Re: [PATCH v3 00/21] TDX host kernel support

From: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com>
To: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@intel.com>
Cc: Kai Huang <kai.huang@intel.com>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
	KVM list <kvm@vger.kernel.org>,
	Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>,
	Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
	"Brown, Len" <len.brown@intel.com>,
	"Luck, Tony" <tony.luck@intel.com>,
	Rafael J Wysocki <rafael.j.wysocki@intel.com>,
	Reinette Chatre <reinette.chatre@intel.com>,
	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>,
	Andi Kleen <ak@linux.intel.com>,
	"Kirill A. Shutemov" <kirill.shutemov@linux.intel.com>,
	Kuppuswamy Sathyanarayanan 
	<sathyanarayanan.kuppuswamy@linux.intel.com>,
	Isaku Yamahata <isaku.yamahata@intel.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 00/21] TDX host kernel support
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2022 18:01:53 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAPcyv4g5E_TOow=3pFJXyFr=KLV9pTSnDthgz6TuXvru4xDzaQ@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <522e37eb-68fc-35db-44d5-479d0088e43f@intel.com>

On Tue, Apr 26, 2022 at 1:10 PM Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@intel.com> wrote:
[..]
> > 3. Memory hotplug
> >
> > The first generation of TDX architecturally doesn't support memory
> > hotplug.  And the first generation of TDX-capable platforms don't support
> > physical memory hotplug.  Since it physically cannot happen, this series
> > doesn't add any check in ACPI memory hotplug code path to disable it.
> >
> > A special case of memory hotplug is adding NVDIMM as system RAM using

Saw "NVDIMM" mentioned while browsing this, so stopped to make a comment...

> > kmem driver.  However the first generation of TDX-capable platforms
> > cannot enable TDX and NVDIMM simultaneously, so in practice this cannot
> > happen either.
>
> What prevents this code from today's code being run on tomorrow's
> platforms and breaking these assumptions?

The assumption is already broken today with NVDIMM-N. The lack of
DDR-T support on TDX enabled platforms has zero effect on DDR-based
persistent memory solutions. In other words, please describe the
actual software and hardware conflicts at play here, and do not make
the mistake of assuming that "no DDR-T support on TDX platforms" ==
"no NVDIMM support".

> > Another case is admin can use 'memmap' kernel command line to create
> > legacy PMEMs and use them as TD guest memory, or theoretically, can use
> > kmem driver to add them as system RAM.  To avoid having to change memory
> > hotplug code to prevent this from happening, this series always include
> > legacy PMEMs when constructing TDMRs so they are also TDX memory.

I am not sure what you are trying to say here?

> > 4. CPU hotplug
> >
> > The first generation of TDX architecturally doesn't support ACPI CPU
> > hotplug.  All logical cpus are enabled by BIOS in MADT table.  Also, the
> > first generation of TDX-capable platforms don't support ACPI CPU hotplug
> > either.  Since this physically cannot happen, this series doesn't add any
> > check in ACPI CPU hotplug code path to disable it.

What are the actual challenges posed to TDX with respect to CPU hotplug?

> > Also, only TDX module initialization requires all BIOS-enabled cpus are

Please define "BIOS-enabled" cpus. There is no "BIOS-enabled" line in
/proc/cpuinfo for example.