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: Xen balloon driver discuss

Well, I forget to print out the pod count, please see below. Thanks  

blktap_sysfs_destroy

blktap_sysfs_create: adding attributes for dev ffff88015456b200

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 523776 pod_count 130560

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 523264 pod_count 130048

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 522752 pod_count 129536

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 522240 pod_count 129024

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 521728 pod_count 128512

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 521216 pod_count 128000

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 520704 pod_count 127488

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 520192 pod_count 126976

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 519680 pod_count 126464

 

 

It looks like 512M pod cached is too small.

Since if I xm memset the hvm to 1G before I login into it through VNC, the guest won’t crash.

 

So the solution is to enlarge the pod cache,like

xm cr hvm.linux.balloon maxmem=2048 memory=768

 

am I right?

 

 

To: 'xen devel'; george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC: 'tinnycloud'; 'Dan Magenheimer'
Subject: Re: Xen balloon driver discuss

 

Hi George:

 

         I read http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-devel/2010-07/msg01404.html more carefully, and got my print out of

         first call of p2m_pod_demand_populate(), which is :

        

houyi-chunk2.dev.sd.aliyun.com login: blktap_sysfs_create: adding attributes for dev ffff880122466400

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: =========pulate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 523776

 

And  memory/target under /local/domain/1/  is 524288.

 

So 523776 is less than 524288, I think the problem is similar, right?

But the question is why the patch doesn’t work for me.

         Many thanks.

 

From: tinnycloud [mailto:tinnycloud@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Date: 2010
1129 12:21
To: 'Dan Magenheimer'; 'xen devel'
CC: 'george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: re: Xen balloon driver discuss

 

Hi Dan:

 

         You are right, the HVM guest is kernel-2.6.18-164.el5.src.rpm, coming from ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/enterprise/5Server/en/os/SRPMS/

         Currently the balloon driver is compiled from this kernel. (So I am afraid of if the driver may out of date, and I plan to get new balloon.c from xenlinux and put it into this kernel to compile a new xen-balloon.ko)

         My xen is 4.0.0, again pvops kernel 2.6.31

        

         Actually, I have two problems, first is PoD “populate-on-demand memory” issue,  and second is xen panic(I will get more test and report on another reply)

I have googled some and apply the patch from http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-devel/2010-07/msg01404.html, but it doesn’t work for me.

 

-------------------------------------------------Domain Crash Case---------------------------------------------

The issue is easy to reproduce, I started one HVM with command line:

xm cr hvm.linux.balloon maxmem=2048 memory=512

 

         the guest works well at first, but crashed as long as I logined into it throught VNC

 

         the serial output is:

 

         blktap_sysfs_create: adding attributes for dev ffff8801224df000

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: Out of populate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 9489

(XEN) domain_crash called from p2m.c:1127

(XEN) Domain 4 reported crashed by domain 0 on cpu#0:

(XEN) printk: 31 messages suppressed.

(XEN) grant_table.c:555:d0 Iomem mapping not permitted ffffffffffffffff (domain 4)

blktap_sysfs_destroy

blktap_sysfs_create: adding attributes for dev ffff88012259ca00

 

-------------------------------------------------Xen Crash Case---------------------------------------------

In addition, if start guest like

m cr hvm.linux.balloon maxmem=2048 memory=400

 

blktap_sysfs_destroy

blktap_sysfs_create: adding attributes for dev ffff8801224df000

(XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: Out of populate-on-demand memory! tot_pages 132088 pod_entries 9489

(XEN) domain_crash called from p2m.c:1127

(XEN) Domain 4 reported crashed by domain 0 on cpu#0:

(XEN) printk: 31 messages suppressed.

(XEN) grant_table.c:555:d0 Iomem mapping not permitted ffffffffffffffff (domain 4)

blktap_sysfs_destroy

blktap_sysfs_create: adding attributes for dev ffff88012259ca00

blktap_sysfs_destroy

blktap_sysfs_create: adding attributes for dev ffff88012259c600

 (XEN) Error: p2m lock held by p2m_change_type

(XEN) Xen BUG at p2m-ept.c:38

(XEN) ----[ Xen-4.0.0  x86_64  debug=n  Not tainted ]----

(XEN) CPU:    6

(XEN) RIP:    e008:[<ffff82c4801df2aa>] ept_pod_check_and_populate+0x13a/0x150

(XEN) RFLAGS: 0000000000010282   CONTEXT: hypervisor

(XEN) rax: 0000000000000000   rbx: ffff83063fdc0000   rcx: 0000000000000092

(XEN) rdx: 000000000000000a   rsi: 000000000000000a   rdi: ffff82c48021e844

(XEN) rbp: ffff83023fefff28   rsp: ffff83023feffc18   r8:  0000000000000001

(XEN) r9:  0000000000000001   r10: 0000000000000000   r11: ffff82c4801318d0

(XEN) r12: ffff8302f5914ef8   r13: 0000000000000001   r14: 0000000000000000

(XEN) r15: 0000000000003bdf   cr0: 0000000080050033   cr4: 00000000000026f0

(XEN) cr3: 000000063fc2e000   cr2: 00002ba99c046000

(XEN) ds: 0000   es: 0000   fs: 0000   gs: 0000   ss: 0000   cs: e008

(XEN) Xen stack trace from rsp=ffff83023feffc18:

(XEN)    0000000000000002 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 ffff83063fdc0000

(XEN)    ffff8302f5914ef8 0000000000000001 ffff83023feffc70 ffff82c4801df46e

(XEN)    0000000000000000 ffff83023feffcc4 0000000000003bdf 00000000000001df

(XEN)    ffff8302f5914000 ffff83063fdc0000 ffff83023fefff28 0000000000003bdf

(XEN)    0000000000000002 0000000000000001 0000000000000030 ffff82c4801bafe4

(XEN)    ffff8302f89dc000 000000043fefff28 ffff83023fefff28 0000000000003bdf

(XEN)    00000000002f9223 0000000000000030 ffff83023fefff28 ffff82c48019bab1

(XEN)    0000000000000000 00000001bdc62000 0000000000000000 0000000000000182

(XEN)    ffff8300bdc62000 ffff82c4801b3824 ffff83063fdc0348 07008300bdc62000

(XEN)    ffff83023fe808d0 0000000000000040 000000063fc3601e 0000000000000000

(XEN)    ffff83023fefff28 ffff82c480167d17 ffff82c4802509c0 0000000000000000

(XEN)    0000000003bdf000 000000000001c000 ffff83023feffdc8 0000000000000080

(XEN)    ffff82c480250dd0 0000000000003bdf 00ff82c480250080 ffff82c480250dc0

(XEN)    ffff82c480250080 ffff82c480250dc0 0000000000004040 0000000000000000

(XEN)    0000000000004040 0000000000000040 ffff82c4801447da 0000000000000080

(XEN)    ffff83023fefff28 0000000000000092 ffff82c4801a7f6c 00000000000000fc

(XEN)    0000000000000092 0000000000000006 ffff8300bdc63760 0000000000000006

(XEN)    ffff82c48025c100 ffff82c480250100 ffff82c480250100 0000000000000292

(XEN)    ffff8300bdc637f0 00000249b30f6a00 0000000000000292 ffff82c4801a9383

(XEN)    00000000000000ef ffff8300bdc62000 ffff8300bdc62000 ffff8300bdc637e8

(XEN) Xen call trace:

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801df2aa>] ept_pod_check_and_populate+0x13a/0x150

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801df46e>] ept_get_entry+0x1ae/0x1c0

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801bafe4>] p2m_change_type+0x144/0x1b0

(XEN)    [<ffff82c48019bab1>] hvm_hap_nested_page_fault+0x121/0x190

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801b3824>] vmx_vmexit_handler+0x304/0x1a90

(XEN)    [<ffff82c480167d17>] __smp_call_function_interrupt+0x57/0x90

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801447da>] __find_next_bit+0x6a/0x70

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801a7f6c>] vpic_get_highest_priority_irq+0x2c/0xa0

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801a9383>] pt_update_irq+0x33/0x1e0

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801a6042>] vlapic_has_pending_irq+0x42/0x70

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801a0c88>] hvm_vcpu_has_pending_irq+0x88/0xa0

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801b263b>] vmx_vmenter_helper+0x5b/0x150

(XEN)    [<ffff82c4801ada63>] vmx_asm_do_vmentry+0x0/0xdd

(XEN)   

(XEN)

(XEN) ****************************************

(XEN) Panic on CPU 6:

(XEN) Xen BUG at p2m-ept.c:38

(XEN) ****************************************

(XEN)

(XEN) Manual reset required ('noreboot' specified)

 

---------------------------------------Works configuration--------------------------------------------------

And if starts guest like

xm cr hvm.linux.balloon maxmem=1024 memory=512

the guest can be successfully logon through VNC

 

         Any idea on what happens?

         PoD is new to me, I will try to know more, thanks.

 

From: Dan Magenheimer [mailto:dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx]
Date: 2010.11.28 10:36
sent: tinnycloud; xen devel
cc: george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
subject: RE: Xen balloon driver discuss

 

Am I understanding correctly that you are running each linux-2.6.18 as HVM (not PV)?  I didn’t think that the linux-2.6.18 balloon driver worked at all in an HVM guest.

 

You also didn’t say what version of Xen you are using.  If you are running xen-unstable, you should also provide the changeset number.

 

In any case, any load of HVM guests should never crash Xen itself, but if you are running HVM guests, I probably can’t help much as I almost never run HVM guests.

 

From: cloudroot [mailto:cloudroot@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, November 26, 2010 11:55 PM
To: tinnycloud; Dan Magenheimer; xen devel
Cc: george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: re: Xen balloon driver discuss

 

Hi Dan:

 

         I have set the benchmark to test balloon driver, but unfortunately the Xen crashed on memory Panic.

         Before I attach the details output from serial port(which takes time on next run), I am afraid of I might miss something on test environment.

 

         My dom0 kernel is 2.6.31, pvops.

Well currently there is no  driver/xen/balloon.c on this kernel source tree, so I build the xen-balloon.ko, Xen-platform-pci.ko form

linux-2.6.18.x86_64, and installed in Dom U, which is redhat 5.4.

 

         What I did is put a C program in the each Dom U(total 24 HVM), the program will allocate the memory and fill it with random string repeatly.

         And in dom0, a phthon monitor will collect the meminfo from xenstore and calculate the target to balloon from Committed_AS.

The panic happens when the program is running in just one Dom.

 

         I am writing to ask whether my balloon driver is out of date, or where can I get the latest source code,

         I’ve googled a lot, but still have a lot of confusion on those source tree.

 

         Many thanks.

        

        

From: tinnycloud [mailto:tinnycloud@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Date: 2010.11.23 22:58
TO: 'Dan Magenheimer'; 'xen devel'
CC: 'george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: re: Xen balloon driver discuss

 

HI Dan:

 

         Appreciate for your presentation in summarizing the memory overcommit, really vivid and in great help.

         Well, I guess recently days the strategy in my mind will fall into the solution Set C in pdf.

 

         The tmem solution your worked out for memory overcommit is both efficient and effective.

         I guess I will have a try on Linux Guest.

 

         The real situation I have is most of the running VMs on host are windows. So I had to come up those policies to balance the memory.

         Although policies are all workload dependent. Good news is host workload  is configurable, and not very heavy

So I will try to figure out some favorable policy. The policies referred in pdf are good start for me.

 

         Today, instead of trying to implement “/proc/meminfo” with shared pages, I hacked the balloon driver to have another

         workqueue periodically write meminfo into xenstore through xenbus, which solve the problem of xenstrore high CPU

         utilization  problem.

 

         Later I will try to google more on how Citrix does.

         Thanks for your help, or do you have any better idea for windows guest?

        

 

Sent: Dan Magenheimer [mailto:dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx]
Date: 2010.11.23 1:47
To: MaoXiaoyun; xen devel
CC: george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Xen balloon driver discuss

 

Xenstore IS slow and you could improve xenballoond performance by only sending the single CommittedAS value from xenballoond in domU to dom0 instead of all of /proc/meminfo.   But you are making an assumption that getting memory utilization information from domU to dom0 FASTER (e.g. with a shared page) will provide better ballooning results.  I have not found this to be the case, which is what led to my investigation into self-ballooning, which led to Transcendent Memory.  See the 2010 Xen Summit for more information.

 

In your last paragraph below “Regards balloon strategy”, the problem is it is not easy to define “enough memory” and “shortage of memory” within any guest and almost impossible to define it and effectively load balance across many guests.  See my Linux Plumber’s Conference presentation (with complete speaker notes) here:

 

http://oss.oracle.com/projects/tmem/dist/documentation/presentations/MemMgmtVirtEnv-LPC2010-Final.pdf

 

http://oss.oracle.com/projects/tmem/dist/documentation/presentations/MemMgmtVirtEnv-LPC2010-SpkNotes.pdf

 

From: MaoXiaoyun [mailto:tinnycloud@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2010 9:33 PM
To: xen devel
Cc: Dan Magenheimer; george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Xen balloon driver discuss

 

 
Since currently /cpu/meminfo is sent to domain 0
 via xenstore, which in my opinoin is slow.
What
 I want to do is: there is a shared page between domU and dom0, and domU periodically
update the meminfo into the page, while on the other side dom0 retrive the updated data for
caculating
 the target, which is used by guest for balloning.
 
The problem I met is,
 currently I don't know how to implement a shared page between 
dom0 and domU.
Would it like dom 0 alloc a unbound event and wait
 guest to connect, and transfer date through
grant
 table?
Or someone has more
 efficient way?
many thanks.
 
> From: tinnycloud@xxxxxxxxxxx
> To: xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> CC: dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx; George.Dunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Xen balloon driver discuss
> Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2010 14:26:01 +0800
>
> Hi:
> Greeting first.
>
> I was trying to run about 24 HVMS (currently only Linux, later will
> involve Windows) on one physical server with 24GB memory, 16CPUs.
> Each VM is configured with 2GB memory, and I reserved 8GB memory for
> dom0.
> For safety reason, only domain U's memory is allowed to balloon.
>
> Inside domain U, I used xenballooned provide by xensource,
> periodically write /proc/meminfo into xenstore in dom
> 0(/local/domain/did/memory/meminfo).
> And in domain 0, I wrote a python script to read the meminfo, like
> xen provided strategy, use Committed_AS to calculate the domain U balloon
> target.
> The time interval is ! 1 seconds.
>
> Inside each VM, I setup a apache server for test. Well, I'd
> like to say the result is not so good.
> It appears that too much read/write on xenstore, when I give some of
> the stress(by using ab) to guest domains,
> the CPU usage of xenstore is up to 100%. Thus the monitor running in
> dom0 also response quite slowly.
> Also, in ab test, the Committed_AS grows very fast, reach to maxmem
> in short time, but in fact the only a small amount
> of memory guest really need, so I guess there should be some more to
> be taken into consideration for ballooning.
>
> For xenstore issue, I first plan to wrote a C program inside domain
> U to replace xenballoond to see whether the situation
> will be refined. If not, how about set up event channel directly for
> domU and dom0, would it be faster?
>
> Regards balloon strategy, I would do like this, when there ! are
> enough memory , just fulfill the guest balloon request, and when shortage
> of memory, distribute memory evenly on the guests those request
> inflation.
>
> Does anyone have better suggestion, thanks in advance.
>

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