netdev - Re: [PATCHv5 3/3] vhost_net: a kernel-level virtio server

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Message-ID: <4AB1B752.4010505@gmail.com>
Date:	Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:13:06 -0400
From:	Gregory Haskins <gregory.haskins@...il.com>
To:	"Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@...hat.com>
CC:	Avi Kivity <avi@...hat.com>,
	"Ira W. Snyder" <iws@...o.caltech.edu>, netdev@...r.kernel.org,
	virtualization@...ts.linux-foundation.org, kvm@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, mingo@...e.hu, linux-mm@...ck.org,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org, hpa@...or.com,
	Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>, s.hetze@...ux-ag.com,
	alacrityvm-devel@...ts.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [PATCHv5 3/3] vhost_net: a kernel-level virtio server

Michael S. Tsirkin wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 10:10:55AM -0400, Gregory Haskins wrote:
>>> There is no role reversal.
>> So if I have virtio-blk driver running on the x86 and vhost-blk device
>> running on the ppc board, I can use the ppc board as a block-device.
>> What if I really wanted to go the other way?
> 
> It seems ppc is the only one that can initiate DMA to an arbitrary
> address, so you can't do this really, or you can by tunneling each
> request back to ppc, or doing an extra data copy, but it's unlikely to
> work well.
> 
> The limitation comes from hardware, not from the API we use.

Understood, but presumably it can be exposed as a sub-function of the
ppc's board's register file as a DMA-controller service to the x86.
This would fall into the "tunnel requests back" category you mention
above, though I think "tunnel" implies a heavier protocol than it would
actually require.  This would look more like a PIO cycle to a DMA
controller than some higher layer protocol.

You would then utilize that DMA service inside the memctx, and it the
rest of vbus would work transparently with the existing devices/drivers.

I do agree it would require some benchmarking to determine its
feasibility, which is why I was careful to say things like "may work"
;).  I also do not even know if its possible to expose the service this
way on his system.  If this design is not possible or performs poorly, I
admit vbus is just as hosed as vhost in regard to the "role correction"
benefit.

Kind Regards,
-Greg

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