linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 2/3] kvm hypervisor : Add hypercalls to support pv-ticketlock

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Message-ID: <20110119172306.GA2863@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Date:	Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:53:07 +0530
From:	Srivatsa Vaddagiri <vatsa@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>
To:	Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@...p.org>
Cc:	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Nick Piggin <npiggin@...nel.dk>,
	Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@...ymtl.ca>,
	Américo Wang <xiyou.wangcong@...il.com>,
	Eric Dumazet <dada1@...mosbay.com>,
	Jan Beulich <JBeulich@...ell.com>, Avi Kivity <avi@...hat.com>,
	Xen-devel <xen-devel@...ts.xensource.com>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
	Linux Virtualization <virtualization@...ts.linux-foundation.org>,
	Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy.fitzhardinge@...rix.com>,
	kvm@...r.kernel.org, suzuki@...ibm.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/3] kvm hypervisor : Add hypercalls to support
 pv-ticketlock

On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 10:42:39PM +0530, Srivatsa Vaddagiri wrote:
> Add two hypercalls to KVM hypervisor to support pv-ticketlocks.
> 
> KVM_HC_WAIT_FOR_KICK blocks the calling vcpu until another vcpu kicks it or it
> is woken up because of an event like interrupt.

One possibility is to extend this hypercall to do a directed yield as well, 
which needs some more thought. Another issue that needs to be resolved with
pv-ticketlocks is the impact on intra-VM fairness. A guest experiencing heavy
contention can keep yielding cpu, allowing other VMs to get more time than they
deserve.

- vatsa
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