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author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2008-04-27 19:13:52 +0200 |
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committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2008-04-27 19:13:52 +0200 |
commit | 42cadc86008aae0fd9ff31642dc01ed50723cf32 (patch) | |
tree | b05d4c8f0561bad5a0183a89fb23ce4c8ee1653c /Documentation/powerpc/kvm_440.txt | |
parent | Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bart/ide-2.6 (diff) | |
parent | KVM: kill file->f_count abuse in kvm (diff) | |
download | linux-42cadc86008aae0fd9ff31642dc01ed50723cf32.tar.xz linux-42cadc86008aae0fd9ff31642dc01ed50723cf32.zip |
Merge branch 'kvm-updates-2.6.26' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/avi/kvm
* 'kvm-updates-2.6.26' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/avi/kvm: (147 commits)
KVM: kill file->f_count abuse in kvm
KVM: MMU: kvm_pv_mmu_op should not take mmap_sem
KVM: SVM: remove selective CR0 comment
KVM: SVM: remove now obsolete FIXME comment
KVM: SVM: disable CR8 intercept when tpr is not masking interrupts
KVM: SVM: sync V_TPR with LAPIC.TPR if CR8 write intercept is disabled
KVM: export kvm_lapic_set_tpr() to modules
KVM: SVM: sync TPR value to V_TPR field in the VMCB
KVM: ppc: PowerPC 440 KVM implementation
KVM: Add MAINTAINERS entry for PowerPC KVM
KVM: ppc: Add DCR access information to struct kvm_run
ppc: Export tlb_44x_hwater for KVM
KVM: Rename debugfs_dir to kvm_debugfs_dir
KVM: x86 emulator: fix lea to really get the effective address
KVM: x86 emulator: fix smsw and lmsw with a memory operand
KVM: x86 emulator: initialize src.val and dst.val for register operands
KVM: SVM: force a new asid when initializing the vmcb
KVM: fix kvm_vcpu_kick vs __vcpu_run race
KVM: add ioctls to save/store mpstate
KVM: Rename VCPU_MP_STATE_* to KVM_MP_STATE_*
...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/powerpc/kvm_440.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/powerpc/kvm_440.txt | 41 |
1 files changed, 41 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/powerpc/kvm_440.txt b/Documentation/powerpc/kvm_440.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..c02a003fa03a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/powerpc/kvm_440.txt @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +Hollis Blanchard <hollisb@us.ibm.com> +15 Apr 2008 + +Various notes on the implementation of KVM for PowerPC 440: + +To enforce isolation, host userspace, guest kernel, and guest userspace all +run at user privilege level. Only the host kernel runs in supervisor mode. +Executing privileged instructions in the guest traps into KVM (in the host +kernel), where we decode and emulate them. Through this technique, unmodified +440 Linux kernels can be run (slowly) as guests. Future performance work will +focus on reducing the overhead and frequency of these traps. + +The usual code flow is started from userspace invoking an "run" ioctl, which +causes KVM to switch into guest context. We use IVPR to hijack the host +interrupt vectors while running the guest, which allows us to direct all +interrupts to kvmppc_handle_interrupt(). At this point, we could either +- handle the interrupt completely (e.g. emulate "mtspr SPRG0"), or +- let the host interrupt handler run (e.g. when the decrementer fires), or +- return to host userspace (e.g. when the guest performs device MMIO) + +Address spaces: We take advantage of the fact that Linux doesn't use the AS=1 +address space (in host or guest), which gives us virtual address space to use +for guest mappings. While the guest is running, the host kernel remains mapped +in AS=0, but the guest can only use AS=1 mappings. + +TLB entries: The TLB entries covering the host linear mapping remain +present while running the guest. This reduces the overhead of lightweight +exits, which are handled by KVM running in the host kernel. We keep three +copies of the TLB: + - guest TLB: contents of the TLB as the guest sees it + - shadow TLB: the TLB that is actually in hardware while guest is running + - host TLB: to restore TLB state when context switching guest -> host +When a TLB miss occurs because a mapping was not present in the shadow TLB, +but was present in the guest TLB, KVM handles the fault without invoking the +guest. Large guest pages are backed by multiple 4KB shadow pages through this +mechanism. + +IO: MMIO and DCR accesses are emulated by userspace. We use virtio for network +and block IO, so those drivers must be enabled in the guest. It's possible +that some qemu device emulation (e.g. e1000 or rtl8139) may also work with +little effort. |