dmb_claim(), which
+ * virtio_dmb_op_alloc() reaches as well. A virtqueue area
+ * that does not fit is a step of vring_alloc_queue_split()'s
+ * search for a size that does, so counting it would have a
+ * correctly sized region boot with a failure for every
+ * attempt but the last, in the one file whose purpose is to
+ * answer whether the region is too small for the traffic. A
+ * request over the per-mapping cap is not counted either: the
+ * cap is what max_mapping_size() advertises, so exceeding it
+ * is a caller bug rather than a property of the region.
+ */
+ virtio_dmb_inc_alloc_failed(dmb);
return DMA_MAPPING_ERROR;
+ }
slot = ret;
virtio_dmb_record(dmb, slot, nr, size, src);
@@ -860,6 +969,105 @@ static const struct virtio_map_ops virtio_dmb_map_ops = {
.max_mapping_size = virtio_dmb_op_max_mapping_size,
};
+#ifdef CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG
+
+static int virtio_dmb_used_get(void *data, u64 *val)
+{
+ struct virtio_dmb *dmb = data;
+
+ *val = atomic_long_read(&dmb->total_used);
+
+ return 0;
+}
+DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE(virtio_dmb_used_fops, virtio_dmb_used_get, NULL,
+ "%llu\n");
+
+static int virtio_dmb_hiwater_get(void *data, u64 *val)
+{
+ struct virtio_dmb *dmb = data;
+
+ *val = atomic_long_read(&dmb->used_hiwater);
+
+ return 0;
+}
+
+static int virtio_dmb_hiwater_set(void *data, u64 val)
+{
+ struct virtio_dmb *dmb = data;
+
+ /* Restarting the measurement is the only meaningful write. */
+ if (val)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ /*
+ * Restart from what is allocated now rather than from zero, so that
+ * the file never reports a peak below the occupancy it is read
+ * alongside.
+ */
+ atomic_long_set(&dmb->used_hiwater,
+ atomic_long_read(&dmb->total_used));
+
+ return 0;
+}
+DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE(virtio_dmb_hiwater_fops, virtio_dmb_hiwater_get,
+ virtio_dmb_hiwater_set, "%llu\n");
+
+static int virtio_dmb_alloc_failed_get(void *data, u64 *val)
+{
+ struct virtio_dmb *dmb = data;
+
+ *val = atomic_long_read(&dmb->alloc_failed);
+
+ return 0;
+}
+DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE(virtio_dmb_alloc_failed_fops,
+ virtio_dmb_alloc_failed_get, NULL, "%llu\n");
+
+/*
+ * The files go under the device's existing virtio debugfs directory, and exist
+ * only while the device has a region. They describe one, so their presence is
+ * also the answer to whether the device is using the feature.
+ *
+ * Every file is served through DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE, either directly or by
+ * a debugfs_create_*() helper that uses it, so each read takes a reference
+ * that debugfs_remove_recursive() waits for. That is what lets the caller
+ * free the state these files point at once the directory is gone.
+ */
+static void virtio_dmb_debugfs_init(struct virtio_dmb *dmb)
+{
+ struct dentry *dir;
+
+ dir = debugfs_create_dir("dmb", dmb->vdev->debugfs_dir);
+ dmb->debugfs_dir = dir;
+
+ debugfs_create_u32("pages", 0400, dir, &dmb->nslots);
+ debugfs_create_u32("areas", 0400, dir, &dmb->nareas);
+ debugfs_create_u32("area_pages", 0400, dir, &dmb->area_slots);
+ debugfs_create_file("used_pages", 0400, dir, dmb,
+ &virtio_dmb_used_fops);
+ debugfs_create_file("used_pages_hiwater", 0600, dir, dmb,
+ &virtio_dmb_hiwater_fops);
+ debugfs_create_file("alloc_failed", 0400, dir, dmb,
+ &virtio_dmb_alloc_failed_fops);
+}
+
+static void virtio_dmb_debugfs_exit(struct virtio_dmb *dmb)
+{
+ debugfs_remove_recursive(dmb->debugfs_dir);
+}
+
+#else /* !CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG */
+
+static void virtio_dmb_debugfs_init(struct virtio_dmb *dmb)
+{
+}
+
+static void virtio_dmb_debugfs_exit(struct virtio_dmb *dmb)
+{
+}
+
+#endif /* CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG */
+
/*
* Whether the device still has virtqueues. vqs_list_lock is what protects
* that list against a concurrent adder. No caller here can race one, because
@@ -929,6 +1137,7 @@ void virtio_dmb_destroy(struct virtio_device *vdev)
vdev->map = dmb->prev_map;
vdev->vmap = dmb->prev_vmap;
+ virtio_dmb_debugfs_exit(dmb);
memunmap(dmb->map_va);
if (dmb->map_claimed)
release_mem_region(dmb->map_phys, dmb->map_len);
@@ -1278,6 +1487,8 @@ int virtio_dmb_init(struct virtio_device *vdev)
dmb->area_slots = area_slots;
dmb->area_shift = ilog2(area_slots);
+ virtio_dmb_debugfs_init(dmb);
+
/* Published last: until now nothing routes a mapping here. */
dmb->prev_map = vdev->map;
dmb->prev_vmap = vdev->vmap;
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-08-09 18:21 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 13+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-08-09 18:19 [RFC PATCH 00/12] virtio: support devices that own their virtqueue memory Alexander Graf
2026-08-09 18:20 ` [RFC PATCH 09/12] Documentation: virtio: describe the device memory buffer Alexander Graf
2026-08-09 22:09 ` Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-08-09 18:20 ` [RFC PATCH 10/12] virtio_ring: report a bounded pool's exhaustion as -ENOSPC Alexander Graf
2026-08-09 18:20 ` Alexander Graf [this message]
2026-08-09 18:20 ` [RFC PATCH 12/12] virtio: guarantee a virtqueue can publish its first descriptor chain Alexander Graf
2026-08-09 22:41 ` Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-08-09 23:15 ` Randy Dunlap
2026-08-10 6:23 ` [RFC PATCH 00/12] virtio: support devices that own their virtqueue memory Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-08-10 7:39 ` Graf (AWS), Alexander
2026-08-10 8:04 ` Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-08-10 8:25 ` Graf (AWS), Alexander
2026-08-10 19:14 ` Graf (AWS), Alexander
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