Re: [virtio-dev] Re: [PATCH v25 2/2] virtio-balloon: VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_FREE_PAGE_HINT

["Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>]

On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 09:40:44AM +0800, Wei Wang wrote:
> On 01/25/2018 09:49 PM, Michael S. Tsirkin wrote:
> > On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 05:14:06PM +0800, Wei Wang wrote:
> > > +
> > > +static void report_free_page_func(struct work_struct *work)
> > > +{
> > > +	struct virtio_balloon *vb;
> > > +	int ret;
> > > +
> > > +	vb = container_of(work, struct virtio_balloon, report_free_page_work);
> > > +
> > > +	/* Start by sending the received cmd id to host with an outbuf */
> > > +	ret = send_cmd_id(vb, vb->cmd_id_received);
> > > +	if (unlikely(ret))
> > > +		goto err;
> > > +
> > > +	ret = walk_free_mem_block(vb, 0, &virtio_balloon_send_free_pages);
> > > +	if (unlikely(ret < 0))
> > > +		goto err;
> > > +
> > > +	/* End by sending a stop id to host with an outbuf */
> > > +	ret = send_cmd_id(vb, VIRTIO_BALLOON_FREE_PAGE_REPORT_STOP_ID);
> > > +	if (likely(!ret))
> > > +		return;
> > > +err:
> > > +	dev_err(&vb->vdev->dev, "%s failure: free page vq is broken\n",
> > > +		__func__);
> > > +}
> > > +
> > So that's very simple, but it only works well if the whole
> > free list fits in the queue or host processes the queue faster
> > than the guest. What if it doesn't?
> 
> This is the case that the virtqueue gets full, and I think we've agreed that
> this is an optimization feature and losing some hints to report isn't
> important, right?
> 
> Actually, in the tests, there is no chance to see the ring is full. If we
> check the host patches that were shared before, the device side operation is
> quite simple, it just clears the related bits from the bitmap, and then
> continues to take entries from the virtqueue till the virtqueue gets empty.
> 
> 
> > If we had restartability you could just drop the lock
> > and wait for a vq interrupt to make more progress, which
> > would be better I think.
> > 
> 
> Restartability means that caller needs to record the state where it was when
> it stopped last time.

See my comment on the mm patch: if you rotate the previously reported
pages towards the end, then you mostly get restartability for free,
if only per zone.
The only thing remaining will be stopping at a page you already reported.

There aren't many zones so restartability wrt zones is kind of
trivial.

> The controversy is that the free list is not static
> once the lock is dropped, so everything is dynamically changing, including
> the state that was recorded. The method we are using is more prudent, IMHO.
> How about taking the fundamental solution, and seek to improve incrementally
> in the future?
> 
> 
> Best,
> Wei

I'd like to see kicks happen outside the spinlock. kick with a spinlock
taken looks like a scalability issue that won't be easy to
reproduce but hurt workloads at random unexpected times.

-- 
MST

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