Re: [PATCH RFC 1/2] kvm: Handle undercommitted guest case in PLEhandler

From: Avi Kivity
Date: Thu Sep 27 2012 - 08:07:06 EST


On 09/27/2012 01:26 PM, Raghavendra K T wrote:
> On 09/27/2012 02:20 PM, Avi Kivity wrote:
>> On 09/25/2012 04:43 PM, Jiannan Ouyang wrote:
>>> I've actually implemented this preempted_bitmap idea.
>>
>> Interesting, please share the code if you can.
>>
>>> However, I'm doing this to expose this information to the guest, so the
>>> guest is able to know if the lock holder is preempted or not before
>>> spining. Right now, I'm doing experiment to show that this idea works.
>>>
>>> I'm wondering what do you guys think of the relationship between the
>>> pv_ticketlock approach and PLE handler approach. Are we going to adopt
>>> PLE instead of the pv ticketlock, and why?
>>
>> Right now we're searching for the best solution. The tradeoffs are more
>> or less:
>>
>> PLE:
>> - works for unmodified / non-Linux guests
>> - works for all types of spins (e.g. smp_call_function*())
>> - utilizes an existing hardware interface (PAUSE instruction) so likely
>> more robust compared to a software interface
>>
>> PV:
>> - has more information, so it can perform better
>
> Should we also consider that we always have an edge here for non-PLE
> machine?

True. The deployment share for these is decreasing rapidly though. I
hate optimizing for obsolete hardware.


--
error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function
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