Signed-off-by: Arun R Bharadwaj <a...@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Signed-off-by: Gautham R Shenoy <gautham.she...@gmail.com> --- docs/async-support.txt | 141 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 files changed, 141 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) create mode 100644 docs/async-support.txt
diff --git a/docs/async-support.txt b/docs/async-support.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f22b9a --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/async-support.txt @@ -0,0 +1,141 @@ +== How to use the threadlets infrastructure supported in Qemu == + +== Threadlets == + +Q.1: What are threadlets ? +A.1: Threadlets is an infrastructure within QEMU that allows other subsystems + to offload possibly blocking work to a queue to be processed by a pool + of threads asynchronously. + +Q.2: When would one want to use threadlets ? +A.2: Threadlets are useful when there are operations that can be performed + outside the context of the VCPU/IO threads inorder to free these latter + to service any other guest requests. + +Q.3: I have some work that can be executed in an asynchronous context. How + should I go about it ? +A.3: One could follow the steps listed below: + + - Define a function which would do the asynchronous work. + static void my_threadlet_func(ThreadletWork *work) + { + } + + - Declare an object of type ThreadletWork; + ThreadletWork work; + + + - Assign a value to the "func" member of ThreadletWork object. + work.func = my_threadlet_func; + + - Submit the threadlet to the global queue. + submit_threadletwork(&work); + + - Continue servicing some other guest operations. + +Q.4: I want to my_threadlet_func to access some non-global data. How do I do + that ? +A.4: Suppose you want my_threadlet_func to access some non-global data-object + of type myPrivateData. In that case one could follow the following steps. + + - Define a member of the type ThreadletWork within myPrivateData. + typedef struct MyPrivateData { + ...; + ...; + ...; + ThreadletWork work; + } MyPrivateData; + + MyPrivateData my_data; + + - Initialize myData.work as described in A.3 + myData.work.func = my_threadlet_func; + submit_threadletwork(&myData.work); + + - Access the myData object inside my_threadlet_func() using container_of + primitive + static void my_threadlet_func(ThreadletWork *work) + { + myPrivateData *mydata_ptr; + mydata_ptr = container_of(work, myPrivateData, work); + + /* mydata_ptr now points to myData object */ + } + +Q.5: Are there any precautions one must take while sharing data with the + Asynchronous thread-pool ? +A.5: Yes, make sure that the helper function of the type my_threadlet_func() + does not access/modify data when it can be accessed or modified in the + context of VCPU thread or IO thread. This is because the asynchronous + threads in the pool can run in parallel with the VCPU/IOThreads as shown + in the figure. + + A typical workflow is as follows: + + VCPU/IOThread + | + | (1) + | + V + Offload work (2) + |-------> to threadlets -----------------------------> Helper thread + | | | + | | | + | | (3) | (4) + | | | + | Handle other Guest requests | + | | | + | | V + | | (3) Signal the I/O Thread + |(6) | | + | | / + | | / + | V / + | Do the post <---------------------------------/ + | processing (5) + | | + | | (6) + | V + |-Yes------ More async work? + | + | (7) + No + | + | + . + . + + Hence one needs to make sure that in the steps (3) and (4) which run in + parallel, any global data is accessed within only one context. + +Q.6: I have queued a threadlet which I want to cancel. How do I do that ? +A.6: Threadlets framework provides the API cancel_threadlet: + - int cancel_threadletwork(ThreadletWork *work) + + The API scans the ThreadletQueue to see if (work) is present. If it finds + work, it'll dequeue work and return 0. + + On the other hand, if it does not find the (work) in the ThreadletQueue, + then it'll return 1. This can imply two things. Either the work is being + processed by one of the helper threads or it has been processed. The + threadlet infrastructure currently _does_not_ distinguish between these + two and the onus is on the caller to do that. + +Q.7: Apart from the global pool of threads, can I have my own private Queue ? +A.7: Yes, the threadlets framework allows subsystems to create their own private + queues with associated pools of threads. + + - Define a PrivateQueue + ThreadletQueue myQueue; + + - Initialize it: + threadlet_queue_init(&myQueue, my_max_threads, my_min_threads); + where my_max_threads is the maximum number of threads that can be in the + thread pool and my_min_threads is the minimum number of active threads + that can be in the thread-pool. + + - Submit work: + submit_threadletwork_to_queue(&myQueue, &my_work); + + - Cancel work: + cancel_threadletwork_on_queue(&myQueue, &my_work);