[PATCH v9 16/22] KVM: arm64: Apply dynamic guest counter reservations
From: Colton Lewis
Date: Thu Sep 24 2026 - 13:49:08 EST
Reserve and release guest PMU counters dynamically during vCPU load and
put rather than statically at VM creation.
Add kvm_pmu_set_guest_counters() in arch/arm64/kvm/pmu-direct.c, called
from kvm_pmu_load() and kvm_pmu_put(). When the requested guest counter
mask collides with active host events in cpuc->used_mask (or when
releasing counters after squeezing a host event), invoke
perf_pmu_resched_update() with kvm_pmu_update_mask() to update the
per-CPU cpuc->cntr_mask between scheduling host events out and back in;
otherwise update cpuc->cntr_mask directly with interrupts disabled.
Signed-off-by: Colton Lewis <coltonlewis@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/arm64/kvm/pmu-direct.c | 77 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
include/linux/perf/arm_pmu.h | 1 +
2 files changed, 78 insertions(+)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kvm/pmu-direct.c b/arch/arm64/kvm/pmu-direct.c
index a22c9258c2452..31d5afc44f36e 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kvm/pmu-direct.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kvm/pmu-direct.c
@@ -115,6 +115,77 @@ u64 kvm_pmu_direct_pmcr_read(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
ARMV8_PMU_PMCR_N);
}
+/* Callback to update counter mask between perf scheduling */
+static void kvm_pmu_update_mask(struct pmu *pmu, void *data)
+{
+ struct arm_pmu *arm_pmu = to_arm_pmu(pmu);
+ struct pmu_hw_events *cpuc = this_cpu_ptr(arm_pmu->hw_events);
+ unsigned long *new_mask = data;
+
+ bitmap_copy(cpuc->cntr_mask, new_mask, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS);
+}
+
+/**
+ * kvm_pmu_set_guest_counters() - Handle dynamic counter reservations
+ * @cpu_pmu: struct arm_pmu to potentially modify
+ * @guest_mask: new guest mask for the pmu
+ *
+ * Check if guest counters will interfere with current host events and
+ * call into perf_pmu_resched_update if a reschedule is required.
+ */
+static void kvm_pmu_set_guest_counters(struct arm_pmu *cpu_pmu, u64 guest_mask)
+{
+ struct pmu_hw_events *cpuc = this_cpu_ptr(cpu_pmu->hw_events);
+ DECLARE_BITMAP(guest_bitmap, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS);
+ DECLARE_BITMAP(new_mask, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS);
+ unsigned long flags;
+ bool need_resched = false;
+
+ bitmap_from_arr64(guest_bitmap, &guest_mask, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS);
+ bitmap_copy(new_mask, cpu_pmu->cntr_mask, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS);
+
+ local_irq_save(flags);
+ if (guest_mask) {
+ /* Subtract guest counters from available host mask */
+ bitmap_andnot(new_mask, new_mask, guest_bitmap, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS);
+
+ /* Did we collide with an active host event? */
+ if (bitmap_intersects(cpuc->used_mask, guest_bitmap, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS)) {
+ int idx;
+
+ need_resched = true;
+ cpuc->host_squeezed = true;
+
+ /* Look for pinned events that are about to be preempted */
+ for_each_set_bit(idx, guest_bitmap, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS) {
+ if (test_bit(idx, cpuc->used_mask) && cpuc->events[idx] &&
+ cpuc->events[idx]->attr.pinned) {
+ pr_warn_once("perf: Pinned host event squeezed out by KVM guest PMU partition\n");
+ break;
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ } else {
+ /*
+ * Restoring to full mask.
+ * Only resched if we previously squeezed an event.
+ */
+ if (cpuc->host_squeezed) {
+ need_resched = true;
+ cpuc->host_squeezed = false;
+ }
+ }
+ if (!need_resched)
+ /* Host was never using guest counters anyway */
+ bitmap_copy(cpuc->cntr_mask, new_mask, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS);
+ local_irq_restore(flags);
+
+ if (need_resched) {
+ /* Collision: run full perf reschedule */
+ perf_pmu_resched_update(&cpu_pmu->pmu, kvm_pmu_update_mask, new_mask);
+ }
+}
+
/**
* kvm_pmu_host_counter_mask() - Compute bitmask of host-reserved counters
*
@@ -255,6 +326,7 @@ static void kvm_pmu_apply_event_filter(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
*/
void kvm_pmu_load(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
{
+ struct arm_pmu *pmu;
unsigned long guest_counters;
u64 mask;
u8 i;
@@ -269,7 +341,9 @@ void kvm_pmu_load(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
preempt_disable();
+ pmu = vcpu->kvm->arch.arm_pmu;
guest_counters = kvm_vcpu_pmu_guest_counter_mask(vcpu);
+ kvm_pmu_set_guest_counters(pmu, guest_counters);
kvm_pmu_apply_event_filter(vcpu);
for_each_set_bit(i, &guest_counters, ARMPMU_MAX_HWEVENTS) {
@@ -329,6 +403,7 @@ void kvm_pmu_load(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
*/
void kvm_pmu_put(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
{
+ struct arm_pmu *pmu;
unsigned long guest_counters;
unsigned long flags;
u64 mask;
@@ -345,6 +420,7 @@ void kvm_pmu_put(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
preempt_disable();
+ pmu = vcpu->kvm->arch.arm_pmu;
guest_counters = kvm_vcpu_pmu_guest_counter_mask(vcpu);
mask = guest_counters;
@@ -395,5 +471,6 @@ void kvm_pmu_put(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
write_sysreg(val & mask, pmovsclr_el0);
local_irq_restore(flags);
+ kvm_pmu_set_guest_counters(pmu, 0);
preempt_enable();
}
diff --git a/include/linux/perf/arm_pmu.h b/include/linux/perf/arm_pmu.h
index be1e345e99a77..45658273ffa86 100644
--- a/include/linux/perf/arm_pmu.h
+++ b/include/linux/perf/arm_pmu.h
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ struct pmu_hw_events {
/* Active events requesting branch records */
unsigned int branch_users;
+ bool host_squeezed;
};
enum armpmu_attr_groups {
--
2.56.0.rc1.310.g51773c2048-goog