Re: [Xen-devel] crash tool - problem with new Xen linear virtual mapped sparse p2m list

[Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>]

On 24/11/15 10:17, Petr Tesarik wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Nov 2015 10:09:01 +0000
> David Vrabel <david.vrabel@citrix.com> wrote:
>
>> On 24/11/15 09:55, Malcolm Crossley wrote:
>>> On 24/11/15 08:59, Jan Beulich wrote:
>>>>>>> On 24.11.15 at 07:55, <JGross@suse.com> wrote:
>>>>> What about:
>>>>>
>>>>> 4) Instead of relying on the kernel maintained p2m list for m2p
>>>>>    conversion use the hypervisor maintained m2p list which should be
>>>>>    available in the dump as well. This is the way the alive kernel is
>>>>>    working, so mimic it during crash dump analysis.
>>>> I fully agree; I have to admit that looking at the p2m when doing page
>>>> table walks for a PV Dom0 (having all machine addresses in page table
>>>> entries) seems kind of backwards. (But I say this knowing nothing
>>>> about the tool.)
>>>>
>>> I don't think we can reliably use the m2p for PV domains because
>>> PV domains don't always issue a m2p update hypercall when they change
>>> their p2m mapping.
>> This only applies to foreign pages which won't be very interesting to a
>> crash tool.
> True. I think the main reason crash hasn't done this is that it cannot
> find the hypervisor maintained m2p list. It should be sufficient to add
> some more fields to XEN_VMCOREINFO, so that crash can locate the
> mapping in the dump.

The M2P lives at an ABI-specified location in all virtual address spaces
for PV guests.

Either 0xF5800000 or 0xFFFF800000000000 depending on bitness.

This will be more compatible to use, as it won't depend on a newer
hypervisor with modified notes.

~Andrew