Re: [PATCH 4/5] dax: remove the copy_from_iter and copy_to_iter methods

Dan Williams
2021-12-15T16:47:08Z

On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 7:53 AM Vivek Goyal <vgoyal@redhat.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 03:43:38PM -0800, Dan Williams wrote:
> > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 12:33 PM Vivek Goyal <vgoyal@redhat.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 08:41:30AM -0800, Dan Williams wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 6:23 AM Vivek Goyal <vgoyal@redhat.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > On Mon, Dec 13, 2021 at 09:23:18AM +0100, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> > > > > > On Sun, Dec 12, 2021 at 06:44:26AM -0800, Dan Williams wrote:
> > > > > > > On Fri, Dec 10, 2021 at 6:17 AM Vivek Goyal <vgoyal@redhat.com> wrote:
> > > > > > > > Going forward, I am wondering should virtiofs use flushcache version as
> > > > > > > > well. What if host filesystem is using DAX and mapping persistent memory
> > > > > > > > pfn directly into qemu address space. I have never tested that.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Right now we are relying on applications to do fsync/msync on virtiofs
> > > > > > > > for data persistence.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > This sounds like it would need coordination with a paravirtualized
> > > > > > > driver that can indicate whether the host side is pmem or not, like
> > > > > > > the virtio_pmem driver. However, if the guest sends any fsync/msync
> > > > > > > you would still need to go explicitly cache flush any dirty page
> > > > > > > because you can't necessarily trust that the guest did that already.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Do we? The application can't really know what backend it is on, so
> > > > > > it sounds like the current virtiofs implementation doesn't really, does it?
> > > > >
> > > > > Agreed that application does not know what backend it is on. So virtiofs
> > > > > just offers regular posix API where applications have to do fsync/msync
> > > > > for data persistence. No support for mmap(MAP_SYNC). We don't offer persistent
> > > > > memory programming model on virtiofs. That's not the expectation. DAX
> > > > > is used only to bypass guest page cache.
> > > > >
> > > > > With this assumption, I think we might not have to use flushcache version
> > > > > at all even if shared filesystem is on persistent memory on host.
> > > > >
> > > > > - We mmap() host files into qemu address space. So any dax store in virtiofs
> > > > > should make corresponding pages dirty in page cache on host and when
> > > > > and fsync()/msync() comes later, it should flush all the data to PMEM.
> > > > >
> > > > > - In case of file extending writes, virtiofs falls back to regular
> > > > > FUSE_WRITE path (and not use DAX), and in that case host pmem driver
> > > > > should make sure writes are flushed to pmem immediately.
> > > > >
> > > > > Are there any other path I am missing. If not, looks like we might not
> > > > > have to use flushcache version in virtiofs at all as long as we are not
> > > > > offering guest applications user space flushes and MAP_SYNC support.
> > > > >
> > > > > We still might have to use machine check safe variant though as loads
> > > > > might generate synchronous machine check. What's not clear to me is
> > > > > that if this MC safe variant should be used only in case of PMEM or
> > > > > should it be used in case of non-PMEM as well.
> > > >
> > > > It should be used on any memory address that can throw exception on
> > > > load, which is any physical address, in paths that can tolerate
> > > > memcpy() returning an error code, most I/O paths, and can tolerate
> > > > slower copy performance on older platforms that do not support MC
> > > > recovery with fast string operations, to date that's only PMEM users.
> > >
> > > Ok, So basically latest cpus can do fast string operations with MC
> > > recovery so that using MC safe variant is not a problem.
> > >
> > > Then there is range of cpus which can do MC recovery but do slower
> > > versions of memcpy and that's where the issue is.
> > >
> > > So if we knew that virtiofs dax window is backed by a pmem device
> > > then we should always use MC safe variant. Even if it means paying
> > > the price of slow version for the sake of correctness.
> > >
> > > But if we are not using pmem on host, then there is no point in
> > > using MC safe variant.
> > >
> > > IOW.
> > >
> > > if (virtiofs_backed_by_pmem) {
> >
> > No, PMEM should not be considered at all relative to whether to use MC
> > or not, it is 100% a decision of whether you expect virtiofs users
> > will balk more at unhandled machine checks or performance regressions
> > on the platforms that set "enable_copy_mc_fragile()".
>
> If we don't handle machine check, kernel will panic(), right? So that's
> the trade off. Whether get higher performance (on select platforms) and
> crash if MC happens OR get slower memcpy() performance (on select
> platoforms) and recover from MC. Hmm...
>
>
> > See
> > quirk_intel_brickland_xeon_ras_cap() and
> > quirk_intel_purley_xeon_ras_cap() in arch/x86/kernel/quirks.c.
> >
> > > use_mc_safe_version
> > > else
> > > use_non_mc_safe_version
> > > }
> > >
> > > Now question is, how do we know if virtiofs dax window is backed by
> > > a pmem or not. I checked virtio_pmem driver and that does not seem
> > > to communicate anything like that. It just communicates start of the
> > > range and size of range, nothing else.
> > >
> > > I don't have full handle on stack of modules of virtio_pmem, but my guess
> > > is it probably is using MC safe version always (because it does not
> > > know anthing about the backing storage).
> > >
> > > /me will definitely like to pay penalty of slower memcpy if virtiofs
> > > device is not backed by a pmem.
> >
> > I assume you meant "not like",
>
> Yes. It was a typo.
>
> > but again PMEM has no bearing on
> > whether using that device will throw machine checks. I'm sure there
> > are people that would make the opposite tradeoff.
>
> Why pmem driver does not have to make such trade off and it always
> uses machine check variant.

It certainly did. I can't find the thread now, but the end result was
to accept the performance regression in favor of maximal MC handling
protection.

> As you mentioned machine checks can happen with DRAM too. So why loading
> from page cache not use machine check variant (or given an option to user
> allow making a choice).

...because regressing page cache operations is fraught, and x86
machine check architecture elicits strong feelings.

> BTW, stefan mentioned that we could think of adding a device feature
> bit to signal whether to do MC safe memcpy() or not if it becomes
> really necessary. For now probably let us stick to performance
> variant and if users demand machine check handling, then either
> introduce it unconditionally or make it an opt-in based on device
> feature bit.

Sure, it's a reasonable choice.