WARNING - OLD ARCHIVES

This is an archived copy of the Xen.org mailing list, which we have preserved to ensure that existing links to archives are not broken. The live archive, which contains the latest emails, can be found at http://lists.xen.org/
   
 
 
Xen 
 
Home Products Support Community News
 
   
 

xen-devel

[Xen-devel] Re: [PATCH 10/11] Support VIRQ_TIMER and pvclock on HVM

To: Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Xen-devel] Re: [PATCH 10/11] Support VIRQ_TIMER and pvclock on HVM
From: Stefano Stabellini <stefano.stabellini@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 14:08:23 +0100
Cc: "xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Don Dutile <ddutile@xxxxxxxxxx>, "linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Stefano Stabellini <Stefano.Stabellini@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Delivery-date: Wed, 26 May 2010 06:05:36 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <4BFC31F5.9040806@xxxxxxxx>
List-help: <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-id: Xen developer discussion <xen-devel.lists.xensource.com>
List-post: <mailto:xen-devel@lists.xensource.com>
List-subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>, <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>, <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
References: <alpine.DEB.2.00.1005241615300.25605@kaball-desktop> <1274725657-1149-10-git-send-email-stefano.stabellini@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> <4BFC31F5.9040806@xxxxxxxx>
Sender: xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
User-agent: Alpine 2.00 (DEB 1167 2008-08-23)
On Tue, 25 May 2010, Jeremy Fitzhardinge wrote:
> On 05/24/2010 11:27 AM, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
> > Use the paravirtualized timer (VIRQ_TIMER) as timer and the
> > paravirtualized clock (pvclock) as wallclock on HVM domains too.
> >   
> 
> That's not quite correct.  There's the Xen clockevent driver, the Xen
> clocksource, and a distinct-but-related Xen notion of wallclock time. 
> In general, clocksources and wallclock don't have much direct
> relationship to each other.

Let me rephrase it:

use xen_vcpuop_clockevent instead of hpet and APIC timers as main
clockevent device on all vcpus, use the xen wallclock time as wallclock
instead of rtc and use xen_clocksource as clocksource.
The pv clock algorithm needs to work correctly for the xen_clocksource
and xen wallclock to be usable, only modern Xen versions offer a
reliable pv clock in HVM guests (XENFEAT_hvm_safe_pvclock).

> 
> > Any interaction with emulated hardware is not very fast, so using the
> > paravirtualized timer instead of the emulated hpet is defenitely a
> >   
> "definitely"
> 
> > performance improvement.
> >   
> 
> Are there accuracy/stability/precision improvements too?
> 

Using the hpet as clocksource means a VMEXIT every time we read/write to
the hpet mmio addresses, pvclock give us a better rating without
VMEXITs. Same goes for the xen wallclock and xen_vcpuop_clockevent.




_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>