[PATCH V12 6/7] Documentation: amd-pstate: introduce amd-pstate preferred core

Meng Li
2023-12-05T06:38:50Z

Introduce amd-pstate preferred core.

check preferred core state set by the kernel parameter:
$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/amd-pstate/prefcore

Tested-by: Oleksandr Natalenko <oleksandr@natalenko.name>
Reviewed-by: Wyes Karny <wyes.karny@amd.com>
Reviewed-by: Mario Limonciello <mario.limonciello@amd.com>
Reviewed-by: Huang Rui <ray.huang@amd.com>
Reviewed-by: Perry Yuan <perry.yuan@amd.com>
Signed-off-by: Meng Li <li.meng@amd.com>
---
Documentation/admin-guide/pm/amd-pstate.rst | 59 ++++++++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 57 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/amd-pstate.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/amd-pstate.rst
index 1cf40f69278c..0b832ff529db 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/amd-pstate.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/pm/amd-pstate.rst
@@ -300,8 +300,8 @@ platforms. The AMD P-States mechanism is the more performance and energy
efficiency frequency management method on AMD processors.

-AMD Pstate Driver Operation Modes
-=================================
+``amd-pstate`` Driver Operation Modes
+======================================

``amd_pstate`` CPPC has 3 operation modes: autonomous (active) mode,
non-autonomous (passive) mode and guided autonomous (guided) mode.
@@ -353,6 +353,48 @@ is activated. In this mode, driver requests minimum and maximum performance
level and the platform autonomously selects a performance level in this range
and appropriate to the current workload.

+``amd-pstate`` Preferred Core
+=================================
+
+The core frequency is subjected to the process variation in semiconductors.
+Not all cores are able to reach the maximum frequency respecting the
+infrastructure limits. Consequently, AMD has redefined the concept of
+maximum frequency of a part. This means that a fraction of cores can reach
+maximum frequency. To find the best process scheduling policy for a given
+scenario, OS needs to know the core ordering informed by the platform through
+highest performance capability register of the CPPC interface.
+
+``amd-pstate`` preferred core enables the scheduler to prefer scheduling on
+cores that can achieve a higher frequency with lower voltage. The preferred
+core rankings can dynamically change based on the workload, platform conditions,
+thermals and ageing.
+
+The priority metric will be initialized by the ``amd-pstate`` driver. The ``amd-pstate``
+driver will also determine whether or not ``amd-pstate`` preferred core is
+supported by the platform.
+
+``amd-pstate`` driver will provide an initial core ordering when the system boots.
+The platform uses the CPPC interfaces to communicate the core ranking to the
+operating system and scheduler to make sure that OS is choosing the cores
+with highest performance firstly for scheduling the process. When ``amd-pstate``
+driver receives a message with the highest performance change, it will
+update the core ranking and set the cpu's priority.
+
+``amd-pstate`` Preferred Core Switch
+=================================
+Kernel Parameters
+-----------------
+
+``amd-pstate`` peferred core`` has two states: enable and disable.
+Enable/disable states can be chosen by different kernel parameters.
+Default enable ``amd-pstate`` preferred core.
+
+``amd_prefcore=disable``
+
+For systems that support ``amd-pstate`` preferred core, the core rankings will
+always be advertised by the platform. But OS can choose to ignore that via the
+kernel parameter ``amd_prefcore=disable``.
+
User Space Interface in ``sysfs`` - General
===========================================

@@ -385,6 +427,19 @@ control its functionality at the system level. They are located in the
to the operation mode represented by that string - or to be
unregistered in the "disable" case.

+``prefcore``
+ Preferred core state of the driver: "enabled" or "disabled".
+
+ "enabled"
+ Enable the ``amd-pstate`` preferred core.
+
+ "disabled"
+ Disable the ``amd-pstate`` preferred core
+
+
+ This attribute is read-only to check the state of preferred core set
+ by the kernel parameter.
+
``cpupower`` tool support for ``amd-pstate``
===============================================

--
2.34.1