[RFC 0/2] VFIO: Add virtual MSI doorbell support.

Bhushan Bharat Bharat.Bhushan at freescale.com
Wed Sep 30 02:37:21 PDT 2015



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christoffer Dall [mailto:christoffer.dall at linaro.org]
> Sent: Friday, September 25, 2015 10:42 PM
> To: Marc Zyngier <marc.zyngier at arm.com>
> Cc: Bhushan Bharat-R65777 <Bharat.Bhushan at freescale.com>; Pranavkumar
> Sawargaonkar <pranavkumar at linaro.org>; kvm at vger.kernel.org; Alex
> Williamson <alex.williamson at redhat.com>; kvmarm at lists.cs.columbia.edu;
> linux-arm-kernel at lists.infradead.org; linux-kernel at vger.kernel.org; Will
> Deacon <Will.Deacon at arm.com>; bhelgaas at google.com; arnd at arndb.de;
> rob.herring at linaro.org; eric.auger at linaro.org; patches at apm.com; Yoder
> Stuart-B08248 <stuart.yoder at freescale.com>
> Subject: Re: [RFC 0/2] VFIO: Add virtual MSI doorbell support.
> 
> On Tue, Sep 22, 2015 at 11:09:14PM +0100, Marc Zyngier wrote:
> > On Tue, 4 Aug 2015 06:52:01 +0100
> > Bhushan Bharat <Bharat.Bhushan at freescale.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Pranavkumar Sawargaonkar [mailto:pranavkumar at linaro.org]
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2015 11:18 AM
> > > > To: Bhushan Bharat-R65777
> > > > Cc: kvm at vger.kernel.org; Alex Williamson;
> > > > kvmarm at lists.cs.columbia.edu;
> > > > linux-arm-kernel at lists.infradead.org;
> > > > linux-kernel at vger.kernel.org; christoffer.dall at linaro.org;
> > > > marc.zyngier at arm.com; will.deacon at arm.com; bhelgaas at google.com;
> > > > arnd at arndb.de; rob.herring at linaro.org; eric.auger at linaro.org;
> > > > patches at apm.com; Yoder Stuart-B08248
> > > > Subject: Re: [RFC 0/2] VFIO: Add virtual MSI doorbell support.
> > > >
> > > > Hi Bharat,
> > > >
> > > > On 28 July 2015 at 23:28, Alex Williamson
> > > > <alex.williamson at redhat.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > > > On Tue, 2015-07-28 at 17:23 +0000, Bhushan Bharat wrote:
> > > > >> Hi Alex,
> > > > >>
> > > > >> > -----Original Message-----
> > > > >> > From: Alex Williamson [mailto:alex.williamson at redhat.com]
> > > > >> > Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2015 9:52 PM
> > > > >> > To: Pranavkumar Sawargaonkar
> > > > >> > Cc: kvm at vger.kernel.org; kvmarm at lists.cs.columbia.edu;
> > > > >> > linux-arm- kernel at lists.infradead.org;
> > > > >> > linux-kernel at vger.kernel.org; christoffer.dall at linaro.org;
> > > > >> > marc.zyngier at arm.com; will.deacon at arm.com;
> > > > >> > bhelgaas at google.com; arnd at arndb.de; rob.herring at linaro.org;
> > > > >> > eric.auger at linaro.org; patches at apm.com; Bhushan
> > > > >> > Bharat-R65777; Yoder
> > > > >> > Stuart-B08248
> > > > >> > Subject: Re: [RFC 0/2] VFIO: Add virtual MSI doorbell support.
> > > > >> >
> > > > >> > On Fri, 2015-07-24 at 14:33 +0530, Pranavkumar Sawargaonkar
> wrote:
> > > > >> > > In current VFIO MSI/MSI-X implementation, linux host kernel
> > > > >> > > allocates MSI/MSI-X vectors when userspace requests through
> > > > >> > > vfio
> > > > ioctls.
> > > > >> > > Vfio creates irqfd mappings to notify MSI/MSI-X interrupts
> > > > >> > > to the userspace when raised.
> > > > >> > > Guest OS will see emulated MSI/MSI-X controller and
> > > > >> > > receives an interrupt when kernel notifies the same via irqfd.
> > > > >> > >
> > > > >> > > Host kernel allocates MSI/MSI-X using standard linux
> > > > >> > > routines like
> > > > >> > > pci_enable_msix_range() and pci_enable_msi_range().
> > > > >> > > These routines along with requset_irq() in host kernel sets
> > > > >> > > up MSI/MSI-X vectors with Physical MSI/MSI-X addresses
> > > > >> > > provided by interrupt controller driver in host kernel.
> > > > >> > >
> > > > >> > > This means when a device is assigned with the guest OS,
> > > > >> > > MSI/MSI-X addresses present in PCIe EP are the PAs
> > > > >> > > programmed by the host linux
> > > > >> > kernel.
> > > > >> > >
> > > > >> > > In x86 MSI/MSI-X physical address range is reserved and
> > > > >> > > iommu is aware about these addreses and transalation is
> > > > >> > > bypassed for these
> > > > address range.
> > > > >> > >
> > > > >> > > Unlike x86, ARM/ARM64 does not reserve MSI/MSI-X Physical
> > > > >> > > address range and all the transactions including MSI go
> > > > >> > > through iommu/smmu
> > > > >> > without bypass.
> > > > >> > > This requires extending current vfio MSI layer with
> > > > >> > > additional functionality for ARM/ARM64 by 1. Programing
> > > > >> > > IOVA (referred as a MSI virtual doorbell address)
> > > > >> > >    in device's MSI vector as a MSI address.
> > > > >> > >    This IOVA will be provided by the userspace based on the
> > > > >> > >    MSI/MSI-X addresses reserved for the guest.
> > > > >> > > 2. Create an IOMMU mapping between this IOVA and
> > > > >> > >    Physical address (PA) assigned to the MSI vector.
> > > > >> > >
> > > > >> > > This RFC is proposing a solution for MSI/MSI-X passthrough
> > > > >> > > for
> > > > >> > ARM/ARM64.
> > > > >> >
> > > > >> >
> > > > >> > Hi Pranavkumar,
> > > > >> >
> > > > >> > Freescale has the same, or very similar, need, so any
> > > > >> > solution in this space will need to work for both ARM and
> > > > >> > powerpc.  I'm not a big fan of this approach as it seems to
> > > > >> > require the user to configure MSI/X via ioctl and then call a
> > > > >> > separate ioctl mapping the doorbells.  That's more code for
> > > > >> > the user, more code to get wrong and potentially a gap
> > > > >> > between configuring MSI/X and enabling
> > > > mappings where we could see IOMMU faults.
> > > > >> >
> > > > >> > If we know that doorbell mappings are required, why can't we
> > > > >> > set aside a bank of IOVA space and have them mapped
> > > > >> > automatically as MSI/X is being configured?  Then the user's
> > > > >> > need for special knowledge and handling of this case is
> > > > >> > limited to setup.  The IOVA space will be mapped and used as
> > > > >> > needed, we only need the user to specify the IOVA space
> > > > >> > reserved for this.  Thanks,
> > > > >>
> > > > >> We probably need a mix of both to support Freescale PowerPC and
> > > > >> ARM based machines.
> > > > >> In this mix mode kernel vfio driver will reserve some IOVA for
> > > > >> mapping MSI page/s.
> > > > >
> > > > > If vfio is reserving pages independently from the user, this
> > > > > becomes what Marc called "shaping" the VM and what x86
> > > > > effectively does.  An interface extension should expose these
> > > > > implicit regions so the user can avoid them for DMA memory
> mapping.
> > > > >
> > > > >>  If any other iova mapping will overlap with this then it will
> > > > >> return error and user-space. Ideally this should be choosen in
> > > > >> such a way that it never overlap, which is easy on some systems
> > > > >> but can be tricky on some other system like Freescale PowerPC.
> > > > >> This is not sufficient for at-least Freescale PowerPC based
> > > > >> SOC. This is because of hardware limitation, where we need to
> > > > >> fit this reserved iova address within aperture decided by
> > > > >> user-space. So if we allow user-space to change this reserved
> > > > >> iova address to a value decided by user-spece itself then we
> > > > >> can support both ARM/PowerPC based
> > > > solutions.
> > > > >
> > > > > Yes, that's my intention, to allow userspace to specify the
> > > > > reserved region.  I believe you have some additional
> > > > > restrictions on the number of MSI banks available and whether
> > > > > MSI banks can be shared, but I would hope that doesn't preclude a
> shared interface with ARM.
> > > > >
> > > > >> I have some implementation ready/tested with this approach and
> > > > >> if this approach looks good then I can submit a RFC patch.
> > > > >
> > > > > Yes, please post.  Thanks,
> > > >
> > > > Could you please share a tentative timeline by which you will be
> > > > posting your patches ?
> > >
> > > I have not touched that code for a while, I am planning to send the
> > > patch in couple of weeks.
> >
> > Have we made any progress on this subject? It looks like a lot of time
> > has passed, but I haven't seen anything. Did I miss it?
> >
> Pranav is going to respin his series, because we are clarly not making progress
> on this front.

Sorry for long long delay, some unplanned leaves delays this work.
Finally I sent of the RFC patches, those patches are not tested with PCI devices but tested with some freescale specific platform/devices.

Thanks
-Bharat
> 
> Thanks,
> -Christoffer



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