[virtio-comment] Re: [PATCH v5 1/3] content: Document balloon feature page poison

[Cornelia Huck <cohuck@redhat.com>]

On Mon, 06 Jul 2020 14:18:22 -0700
Alexander Duyck <alexander.duyck@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Alexander Duyck <alexander.h.duyck@linux.intel.com>
> 
> Page poison provides a way for the guest to notify the host that it is
> initializing or poisoning freed pages with some specific poison value. As a
> result of this we can infer a couple traits about the guest:
> 
> 1. Free pages will contain a specific pattern within the guest.
> 2. Modifying free pages from this value may cause an error in the guest.
> 3. Pages will be immediately written to by the driver when deflated.
> 
> There are currently no existing features that make use of this data. In the
> upcoming feature free page reporting we will need to make use of this to
> identify if we can evict pages from the guest without causing data
> corruption.
> 
> Add documentation for the page poison feature describing the basic
> functionality and requirements.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Alexander Duyck <alexander.h.duyck@linux.intel.com>
> ---
>  conformance.tex |    2 ++
>  content.tex     |   59 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
>  2 files changed, 57 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

(...)

> @@ -5042,13 +5049,17 @@ \subsection{Feature bits}\label{sec:Device Types / Memory Balloon Device / Featu
>  VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_MUST_TELL_HOST is not negotiated.
>  
>  \subsection{Device configuration layout}\label{sec:Device Types / Memory Balloon Device / Device configuration layout}
> -  Both fields of this configuration
> -  are always available.
> +  \field{num_pages} and \field{actual} are always available.
> +
> +  \field{poison_val} is available if VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON has been
> +    negotiated.
>  
>  \begin{lstlisting}
>  struct virtio_balloon_config {
>          le32 num_pages;
>          le32 actual;
> +        le32 free_page_hint_cmd_id;

This is slightly confusing, as free page hinting is only introduced in
a later patch; maybe call this 'reserved' and rename in the patch
introducing page hinting? But no real need to do so, I just stumbled
over it.

> +        le32 poison_val;
>  };
>  \end{lstlisting}
>  
> @@ -5072,9 +5083,15 @@ \subsection{Device Initialization}\label{sec:Device Types / Memory Balloon Devic
>    \begin{enumerate}
>    \item Identify the stats virtqueue.
>    \item Add one empty buffer to the stats virtqueue.
> -  \item DRIVER_OK is set: device operation begins.
> -  \item Notify the device about the stats virtqueue buffer.
>    \end{enumerate}
> +
> +\item If the VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON feature bit is negotiated, the
> +  driver updates the \field{poison_val} configuration field.

s/the driver updates/update/ would be more in line with the other
wording here; more of a nit, feel free to keep as-is.

> +
> +\item DRIVER_OK is set: device operation begins.
> +
> +\item If the VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_STATS_VQ feature bit is negotiated, then
> +  notify the device about the stats virtqueue buffer.
>  \end{enumerate}
>  
>  \subsection{Device Operation}\label{sec:Device Types / Memory Balloon Device / Device Operation}
> @@ -5345,6 +5362,40 @@ \subsubsection{Memory Statistics Tags}\label{sec:Device Types / Memory Balloon D
>    allocations in the guest.
>  \end{description}
>  
> +\subsubsection{Page Poison}\label{sec:Device Types / Memory Balloon Device / Device Operation / Page Poison}
> +
> +Page Poison provides a way to notify the host that the guest is initializing
> +free pages with \field{poison_val}. When the feature is enabled, pages will
> +be immediately written to by the driver after deflating.
> +
> +If the guest is not initializing freed pages the driver should reject the

s/pages/pages,/

> +VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON feature.
> +
> +If VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON feature has been negotiated, the driver
> +will place the initialization value into the \field{poison_val}
> +configuration field data.
> +
> +\drivernormative{\paragraph}{Page Poison}{Device Types / Memory Balloon Device / Device Operation / Page Poison}
> +
> +Normative statements in this section apply if the
> +VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON feature has been negotiated.
> +
> +The driver MUST initialize the deflated pages with \field{poison_val} when
> +they are reused by the driver.
> +
> +The driver MUST populate the \field{poison_val} configuration data before
> +setting the DRIVER_OK bit.
> +
> +The driver MUST NOT modify \field{poison_val} while the DRIVER_OK bit is set.
> +
> +\devicenormative{\paragraph}{Page Poison}{Device Types / Memory Balloon Device / Device Operation / Page Poison}
> +
> +Normative statements in this section apply if the
> +VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON feature has been negotiated.
> +
> +The device MAY use the content of \field{poison_val} as a hint to guest
> +behavior.
> +
>  \section{SCSI Host Device}\label{sec:Device Types / SCSI Host Device}
>  
>  The virtio SCSI host device groups together one or more virtual
> 
> 

Just some nits, otherwise

Reviewed-by: Cornelia Huck <cohuck@redhat.com>


This publicly archived list offers a means to provide input to the
OASIS Virtual I/O Device (VIRTIO) TC.

In order to verify user consent to the Feedback License terms and
to minimize spam in the list archive, subscription is required
before posting.

Subscribe: virtio-comment-subscribe@lists.oasis-open.org
Unsubscribe: virtio-comment-unsubscribe@lists.oasis-open.org
List help: virtio-comment-help@lists.oasis-open.org
List archive: https://lists.oasis-open.org/archives/virtio-comment/
Feedback License: https://www.oasis-open.org/who/ipr/feedback_license.pdf
List Guidelines: https://www.oasis-open.org/policies-guidelines/mailing-lists
Committee: https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/virtio/
Join OASIS: https://www.oasis-open.org/join/