Re: [PATCH] pci, add sysfs numa_node write function

From: Prarit Bhargava
Date: Wed Oct 15 2014 - 15:48:08 EST


On 10/15/2014 03:23 PM, Bjorn Helgaas wrote:
> Hi Prarit,
>
> On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 1:05 PM, Prarit Bhargava <prarit@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Consider a multi-node, multiple pci root bridge system which can be
>> configured into one large node or one node/socket. When configuring the
>> system the numa_node value for each PCI root bridge is always set
>> incorrectly to -1, or NUMA_NO_NODE, rather than to the node value of each
>> socket. Each PCI device inherits the numa value directly from it's parent
>> device, so that the NUMA_NO_NODE value is passed through the entire PCI
>> tree.
>>
>> Some new drivers, such as the Intel QAT driver, drivers/crypto/qat,
>> require that a specific node be assigned to the device in order to
>> achieve maximum performance for the device, and will fail to load if the
>> device has NUMA_NO_NODE.
>
> It seems ... unfriendly for a driver to fail to load just because it
> can't guarantee maximum performance. Out of curiosity, where does
> this actually happen? I had a quick look for NUMA_NO_NODE and
> module_init() functions in drivers/crypto/qat, and I didn't see the
> spot.

The whole point of the Intel QAT driver is to guarantee max performance. If
that is not possible the driver should not load (according to the thread
mentioned below)

>
>> The driver would load if the numa_node value
>> was equal to or greater than -1 and quickly hacking the driver results in
>> a functional QAT driver.
>>
>> Using lspci and numactl it is easy to determine what the numa value should
>> be. The problem is that there is no way to set it. This patch adds a
>> store function for the PCI device's numa_node value.
>
> I'm not familiar with numactl. It sounds like it can show you the
> NUMA topology? Where does that information come from?

You can map at least what nodes are available (although I suppose you can get
the same information from dmesg). You have to do a bit of hunting through the
PCI tree to determine the root PCI devices, but you can determine which root
device is connected to which node.

>
>> To use this, one can do
>>
>> echo 3 > /sys/devices/pci0000:ff/0000:ff:1f.3/numa_node
>>
>> to set the numa node for PCI device 0000:ff:1f.3.
>
> It definitely seems wrong that we don't set the node number correctly.
> pci_acpi_scan_root() sets the node number by looking for a _PXM method
> that applies to the host bridge. Why does that not work in this case?
> Does the BIOS not supply _PXM?

Yeah ... unfortunately the BIOS is broken in this case. And I know what you're
thinking ;) -- why not get the BIOS fixed? I'm through relying on BIOS fixes
which can take six months to a year to appear in a production version... I've
been bitten too many times by promises of BIOS fixes that never materialize.

We have systems that only have a support cycle of 3 years, and things like ACPI
_PXM updates are at the bottom of the list :/.

FWIW, on this particular system I have a filed a bug with the vendor.

>
> If there's information that numactl uses, maybe the kernel should use that, too?
>
> A sysfs interface might be a useful workaround, but obviously it would
> be far better if we could fix the BIOS and/or kernel so the workaround
> isn't necessary in the first place.

Yep ... but like I said, I don't think anyone wants to wait a year. What if we
never see a fix?

Side issue: While investigating this I noticed that plain kmalloc() is used in
the setup code. Is there a reason we don't use kmalloc_node() in
pci_alloc_dev(), and other allocation functions? It seems like we should be to
optimize system performance. OTOH ... I haven't done any measurements to see if
it actually makes a difference :)

P.

>
> Bjorn
>
>> Cc: Myron Stowe <mstowe@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: Bjorn Helgaas <bhelgaas@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: linux-pci@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Signed-off-by: Prarit Bhargava <prarit@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> ---
>> drivers/pci/pci-sysfs.c | 23 ++++++++++++++++++++++-
>> 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/drivers/pci/pci-sysfs.c b/drivers/pci/pci-sysfs.c
>> index 92b6d9a..c05ed30 100644
>> --- a/drivers/pci/pci-sysfs.c
>> +++ b/drivers/pci/pci-sysfs.c
>> @@ -221,12 +221,33 @@ static ssize_t enabled_show(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr,
>> static DEVICE_ATTR_RW(enabled);
>>
>> #ifdef CONFIG_NUMA
>> +static ssize_t numa_node_store(struct device *dev,
>> + struct device_attribute *attr,
>> + const char *buf, size_t count)
>> +{
>> + int node, ret;
>> +
>> + if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
>> + return -EPERM;
>> +
>> + ret = kstrtoint(buf, 0, &node);
>> + if (ret)
>> + return ret;
>> +
>> + if (!node_online(node))
>> + return -EINVAL;
>> +
>> + dev->numa_node = node;
>> +
>> + return count;
>> +}
>> +
>> static ssize_t numa_node_show(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr,
>> char *buf)
>> {
>> return sprintf(buf, "%d\n", dev->numa_node);
>> }
>> -static DEVICE_ATTR_RO(numa_node);
>> +static DEVICE_ATTR_RW(numa_node);
>> #endif
>>
>> static ssize_t dma_mask_bits_show(struct device *dev,
>> --
>> 1.7.9.3
>>
>
>

--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/