Re: [dpdk-dev] [RFC] pci: force address of mappings in secondary process

[Stephen Hemminger <stephen@networkplumber.org>]

On Tue, 11 Jul 2017 12:35:39 +0100
Sergio Gonzalez Monroy <sergio.gonzalez.monroy@intel.com> wrote:

> On 11/07/2017 02:56, Tan, Jianfeng wrote:
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: dev [mailto:dev-bounces@dpdk.org] On Behalf Of Stephen
> >> Hemminger
> >> Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 9:13 AM
> >> To: dev@dpdk.org
> >> Cc: Stephen Hemminger
> >> Subject: [dpdk-dev] [RFC] pci: force address of mappings in secondary
> >> process
> >>
> >> The PCI memory resources in the secondary process should be in
> >> the exact same location as the primary process. Otherwise
> >> there is a risk of a stray pointer.
> >>
> >> Not sure if this is right, but it looks like a potential
> >> problem.
> >>
> >> ---
> >>   lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_pci_uio.c | 2 +-
> >>   1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> >>
> >> diff --git a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_pci_uio.c
> >> b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_pci_uio.c
> >> index 367a6816dcb8..2156b1a436c4 100644
> >> --- a/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_pci_uio.c
> >> +++ b/lib/librte_eal/common/eal_common_pci_uio.c
> >> @@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ pci_uio_map_secondary(struct rte_pci_device *dev)
> >>
> >>   			void *mapaddr = pci_map_resource(uio_res-  
> >>> maps[i].addr,  
> >>   					fd, (off_t)uio_res->maps[i].offset,
> >> -					(size_t)uio_res->maps[i].size, 0);
> >> +					(size_t)uio_res->maps[i].size,
> >> MAP_FIXED);
> >>   			/* fd is not needed in slave process, close it */
> >>   			close(fd);
> >>   			if (mapaddr != uio_res->maps[i].addr) {
> >> --
> >> 2.11.0  
> > +1 for this RFC. I also once encounter such problem, and I use the same way to solve it. The addr parameter of mmap() syscall is only a hint instead of a must even the VMA is not occupied yet.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jianfeng  
> 
> How do you know the VMA is not occupied?
> 
> I think the risk here is that the dynamic linker loaded some shared 
> library in that VMA, and forcing MAP_FIXED is not a safe solution.
> What I have observed is that Linux will return a different VMA than the 
> one hinted when there is already a mapping in the requested/hinted VMA.
> 
> I reckon this is a similar issue as we have with the multi-process model 
> when we do not get the VMA requested for the huge-pages.
> AFAIK we do not have a robust solution for this issue other than restart 
> the program and hope the dynamic linker does not map anything in the VMA 
> ranges that we need to map from the primary. This is also assuming that 
> the application does not allocate memory and maps things before calling 
> eal_init as it could potentially use VMA ranges that we need in the 
> secondary process.
> 
> The proposal for new secondary process model would solve these issues:
> http://dpdk.org/ml/archives/dev/2017-May/066147.html
> 
> Thanks,
> Sergio

That proposal defeats some of the isolation of secondary process model.
The idea is that secondary could be built separately. It is also overly
complex and would make a somewhat fragile part of the DPDK, more difficult.