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

Re: [Xen-devel] xen tsc problems?

To: Stefano Stabellini <Stefano.Stabellini@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dan Magenheimer <dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] xen tsc problems?
From: Keir Fraser <keir.fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:12:01 +0100
Cc: "xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Delivery-date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:12:51 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <C8626573.1A92C%keir.fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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>
Sender: xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thread-index: AcsislG/K0Arb3jcTaiDAPxmjIIJLgAAUJh2AADT5b8=
Thread-topic: [Xen-devel] xen tsc problems?
User-agent: Microsoft-Entourage/12.24.0.100205
On 13/07/2010 18:48, "Keir Fraser" <keir.fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>> I started to wonder why the guest is seeing such a big tsc warp when xen
>> is seeing 0, so I added more tracing and eventually I found out that the
>> value of v->arch.hvm_vcpu.stime_offset is significantly different
>> between the two vcpus and the difference increases after the scaling.
>> Then I added timer_mode=1 to my vm config file and the problem went
>> away.
>> I think that delay_for_missed_ticks shouldn't cause tsc scew in
>> the guest.
> 
> Well, timer_mode=1 is the default and I doubt in all seriousness that the
> other modes get any use or testing.

To give you an idea how long it's probably been broken, my suspicion is that
the culprit is xen-unstable:17716, which is over two years old. That patch
changed HVM time handling to base it more on Xen system time. The fact that
hvm_set_guest_time() no longer directly affects guest TSC is probably the
problem here. I think delay_for_missed_ticks might depend on that. Anyway,
I'm not certain but I'd put money on it.

 -- Keir



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

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