Re: [PATCH] KVM: VMX: Micro-optimize vmexit time when not exposing PMU

From: Xu, Like
Date: Thu Mar 12 2020 - 23:23:35 EST


Hi Wanpeng,

On 2020/3/12 19:05, Wanpeng Li wrote:
On Thu, 12 Mar 2020 at 18:36, Vitaly Kuznetsov <vkuznets@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Wanpeng Li <kernellwp@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

From: Wanpeng Li <wanpengli@xxxxxxxxxxx>

PMU is not exposed to guest by most of cloud providers since the bad performance
of PMU emulation and security concern. However, it calls perf_guest_switch_get_msrs()
and clear_atomic_switch_msr() unconditionally even if PMU is not exposed to the
guest before each vmentry.

~1.28% vmexit time reduced can be observed by kvm-unit-tests/vmexit.flat on my
SKX server.

Before patch:
vmcall 1559

After patch:
vmcall 1539

Signed-off-by: Wanpeng Li <wanpengli@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
index 40b1e61..fd526c8 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -6441,6 +6441,9 @@ static void atomic_switch_perf_msrs(struct vcpu_vmx *vmx)
int i, nr_msrs;
struct perf_guest_switch_msr *msrs;

+ if (!vcpu_to_pmu(&vmx->vcpu)->version)
+ return;
+
msrs = perf_guest_get_msrs(&nr_msrs);

if (!msrs)
Personally, I'd prefer this to be expressed as

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
index 40b1e6138cd5..ace92076c90f 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c
@@ -6567,7 +6567,9 @@ static void vmx_vcpu_run(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)

pt_guest_enter(vmx);

- atomic_switch_perf_msrs(vmx);
+ if (vcpu_to_pmu(&vmx->vcpu)->version)
We may use 'vmx->vcpu.arch.pmu.version'.

I would vote in favor of adding the "unlikely (vmx->vcpu.arch.pmu.version)"
check to the atomic_switch_perf_msrs(), which follows pt_guest_enter(vmx).

+ atomic_switch_perf_msrs(vmx);
+
I just hope the beautiful codes before, I testing this version before
sending out the patch, ~30 cycles can be saved which means that ~2%
vmexit time, will update in next version. Let's wait Paolo for other
opinions below.

You may factor the cost of the "pmu-> version check' itself (~10 cycles)
into your overall 'micro-optimize' revenue.

Thanks,
Like Xu

Wanpeng

Also, (not knowing much about PMU), is
"vcpu_to_pmu(&vmx->vcpu)->version" check correct?

E.g. in intel_is_valid_msr() correct for Intel PMU or is it stated
somewhere that it is generic rule?

Also, speaking about cloud providers and the 'micro' nature of this
optimization, would it rather make sense to introduce a static branch
(the policy to disable vPMU is likely to be host wide, right)?

--
Vitaly