linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v7 2/2] misc: Add a mechanism to detect stalls on guest vCPUs

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Date:   Tue, 21 Jun 2022 10:24:30 +0100
From:   Marc Zyngier <maz@...nel.org>
To:     Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
Cc:     Sebastian Ene <sebastianene@...gle.com>,
        Rob Herring <robh+dt@...nel.org>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>,
        Dragan Cvetic <dragan.cvetic@...inx.com>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, devicetree@...r.kernel.org,
        will@...nel.org, vdonnefort@...gle.com,
        Guenter Roeck <linux@...ck-us.net>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v7 2/2] misc: Add a mechanism to detect stalls on guest vCPUs

On Tue, 21 Jun 2022 09:54:35 +0100,
Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org> wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Jun 21, 2022 at 09:44:35AM +0100, Marc Zyngier wrote:
> > On 2022-06-21 09:27, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> > > On Tue, Jun 21, 2022 at 08:03:09AM +0000, Sebastian Ene wrote:
> > > > This driver creates per-cpu hrtimers which are required to do the
> > > > periodic 'pet' operation. On a conventional watchdog-core driver, the
> > > > userspace is responsible for delivering the 'pet' events by writing to
> > > > the particular /dev/watchdogN node. In this case we require a strong
> > > > thread affinity to be able to account for lost time on a per vCPU.
> > > > 
> > > > This part of the driver is the 'frontend' which is reponsible for
> > > > delivering the periodic 'pet' events, configuring the virtual
> > > > peripheral
> > > > and listening for cpu hotplug events. The other part of the driver
> > > > handles the peripheral emulation and this part accounts for lost
> > > > time by
> > > > looking at the /proc/{}/task/{}/stat entries and is located here:
> > > > https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromiumos/platform/crosvm/+/3548817
> > > > 
> > > > Signed-off-by: Sebastian Ene <sebastianene@...gle.com>
> > > > ---
> > > >  drivers/misc/Kconfig               |  12 ++
> > > >  drivers/misc/Makefile              |   1 +
> > > >  drivers/misc/vcpu_stall_detector.c | 222
> > > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > > >  3 files changed, 235 insertions(+)
> > > >  create mode 100644 drivers/misc/vcpu_stall_detector.c
> > > > 
> > > > diff --git a/drivers/misc/Kconfig b/drivers/misc/Kconfig
> > > > index 41d2bb0ae23a..e15c85d74c4b 100644
> > > > --- a/drivers/misc/Kconfig
> > > > +++ b/drivers/misc/Kconfig
> > > > @@ -483,6 +483,18 @@ config OPEN_DICE
> > > > 
> > > >  	  If unsure, say N.
> > > > 
> > > > +config VCPU_STALL_DETECTOR
> > > > +	tristate "VCPU stall detector"
> > > > +	select LOCKUP_DETECTOR
> > > > +	help
> > > > +	  Detect CPU locks on a kvm virtual machine. This driver relies on
> > > > +	  the hrtimers which are CPU-binded to do the 'pet' operation.
> > > > When a
> > > > +	  vCPU has to do a 'pet', it exits the guest through MMIO write and
> > > > +	  the backend driver takes into account the lost ticks for this
> > > > +	  particular CPU.
> > > > +	  To compile this driver as a module, choose M here: the
> > > > +	  module will be called vcpu_stall_detector.
> > > 
> > > Should this depend on KVM_GUEST?
> > 
> > Not all architectures have KVM_GUEST, and arm64 has no use for it.
> 
> Ah, I thought this was a requirement (or created a better guest image)
> for use under KVM.  Nevermind then...

It really depends whether an architecture relies on non-architectural
extensions to support KVM guests. PPC does most of the time, x86
certainly works better with the knowledge that this is a KVM guest.

KVM on arm64 implements the architecture itself, and hardly anything
else (if something sucks in virt, it also likely sucks bare metal).
The couple of KVM-specific options we support are definitely not worth
a KVM_GUEST, as they only cover pretty esoteric stuff that nobody
enables, such as PTP_1588_CLOCK_KVM.

	M.

-- 
Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.