Re: [PATCH 3/8] kvm: vmx: pass MSR_IA32_SPEC_CTRL and MSR_IA32_PRED_CMD down to the guest

[Jim Mattson]

On Wed, Jan 10, 2018 at 8:27 AM, Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I can answer (2) only.
>
> On 10/01/2018 17:19, Liran Alon wrote:
>> (2) On VMExit, Intel recommends to always save guest SPEC_CTRL value,
>> set IBRS to 1 (even if it is already set by guest) and stuff RSB. What
>> exactly does this write of 1 to IBRS do?
>> * a) Does it keep all currently existing BTB/BHB entries created by
>> less-privileged prediction-mode and marks them as were created in
>> less-privileged prediction-mode such that they won't be used in current
>> prediction-mode?
>> * b) Or does it, as Paolo has mentioned multiple times, disables the
>> branch predictor to never consult the BTB/BHB at all as long as IBRS=1?
>> If (b) is true, why is setting IBRS=1 better than just issue an IBPB that clears all entries? At least in that case the > host kernel could still benefict branch prediction performance boost.
>
> Arjan said (b) is not true on all processor generations.  But even if it
> were true, setting IBRS=1 is much, much faster than IBPB.
>
>> If (a) is true, does "IBRS ALL THE TIME" usage is basically a CPU
>> change to just create all BTB/BHB entries to be tagged with
>> prediction-mode at creation-time and that tag to be compared to current
>> prediction-mode when CPU attempts to use BTB/BHB?
>
> I hope so, and I hope said prediction mode includes PCID/VPID too.

Branch prediction entries should probably be tagged with PCID, VPID,
EP4TA, and thread ID...the same things used to tag TLB contexts.

> While I agree with David that "we have other things to work on for now
> before we support hypothetical future hardware", I'd like to make sure
> that Intel gets it right...
>
> Paolo