Re: [PATCH v4] watchdog: Allow nmi watchdog to use "ref-cycles" event

[Yonghong Song <yhs@meta.com>]

On 5/17/23 5:25 PM, Song Liu wrote:
> NMI watchdog permanently consumes one hardware counters per CPU on the
> system. For systems that use many hardware counters, this causes more
> aggressive time multiplexing of perf events.
> 
> OTOH, some CPUs (mostly Intel) support "ref-cycles" event, which is rarely
> used. Add kernel cmdline arg nmi_watchdog=ref-cycles to configure the
> watchdog to use "ref-cycles" event instead of "cycles".

Maybe list some example how this new option will used?

> 
> Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
> Signed-off-by: Song Liu <song@kernel.org>
> 
> ---
> Changes in v4:
> Fix compile error for !CONFIG_HARDLOCKUP_DETECTOR_PERF. (kernel test bot)
> 
> Changes in v3:
> 
> Pivot the design to use kernel arg nmi_watchdog=ref-cycles (Peter)
> ---
>   Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 5 +++--
>   include/linux/nmi.h                             | 2 ++
>   kernel/watchdog.c                               | 2 ++
>   kernel/watchdog_hld.c                           | 9 +++++++++
>   4 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
> index 9e5bab29685f..d378e23dad7c 100644
> --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
> @@ -3593,10 +3593,12 @@
>   			Format: [state][,regs][,debounce][,die]
>   
>   	nmi_watchdog=	[KNL,BUGS=X86] Debugging features for SMP kernels
> -			Format: [panic,][nopanic,][num]
> +			Format: [panic,][nopanic,][ref-cycles][num]
>   			Valid num: 0 or 1
>   			0 - turn hardlockup detector in nmi_watchdog off
>   			1 - turn hardlockup detector in nmi_watchdog on
> +			ref-cycles - configure the watchdog with perf event
> +			             "ref-cycles" instead of "cycles"
>   			When panic is specified, panic when an NMI watchdog
>   			timeout occurs (or 'nopanic' to not panic on an NMI
>   			watchdog, if CONFIG_BOOTPARAM_HARDLOCKUP_PANIC is set)
> @@ -7097,4 +7099,3 @@
>   				memory, and other data can't be written using
>   				xmon commands.
>   			off	xmon is disabled.
> -
> diff --git a/include/linux/nmi.h b/include/linux/nmi.h
> index 048c0b9aa623..edfd1bcce0f6 100644
> --- a/include/linux/nmi.h
> +++ b/include/linux/nmi.h
> @@ -102,12 +102,14 @@ extern void hardlockup_detector_perf_disable(void);
>   extern void hardlockup_detector_perf_enable(void);
>   extern void hardlockup_detector_perf_cleanup(void);
>   extern int hardlockup_detector_perf_init(void);
> +extern void hardlockup_config_perf_event(const char *str);
>   #else
>   static inline void hardlockup_detector_perf_stop(void) { }
>   static inline void hardlockup_detector_perf_restart(void) { }
>   static inline void hardlockup_detector_perf_disable(void) { }
>   static inline void hardlockup_detector_perf_enable(void) { }
>   static inline void hardlockup_detector_perf_cleanup(void) { }
> +static inline void hardlockup_config_perf_event(const char *str) { }
>   # if !defined(CONFIG_HAVE_NMI_WATCHDOG)
>   static inline int hardlockup_detector_perf_init(void) { return -ENODEV; }
>   static inline void arch_touch_nmi_watchdog(void) {}
> diff --git a/kernel/watchdog.c b/kernel/watchdog.c
> index 8e61f21e7e33..fed4f0be8e1a 100644
> --- a/kernel/watchdog.c
> +++ b/kernel/watchdog.c
> @@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ static int __init hardlockup_panic_setup(char *str)
>   		nmi_watchdog_user_enabled = 0;
>   	else if (!strncmp(str, "1", 1))
>   		nmi_watchdog_user_enabled = 1;
> +	else if (!strncmp(str, "ref-cycles", 10))

str vs. 'ref-cycles' is tested here.

> +		hardlockup_config_perf_event(str);
>   	return 1;
>   }
>   __setup("nmi_watchdog=", hardlockup_panic_setup);
> diff --git a/kernel/watchdog_hld.c b/kernel/watchdog_hld.c
> index 247bf0b1582c..4deca58ba6ed 100644
> --- a/kernel/watchdog_hld.c
> +++ b/kernel/watchdog_hld.c
> @@ -294,3 +294,12 @@ int __init hardlockup_detector_perf_init(void)
>   	}
>   	return ret;
>   }
> +
> +/**
> + * hardlockup_config_perf_event - Overwrite config of wd_hw_attr
> + */
> +void __init hardlockup_config_perf_event(const char *str)
> +{
> +	if (!strncmp(str, "ref-cycles", 10))

It is unnecessarily tested again here.

> +		wd_hw_attr.config = PERF_COUNT_HW_REF_CPU_CYCLES;
> +}