Re: [PATCH v2] KVM: X86: Emulate APERF/MPERF to report actual vCPU frequency

[Jim Mattson]

On Thu, Dec 30, 2021 at 11:48 PM Like Xu <like.xu.linux@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 31/12/2021 9:29 am, Jim Mattson wrote:

> > At sched-in:
> > 1. Save host APERF/MPERF values from the MSRs.
> > 2. Load the "current" guest APERF/MPERF values into the MSRs (if the
> > vCPU configuration allows for unintercepted reads).
> >
> > At sched-out:
> > 1. Calculate the guest APERF/MPERF deltas for use in step 3.
> > 2. Save the "current" guest APERF/MPERF values.
> > 3. "Restore" the host APERF/MPERF values, but add in the deltas from step 1.
> >
> > Without any writes to IA32_MPERF, I would expect these MSRs to be
> > synchronized across all logical processors, and the proposal above
> > would break that synchronization.

I am learning more about IA32_APERF and IA32_MPERF this year. :-)

My worry above is unfounded. These MSRs only increment in C0, so they
are not likely to be synchronized.

This also raises another issue with your original fast-path
implementation: the host MSRs will continue to count while the guest
is halted. However, the guest MSRs should not count while the guest is
halted.