[Xen-devel] [Patch] cpu synchronization while doing MTRR register update

[Nitin A Kamble <nitin.a.kamble@xxxxxxxxx>]

The current Xen code does not synchronize all the cpus while
initializing MTRR registers when a cpu comes up. 

As per IA32 SDM vol 3: Section: 10.11.8 MTRR Considerations in MP
Systems, all the processors should be synchronized while updating MTRRs.

Processors starting with westmere are caching VMCS data for better VMX
performance. These processors also has Hyper-threading support. With
hyper-threading, when one thread's cache is disabled, it also disables
cache for the sibling threads. And MTRR register updating procedure
involves cache disabling. So if cpus are not synchronized, updating MTRR
registers on a thread, results in the VMCS data from sibling threads
becoming inaccessible, and it causes system failure.

With this patch while updating the MTRR registers, all the cpus are
synchronized as per the IA32 SDM. Also at the boot time and resume time
when multiple cpus are brought up, an optimization is added to delay the
MTRR initialization until all the cpus are up, to avoid multiple times
cpu synchronization.

Signed-Off-By: Nitin A Kamble <nitin.a.kamble@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-Off-By: Suresh B Siddha <suresh.b.siddha@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-Off-By: Asit K Mallick <asit.k.mallick@xxxxxxxxx>

Diffstat:
 arch/x86/acpi/suspend.c  |    2 -
 arch/x86/cpu/common.c    |    2 -
 arch/x86/cpu/mtrr/main.c |   57 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
 arch/x86/smpboot.c       |    6 ++++
 include/asm-x86/mtrr.h   |    4 +++
 5 files changed, 56 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

Thanks & Regards,
Nitin
Linux Open Source Technology Center, Intel Corporation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mind is like a parachute; it works much better when it's open.

mtrr_update_cpu_synchronization_r1.diff
Description: Text Data

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