Commit Graph

46 Commits

Author SHA1 Message Date
Avi Kivity
954bbbc236 KVM: Simply gfn_to_page()
Mapping a guest page to a host page is a common operation.  Currently,
one has first to find the memory slot where the page belongs (gfn_to_memslot),
then locate the page itself (gfn_to_page()).

This is clumsy, and also won't work well with memory aliases.  So simplify
gfn_to_page() not to require memory slot translation first, and instead do it
internally.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-05-03 10:52:28 +03:00
Dor Laor
e0fa826f96 KVM: Add mmu cache clear function
Functions that play around with the physical memory map
need a way to clear mappings to possibly nonexistent or
invalid memory.  Both the mmu cache and the processor tlb
are cleared.

Signed-off-by: Dor Laor <dor.laor@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-05-03 10:52:28 +03:00
Avi Kivity
36868f7b0e KVM: Use list_move()
Use list_move() where possible.  Noticed by Dor Laor.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-05-03 10:52:27 +03:00
Avi Kivity
d28c6cfbbc KVM: MMU: Fix hugepage pdes mapping same physical address with different access
The kvm mmu keeps a shadow page for hugepage pdes; if several such pdes map
the same physical address, they share the same shadow page.  This is a fairly
common case (kernel mappings on i386 nonpae Linux, for example).

However, if the two pdes map the same memory but with different permissions, kvm
will happily use the cached shadow page.  If the access through the more
permissive pde will occur after the access to the strict pde, an endless pagefault
loop will be generated and the guest will make no progress.

Fix by making the access permissions part of the cache lookup key.

The fix allows Xen pae to boot on kvm and run guest domains.

Thanks to Jeremy Fitzhardinge for reporting the bug and testing the fix.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-05-03 10:52:27 +03:00
Avi Kivity
aac012245a KVM: MMU: Remove global pte tracking
The initial, noncaching, version of the kvm mmu flushed the all nonglobal
shadow page table translations (much like a native tlb flush).  The new
implementation flushes translations only when they change, rendering global
pte tracking superfluous.

This removes the unused tracking mechanism and storage space.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-05-03 10:52:25 +03:00
Avi Kivity
039576c03c KVM: Avoid guest virtual addresses in string pio userspace interface
The current string pio interface communicates using guest virtual addresses,
relying on userspace to translate addresses and to check permissions.  This
interface cannot fully support guest smp, as the check needs to take into
account two pages at one in case an unaligned string transfer straddles a
page boundary.

Change the interface not to communicate guest addresses at all; instead use
a buffer page (mmaped by userspace) and do transfers there.  The kernel
manages the virtual to physical translation and can perform the checks
atomically by taking the appropriate locks.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-05-03 10:52:25 +03:00
Avi Kivity
1ea252afcd KVM: Fix bogus sign extension in mmu mapping audit
When auditing a 32-bit guest on a 64-bit host, sign extension of the page
table directory pointer table index caused bogus addresses to be shown on
audit errors.

Fix by declaring the index unsigned.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-05-03 10:52:23 +03:00
Avi Kivity
6b8d0f9b18 KVM: Fix off-by-one when writing to a nonpae guest pde
Nonpae guest pdes are shadowed by two pae ptes, so we double the offset
twice: once to account for the pte size difference, and once because we
need to shadow pdes for a single guest pde.

But when writing to the upper guest pde we also need to truncate the
lower bits, otherwise the multiply shifts these bits into the pde index
and causes an access to the wrong shadow pde.  If we're at the end of the
page (accessing the very last guest pde) we can even overflow into the
next host page and oops.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-04-19 18:39:26 +03:00
Avi Kivity
27aba76615 KVM: MMU: Fix host memory corruption on i386 with >= 4GB ram
PAGE_MASK is an unsigned long, so using it to mask physical addresses on
i386 (which are 64-bit wide) leads to truncation.  This can result in
page->private of unrelated memory pages being modified, with disasterous
results.

Fix by not using PAGE_MASK for physical addresses; instead calculate
the correct value directly from PAGE_SIZE.  Also fix a similar BUG_ON().

Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-03-18 10:49:09 +02:00
Avi Kivity
ac1b714e78 KVM: MMU: Fix guest writes to nonpae pde
KVM shadow page tables are always in pae mode, regardless of the guest
setting.  This means that a guest pde (mapping 4MB of memory) is mapped
to two shadow pdes (mapping 2MB each).

When the guest writes to a pte or pde, we intercept the write and emulate it.
We also remove any shadowed mappings corresponding to the write.  Since the
mmu did not account for the doubling in the number of pdes, it removed the
wrong entry, resulting in a mismatch between shadow page tables and guest
page tables, followed shortly by guest memory corruption.

This patch fixes the problem by detecting the special case of writing to
a non-pae pde and adjusting the address and number of shadow pdes zapped
accordingly.

Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-03-18 10:49:09 +02:00
Markus Rechberger
5972e9535e KVM: Use page_private()/set_page_private() apis
Besides using an established api, this allows using kvm in older kernels.

Signed-off-by: Markus Rechberger <markus.rechberger@amd.com>
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
2007-03-04 11:12:39 +02:00
Al Viro
11718b4d6b [PATCH] misc NULL noise removal
Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2007-02-09 09:14:07 -08:00
Avi Kivity
73b1087e61 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Report nx faults to the guest
With the recent guest page fault change, we perform access checks on our
own instead of relying on the cpu.  This means we have to perform the nx
checks as well.

Software like the google toolbar on windows appears to rely on this
somehow.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2007-01-26 13:50:57 -08:00
Avi Kivity
7993ba43db [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Perform access checks in walk_addr()
Check pte permission bits in walk_addr(), instead of scattering the checks all
over the code.  This has the following benefits:

1. We no longer set the accessed bit for accessed which fail permission checks.
2. Setting the accessed bit is simplified.
3. Under some circumstances, we used to pretend a page fault was fixed when
   it would actually fail the access checks.  This caused an unnecessary
   vmexit.
4. The error code for guest page faults is now correct.

The fix helps netbsd further along booting, and allows kvm to pass the new mmu
testsuite.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2007-01-26 13:50:57 -08:00
Ingo Molnar
68a99f6d37 [PATCH] KVM: Simplify mmu_alloc_roots()
Small optimization/cleanup:

    page == page_header(page->page_hpa)

Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:28 -08:00
Ingo Molnar
7f7417d67e [PATCH] KVM: Avoid oom on cr3 switch
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:28 -08:00
Avi Kivity
37a7d8b046 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: add audit code to check mappings, etc are correct
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:27 -08:00
Avi Kivity
40907d5768 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Flush guest tlb when reducing permissions on a pte
If we reduce permissions on a pte, we must flush the cached copy of the pte
from the guest's tlb.

This is implemented at the moment by flushing the entire guest tlb, and can be
improved by flushing just the relevant virtual address, if it is known.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:27 -08:00
Avi Kivity
e2dec939db [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Detect oom conditions and propagate error to userspace
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:27 -08:00
Avi Kivity
714b93da1a [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Replace atomic allocations by preallocated objects
The mmu sometimes needs memory for reverse mapping and parent pte chains.
however, we can't allocate from within the mmu because of the atomic context.

So, move the allocations to a central place that can be executed before the
main mmu machinery, where we can bail out on failure before any damage is
done.

(error handling is deffered for now, but the basic structure is there)

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:27 -08:00
Avi Kivity
f51234c2cd [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Free pages on kvm destruction
Because mmu pages have attached rmap and parent pte chain structures, we need
to zap them before freeing so the attached structures are freed.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:27 -08:00
Avi Kivity
3bb65a22a4 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Never free a shadow page actively serving as a root
We always need cr3 to point to something valid, so if we detect that we're
freeing a root page, simply push it back to the top of the active list.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:26 -08:00
Avi Kivity
86a5ba025d [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Page table write flood protection
In fork() (or when we protect a page that is no longer a page table), we can
experience floods of writes to a page, which have to be emulated.  This is
expensive.

So, if we detect such a flood, zap the page so subsequent writes can proceed
natively.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:26 -08:00
Avi Kivity
139bdb2d9e [PATCH] KVM: MMU: If an empty shadow page is not empty, report more info
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:26 -08:00
Avi Kivity
5f1e0b6abc [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Ensure freed shadow pages are clean
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:26 -08:00
Avi Kivity
260746c03d [PATCH] KVM: MMU: <ove is_empty_shadow_page() above kvm_mmu_free_page()
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:26 -08:00
Avi Kivity
0e7bc4b961 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Handle misaligned accesses to write protected guest page tables
A misaligned access affects two shadow ptes instead of just one.

Since a misaligned access is unlikely to occur on a real page table, just zap
the page out of existence, avoiding further trouble.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:26 -08:00
Avi Kivity
73f7198e73 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Remove release_pt_page_64()
Unused.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:26 -08:00
Avi Kivity
5f015a5b28 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Remove invlpg interception
Since we write protect shadowed guest page tables, there is no need to trap
page invalidations (the guest will always change the mapping before issuing
the invlpg instruction).

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
ebeace8609 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: oom handling
When beginning to process a page fault, make sure we have enough shadow pages
available to service the fault.  If not, free some pages.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
cc4529efc7 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: kvm_mmu_put_page() only removes one link to the page
...  and so must not free it unconditionally.

Move the freeing to kvm_mmu_zap_page().

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
697fe2e24a [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Implement child shadow unlinking
When removing a page table, we must maintain the parent_pte field all child
shadow page tables.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
a436036baf [PATCH] KVM: MMU: If emulating an instruction fails, try unprotecting the page
A page table may have been recycled into a regular page, and so any
instruction can be executed on it.  Unprotect the page and let the cpu do its
thing.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
9b7a032567 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Zap shadow page table entries on writes to guest page tables
Iterate over all shadow pages which correspond to a the given guest page table
and remove the mappings.

A subsequent page fault will reestablish the new mapping.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
da4a00f002 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Support emulated writes into RAM
As the mmu write protects guest page table, we emulate those writes.  Since
they are not mmio, there is no need to go to userspace to perform them.

So, perform the writes in the kernel if possible, and notify the mmu about
them so it can take the approriate action.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
815af8d42e [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Let the walker extract the target page gfn from the pte
This fixes a problem where set_pte_common() looked for shadowed pages based on
the page directory gfn (a huge page) instead of the actual gfn being mapped.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
374cbac033 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Write protect guest pages when a shadow is created for them
When we cache a guest page table into a shadow page table, we need to prevent
further access to that page by the guest, as that would render the cache
incoherent.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:25 -08:00
Avi Kivity
cea0f0e7ea [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Shadow page table caching
Define a hashtable for caching shadow page tables. Look up the cache on
context switch (cr3 change) or during page faults.

The key to the cache is a combination of
- the guest page table frame number
- the number of paging levels in the guest
   * we can cache real mode, 32-bit mode, pae, and long mode page
     tables simultaneously.  this is useful for smp bootup.
- the guest page table table
   * some kernels use a page as both a page table and a page directory.  this
     allows multiple shadow pages to exist for that page, one per level
- the "quadrant"
   * 32-bit mode page tables span 4MB, whereas a shadow page table spans
     2MB.  similarly, a 32-bit page directory spans 4GB, while a shadow
     page directory spans 1GB.  the quadrant allows caching up to 4 shadow page
     tables for one guest page in one level.
- a "metaphysical" bit
   * for real mode, and for pse pages, there is no guest page table, so set
     the bit to avoid write protecting the page.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:24 -08:00
Avi Kivity
25c0de2cc6 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Make kvm_mmu_alloc_page() return a kvm_mmu_page pointer
This allows further manipulation on the shadow page table.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:24 -08:00
Avi Kivity
17ac10ad2b [PATCH] KVM: MU: Special treatment for shadow pae root pages
Since we're not going to cache the pae-mode shadow root pages, allocate a
single pae shadow that will hold the four lower-level pages, which will act as
roots.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:24 -08:00
Avi Kivity
cd4a4e5374 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Implement simple reverse mapping
Keep in each host page frame's page->private a pointer to the shadow pte which
maps it.  If there are multiple shadow ptes mapping the page, set bit 0 of
page->private, and use the rest as a pointer to a linked list of all such
mappings.

Reverse mappings are needed because we when we cache shadow page tables, we
must protect the guest page tables from being modified by the guest, as that
would invalidate the cached ptes.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2007-01-05 23:55:24 -08:00
Ingo Molnar
8018c27b26 [PATCH] kvm: fix GFP_KERNEL allocation in atomic section in kvm_dev_ioctl_create_vcpu()
fix an GFP_KERNEL allocation in atomic section: kvm_dev_ioctl_create_vcpu()
called kvm_mmu_init(), which calls alloc_pages(), while holding the vcpu.

The fix is to set up the MMU state in two phases: kvm_mmu_create() and
kvm_mmu_setup().

(NOTE: free_vcpus does an kvm_mmu_destroy() call so there's no need for any
extra teardown branch on allocation/init failure here.)

Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Cc: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2006-12-30 10:56:44 -08:00
Avi Kivity
a9058ecd3c [PATCH] KVM: Simplify is_long_mode()
Instead of doing tricky stuff with the arch dependent virtualization
registers, take a peek at the guest's efer.

This simlifies some code, and fixes some confusion in the mmu branch.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2006-12-30 10:56:44 -08:00
Avi Kivity
2c26495710 [PATCH] KVM: Use more traditional error handling in kvm_mmu_init()
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2006-12-22 08:55:46 -08:00
Avi Kivity
8c7bb723b4 [PATCH] KVM: MMU: Ignore pcd, pwt, and pat bits on ptes
The pcd, pwt, and pat bits on page table entries affect the cpu cache.  Since
the cache is a host resource, the guest should not be able to control it.
Moreover, the meaning of these bits changes depending on whether pat is
enabled or not.

So, force these bits to zero on shadow page table entries at all times.

Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2006-12-13 09:05:47 -08:00
Avi Kivity
6aa8b732ca [PATCH] kvm: userspace interface
web site: http://kvm.sourceforge.net

mailing list: kvm-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
  (http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/kvm-devel)

The following patchset adds a driver for Intel's hardware virtualization
extensions to the x86 architecture.  The driver adds a character device
(/dev/kvm) that exposes the virtualization capabilities to userspace.  Using
this driver, a process can run a virtual machine (a "guest") in a fully
virtualized PC containing its own virtual hard disks, network adapters, and
display.

Using this driver, one can start multiple virtual machines on a host.

Each virtual machine is a process on the host; a virtual cpu is a thread in
that process.  kill(1), nice(1), top(1) work as expected.  In effect, the
driver adds a third execution mode to the existing two: we now have kernel
mode, user mode, and guest mode.  Guest mode has its own address space mapping
guest physical memory (which is accessible to user mode by mmap()ing
/dev/kvm).  Guest mode has no access to any I/O devices; any such access is
intercepted and directed to user mode for emulation.

The driver supports i386 and x86_64 hosts and guests.  All combinations are
allowed except x86_64 guest on i386 host.  For i386 guests and hosts, both pae
and non-pae paging modes are supported.

SMP hosts and UP guests are supported.  At the moment only Intel
hardware is supported, but AMD virtualization support is being worked on.

Performance currently is non-stellar due to the naive implementation of the
mmu virtualization, which throws away most of the shadow page table entries
every context switch.  We plan to address this in two ways:

- cache shadow page tables across tlb flushes
- wait until AMD and Intel release processors with nested page tables

Currently a virtual desktop is responsive but consumes a lot of CPU.  Under
Windows I tried playing pinball and watching a few flash movies; with a recent
CPU one can hardly feel the virtualization.  Linux/X is slower, probably due
to X being in a separate process.

In addition to the driver, you need a slightly modified qemu to provide I/O
device emulation and the BIOS.

Caveats (akpm: might no longer be true):

- The Windows install currently bluescreens due to a problem with the
  virtual APIC.  We are working on a fix.  A temporary workaround is to
  use an existing image or install through qemu
- Windows 64-bit does not work.  That's also true for qemu, so it's
  probably a problem with the device model.

[bero@arklinux.org: build fix]
[simon.kagstrom@bth.se: build fix, other fixes]
[uril@qumranet.com: KVM: Expose interrupt bitmap]
[akpm@osdl.org: i386 build fix]
[mingo@elte.hu: i386 fixes]
[rdreier@cisco.com: add log levels to all printks]
[randy.dunlap@oracle.com: Fix sparse NULL and C99 struct init warnings]
[anthony@codemonkey.ws: KVM: AMD SVM: 32-bit host support]
Signed-off-by: Yaniv Kamay <yaniv@qumranet.com>
Signed-off-by: Avi Kivity <avi@qumranet.com>
Cc: Simon Kagstrom <simon.kagstrom@bth.se>
Cc: Bernhard Rosenkraenzer <bero@arklinux.org>
Signed-off-by: Uri Lublin <uril@qumranet.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Cc: Roland Dreier <rolandd@cisco.com>
Signed-off-by: Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Anthony Liguori <anthony@codemonkey.ws>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
2006-12-10 09:57:22 -08:00