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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/power/suspend-and-cpuhotplug.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/power/suspend-and-cpuhotplug.txt b/Documentation/power/suspend-and-cpuhotplug.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..f28f9a6f0347 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/power/suspend-and-cpuhotplug.txt @@ -0,0 +1,275 @@ +Interaction of Suspend code (S3) with the CPU hotplug infrastructure + + (C) 2011 Srivatsa S. Bhat <srivatsa.bhat@linux.vnet.ibm.com> + + +I. How does the regular CPU hotplug code differ from how the Suspend-to-RAM + infrastructure uses it internally? And where do they share common code? + +Well, a picture is worth a thousand words... So ASCII art follows :-) + +[This depicts the current design in the kernel, and focusses only on the +interactions involving the freezer and CPU hotplug and also tries to explain +the locking involved. It outlines the notifications involved as well. +But please note that here, only the call paths are illustrated, with the aim +of describing where they take different paths and where they share code. +What happens when regular CPU hotplug and Suspend-to-RAM race with each other +is not depicted here.] + +On a high level, the suspend-resume cycle goes like this: + +|Freeze| -> |Disable nonboot| -> |Do suspend| -> |Enable nonboot| -> |Thaw | +|tasks | | cpus | | | | cpus | |tasks| + + +More details follow: + + Suspend call path + ----------------- + + Write 'mem' to + /sys/power/state + syfs file + | + v + Acquire pm_mutex lock + | + v + Send PM_SUSPEND_PREPARE + notifications + | + v + Freeze tasks + | + | + v + disable_nonboot_cpus() + /* start */ + | + v + Acquire cpu_add_remove_lock + | + v + Iterate over CURRENTLY + online CPUs + | + | + | ---------- + v | L + ======> _cpu_down() | + | [This takes cpuhotplug.lock | + Common | before taking down the CPU | + code | and releases it when done] | O + | While it is at it, notifications | + | are sent when notable events occur, | + ======> by running all registered callbacks. | + | | O + | | + | | + v | + Note down these cpus in | P + frozen_cpus mask ---------- + | + v + Disable regular cpu hotplug + by setting cpu_hotplug_disabled=1 + | + v + Release cpu_add_remove_lock + | + v + /* disable_nonboot_cpus() complete */ + | + v + Do suspend + + + +Resuming back is likewise, with the counterparts being (in the order of +execution during resume): +* enable_nonboot_cpus() which involves: + | Acquire cpu_add_remove_lock + | Reset cpu_hotplug_disabled to 0, thereby enabling regular cpu hotplug + | Call _cpu_up() [for all those cpus in the frozen_cpus mask, in a loop] + | Release cpu_add_remove_lock + v + +* thaw tasks +* send PM_POST_SUSPEND notifications +* Release pm_mutex lock. + + +It is to be noted here that the pm_mutex lock is acquired at the very +beginning, when we are just starting out to suspend, and then released only +after the entire cycle is complete (i.e., suspend + resume). + + + + Regular CPU hotplug call path + ----------------------------- + + Write 0 (or 1) to + /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/online + sysfs file + | + | + v + cpu_down() + | + v + Acquire cpu_add_remove_lock + | + v + If cpu_hotplug_disabled is 1 + return gracefully + | + | + v + ======> _cpu_down() + | [This takes cpuhotplug.lock + Common | before taking down the CPU + code | and releases it when done] + | While it is at it, notifications + | are sent when notable events occur, + ======> by running all registered callbacks. + | + | + v + Release cpu_add_remove_lock + [That's it!, for + regular CPU hotplug] + + + +So, as can be seen from the two diagrams (the parts marked as "Common code"), +regular CPU hotplug and the suspend code path converge at the _cpu_down() and +_cpu_up() functions. They differ in the arguments passed to these functions, +in that during regular CPU hotplug, 0 is passed for the 'tasks_frozen' +argument. But during suspend, since the tasks are already frozen by the time +the non-boot CPUs are offlined or onlined, the _cpu_*() functions are called +with the 'tasks_frozen' argument set to 1. +[See below for some known issues regarding this.] + + +Important files and functions/entry points: +------------------------------------------ + +kernel/power/process.c : freeze_processes(), thaw_processes() +kernel/power/suspend.c : suspend_prepare(), suspend_enter(), suspend_finish() +kernel/cpu.c: cpu_[up|down](), _cpu_[up|down](), [disable|enable]_nonboot_cpus() + + + +II. What are the issues involved in CPU hotplug? + ------------------------------------------- + +There are some interesting situations involving CPU hotplug and microcode +update on the CPUs, as discussed below: + +[Please bear in mind that the kernel requests the microcode images from +userspace, using the request_firmware() function defined in +drivers/base/firmware_class.c] + + +a. When all the CPUs are identical: + + This is the most common situation and it is quite straightforward: we want + to apply the same microcode revision to each of the CPUs. + To give an example of x86, the collect_cpu_info() function defined in + arch/x86/kernel/microcode_core.c helps in discovering the type of the CPU + and thereby in applying the correct microcode revision to it. + But note that the kernel does not maintain a common microcode image for the + all CPUs, in order to handle case 'b' described below. + + +b. When some of the CPUs are different than the rest: + + In this case since we probably need to apply different microcode revisions + to different CPUs, the kernel maintains a copy of the correct microcode + image for each CPU (after appropriate CPU type/model discovery using + functions such as collect_cpu_info()). + + +c. When a CPU is physically hot-unplugged and a new (and possibly different + type of) CPU is hot-plugged into the system: + + In the current design of the kernel, whenever a CPU is taken offline during + a regular CPU hotplug operation, upon receiving the CPU_DEAD notification + (which is sent by the CPU hotplug code), the microcode update driver's + callback for that event reacts by freeing the kernel's copy of the + microcode image for that CPU. + + Hence, when a new CPU is brought online, since the kernel finds that it + doesn't have the microcode image, it does the CPU type/model discovery + afresh and then requests the userspace for the appropriate microcode image + for that CPU, which is subsequently applied. + + For example, in x86, the mc_cpu_callback() function (which is the microcode + update driver's callback registered for CPU hotplug events) calls + microcode_update_cpu() which would call microcode_init_cpu() in this case, + instead of microcode_resume_cpu() when it finds that the kernel doesn't + have a valid microcode image. This ensures that the CPU type/model + discovery is performed and the right microcode is applied to the CPU after + getting it from userspace. + + +d. Handling microcode update during suspend/hibernate: + + Strictly speaking, during a CPU hotplug operation which does not involve + physically removing or inserting CPUs, the CPUs are not actually powered + off during a CPU offline. They are just put to the lowest C-states possible. + Hence, in such a case, it is not really necessary to re-apply microcode + when the CPUs are brought back online, since they wouldn't have lost the + image during the CPU offline operation. + + This is the usual scenario encountered during a resume after a suspend. + However, in the case of hibernation, since all the CPUs are completely + powered off, during restore it becomes necessary to apply the microcode + images to all the CPUs. + + [Note that we don't expect someone to physically pull out nodes and insert + nodes with a different type of CPUs in-between a suspend-resume or a + hibernate/restore cycle.] + + In the current design of the kernel however, during a CPU offline operation + as part of the suspend/hibernate cycle (the CPU_DEAD_FROZEN notification), + the existing copy of microcode image in the kernel is not freed up. + And during the CPU online operations (during resume/restore), since the + kernel finds that it already has copies of the microcode images for all the + CPUs, it just applies them to the CPUs, avoiding any re-discovery of CPU + type/model and the need for validating whether the microcode revisions are + right for the CPUs or not (due to the above assumption that physical CPU + hotplug will not be done in-between suspend/resume or hibernate/restore + cycles). + + +III. Are there any known problems when regular CPU hotplug and suspend race + with each other? + +Yes, they are listed below: + +1. When invoking regular CPU hotplug, the 'tasks_frozen' argument passed to + the _cpu_down() and _cpu_up() functions is *always* 0. + This might not reflect the true current state of the system, since the + tasks could have been frozen by an out-of-band event such as a suspend + operation in progress. Hence, it will lead to wrong notifications being + sent during the cpu online/offline events (eg, CPU_ONLINE notification + instead of CPU_ONLINE_FROZEN) which in turn will lead to execution of + inappropriate code by the callbacks registered for such CPU hotplug events. + +2. If a regular CPU hotplug stress test happens to race with the freezer due + to a suspend operation in progress at the same time, then we could hit the + situation described below: + + * A regular cpu online operation continues its journey from userspace + into the kernel, since the freezing has not yet begun. + * Then freezer gets to work and freezes userspace. + * If cpu online has not yet completed the microcode update stuff by now, + it will now start waiting on the frozen userspace in the + TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE state, in order to get the microcode image. + * Now the freezer continues and tries to freeze the remaining tasks. But + due to this wait mentioned above, the freezer won't be able to freeze + the cpu online hotplug task and hence freezing of tasks fails. + + As a result of this task freezing failure, the suspend operation gets + aborted. |