linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v10 00/12] LUF(Lazy Unmap Flush) reducing tlb numbers over 90%

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Date: Wed, 29 May 2024 13:39:39 +0900
From: Byungchul Park <byungchul@...com>
To: David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-mm@...ck.org,
	kernel_team@...ynix.com, akpm@...ux-foundation.org,
	ying.huang@...el.com, vernhao@...cent.com,
	mgorman@...hsingularity.net, hughd@...gle.com, willy@...radead.org,
	peterz@...radead.org, luto@...nel.org, tglx@...utronix.de,
	mingo@...hat.com, bp@...en8.de, dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com,
	rjgolo@...il.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH v10 00/12] LUF(Lazy Unmap Flush) reducing tlb numbers
 over 90%

On Tue, May 28, 2024 at 10:41:54AM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> Am 10.05.24 um 08:51 schrieb Byungchul Park:
> > Hi everyone,
> > 
> > While I'm working with a tiered memory system e.g. CXL memory, I have
> > been facing migration overhead esp. tlb shootdown on promotion or
> > demotion between different tiers.  Yeah..  most tlb shootdowns on
> > migration through hinting fault can be avoided thanks to Huang Ying's
> > work, commit 4d4b6d66db ("mm,unmap: avoid flushing tlb in batch if PTE
> > is inaccessible").  See the following link for more information:
> > 
> > https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20231115025755.GA29979@system.software.com/
> > 
> > However, it's only for migration through hinting fault.  I thought it'd
> > be much better if we have a general mechanism to reduce all the tlb
> > numbers that we can apply to any unmap code, that we normally believe
> > tlb flush should be followed.
> > 
> > I'm suggesting a new mechanism, LUF(Lazy Unmap Flush), defers tlb flush
> > until folios that have been unmapped and freed, eventually get allocated
> > again.  It's safe for folios that had been mapped read-only and were
> > unmapped, since the contents of the folios don't change while staying in
> > pcp or buddy so we can still read the data through the stale tlb entries.
> > 
> > tlb flush can be defered when folios get unmapped as long as it
> > guarantees to perform tlb flush needed, before the folios actually
> > become used, of course, only if all the corresponding ptes don't have
> > write permission.  Otherwise, the system will get messed up.
> > 
> > To achieve that:
> > 
> >     1. For the folios that map only to non-writable tlb entries, prevent
> >        tlb flush during unmapping but perform it just before the folios
> >        actually become used, out of buddy or pcp.
> 
> Trying to understand the impact: Effectively, a CPU could still read data
> from a page that has already been freed, until that page gets reallocated
> again.
> 
> The important part I can see is
> 
> 1) PCP/buddy must not change page content (e.g., poison, init_on_free),
> otherwise an app might read wrong content.

Exactly.  I will take them into account.  Thank you.

> 2) If we mess up the flush-before-realloc, an app might observe data written
> by whoever allocated the page.

Yes.  However, appropiate TLB flush is performed in prep_new_page().
Basically you are right.  I need to pay enough attention to it.

> 3) We must reliably detect+handle any read-only PTEs for which we didn't
> flush the TLB yet, otherwise an app could see its memory writes getting
> lost. I recall that at least uffd-wp might defer TLB flushes (see comment in
> do_wp_page()). Not sure about other pte_wrprotect() callers that flush the
> TLB after processing multiple page tables, whereby rmap code might succeed
> in unmapping a page before the TLB flush happened.
> 
> Any other possible issues you stumbled over that are worth mentioning?

You mentioned all that I'm concerning but in a clear way.

	Byungchul

> 
> -- 
> Thanks,
> 
> David / dhildenb