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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.txt b/Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4f791b128dd2..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/virt/kvm/halt-polling.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,136 +0,0 @@ -The KVM halt polling system -=========================== - -The KVM halt polling system provides a feature within KVM whereby the latency -of a guest can, under some circumstances, be reduced by polling in the host -for some time period after the guest has elected to no longer run by cedeing. -That is, when a guest vcpu has ceded, or in the case of powerpc when all of the -vcpus of a single vcore have ceded, the host kernel polls for wakeup conditions -before giving up the cpu to the scheduler in order to let something else run. - -Polling provides a latency advantage in cases where the guest can be run again -very quickly by at least saving us a trip through the scheduler, normally on -the order of a few micro-seconds, although performance benefits are workload -dependant. In the event that no wakeup source arrives during the polling -interval or some other task on the runqueue is runnable the scheduler is -invoked. Thus halt polling is especially useful on workloads with very short -wakeup periods where the time spent halt polling is minimised and the time -savings of not invoking the scheduler are distinguishable. - -The generic halt polling code is implemented in: - - virt/kvm/kvm_main.c: kvm_vcpu_block() - -The powerpc kvm-hv specific case is implemented in: - - arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c: kvmppc_vcore_blocked() - -Halt Polling Interval -===================== - -The maximum time for which to poll before invoking the scheduler, referred to -as the halt polling interval, is increased and decreased based on the perceived -effectiveness of the polling in an attempt to limit pointless polling. -This value is stored in either the vcpu struct: - - kvm_vcpu->halt_poll_ns - -or in the case of powerpc kvm-hv, in the vcore struct: - - kvmppc_vcore->halt_poll_ns - -Thus this is a per vcpu (or vcore) value. - -During polling if a wakeup source is received within the halt polling interval, -the interval is left unchanged. In the event that a wakeup source isn't -received during the polling interval (and thus schedule is invoked) there are -two options, either the polling interval and total block time[0] were less than -the global max polling interval (see module params below), or the total block -time was greater than the global max polling interval. - -In the event that both the polling interval and total block time were less than -the global max polling interval then the polling interval can be increased in -the hope that next time during the longer polling interval the wake up source -will be received while the host is polling and the latency benefits will be -received. The polling interval is grown in the function grow_halt_poll_ns() and -is multiplied by the module parameters halt_poll_ns_grow and -halt_poll_ns_grow_start. - -In the event that the total block time was greater than the global max polling -interval then the host will never poll for long enough (limited by the global -max) to wakeup during the polling interval so it may as well be shrunk in order -to avoid pointless polling. The polling interval is shrunk in the function -shrink_halt_poll_ns() and is divided by the module parameter -halt_poll_ns_shrink, or set to 0 iff halt_poll_ns_shrink == 0. - -It is worth noting that this adjustment process attempts to hone in on some -steady state polling interval but will only really do a good job for wakeups -which come at an approximately constant rate, otherwise there will be constant -adjustment of the polling interval. - -[0] total block time: the time between when the halt polling function is - invoked and a wakeup source received (irrespective of - whether the scheduler is invoked within that function). - -Module Parameters -================= - -The kvm module has 3 tuneable module parameters to adjust the global max -polling interval as well as the rate at which the polling interval is grown and -shrunk. These variables are defined in include/linux/kvm_host.h and as module -parameters in virt/kvm/kvm_main.c, or arch/powerpc/kvm/book3s_hv.c in the -powerpc kvm-hv case. - -Module Parameter | Description | Default Value --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -halt_poll_ns | The global max polling | KVM_HALT_POLL_NS_DEFAULT - | interval which defines | - | the ceiling value of the | - | polling interval for | (per arch value) - | each vcpu. | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -halt_poll_ns_grow | The value by which the | 2 - | halt polling interval is | - | multiplied in the | - | grow_halt_poll_ns() | - | function. | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -halt_poll_ns_grow_start | The initial value to grow | 10000 - | to from zero in the | - | grow_halt_poll_ns() | - | function. | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -halt_poll_ns_shrink | The value by which the | 0 - | halt polling interval is | - | divided in the | - | shrink_halt_poll_ns() | - | function. | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -These module parameters can be set from the debugfs files in: - - /sys/module/kvm/parameters/ - -Note: that these module parameters are system wide values and are not able to - be tuned on a per vm basis. - -Further Notes -============= - -- Care should be taken when setting the halt_poll_ns module parameter as a -large value has the potential to drive the cpu usage to 100% on a machine which -would be almost entirely idle otherwise. This is because even if a guest has -wakeups during which very little work is done and which are quite far apart, if -the period is shorter than the global max polling interval (halt_poll_ns) then -the host will always poll for the entire block time and thus cpu utilisation -will go to 100%. - -- Halt polling essentially presents a trade off between power usage and latency -and the module parameters should be used to tune the affinity for this. Idle -cpu time is essentially converted to host kernel time with the aim of decreasing -latency when entering the guest. - -- Halt polling will only be conducted by the host when no other tasks are -runnable on that cpu, otherwise the polling will cease immediately and -schedule will be invoked to allow that other task to run. Thus this doesn't -allow a guest to denial of service the cpu. |