Re: [PATCH V2 5/6] x86/intel_rdt: Use perf infrastructure for measurements

From: Peter Zijlstra
Date: Thu Sep 06 2018 - 10:38:50 EST


On Thu, Aug 16, 2018 at 01:16:08PM -0700, Reinette Chatre wrote:
> + l2_miss_event = perf_event_create_kernel_counter(&perf_miss_attr,
> + plr->cpu,
> + NULL, NULL, NULL);
> + if (IS_ERR(l2_miss_event))
> + goto out;
> +
> + l2_hit_event = perf_event_create_kernel_counter(&perf_hit_attr,
> + plr->cpu,
> + NULL, NULL, NULL);
> + if (IS_ERR(l2_hit_event))
> + goto out_l2_miss;
> +
> + local_irq_disable();
> + /*
> + * Check any possible error state of events used by performing
> + * one local read.
> + */
> + if (perf_event_read_local(l2_miss_event, &tmp, NULL, NULL)) {
> + local_irq_enable();
> + goto out_l2_hit;
> + }
> + if (perf_event_read_local(l2_hit_event, &tmp, NULL, NULL)) {
> + local_irq_enable();
> + goto out_l2_hit;
> + }
> +
> + /*
> + * Disable hardware prefetchers.
> *
> + * Call wrmsr direcly to avoid the local register variables from
> + * being overwritten due to reordering of their assignment with
> + * the wrmsr calls.
> + */
> + __wrmsr(MSR_MISC_FEATURE_CONTROL, prefetch_disable_bits, 0x0);

So what about virt?

> +
> + /* Initialize rest of local variables */
> + /*
> + * Performance event has been validated right before this with
> + * interrupts disabled - it is thus safe to read the counter index.
> + */
> + l2_miss_pmcnum = x86_perf_rdpmc_ctr_get(l2_miss_event);
> + l2_hit_pmcnum = x86_perf_rdpmc_ctr_get(l2_hit_event);
> + line_size = plr->line_size;
> + mem_r = plr->kmem;
> + size = plr->size;

You probably want READ_ONCE() on that, the volatile cast in there
disallows the compiler from re-loading the values later.

> +
> + /*
> + * Read counter variables twice - first to load the instructions
> + * used in L1 cache, second to capture accurate value that does not
> + * include cache misses incurred because of instruction loads.
> + */
> + rdpmcl(l2_hit_pmcnum, l2_hits_before);

And this again does do virt.

> + rdpmcl(l2_miss_pmcnum, l2_miss_before);
> + /*
> + * From SDM: Performing back-to-back fast reads are not guaranteed
> + * to be monotonic. To guarantee monotonicity on back-toback reads,
> + * a serializing instruction must be placed between the two
> + * RDPMC instructions
> + */
> + rmb();

You're copying the horrid horrid (did I say truly horrid?) use of
'serializing' from the SDM. Please don't do that.

LFENCE is not a serializing instruction. But given the (new) definition
LFENCE does ensure all prior instructions are retired before it
proceeds.

> + rdpmcl(l2_hit_pmcnum, l2_hits_before);
> + rdpmcl(l2_miss_pmcnum, l2_miss_before);
> + /*
> + * rdpmc is not a serializing instruction. Add barrier to prevent
> + * instructions that follow to begin executing before reading the
> + * counter value.
> + */
> + rmb();
> + for (i = 0; i < size; i += line_size) {
> + /*
> + * Add a barrier to prevent speculative execution of this
> + * loop reading beyond the end of the buffer.
> + */
> + rmb();
> + asm volatile("mov (%0,%1,1), %%eax\n\t"
> + :
> + : "r" (mem_r), "r" (i)
> + : "%eax", "memory");

Why does that need to be asm?

> + }

I think you want another LFENCE here, to ensure the RDPMCs don't overlap
with the last LOAD in the loop above.

> + rdpmcl(l2_hit_pmcnum, l2_hits_after);
> + rdpmcl(l2_miss_pmcnum, l2_miss_after);
> + /*
> + * rdpmc is not a serializing instruction. Add barrier to ensure
> + * events measured have completed and prevent instructions that
> + * follow to begin executing before reading the counter value.
> + */
> + rmb();
> + /* Re-enable hardware prefetchers */
> + wrmsr(MSR_MISC_FEATURE_CONTROL, 0x0, 0x0);


So what I do in userspace is:

mmap_read_pinned(ctx); /* prime */

for (many-times) {

cnt = mmap_read_pinned(evt);
barrier();
cnt = mmap_read_pinned(evt) - cnt;
update_stats(&empty, cnt);

cnt = mmap_read_pinned(evt);
barrier();
/* the thing */
barrier();
cnt = mmap_read_pinned(evt) - cnt;
update_stats(&stat, cnt);

}

sub_stats(&stat, &empty);

Maybe I should've used asm("lfence" ::: "memory") instead of barrier(),
but the results were good enough.