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author | Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> | 2020-03-30 14:43:00 +0300 |
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committer | Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> | 2020-03-30 14:43:00 +0300 |
commit | 3c22baeab40b2f8e75907cfd7aa69147d5343d2c (patch) | |
tree | e8300e52242ae3a9c7bfe6089ee7125324095e27 /Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.rst | |
parent | aa21c3d4b941739651e77747d2f7a20a6c1d87bc (diff) | |
parent | 1c521d7e62262793789845989edca57dea24eb7d (diff) | |
download | linux-3c22baeab40b2f8e75907cfd7aa69147d5343d2c.tar.xz |
Merge tag 'asoc-v5.7' of https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/broonie/sound into for-linus
ASoC: Updates for v5.7
This is a very big update for the core since Morimoto-san has been
rather busy continuing his refactorings to clean up a lot of the cruft
that we have accumilated over the years. We've also gained several new
drivers, including initial (but still not complete) parts of the Intel
SoundWire support.
- Lots of refactorings to modernize the code from Morimoto-san.
- Conversion of SND_SOC_ALL_CODECS to use imply from Geert Uytterhoeven.
- Continued refactoring and fixing of the Intel support.
- Soundwire and more advanced clocking support for Realtek RT5682.
- Support for amlogic GX, Meson 8, Meson 8B and T9015 DAC, Broadcom
DSL/PON, Ingenic JZ4760 and JZ4770, Realtek RL6231, and TI TAS2563 and
TLV320ADCX140.
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.rst | 140 |
1 files changed, 140 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.rst b/Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..4922e4a15f18 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.rst @@ -0,0 +1,140 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +=========================== +The KVM halt polling system +=========================== + +The KVM halt polling system provides a feature within KVM whereby the latency +of a guest can, under some circumstances, be reduced by polling in the host +for some time period after the guest has elected to no longer run by cedeing. +That is, when a guest vcpu has ceded, or in the case of powerpc when all of the +vcpus of a single vcore have ceded, the host kernel polls for wakeup conditions +before giving up the cpu to the scheduler in order to let something else run. + +Polling provides a latency advantage in cases where the guest can be run again +very quickly by at least saving us a trip through the scheduler, normally on +the order of a few micro-seconds, although performance benefits are workload +dependant. In the event that no wakeup source arrives during the polling +interval or some other task on the runqueue is runnable the scheduler is +invoked. Thus halt polling is especially useful on workloads with very short +wakeup periods where the time spent halt polling is minimised and the time +savings of not invoking the scheduler are distinguishable. + +The generic halt polling code is implemented in: + + virt/kvm/kvm_main.c: kvm_vcpu_block() + +The powerpc kvm-hv specific case is implemented in: + + arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c: kvmppc_vcore_blocked() + +Halt Polling Interval +===================== + +The maximum time for which to poll before invoking the scheduler, referred to +as the halt polling interval, is increased and decreased based on the perceived +effectiveness of the polling in an attempt to limit pointless polling. +This value is stored in either the vcpu struct: + + kvm_vcpu->halt_poll_ns + +or in the case of powerpc kvm-hv, in the vcore struct: + + kvmppc_vcore->halt_poll_ns + +Thus this is a per vcpu (or vcore) value. + +During polling if a wakeup source is received within the halt polling interval, +the interval is left unchanged. In the event that a wakeup source isn't +received during the polling interval (and thus schedule is invoked) there are +two options, either the polling interval and total block time[0] were less than +the global max polling interval (see module params below), or the total block +time was greater than the global max polling interval. + +In the event that both the polling interval and total block time were less than +the global max polling interval then the polling interval can be increased in +the hope that next time during the longer polling interval the wake up source +will be received while the host is polling and the latency benefits will be +received. The polling interval is grown in the function grow_halt_poll_ns() and +is multiplied by the module parameters halt_poll_ns_grow and +halt_poll_ns_grow_start. + +In the event that the total block time was greater than the global max polling +interval then the host will never poll for long enough (limited by the global +max) to wakeup during the polling interval so it may as well be shrunk in order +to avoid pointless polling. The polling interval is shrunk in the function +shrink_halt_poll_ns() and is divided by the module parameter +halt_poll_ns_shrink, or set to 0 iff halt_poll_ns_shrink == 0. + +It is worth noting that this adjustment process attempts to hone in on some +steady state polling interval but will only really do a good job for wakeups +which come at an approximately constant rate, otherwise there will be constant +adjustment of the polling interval. + +[0] total block time: + the time between when the halt polling function is + invoked and a wakeup source received (irrespective of + whether the scheduler is invoked within that function). + +Module Parameters +================= + +The kvm module has 3 tuneable module parameters to adjust the global max +polling interval as well as the rate at which the polling interval is grown and +shrunk. These variables are defined in include/linux/kvm_host.h and as module +parameters in virt/kvm/kvm_main.c, or arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c in the +powerpc kvm-hv case. + ++-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+ +|Module Parameter | Description | Default Value | ++-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+ +|halt_poll_ns | The global max polling | KVM_HALT_POLL_NS_DEFAULT| +| | interval which defines | | +| | the ceiling value of the | | +| | polling interval for | (per arch value) | +| | each vcpu. | | ++-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+ +|halt_poll_ns_grow | The value by which the | 2 | +| | halt polling interval is | | +| | multiplied in the | | +| | grow_halt_poll_ns() | | +| | function. | | ++-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+ +|halt_poll_ns_grow_start| The initial value to grow | 10000 | +| | to from zero in the | | +| | grow_halt_poll_ns() | | +| | function. | | ++-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+ +|halt_poll_ns_shrink | The value by which the | 0 | +| | halt polling interval is | | +| | divided in the | | +| | shrink_halt_poll_ns() | | +| | function. | | ++-----------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+ + +These module parameters can be set from the debugfs files in: + + /sys/module/kvm/parameters/ + +Note: that these module parameters are system wide values and are not able to + be tuned on a per vm basis. + +Further Notes +============= + +- Care should be taken when setting the halt_poll_ns module parameter as a large value + has the potential to drive the cpu usage to 100% on a machine which would be almost + entirely idle otherwise. This is because even if a guest has wakeups during which very + little work is done and which are quite far apart, if the period is shorter than the + global max polling interval (halt_poll_ns) then the host will always poll for the + entire block time and thus cpu utilisation will go to 100%. + +- Halt polling essentially presents a trade off between power usage and latency and + the module parameters should be used to tune the affinity for this. Idle cpu time is + essentially converted to host kernel time with the aim of decreasing latency when + entering the guest. + +- Halt polling will only be conducted by the host when no other tasks are runnable on + that cpu, otherwise the polling will cease immediately and schedule will be invoked to + allow that other task to run. Thus this doesn't allow a guest to denial of service the + cpu. |