[PATCH 1/1] x86: SMP broken on Xen PV DomU since 6.9

[PATCH 1/1] x86: SMP broken on Xen PV DomU since 6.9

[Niels Dettenbach]

Virtual machines under Xen Hypervisor (DomU) running in Xen PV mode use a 
special, nonstandard synthetized CPU topology which "just works" under 
kernels 6.9.x while newer kernels wrongly assuming a "crash kernel" and 
disable SMP (reducing to one CPU core) because the newer topology 
implementation produces a wrong error "[Firmware Bug]: APIC enumeration 
order not specification compliant" after new topology checks which are 
improper for Xen PV platform. As a result, the kernel disables SMT and 
activates just one CPU core within the VM (DomU).

The patch disables the regarding checks if it is running in Xen PV 
mode (only) and bring back SMP / all CPUs as in the past to such DomU 
VMs.

Signed-off-by: Niels Dettenbach <nd@syndicat.com>

---


The current behaviour leads all of our production Xen Host platforms 
(amd64 - HPE proliant) unusable after updating to newer linux kernels 
(with just one CPU available/activated per VM) while older kernels and
other OS (current NetBSD PV DomU) still work fully (and stable since many 
years on the platform). 

Xen PV mode is still provided by current Xen and widely used - even 
if less wide as the newer Xen PVH mode today. So a solution probably 
will be required.

So we assume that bug affects stable@vger.kernel.org as well.


dmesg from affected kernel:

-- snip --
[    0.640364] CPU topo: Enumerated BSP APIC 0 is not marked in APICBASE MSR
[    0.640367] CPU topo: Assuming crash kernel. Limiting to one CPU to prevent machine INIT
[    0.640368] CPU topo: [Firmware Bug]: APIC enumeration order not specification compliant
[    0.640376] CPU topo: Max. logical packages:   1
[    0.640378] CPU topo: Max. logical dies:       1
[    0.640379] CPU topo: Max. dies per package:   1
[    0.640386] CPU topo: Max. threads per core:   1
[    0.640388] CPU topo: Num. cores per package:     1
[    0.640389] CPU topo: Num. threads per package:   1
[    0.640390] CPU topo: Allowing 1 present CPUs plus 0 hotplug CPUs
[    0.640402] Cannot find an available gap in the 32-bit address range
-- snap --


after patch applied:
-- snip --
[    0.369439] CPU topo: Max. logical packages:   1
[    0.369441] CPU topo: Max. logical dies:       1
[    0.369442] CPU topo: Max. dies per package:   1
[    0.369450] CPU topo: Max. threads per core:   2
[    0.369452] CPU topo: Num. cores per package:     3
[    0.369453] CPU topo: Num. threads per package:   6
[    0.369453] CPU topo: Allowing 6 present CPUs plus 0 hotplug CPUs
-- snap --


We tested the patch intensely under productive / high load since 2 days now with no issues.


references:
arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c
[line 448]
-- snip --
        /*
         * XEN PV is special as it does not advertise the local APIC
         * properly, but provides a fake topology for it so that the
         * infrastructure works. So don't apply the restrictions vs. APIC
         * here.
         */
--snap --




--- linux/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c        2024-09-11 17:42:42.699278317 +0200
+++ linux/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/topology.c.orig   2024-09-11 09:53:16.194095250 +0200
@@ -132,14 +132,6 @@
        u64 msr;

        /*
-        * assume Xen PV has a working (special) topology
-        */
-       if (xen_pv_domain()) {
-               topo_info.real_bsp_apic_id = topo_info.boot_cpu_apic_id;
-               return false;
-       }
-
-       /*
         * There is no real good way to detect whether this a kdump()
         * kernel, but except on the Voyager SMP monstrosity which is not
         * longer supported, the real BSP APIC ID is the first one which is

 

Re: [PATCH 1/1] x86: SMP broken on Xen PV DomU since 6.9

[Greg KH]

On Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 10:48:14AM +0200, Niels Dettenbach wrote:
> Virtual machines under Xen Hypervisor (DomU) running in Xen PV mode use a 
> special, nonstandard synthetized CPU topology which "just works" under 
> kernels 6.9.x while newer kernels wrongly assuming a "crash kernel" and 
> disable SMP (reducing to one CPU core) because the newer topology 
> implementation produces a wrong error "[Firmware Bug]: APIC enumeration 
> order not specification compliant" after new topology checks which are 
> improper for Xen PV platform. As a result, the kernel disables SMT and 
> activates just one CPU core within the VM (DomU).
> 
> The patch disables the regarding checks if it is running in Xen PV 
> mode (only) and bring back SMP / all CPUs as in the past to such DomU 
> VMs.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Niels Dettenbach <nd@syndicat.com>
> 
> ---
> 
> 
> The current behaviour leads all of our production Xen Host platforms 
> (amd64 - HPE proliant) unusable after updating to newer linux kernels 
> (with just one CPU available/activated per VM) while older kernels and
> other OS (current NetBSD PV DomU) still work fully (and stable since many 
> years on the platform). 
> 
> Xen PV mode is still provided by current Xen and widely used - even 
> if less wide as the newer Xen PVH mode today. So a solution probably 
> will be required.
> 
> So we assume that bug affects stable@vger.kernel.org as well.
> 

<formletter>

This is not the correct way to submit patches for inclusion in the
stable kernel tree.  Please read:
    https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/stable-kernel-rules.html
for how to do this properly.

</formletter>