From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from e23smtp02.au.ibm.com (e23smtp02.au.ibm.com [202.81.31.144]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "e23smtp02.au.ibm.com", Issuer "Equifax" (verified OK)) by bilbo.ozlabs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 9AD60B7067 for ; Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:41:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from d23relay01.au.ibm.com (d23relay01.au.ibm.com [202.81.31.243]) by e23smtp02.au.ibm.com (8.14.3/8.13.1) with ESMTP id n7HEd7Ic031306 for ; Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:39:07 +1000 Received: from d23av02.au.ibm.com (d23av02.au.ibm.com [9.190.235.138]) by d23relay01.au.ibm.com (8.13.8/8.13.8/NCO v10.0) with ESMTP id n7HEfCSQ495702 for ; Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:41:12 +1000 Received: from d23av02.au.ibm.com (loopback [127.0.0.1]) by d23av02.au.ibm.com (8.12.11.20060308/8.13.3) with ESMTP id n7HEfB23002523 for ; Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:41:12 +1000 Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:10:58 +0530 From: Dipankar Sarma To: Peter Zijlstra Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/3] cpu: idle state framework for offline CPUs. Message-ID: <20090817144058.GA5126@in.ibm.com> References: <20090812195753.GA14649@in.ibm.com> <20090813045931.GB14649@in.ibm.com> <20090814113021.GL32418@elf.ucw.cz> <20090816182629.GA31027@in.ibm.com> <20090816194441.GA22626@balbir.in.ibm.com> <1250459602.8648.35.camel@laptop> <20090817062418.GB31027@in.ibm.com> <1250493357.5241.1656.camel@twins> <20090817075815.GB11049@in.ibm.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In-Reply-To: <20090817075815.GB11049@in.ibm.com> Cc: "Brown, Len" , Gautham R Shenoy , "Darrick J. Wong" , "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" , "Rafael J. Wysocki" , Pavel Machek , "Pallipadi, Venkatesh" , "Li, Shaohua" , Ingo Molnar , balbir@linux.vnet.ibm.com, "linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org" , Len Brown Reply-To: dipankar@in.ibm.com List-Id: Linux on PowerPC Developers Mail List List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 01:28:15PM +0530, Dipankar Sarma wrote: > On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 09:15:57AM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote: > > On Mon, 2009-08-17 at 11:54 +0530, Dipankar Sarma wrote: > > > For most parts, we do. The guest kernel doesn't manage the offline > > > CPU state. That is typically done by the hypervisor. However, offline > > > operation as defined now always result in a VM resize in some hypervisor > > > systems (like pseries) - it would be convenient to have a non-resize > > > offline operation which lets the guest cede the cpu to hypervisor > > > with the hint that the VM shouldn't be resized and the guest needs the guarantee > > > to get the cpu back any time. The hypervisor can do whatever it wants > > > with the ceded CPU including putting it in a low power state, but > > > not change the physical cpu shares of the VM. The pseries hypervisor, > > > for example, clearly distinguishes between the two - "rtas-stop-self" call > > > to resize VM vs. H_CEDE hypercall with a hint. What I am suggesting > > > is that we allow this with an extension to existing interfaces because it > > > makes sense to allow sort of "hibernation" of the cpus without changing any > > > configuration of the VMs. > > > > >From my POV the thing you call cede is the only sane thing to do for a > > guest. Let the hypervisor management interface deal with resizing guests > > if and when that's needed. > > That is more or less how it currently works - atleast for pseries hypervisor. > The current "offline" operation with "rtas-stop-self" call I mentioned > earlier is initiated by the hypervisor management interfaces/tool in > pseries system. This wakes up a guest system tool that echoes "1" > to the offline file resulting in the configuration change. Should have said - echoes "0" to the online file. You don't necessarily need this in the guest Linux as long as there is a way for hypervisor tools to internally move Linux tasks/interrupts from a vcpu - async event handled by the kernel, for example. But I think it is too late for that - the interface has long been exported. > The OS involvement is necessary to evacuate tasks/interrupts > from the released CPU. We don't really want to initiate this from guests. > > > Thing is, you don't want a guest to be able to influence the amount of > > cpu shares attributed to it. You want that in explicit control of > > whomever manages the hypervisor. > > Agreed. But given a fixed cpu share by the hypervisor management tools, > we would like to be able to cede cpus to hypervisor leaving the hypervisor > configuration intact. This, we don't have at the moment and want to just > extend the current interface for this. > > Thanks > Dipankar > > -- > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ >