Re: [patch 21/32] NTB/msi: Convert to msi_on_each_desc()

[Jason Gunthorpe]

On Mon, Nov 29, 2021 at 03:27:20PM -0700, Logan Gunthorpe wrote:

> In most cases, the NTB code needs more interrupts than the hardware
> actually provides for in its MSI-X table. That's what PCI_IRQ_VIRTUAL is
> for: it allows the driver to request more interrupts than the hardware
> advertises (ie. pci_msix_vec_count()). These extra interrupts are
> created, but get flagged with msi_attrib.is_virtual which ensures
> functions that program the MSI-X table don't try to write past the end
> of the hardware's table.

AFAICT what you've described is what Intel is calling IMS in other
contexts.

IMS is fundamentally a way to control MSI interrupt descriptors that
are not accessed through PCI SIG compliant means. In this case the NTB
driver has to do its magic to relay the addr/data pairs to the real
MSI storage in the hidden devices.

PCI_IRQ_VIRTUAL should probably be fully replaced by the new dynamic
APIs in the fullness of time..

> Existing NTB hardware does already have what's called a doorbell which
> provides the same functionally as the above technique. However, existing
> hardware implementations of doorbells have significant latency and thus
> slow down performance substantially. Implementing the MSI interrupts as
> described above increased the performance of ntb_transport by more than
> three times[1].

Does the doorbell scheme allow as many interrupts?

Jason