Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S935677Ab1ETL6P (ORCPT ); Fri, 20 May 2011 07:58:15 -0400 Received: from mx3.mail.elte.hu ([157.181.1.138]:36474 "EHLO mx3.mail.elte.hu" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S934469Ab1ETL6O (ORCPT ); Fri, 20 May 2011 07:58:14 -0400 Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 13:58:02 +0200 From: Ingo Molnar To: Huang Ying Cc: Don Zickus , huang ying , "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" , Andi Kleen , Robert Richter , Andi Kleen , Borislav Petkov Subject: Re: [RFC] x86, NMI, Treat unknown NMI as hardware error Message-ID: <20110520115802.GI14745@elte.hu> References: <1305275018-20596-1-git-send-email-ying.huang@intel.com> <20110513124523.GM13984@redhat.com> <20110513130011.GA6474@elte.hu> <20110513152033.GB3854@elte.hu> <20110513160029.GD31888@redhat.com> <20110516112934.GE19837@elte.hu> <4DD22692.7050209@intel.com> <20110517085327.GG22093@elte.hu> <4DD4BC45.8050301@intel.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <4DD4BC45.8050301@intel.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-08-17) X-ELTE-SpamScore: -2.0 X-ELTE-SpamLevel: X-ELTE-SpamCheck: no X-ELTE-SpamVersion: ELTE 2.0 X-ELTE-SpamCheck-Details: score=-2.0 required=5.9 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=no SpamAssassin version=3.3.1 -2.0 BAYES_00 BODY: Bayes spam probability is 0 to 1% [score: 0.0000] Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 4337 Lines: 103 * Huang Ying wrote: > On 05/17/2011 04:53 PM, Ingo Molnar wrote: > > > > * Huang Ying wrote: > > > >> On 05/16/2011 07:29 PM, Ingo Molnar wrote: > >>> > >>> * Don Zickus wrote: > >>> > >>>> On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 05:20:33PM +0200, Ingo Molnar wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>> * huang ying wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>>>> What should be done instead is to add an event for unknown NMIs, which can > >>>>>>> then be processed by the RAS daemon to implement policy. > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> By using 'active' event filters it could even be set on a system to panic > >>>>>>> the box by default. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> If there is real fatal hardware error, maybe we have no luxury to go from NMI > >>>>>> handler to user space RAS daemon to determine what to do. System may explode, > >>>>>> bad data may go to disk before that. > >>>>> > >>>>> That is why i suggested: > >>>>> > >>>>> > > By using 'active' event filters it could even be set on a system to panic > >>>>> > > the box by default. > >>>>> > >>>>> event filters are evaluated in the kernel, so the panic could be instantaneous, > >>>>> without the event having to reach user-space. > >>>> > >>>> Interesting. Question though, what do you mean by 'event filtering'. Is > >>>> that different then setting 'unknown_nmi_panic' panic on the commandline or > >>>> procfs? > >>>> > >>>> Or are you suggesting something like registering another callback on the > >>>> die_chain that looks for DIE_NMIUNKNOWN as the event, swallows them and > >>>> implements the policy? That way only on HEST related platforms would > >>>> register them while others would keep the default of 'Dazed and confused' > >>>> messages? > >>> > >>> The idea is that "event filters", which are an existing upstream feature and > >>> which can be used in rather flexible ways: > >>> > >>> http://lkml.org/lkml/2011/4/27/660 > >>> > >>> Could be used to trigger non-standard policy action as well - such as to panic > >>> the box. > >>> > >>> This would replace various very limited /debugfs and /sys event filtering hacks > >>> (and hardcoded policies) such as arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mcheck/mce-severity.c, and > >>> it would allow nonstandard behavior like 'panic the box on unknown NMIs' as > >>> well. > >>> > >>> This could be set by the RAS daemon, and it could be propagated to the kernel > >>> boot line as well, where event filter syntax would look like this: > >>> > >>> events=nmi::unknown"if (reason == 0) panic();" > >>> > >>> (Where the 'reason' field of the NMI event is the current legacy 'reason' value > >>> there.) > >>> > >>> The filter code would have to be modified to be able to recognize the panic() > >>> bit, but that's desirable anyway and it is a one-time effort. > >>> > >>> This: > >>> > >>> events=nmi::unknown:"if (reason == 0) ignore();" > >>> > >>> would be a possible outcome as well, on certain boxes - to skip certain events. > >> > >> We can determine whether NMI is unknown in kernel now. If you want to push > >> all unknown NMI logic into user space (although I don't think that is the > >> best solution), is it not sufficient that just check system in user space > >> (via PCI ID or DMI ID, etc) and set existing "unknown_nmi_panic" accordingly? > > > > yeah - no need to push the 'reason' if it's not needed. > > > > We want the kernel defaults to be sane - i.e. this is not to 'push' anything to > > user-space in a forced way, this is to make *optional*, different policy action > > possible to configure. > > OK. Then, what is the proper default behavior? We think Linux kernel > should treat unknown NMI as hardware error reporting, at least on some > modern machines (via a white list). Do you agree? No, i do not agree *at all*. We are seeing cases of spurious NMIs again and again. Crashing boxes should be a niche thing, something you can configure if you want to but the kernel should not default it until NMI demultiplexing becomes more robust - and i doubt it ever will. Thanks, Ingo -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/