[RFC PATCH v2 2/2] dma: swiotlb: Initialize and size shared default pools for memory encryption

Catalin Marinas catalin.marinas at arm.com
Wed Aug 19 06:05:29 PDT 2026


On Wed, Aug 19, 2026 at 05:28:03PM +0530, Aneesh Kumar K.V wrote:
> Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas at arm.com> writes:
> > On Thu, Aug 13, 2026 at 03:55:21PM +0530, Aneesh Kumar K.V (Arm) wrote:
> >> diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/init.c b/arch/arm64/mm/init.c
> >> index 9f5b366d2086..c3188ca878f3 100644
> >> --- a/arch/arm64/mm/init.c
> >> +++ b/arch/arm64/mm/init.c
> >> @@ -338,12 +338,8 @@ void __init arch_setup_zero_pages(void)
> >>  void __init arch_mm_preinit(void)
> >>  {
> >>  	unsigned int flags = SWIOTLB_VERBOSE;
> >> -	/* pKVM uses restricted-dma-pool */
> >> -	bool cc_guest = is_realm_world();
> >>  
> >> -	if (cc_guest)
> >> -		flags |= SWIOTLB_INIT_CC_SHARED;
> >> -	else if (max_pfn > PFN_DOWN(arm64_dma_phys_limit))
> >> +	if (max_pfn > PFN_DOWN(arm64_dma_phys_limit))
> >>  		flags |= SWIOTLB_INIT_ADDRESSING_LIMIT;
> >>  
> >>  	swiotlb_init(flags);
> >
> > This looks fine. As I mentioned on patch 1, we might as well move this
> > hunk over there and avoid the flag definition.
> >
> >> @@ -102,9 +101,6 @@ void __init mem_encrypt_init(void)
> >>  
> >>  void __init mem_encrypt_setup_arch(void)
> >>  {
> >> -	phys_addr_t total_mem = memblock_phys_mem_size();
> >> -	unsigned long size;
> >> -
> >>  	/*
> >>  	 * Do RMP table fixups after the e820 tables have been setup by
> >>  	 * e820__memory_setup().
> >> @@ -112,33 +108,9 @@ void __init mem_encrypt_setup_arch(void)
> >>  	if (cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_HOST_SEV_SNP))
> >>  		snp_fixup_e820_tables();
> >>  
> >> -	if (cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_MEM_ENCRYPT))
> >> -		x86_swiotlb_flags |= SWIOTLB_INIT_CC_SHARED;
> >> -
> >>  	if (!cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_GUEST_MEM_ENCRYPT))
> >>  		return;
> >>  
> >> -	/*
> >> -	 * For SEV and TDX, all DMA has to occur via shared/unencrypted pages.
> >> -	 * Kernel uses SWIOTLB to make this happen without changing device
> >> -	 * drivers. However, depending on the workload being run, the
> >> -	 * default 64MB of SWIOTLB may not be enough and SWIOTLB may
> >> -	 * run out of buffers for DMA, resulting in I/O errors and/or
> >> -	 * performance degradation especially with high I/O workloads.
> >> -	 *
> >> -	 * Adjust the default size of SWIOTLB using a percentage of guest
> >> -	 * memory for SWIOTLB buffers. Also, as the SWIOTLB bounce buffer
> >> -	 * memory is allocated from low memory, ensure that the adjusted size
> >> -	 * is within the limits of low available memory.
> >> -	 *
> >> -	 * The percentage of guest memory used here for SWIOTLB buffers
> >> -	 * is more of an approximation of the static adjustment which
> >> -	 * 64MB for <1G, and ~128M to 256M for 1G-to-4G, i.e., the 6%
> >> -	 */
> >> -	size = total_mem * 6 / 100;
> >> -	size = clamp_val(size, IO_TLB_DEFAULT_SIZE, SZ_1G);
> >> -	swiotlb_adjust_size(size);
> >> -
> >>  	/* Set restricted memory access for virtio. */
> >>  	virtio_set_mem_acc_cb(virtio_require_restricted_mem_acc);
> >>  }
> >
> > Credit to claude, it noticed a slight change in behaviour for x86 w.r.t.
> > the crash kernel reservation. crash_low_size_default() reads the swiotlb
> > size but the resizing now happens after arch_reserve_crashkernel().
> > Maybe not an issue.
> >
> > Alternatively, we could build the sizing logic into
> > swiotlb_size_or_default() but I haven't checked whether we have the
> > right information when this function is called.
> 
> IIUC, the current code can still get a different value from
> crash_low_size_default() than the final swiotlb size we end up using.
> This is because crash_low_size_default() is computed early, before
> default_nareas, which is derived from num_possible_cpus(), has been set.
> 
> If we are okay with keeping this consistent with the existing behavior,
> moving sizing logic to swiotlb_adjusted_size() looks like a clean option.

See how it looks, it may turn out cleaner.

> > I think at a high level, we need (i.e. separate attributed from sizing):
> >
> > 	if (cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_MEM_ENCRYPT))
> > 		io_tlb_default_mem.cc_shared = true;
> >
> > 	if (cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_GUEST_MEM_ENCRYPT)) {
> > 		if (!restricted_dma_pool_present)
> > 			swiotlb_adjust_cc_size();	/* 6%, clamped */
> > 	} else if (!(flags & SWIOTLB_INIT_ADDRESSING_LIMIT) &&
> > 		   swiotlb_kmalloc_needs_bounce()) {
> > 		swiotlb_shrink_for_kmalloc();		/* 1MB per 1GB */
> > 	}
> >
> 
> But pKVM wants to reduce the swiotlb size based on
> kmalloc_needs_bounce() when it is using a restricted-dma-pool.
> 
> ie,
> 	if (cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_MEM_ENCRYPT))
> 		io_tlb_default_mem.cc_shared = true;
> ..
> 
> 	if (cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_GUEST_MEM_ENCRYPT) &&
> 	    !restricted_dma_pool_present) {
> 		swiotlb_adjust_cc_attributes();
> 	} else if (!(flags & SWIOTLB_INIT_ADDRESSING_LIMIT) &&
> 		   swiotlb_kmalloc_needs_bounce()) {

Ah, right, I got my conditions wrong. Basically a restricted pool
prevents an swiotlb growth in a protected guest. If no addressing limit
but kmalloc bouncing, we allocate a small one. Otherwise we should not
have any swiotlb at all.

I need to write it in a table, too many combinations

CC guest:
  no restricted pool			=> 6% of RAM
  restricted pool (pKVM heuristics):
    addressing limit			=> default size
    no addressing limit:
      kmalloc needs bounce		=> minimal
      no kmalloc bouncing		=> no default swiotlb

Host CC_ATTR_MEM_ENCRYPT		=> default size

No CC:
  addressing limit			=> default size
  no addressing limit:
    kmalloc needs bounce		=> minimal
    no kmalloc bouncing			=> no default swiotlb

-- 
Catalin



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