tech-kern archive

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Old Index]

Adding pool_cache_invalidate_local() to pool_cache(9) API



Hi list,

I would like to introduce a new function to the pool_cache(9) API, namely pool_cache_invalidate_local() (see [1] for patch and documentation).

Basically, it is similar to pool_cache_invalidate(), except that it invalidates the per-CPU caches for the current CPU executing the calling thread.

The reason for why I would like to have such a function is to add support for Xen save/migrate/restore functionality under PAE. Reasons follow.

========================
For evident security reasons, Xen tracks page types, especially those
dealing with the VM system (page tables).

During save/migrate/restore, Xen snapshots the current VM state.
Unfortunately, it has no intrinsic knowledge of how the domain uses its
page tables. In NetBSD's case, L2 page tables are allocated from a
pool_cache. When they are recycled, they are not necessarily destroyed,
but put back in the pool_cache, so Xen still consider them as L2 page
although they are not currently used "as is".

As some of you probably know, Xen has a hard time with alternative
recursive mappings between page tables. We have to clear them before
save, and set them back to their value after resume. Iterating through
pmaps is sufficient for i386 and amd64, but adding PAE support
introduced a L2 shadow page that needs some handling too. This L2 shadow
page is obtained through a pool_cache, this is why I need a routine to
clean up both global and per-CPU caches without necessarily having to go
through pool_cache_destroy for CPU-bound objects.
========================

The patch was compiled and tested for MONOLITHIC and XEN3_DOM0 for 32 bits (running through a ./build.sh without crashing), and only compile tested for amd64. Sadly, I don't have a multi-core (or CPU) x86 at my disposal, so I am limited in my testing about this change. Should not be much different from the current code, anyway.


Opinions, reviews, are welcomed.

[1] http://www.netbsd.org/~jym/pc_invalidate_local.diff

--
Jean-Yves Migeon
jeanyves.migeon%free.fr@localhost



Home | Main Index | Thread Index | Old Index