[PATCH v4 10/10] docs: Add descriptions of TSC scaling in xl.cfg and tscmode.txt

From: Haozhong Zhang <haozhong.zhang@intel.com>
To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org, Jan Beulich <jbeulich@suse.com>,
	Boris Ostrovsky <boris.ostrovsky@oracle.com>,
	Kevin Tian <kevin.tian@intel.com>
Cc: Haozhong Zhang <haozhong.zhang@intel.com>,
	Keir Fraser <keir@xen.org>,
	Suravee Suthikulpanit <suravee.suthikulpanit@amd.com>,
	Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>,
	Aravind Gopalakrishnan <Aravind.Gopalakrishnan@amd.com>,
	Jun Nakajima <jun.nakajima@intel.com>
Subject: [PATCH v4 10/10] docs: Add descriptions of TSC scaling in xl.cfg and tscmode.txt
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 05:58:59 +0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <1453067939-9121-11-git-send-email-haozhong.zhang@intel.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1453067939-9121-1-git-send-email-haozhong.zhang@intel.com>

Signed-off-by: Haozhong Zhang <haozhong.zhang@intel.com>
---
 docs/man/xl.cfg.pod.5 | 14 +++++++++++++-
 docs/misc/tscmode.txt | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/docs/man/xl.cfg.pod.5 b/docs/man/xl.cfg.pod.5
index 8899f75..47aea0a 100644
--- a/docs/man/xl.cfg.pod.5
+++ b/docs/man/xl.cfg.pod.5
@@ -1313,9 +1313,17 @@ deprecated. Options are:
 
 =item B<"default">
 
-Guest rdtsc/p executed natively when monotonicity can be guaranteed
+Guest rdtsc/p is executed natively when monotonicity can be guaranteed
 and emulated otherwise (with frequency scaled if necessary).
 
+If a HVM container in B<default> TSC mode is created on a host that
+provides constant host TSC, its guest TSC frequency will be the same
+as the host. If it is later migrated to another host that provide
+constant host TSC and supports Intel VMX TSC scaling/AMD SVM TSC
+ratio, its guest TSC frequency will be the same before and after
+migration, and guest rdtsc/p will be executed natively as well after
+migration.
+
 =item B<"always_emulate">
 
 Guest rdtsc/p always emulated at 1GHz (kernel and user). Guest rdtsc/p
@@ -1337,6 +1345,10 @@ determine when a restore/migration has occurred and assumes guest
 obtains/uses pvclock-like mechanism to adjust for monotonicity and
 frequency changes.
 
+If a HVM container in B<native_paravirt> TSC mode can execute both guest
+rdtsc and guest rdtscp natively, then the guest TSC frequency will be
+determined in the similar way to that of B<default> TSC mode.
+
 =back
 
 Please see F<docs/misc/tscmode.txt> for more information on this option.
diff --git a/docs/misc/tscmode.txt b/docs/misc/tscmode.txt
index e8c84e8..01ee060 100644
--- a/docs/misc/tscmode.txt
+++ b/docs/misc/tscmode.txt
@@ -297,3 +297,24 @@ and also much faster than nearly all OS-provided time mechanisms.
 While pvrtscp is too complex for most apps, certain enterprise
 TSC-sensitive high-TSC-frequency apps may find it useful to
 obtain a significant performance gain.
+
+Hardware TSC Scaling
+
+Intel VMX TSC scaling and AMD SVM TSC ratio allow the guest TSC read
+by guest rdtsc/p increasing in a different frequency than the host
+TSC frequency.
+
+If a HVM container in default TSC mode (tsc_mode=0) or PVRDTSCP mode
+(tsc_mode=3) is created on a host that provides constant TSC, its
+guest TSC frequency will be the same as the host. If it is later
+migrated to another host that provides constant TSC and supports Intel
+VMX TSC scaling/AMD SVM TSC ratio, its guest TSC frequency will be the
+same before and after migration.
+
+For above HVM container in default TSC mode (tsc_mode=0), if above
+hosts support rdtscp, both guest rdtsc and rdtscp instructions will be
+executed natively before and after migration.
+
+For above HVM container in PVRDTSCP mode (tsc_mode=3), if the
+destination host does not support rdtscp, the guest rdtscp instruction
+will be emulated with the guest TSC frequency.
-- 
2.7.0
