smp.tex
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- From: michael@Physik.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Michael Dirkmann)
- thanks for your information. Attached is the tex-code of your
- SMP-documentation :
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- documentclass[]{article}
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- begin{document}
- begin{center}
- LARGE bf
- An Implementation Of Multiprocessor Linux
- normalsize
- end{center}
- { it
- This document describes the implementation of a simple SMP
- Linux kernel extension and how to use this to develop SMP Linux kernels for
- architectures other than the Intel MP v1.1 architecture for Pentium and 486
- processors.}
- hfill Alan Cox, 1995
- The author wishes to thank Caldera Inc. ( http://www.caldera.com )
- whose donation of an ASUS dual Pentium board made this project possible,
- and Thomas Radke, whose initial work on multiprocessor Linux formed
- the backbone of this project.
- section{Background: The Intel MP specification.}
- Most IBM PC style multiprocessor motherboards combine Intel 486 or Pentium
- processors and glue chipsets with a hardware/software specification. The
- specification places much of the onus for hard work on the chipset and
- hardware rather than the operating system.
- The Intel Pentium processors have a wide variety of inbuilt facilities for
- supporting multiprocessing, including hardware cache coherency, built in
- interprocessor interrupt handling and a set of atomic test and set,
- exchange and similar operations. The cache coherency in particular makes the
- operating system's job far easier.
- The specification defines a detailed configuration structure in ROM that
- the boot up processor can read to find the full configuration of the
- processors and buses. It also defines a procedure for starting up the
- other processors.
- section{Mutual Exclusion Within A Single Processor Linux Kernel}
- For any kernel to function in a sane manner it has to provide internal
- locking and protection of its own tables to prevent two processes updating
- them at once and for example allocating the same memory block. There are
- two strategies for this within current Unix and Unixlike kernels.
- Traditional Unix systems from the earliest of days use a scheme of 'Coarse
- Grained Locking' where the entire kernel is protected by a small number of
- locks only. Some modern systems use fine grained locking. Because fine
- grained locking has more overhead it is normally used only on
- multiprocessor kernels and real time kernels. In a real time kernel the
- fine grained locking reduces the amount of time locks are held and reduces
- the critical (to real time programming at least) latency times.
- Within the Linux kernel certain guarantees are made. No process running in
- kernel mode will be pre-empted by another kernel mode process unless it
- voluntarily sleeps. This ensures that blocks of kernel code are
- effectively atomic with respect to other processes and greatly simplifies
- many operations. Secondly interrupts may pre-empt a kernel running process,
- but will always return to that process. A process in kernel mode may
- disable interrupts on the processor and guarantee such an interruption will
- not occur. The final guarantee is that an interrupt will not be pre-empted
- by a kernel task. That is interrupts will run to completion or be
- pre-empted by other interrupts only.
- The SMP kernel chooses to continue these basic guarantees in order to make
- initial implementation and deployment easier. A single lock is maintained
- across all processors. This lock is required to access the kernel space.
- Any processor may hold it and once it is held may also re-enter the kernel
- for interrupts and other services whenever it likes until the lock is
- relinquished. This lock ensures that a kernel mode process will not be
- pre-empted and ensures that blocking interrupts in kernel mode behaves
- correctly. This is guaranteed because only the processor holding the lock
- can be in kernel mode, only kernel mode processes can disable interrupts
- and only the processor holding the lock may handle an interrupt.
- Such a choice is however poor for performance. In the longer term it is
- necessary to move to finer grained parallelism in order to get the best
- system performance. This can be done hierarchically by gradually refining
- the locks to cover smaller areas. With the current kernel highly CPU bound
- process sets perform well but I/O bound task sets can easily degenerate to
- near single processor performance levels. This refinement will be needed to
- get the best from Linux/SMP.
- subsection{Changes To The Portable Kernel Components}
- The kernel changes are split into generic SMP support changes and
- architecture specific changes necessary to accommodate each different
- processor type Linux is ported to.
- subsubsection{Initialisation}
- The first problem with a multiprocessor kernel is starting the other
- processors up. Linux/SMP defines that a single processor enters the normal
- kernel entry point start_kernel(). Other processors are assumed not to be
- started or to have been captured elsewhere. The first processor begins the
- normal Linux initialisation sequences and sets up paging, interrupts and
- trap handlers. After it has obtained the processor information about the
- boot CPU, the architecture specific function
- {tt bf{void smp_store_cpu_info(int processor_id) }}
- is called to store any information about the processor into a per processor
- array. This includes things like the bogomips speed ratings.
- Having completed the kernel initialisation the architecture specific
- function
- {tt bf void smp_boot_cpus(void) }
- is called and is expected to start up each other processor and cause it to
- enter start_kernel() with its paging registers and other control
- information correctly loaded. Each other processor skips the setup except
- for calling the trap and irq initialisation functions that are needed on
- some processors to set each CPU up correctly. These functions will
- probably need to be modified in existing kernels to cope with this.
- Each additional CPU then calls the architecture specific function
- {tt bf void smp_callin(void)}
- which does any final setup and then spins the processor while the boot
- up processor forks off enough idle threads for each processor. This is
- necessary because the scheduler assumes there is always something to run.
- Having generated these threads and forked init the architecture specific
- {tt bf void smp_commence(void)}
- function is invoked. This does any final setup and indicates to the system
- that multiprocessor mode is now active. All the processors spinning in the
- smp_callin() function are now released to run the idle processes, which
- they will run when they have no real work to process.
- subsubsection{Scheduling}
- The kernel scheduler implements a simple but very effective task
- scheduler. The basic structure of this scheduler is unchanged in the
- multiprocessor kernel. A processor field is added to each task, and this
- maintains the number of the processor executing a given task, or a magic
- constant (NO_PROC_ID) indicating the job is not allocated to a processor.
-
- Each processor executes the scheduler itself and will select the next task
- to run from all runnable processes not allocated to a different processor.
- The algorithm used by the selection is otherwise unchanged. This is
- actually inadequate for the final system because there are advantages to
- keeping a process on the same CPU, especially on processor boards with per
- processor second level caches.
- Throughout the kernel the variable 'current' is used as a global for the
- current process. In Linux/SMP this becomes a macro which expands to
- current_set[smp_processor_id()]. This enables almost the entire kernel to
- be unaware of the array of running processors, but still allows the SMP
- aware kernel modules to see all of the running processes.
- The fork system call is modified to generate multiple processes with a
- process id of zero until the SMP kernel starts up properly. This is
- necessary because process number 1 must be init, and it is desirable that
- all the system threads are process 0.
- The final area within the scheduling of processes that does cause problems
- is the fact the uniprocessor kernel hard codes tests for the idle threads
- as task[0] and the init process as task[1]. Because there are multiple idle
- threads it is necessary to replace these with tests that the process id is
- 0 and a search for process ID 1, respectively.
- subsubsection{Memory Management}
- The memory management core of the existing Linux system functions
- adequately within the multiprocessor framework providing the locking is
- used. Certain processor specific areas do need changing, in particular
- invalidate() must invalidate the TLBs of all processors before it returns.
- subsubsection{Miscellaneous Functions}
- The portable SMP code rests on a small set of functions and variables
- that are provided by the processor specification functionality. These are
- {tt bf int smp_processor_id(void) }
- which returns the identity of the processor the call is executed upon. This
- call is assumed to be valid at all times. This may mean additional tests
- are needed during initialisation.
- {tt bf int smp_num_cpus;}
- This is the number of processors in the system.
- {tt bf void smp_message_pass(int target, int msg, unsigned long data,
- int wait)}
- This function passes messages between processors. At the moment it is not
- sufficiently defined to sensibly document and needs cleaning up and further
- work. Refer to the processor specific code documentation for more details.
- subsection{Architecture Specific Code For the Intel MP Port}
- The architecture specific code for the Intel port splits fairly cleanly
- into four sections. Firstly the initialisation code used to boot the
- system, secondly the message handling and support code, thirdly the
- interrupt and kernel syscall entry function handling and finally the
- extensions to standard kernel facilities to cope with multiple processors.
- subsubsection{Initialisation}
- The Intel MP architecture captures all the processors except for a single
- processor known as the 'boot processor' in the BIOS at boot time. Thus a
- single processor enters the kernel bootup code. The first processor
- executes the bootstrap code, loads and uncompresses the kernel. Having
- unpacked the kernel it sets up the paging and control registers then enters
- the C kernel startup.
- The assembler startup code for the kernel is modified so that it can be
- used by the other processors to do the processor identification and various
- other low level configurations but does not execute those parts of the
- startup code that would damage the running system (such as clearing the BSS
- segment).
- In the initialisation done by the first processor the arch/i386/mm/init
- code is modified to scan the low page, top page and BIOS for intel MP
- signature blocks. This is necessary because the MP signature blocks must
- be read and processed before the kernel is allowed to allocate and destroy
- the page at the top of low memory. Having established the number of
- processors it reserves a set of pages to provide a stack come boot up area
- for each processor in the system. These must be allocated at startup to
- ensure they fall below the 1Mb boundary.
- Further processors are started up in smp_boot_cpus() by programming the
- APIC controller registers and sending an inter-processor interrupt (IPI) to
- the processor. This message causes the target processor to begin executing
- code at the start of any page of memory within the lowest 1Mb, in 16bit
- real mode. The kernel uses the single page it allocated for each processor
- to use as stack. Before booting a given CPU the relocatable code from
- trampoline.S and trampoline32.S is copied to the bottom of its stack page
- and used as the target for the startup.
- The trampoline code calculates the desired stack base from the code
- segment (since the code segment on startup is the bottom of the stack),
- enters 32bit mode and jumps to the kernel entry assembler. This as
- described above is modified to only execute the parts necessary for each
- processor, and then to enter start_kernel(). On entering the kernel the
- processor initialises its trap and interrupt handlers before entering
- smp_callin(), where it reports its status and sets a flag that causes the
- boot processor to continue and look for further processors. The processor
- then spins until smp_commence() is invoked.
- Having started each processor up the smp_commence( ) function flips a
- flag. Each processor spinning in smp_callin() then loads the task register
- with the task state segment (TSS) of its idle thread as is needed for task
- switching.
- subsubsection{Message Handling and Support Code}
- The architecture specific code implements the smp_processor_id() function
- by querying the APIC logical identity register. Because the APIC isn't
- mapped into the kernel address space at boot, the initial value returned is
- rigged by setting the APIC base pointer to point at a suitable constant.
- Once the system starts doing the SMP setup (in smp_boot_cpus()), the APIC
- is mapped with a vremap() call and the apic pointer is adjusted
- appropriately. From then on the real APIC logical identity register is
- read.
- Message passing is accomplished using a pair of IPIs on interrupt 13
- (unused by the 80486 FPUs in SMP mode) and interrupt 16. Two are used in
- order to separate messages that cannot be processed until the receiver
- obtains the kernel spinlock from messages that can be processed
- immediately. In effect IRQ 13 is a fast IRQ handler that does not obtain
- the locks, and cannot cause a reschedule, while IRQ 16 is a slow IRQ that
- must acquire the kernel spinlocks and can cause a reschedule. This
- interrupt is used for passing on slave timer messages from the processor
- that receives the timer interrupt to the rest of the processors, so that
- they can reschedule running tasks.
- subsubsection{Entry And Exit Code}
- A single spinlock protects the entire kernel. The interrupt handlers, the
- syscall entry code and the exception handlers all acquire the lock before
- entering the kernel proper. When the processor is trying to acquire the
- spinlock it spins continually on the lock with interrupts disabled. This
- causes a specific deadlock problem. The lock owner may need to send an
- invalidate request to the rest of the processors and wait for these to
- complete before continuing. A processor spinning on the lock would not be
- able to do this. Thus the loop of the spinlock tests and handles invalidate
- requests. If the invalidate bit for the spinning CPU is set the processor
- invalidates its TLB and atomically clears the bit. When the spinlock is
- obtained that processor will take an IPI and in the IPI test the bit and
- skip the invalidate as the bit is clear.
- One complexity of the spinlock is that a process running in kernel mode
- can sleep voluntarily and be pre-empted. A switch from such a process to a
- process executing in user space may reduce the lock count. To track this
- the kernel uses a syscall_count and a per process lock_depth parameter to
- track the kernel lock state. The switch_to() function is modified in SMP
- mode to adjust the lock appropriately.
- The final problem is the idle thread. In the single processor kernel the
- idle thread executes 'hlt' instructions. This saves power and reduces the
- running temperature of the processors when they are idle. However it means
- the process spends all its time in kernel mode and would thus hold the
- kernel spinlock. The SMP idle thread continually reschedules a new task and
- returns to user mode. This is far from ideal and will be modified to use
- 'hlt' instructions and release the spinlock soon. Using 'hlt' is even more
- beneficial on a multiprocessor system as it almost completely takes an idle
- processor off the bus.
- Interrupts are distributed by an i82489 APIC. This chip is set up to work
- as an emulation of the traditional PC interrupt controllers when the
- machine boots (so that an Intel MP machine boots one CPU and PC
- compatible). The kernel has all the relevant locks but does not yet
- reprogram the 82489 to deliver interrupts to arbitrary processors as it
- should. This requires further modification of the standard Linux interrupt
- handling code, and is particularly messy as the interrupt handler behaviour
- has to change as soon as the 82489 is switched into SMP mode.
- subsubsection{Extensions To Standard Facilities}
- The kernel maintains a set of per processor control information such as
- the speed of the processor for delay loops. These functions on the SMP
- kernel look the values up in a per processor array that is set up from the
- data generated at boot up by the smp_store_cpu_info() function. This
- includes other facts such as whether there is an FPU on the processor. The
- current kernel does not handle floating point correctly, this requires some
- changes to the techniques the single CPU kernel uses to minimise floating
- point processor reloads.
- The highly useful atomic bit operations are prefixed with the 'lock'
- prefix in the SMP kernel to maintain their atomic properties when used
- outside of (and by) the spinlock and message code. Amongst other things
- this is needed for the invalidate handler, as all CPU's will invalidate at
- the same time without any locks.
- Interrupt 13 floating point error reporting is removed. This facility is
- not usable on a multiprocessor board, nor relevant to the Intel MP
- architecture which does not cover the 80386/80387 processor pair.
- The /proc filesystem support is changed so that the /proc/cpuinfo file
- contains a column for each processor present. This information is extracted
- from the data saved by smp_store_cpu_info().
- end{document}