* [PATCH v2 0/2] KVM: Allocate small memslot metadata with kvzalloc()
@ 2026-11-05 0:01 Fred Griffoul
2026-11-05 0:01 ` [PATCH v2 1/2] KVM: Add helpers to allocate memslot metadata Fred Griffoul
2026-11-05 0:01 ` [PATCH v2 2/2] KVM: Use kvzalloc() for memslot metadata that fits in a slab bucket Fred Griffoul
0 siblings, 2 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Fred Griffoul @ 2026-11-05 0:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Sean Christopherson, Paolo Bonzini
Cc: Mushahid Hussain, nh-open-source, kvm, linux-kernel
From: Fred Griffoul <fgriffo@amazon.co.uk>
__vcalloc() makes every memslot metadata allocation at least one page,
so small memslots waste most of their lpage_info and dirty bitmap, and
memslots below 512 GiB waste most of a page on their 1 GiB lpage_info.
Mushahid's patch [1] switched those arrays to kvcalloc(), and Sean
suggested dedicated helpers for memslot metadata with a pivot that makes
sense for KVM instead [2].
Patch 1 adds the helpers and routes the dirty bitmap, rmaps, lpage_info
and write-tracking arrays through them, with no functional change.
Patch 2 makes the helpers use kvzalloc() up to KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE,
where kmalloc() never uses more memory than vmalloc(), and keeps
__vcalloc() above.
I ran the memslot and dirty logging selftests with the TDP MMU and with
kvm.tdp_mmu=0, plus a check that one-page memslots no longer take a
vmalloc area each and that a 1 TiB memslot still gets its rmaps from
vmalloc.
Fred
Changes in v2:
- Split the helpers and the allocator change into two patches
- Pivot on KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE instead of INT_MAX
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/20261103234734.45413-1-griffoul@gmail.com/
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260815142218.85067-1-hmushi@amazon.co.uk/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/arr1VgGZmgUmY4hc@google.com/
Fred Griffoul (2):
KVM: Add helpers to allocate memslot metadata
KVM: Use kvzalloc() for memslot metadata that fits in a slab bucket
arch/x86/kvm/mmu/page_track.c | 6 +++---
arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 10 +++++-----
include/linux/kvm_host.h | 2 ++
virt/kvm/kvm_main.c | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++--
4 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
base-commit: d21eef2084a9af87ac2a783bc7c2b175ba114e4e
--
2.47.3
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* [PATCH v2 1/2] KVM: Add helpers to allocate memslot metadata
2026-11-05 0:01 [PATCH v2 0/2] KVM: Allocate small memslot metadata with kvzalloc() Fred Griffoul
@ 2026-11-05 0:01 ` Fred Griffoul
2026-11-05 0:01 ` [PATCH v2 2/2] KVM: Use kvzalloc() for memslot metadata that fits in a slab bucket Fred Griffoul
1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Fred Griffoul @ 2026-11-05 0:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Sean Christopherson, Paolo Bonzini
Cc: Mushahid Hussain, nh-open-source, kvm, linux-kernel
From: Fred Griffoul <fgriffo@amazon.co.uk>
Add and use helpers to allocate and free memslot metadata, i.e. the
dirty bitmap, rmaps, lpage_info and write-tracking arrays, in
anticipation of allocating small arrays with kvzalloc() instead of
vmalloc().
No functional change intended.
Suggested-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/arr1VgGZmgUmY4hc@google.com/
Signed-off-by: Fred Griffoul <fgriffo@amazon.co.uk>
---
arch/x86/kvm/mmu/page_track.c | 6 +++---
arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 10 +++++-----
include/linux/kvm_host.h | 2 ++
virt/kvm/kvm_main.c | 14 ++++++++++++--
4 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/page_track.c b/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/page_track.c
index f12558dfcd81..f33547964b98 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/page_track.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/mmu/page_track.c
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ bool kvm_page_track_write_tracking_enabled(struct kvm *kvm)
void kvm_page_track_free_memslot(struct kvm_memory_slot *slot)
{
- vfree(slot->arch.gfn_write_track);
+ kvm_memslot_metadata_free(slot->arch.gfn_write_track);
slot->arch.gfn_write_track = NULL;
}
@@ -53,8 +53,8 @@ static int __kvm_page_track_write_tracking_alloc(struct kvm_memory_slot *slot,
const size_t size = sizeof(*slot->arch.gfn_write_track);
if (!slot->arch.gfn_write_track)
- slot->arch.gfn_write_track = __vcalloc(npages, size,
- GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
+ slot->arch.gfn_write_track =
+ kvm_memslot_metadata_alloc(npages, size);
return slot->arch.gfn_write_track ? 0 : -ENOMEM;
}
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
index 26e7beaff8a0..dc716ad83c8f 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
@@ -10146,7 +10146,7 @@ static void memslot_rmap_free(struct kvm_memory_slot *slot)
int i;
for (i = 0; i < KVM_NR_PAGE_SIZES; ++i) {
- vfree(slot->arch.rmap[i]);
+ kvm_memslot_metadata_free(slot->arch.rmap[i]);
slot->arch.rmap[i] = NULL;
}
}
@@ -10158,7 +10158,7 @@ void kvm_arch_free_memslot(struct kvm *kvm, struct kvm_memory_slot *slot)
memslot_rmap_free(slot);
for (i = 1; i < KVM_NR_PAGE_SIZES; ++i) {
- vfree(slot->arch.lpage_info[i - 1]);
+ kvm_memslot_metadata_free(slot->arch.lpage_info[i - 1]);
slot->arch.lpage_info[i - 1] = NULL;
}
@@ -10177,7 +10177,7 @@ int memslot_rmap_alloc(struct kvm_memory_slot *slot, unsigned long npages)
if (slot->arch.rmap[i])
continue;
- slot->arch.rmap[i] = __vcalloc(lpages, sz, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
+ slot->arch.rmap[i] = kvm_memslot_metadata_alloc(lpages, sz);
if (!slot->arch.rmap[i]) {
memslot_rmap_free(slot);
return -ENOMEM;
@@ -10214,7 +10214,7 @@ static int kvm_alloc_memslot_metadata(struct kvm *kvm,
lpages = __kvm_mmu_slot_lpages(slot, npages, level);
- linfo = __vcalloc(lpages, sizeof(*linfo), GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
+ linfo = kvm_memslot_metadata_alloc(lpages, sizeof(*linfo));
if (!linfo)
goto out_free;
@@ -10250,7 +10250,7 @@ static int kvm_alloc_memslot_metadata(struct kvm *kvm,
memslot_rmap_free(slot);
for (i = 1; i < KVM_NR_PAGE_SIZES; ++i) {
- vfree(slot->arch.lpage_info[i - 1]);
+ kvm_memslot_metadata_free(slot->arch.lpage_info[i - 1]);
slot->arch.lpage_info[i - 1] = NULL;
}
return -ENOMEM;
diff --git a/include/linux/kvm_host.h b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
index e7fc94e2910a..11a6f501a78b 100644
--- a/include/linux/kvm_host.h
+++ b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
@@ -1253,6 +1253,8 @@ enum kvm_mr_change {
int kvm_set_internal_memslot(struct kvm *kvm,
const struct kvm_userspace_memory_region2 *mem);
+void *kvm_memslot_metadata_alloc(size_t n, size_t size);
+void kvm_memslot_metadata_free(void *p);
void kvm_arch_free_memslot(struct kvm *kvm, struct kvm_memory_slot *slot);
void kvm_arch_memslots_updated(struct kvm *kvm, u64 gen);
int kvm_arch_prepare_memory_region(struct kvm *kvm,
diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
index cf4cb586f140..ebdf9308d06c 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
@@ -941,12 +941,22 @@ static void kvm_destroy_pm_notifier(struct kvm *kvm)
}
#endif /* CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_PM_NOTIFIER */
+void *kvm_memslot_metadata_alloc(size_t n, size_t size)
+{
+ return __vcalloc(n, size, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
+}
+
+void kvm_memslot_metadata_free(void *p)
+{
+ vfree(p);
+}
+
static void kvm_destroy_dirty_bitmap(struct kvm_memory_slot *memslot)
{
if (!memslot->dirty_bitmap)
return;
- vfree(memslot->dirty_bitmap);
+ kvm_memslot_metadata_free(memslot->dirty_bitmap);
memslot->dirty_bitmap = NULL;
}
@@ -1449,7 +1459,7 @@ static int kvm_alloc_dirty_bitmap(struct kvm_memory_slot *memslot)
{
unsigned long dirty_bytes = kvm_dirty_bitmap_bytes(memslot);
- memslot->dirty_bitmap = __vcalloc(2, dirty_bytes, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
+ memslot->dirty_bitmap = kvm_memslot_metadata_alloc(2, dirty_bytes);
if (!memslot->dirty_bitmap)
return -ENOMEM;
base-commit: d21eef2084a9af87ac2a783bc7c2b175ba114e4e
--
2.47.3
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* [PATCH v2 2/2] KVM: Use kvzalloc() for memslot metadata that fits in a slab bucket
2026-11-05 0:01 [PATCH v2 0/2] KVM: Allocate small memslot metadata with kvzalloc() Fred Griffoul
2026-11-05 0:01 ` [PATCH v2 1/2] KVM: Add helpers to allocate memslot metadata Fred Griffoul
@ 2026-11-05 0:01 ` Fred Griffoul
1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Fred Griffoul @ 2026-11-05 0:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Sean Christopherson, Paolo Bonzini
Cc: Mushahid Hussain, nh-open-source, kvm, linux-kernel
From: Fred Griffoul <fgriffo@amazon.co.uk>
Use kvzalloc() instead of __vcalloc() for memslot metadata up to
KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE, as vmalloc() rounds every allocation up to a
page, e.g. a memslot that spans a single page uses 8 KiB for 8 bytes of
lpage_info. The waste grows with the number of memslots and VMs.
Up to KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE, kmalloc() serves the request from a slab
bucket that is never larger than the pages vmalloc() would use, and
above a page kvzalloc() falls back to vmalloc() if the slab allocation
fails. Above KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE, kmalloc() rounds to a power-of-two
number of pages, so keep __vcalloc() there.
Free the metadata with kvfree(), which handles both kmalloc() and
vmalloc() memory.
Suggested-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/arr1VgGZmgUmY4hc@google.com/
Signed-off-by: Fred Griffoul <fgriffo@amazon.co.uk>
---
virt/kvm/kvm_main.c | 10 +++++++++-
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
index ebdf9308d06c..1854e1b075c5 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
@@ -943,12 +943,20 @@ static void kvm_destroy_pm_notifier(struct kvm *kvm)
void *kvm_memslot_metadata_alloc(size_t n, size_t size)
{
+ size_t bytes;
+
+ if (unlikely(check_mul_overflow(n, size, &bytes)))
+ return NULL;
+
+ if (bytes <= KMALLOC_MAX_CACHE_SIZE)
+ return kvzalloc(bytes, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
+
return __vcalloc(n, size, GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT);
}
void kvm_memslot_metadata_free(void *p)
{
- vfree(p);
+ kvfree(p);
}
static void kvm_destroy_dirty_bitmap(struct kvm_memory_slot *memslot)
--
2.47.3
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2026-11-05 0:01 UTC | newest]
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