Re: [PATCH RFC] kvm: x86: add halt_poll module parameter

[Paolo Bonzini]

On 05/02/2015 21:39, David Matlack wrote:
>> This parameter helps a lot for latency-bound workloads [...]
>> KVM's performance here is usually around 30% of bare metal,
>> or 50% if you use cache=directsync or cache=writethrough.
>> With this patch performance reaches 60-65% of bare metal and, more
>> important, 99% of what you get if you use idle=poll in the guest.
> 
> I used loopback TCP_RR and loopback memcache as benchmarks for halt
> polling. I saw very similar results as you (before: 40% bare metal,
> after: 60-65% bare metal and 95% of guest idle=poll).

Good that it also works for network!

> Reviewed-by: David Matlack <dmatlack@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
>>  arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h |  1 +
>>  arch/x86/kvm/x86.c              | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++----
>>  include/linux/kvm_host.h        |  1 +
>>  virt/kvm/kvm_main.c             | 22 +++++++++++++++-------
>>  4 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h
>> index 848947ac6ade..a236e39cc385 100644
>> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h
>> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h
>> @@ -655,6 +655,7 @@ struct kvm_vcpu_stat {
>>         u32 irq_window_exits;
>>         u32 nmi_window_exits;
>>         u32 halt_exits;
>> +       u32 halt_successful_poll;
>>         u32 halt_wakeup;
>>         u32 request_irq_exits;
>>         u32 irq_exits;
>> diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
>> index 1373e04e1f19..b7b20828f01c 100644
>> --- a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
>> +++ b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
>> @@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kvm_x86_ops);
>>  static bool ignore_msrs = 0;
>>  module_param(ignore_msrs, bool, S_IRUGO | S_IWUSR);
>>
>> +unsigned int halt_poll = 0;
>> +module_param(halt_poll, uint, S_IRUGO | S_IWUSR);
> 
> Suggest encoding the units in the name. "halt_poll_cycles" in this case.

I left it out because of the parallel with ple_window/ple_gap.  But I
will call it "halt_poll_ns" in the next version.

>> +
>>  unsigned int min_timer_period_us = 500;
>>  module_param(min_timer_period_us, uint, S_IRUGO | S_IWUSR);
>>
>> @@ -145,6 +148,7 @@ struct kvm_stats_debugfs_item debugfs_entries[] = {
>>         { "irq_window", VCPU_STAT(irq_window_exits) },
>>         { "nmi_window", VCPU_STAT(nmi_window_exits) },
>>         { "halt_exits", VCPU_STAT(halt_exits) },
>> +       { "halt_successful_poll", VCPU_STAT(halt_successful_poll) },
>>         { "halt_wakeup", VCPU_STAT(halt_wakeup) },
>>         { "hypercalls", VCPU_STAT(hypercalls) },
>>         { "request_irq", VCPU_STAT(request_irq_exits) },
>> @@ -5819,13 +5823,29 @@ void kvm_arch_exit(void)
>>  int kvm_emulate_halt(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
>>  {
>>         ++vcpu->stat.halt_exits;
>> -       if (irqchip_in_kernel(vcpu->kvm)) {
>> -               vcpu->arch.mp_state = KVM_MP_STATE_HALTED;
>> -               return 1;
>> -       } else {
>> +       if (!irqchip_in_kernel(vcpu->kvm)) {
>>                 vcpu->run->exit_reason = KVM_EXIT_HLT;
>>                 return 0;
>>         }
>> +
>> +       vcpu->arch.mp_state = KVM_MP_STATE_HALTED;
>> +       if (halt_poll) {
> 
> Would it be useful to poll in kvm_vcpu_block() for the benefit of all
> arch's?

Sure.  Especially if I use time instead of cycles.

>> +               u64 start, curr;
>> +               rdtscll(start);
> 
> Why cycles instead of time?

People's love for rdtsc grows every time you tell them it's wrong...

>> +               do {
>> +                       /*
>> +                        * This sets KVM_REQ_UNHALT if an interrupt
>> +                        * arrives.
>> +                        */
>> +                       if (kvm_vcpu_check_block(vcpu) < 0) {
>> +                               ++vcpu->stat.halt_successful_poll;
>> +                               break;
>> +                       }
>> +                       rdtscll(curr);
>> +               } while(!need_resched() && curr - start < halt_poll);
> 
> I found that using need_resched() was not sufficient at preventing
> VCPUs from delaying their own progress. To test this try running with
> and without polling on a 2 VCPU VM, confined to 1 PCPU, that is running
> loopback TCP_RR in the VM. The problem goes away if you stop polling as
> soon as there are runnable threads on your cpu. (e.g. use
> "single_task_running()" instead of "!need_resched()"
> http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/kernel/sched/core.c#L2398 ). This
> also guarantees polling only delays the idle thread.

Great, I'll include all of your suggestions in the next version of the
patch.

Paolo
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