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diff --git a/docs/devel/vfio-migration.rst b/docs/devel/vfio-migration.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ff6163 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/devel/vfio-migration.rst @@ -0,0 +1,150 @@ +===================== +VFIO device Migration +===================== + +Migration of virtual machine involves saving the state for each device that +the guest is running on source host and restoring this saved state on the +destination host. This document details how saving and restoring of VFIO +devices is done in QEMU. + +Migration of VFIO devices consists of two phases: the optional pre-copy phase, +and the stop-and-copy phase. The pre-copy phase is iterative and allows to +accommodate VFIO devices that have a large amount of data that needs to be +transferred. The iterative pre-copy phase of migration allows for the guest to +continue whilst the VFIO device state is transferred to the destination, this +helps to reduce the total downtime of the VM. VFIO devices can choose to skip +the pre-copy phase of migration by returning pending_bytes as zero during the +pre-copy phase. + +A detailed description of the UAPI for VFIO device migration can be found in +the comment for the ``vfio_device_migration_info`` structure in the header +file linux-headers/linux/vfio.h. + +VFIO implements the device hooks for the iterative approach as follows: + +* A ``save_setup`` function that sets up the migration region and sets _SAVING + flag in the VFIO device state. + +* A ``load_setup`` function that sets up the migration region on the + destination and sets _RESUMING flag in the VFIO device state. + +* A ``save_live_pending`` function that reads pending_bytes from the vendor + driver, which indicates the amount of data that the vendor driver has yet to + save for the VFIO device. + +* A ``save_live_iterate`` function that reads the VFIO device's data from the + vendor driver through the migration region during iterative phase. + +* A ``save_state`` function to save the device config space if it is present. + +* A ``save_live_complete_precopy`` function that resets _RUNNING flag from the + VFIO device state and iteratively copies the remaining data for the VFIO + device until the vendor driver indicates that no data remains (pending bytes + is zero). + +* A ``load_state`` function that loads the config section and the data + sections that are generated by the save functions above + +* ``cleanup`` functions for both save and load that perform any migration + related cleanup, including unmapping the migration region + + +The VFIO migration code uses a VM state change handler to change the VFIO +device state when the VM state changes from running to not-running, and +vice versa. + +Similarly, a migration state change handler is used to trigger a transition of +the VFIO device state when certain changes of the migration state occur. For +example, the VFIO device state is transitioned back to _RUNNING in case a +migration failed or was canceled. + +System memory dirty pages tracking +---------------------------------- + +A ``log_global_start`` and ``log_global_stop`` memory listener callback informs +the VFIO IOMMU module to start and stop dirty page tracking. A ``log_sync`` +memory listener callback marks those system memory pages as dirty which are +used for DMA by the VFIO device. The dirty pages bitmap is queried per +container. All pages pinned by the vendor driver through external APIs have to +be marked as dirty during migration. When there are CPU writes, CPU dirty page +tracking can identify dirtied pages, but any page pinned by the vendor driver +can also be written by the device. There is currently no device or IOMMU +support for dirty page tracking in hardware. + +By default, dirty pages are tracked when the device is in pre-copy as well as +stop-and-copy phase. So, a page pinned by the vendor driver will be copied to +the destination in both phases. Copying dirty pages in pre-copy phase helps +QEMU to predict if it can achieve its downtime tolerances. If QEMU during +pre-copy phase keeps finding dirty pages continuously, then it understands +that even in stop-and-copy phase, it is likely to find dirty pages and can +predict the downtime accordingly. + +QEMU also provides a per device opt-out option ``pre-copy-dirty-page-tracking`` +which disables querying the dirty bitmap during pre-copy phase. If it is set to +off, all dirty pages will be copied to the destination in stop-and-copy phase +only. + +System memory dirty pages tracking when vIOMMU is enabled +--------------------------------------------------------- + +With vIOMMU, an IO virtual address range can get unmapped while in pre-copy +phase of migration. In that case, the unmap ioctl returns any dirty pages in +that range and QEMU reports corresponding guest physical pages dirty. During +stop-and-copy phase, an IOMMU notifier is used to get a callback for mapped +pages and then dirty pages bitmap is fetched from VFIO IOMMU modules for those +mapped ranges. + +Flow of state changes during Live migration +=========================================== + +Below is the flow of state change during live migration. +The values in the brackets represent the VM state, the migration state, and +the VFIO device state, respectively. + +Live migration save path +------------------------ + +:: + + QEMU normal running state + (RUNNING, _NONE, _RUNNING) + | + migrate_init spawns migration_thread + Migration thread then calls each device's .save_setup() + (RUNNING, _SETUP, _RUNNING|_SAVING) + | + (RUNNING, _ACTIVE, _RUNNING|_SAVING) + If device is active, get pending_bytes by .save_live_pending() + If total pending_bytes >= threshold_size, call .save_live_iterate() + Data of VFIO device for pre-copy phase is copied + Iterate till total pending bytes converge and are less than threshold + | + On migration completion, vCPU stops and calls .save_live_complete_precopy for + each active device. The VFIO device is then transitioned into _SAVING state + (FINISH_MIGRATE, _DEVICE, _SAVING) + | + For the VFIO device, iterate in .save_live_complete_precopy until + pending data is 0 + (FINISH_MIGRATE, _DEVICE, _STOPPED) + | + (FINISH_MIGRATE, _COMPLETED, _STOPPED) + Migraton thread schedules cleanup bottom half and exits + +Live migration resume path +-------------------------- + +:: + + Incoming migration calls .load_setup for each device + (RESTORE_VM, _ACTIVE, _STOPPED) + | + For each device, .load_state is called for that device section data + (RESTORE_VM, _ACTIVE, _RESUMING) + | + At the end, .load_cleanup is called for each device and vCPUs are started + (RUNNING, _NONE, _RUNNING) + +Postcopy +======== + +Postcopy migration is currently not supported for VFIO devices. |