summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
-rw-r--r--Documentation/virtual/kvm/00-INDEX3
-rw-r--r--Documentation/virtual/kvm/amd-memory-encryption.rst45
2 files changed, 48 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/00-INDEX b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/00-INDEX
index 69fe1a8b7ad1..3da73aabff5a 100644
--- a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/00-INDEX
+++ b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/00-INDEX
@@ -26,3 +26,6 @@ s390-diag.txt
- Diagnose hypercall description (for IBM S/390)
timekeeping.txt
- timekeeping virtualization for x86-based architectures.
+amd-memory-encryption.txt
+ - notes on AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization feature and SEV firmware
+ command description
diff --git a/Documentation/virtual/kvm/amd-memory-encryption.rst b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/amd-memory-encryption.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a8ef21e737db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/virtual/kvm/amd-memory-encryption.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+======================================
+Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV)
+======================================
+
+Overview
+========
+
+Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) is a feature found on AMD processors.
+
+SEV is an extension to the AMD-V architecture which supports running
+virtual machines (VMs) under the control of a hypervisor. When enabled,
+the memory contents of a VM will be transparently encrypted with a key
+unique to that VM.
+
+The hypervisor can determine the SEV support through the CPUID
+instruction. The CPUID function 0x8000001f reports information related
+to SEV::
+
+ 0x8000001f[eax]:
+ Bit[1] indicates support for SEV
+ ...
+ [ecx]:
+ Bits[31:0] Number of encrypted guests supported simultaneously
+
+If support for SEV is present, MSR 0xc001_0010 (MSR_K8_SYSCFG) and MSR 0xc001_0015
+(MSR_K7_HWCR) can be used to determine if it can be enabled::
+
+ 0xc001_0010:
+ Bit[23] 1 = memory encryption can be enabled
+ 0 = memory encryption can not be enabled
+
+ 0xc001_0015:
+ Bit[0] 1 = memory encryption can be enabled
+ 0 = memory encryption can not be enabled
+
+When SEV support is available, it can be enabled in a specific VM by
+setting the SEV bit before executing VMRUN.::
+
+ VMCB[0x90]:
+ Bit[1] 1 = SEV is enabled
+ 0 = SEV is disabled
+
+SEV hardware uses ASIDs to associate a memory encryption key with a VM.
+Hence, the ASID for the SEV-enabled guests must be from 1 to a maximum value
+defined in the CPUID 0x8000001f[ecx] field.