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] [PATCH 0/2] Improve hpet accuracy

To: "dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx" <dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx>, "Dave Winchell" <dwinchell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Keir Fraser" <keir.fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: [Xen-devel] [PATCH 0/2] Improve hpet accuracy
From: "Dan Magenheimer" <dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:51:16 -0600
Cc: xen-devel <xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Ben Guthro <bguthro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Delivery-date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:52:09 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <20080610194420109.00000041832@djm-pc>
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/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>, <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>, <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
Organization: Oracle Corporation
Reply-to: "dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx" <dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thread-index: AcjIFBNOSTfhtJHySxCkafUaaZcKSgBjZoBVADT1QZAAAzlsiQAJQaUgAC7ieWAAXssTMA==
> > In EL5u1-32 however it looks like the fractions are accounted
> > for.  Indeed the EL5u1-32 "lost tick handling" code resembles
> > the Linux/ia64 code which is what I've always assumed was
> > the "missed tick" model.  In this case, I think no policy
> > is necessary and the measured skew should be identical to
> > any physical hpet skew.  I'll have to test this hypothesis though.
> 
> I've tested this hypothesis and it seems to hold true.
> This means the existing (unpatched) hpet code works fine
> on EL5-32bit (vcpus=1) when hpet is the clocksource,
> even when the machine is overcommitted.  A second hypothesis
> still needs to be tested that Dave's patch will not make this worse.

OK, I can confirm that Dave's patch, as expected, does not
make this any worse.

The timer algorithm in 2.6.18 for x86 (i.e. RHEL5-32bit) is
definitely the most resilient to variations in tick delivery
for a monotonically-increasing timesource (i.e. hpet).
This algorithm is in arch-independent code but sadly x86_64
didn't use it as of 2.6.18.

Dan


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