[pve-devel] [PATCH docs] qm: update section about PCID / CPU flags

[Thomas Lamprecht]

On 1/16/18 10:06 AM, Fabian Grünbichler wrote:
> Signed-off-by: Fabian Grünbichler <f.gruenbichler at proxmox.com>
> ---
>  qm.adoc | 60 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------
>  1 file changed, 43 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/qm.adoc b/qm.adoc
> index 756178d..df4a431 100644
> --- a/qm.adoc
> +++ b/qm.adoc
> @@ -304,22 +304,35 @@ the kvm64 default. If you don’t care about live migration or have a homogeneou
>  cluster where all nodes have the same CPU, set the CPU type to host, as in
>  theory this will give your guests maximum performance.
>  
> -PCID Flag
> -^^^^^^^^^
> -
> -The *PCID* CPU flag helps to improve performance of the Meltdown vulnerability
> -footnote:[Meltdown Attack https://meltdownattack.com/] mitigation approach. In
> -Linux the mitigation is called 'Kernel Page-Table Isolation (KPTI)', which
> -effectively hides the Kernel memory from the user space, which, without PCID,
> -is an expensive operation footnote:[PCID is now a critical performance/security
> -feature on x86
> +Meltdown / Spectre related CPU flags
> +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> +
> +There are two CPU flags related to the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities
> +footnote:[Meltdown Attack https://meltdownattack.com/] which need to be set
> +manually unless the selected CPU type of your VM already enables them by default.
> +
> +The first, called 'pcid', helps to reduce the performance impact of the Meltdown
> +mitigation called 'Kernel Page-Table Isolation (KPTI)', which effectively hides
> +the Kernel memory from the user space. Without PCID, KPTI is quite an expensive
> +mechanism footnote:[PCID is now a critical performance/security feature on x86
>  https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/mechanical-sympathy/L9mHTbeQLNU].
>  
> -There are two requirements to reduce the cost of the mitigation:
> +The second CPU flag is called 'spec-ctrl', which allows an operating system to
> +selectively disable or restrict speculative execution in order to limit the
> +ability of attackers to exploit the Spectre vulnerability.
> +
> +There are two requirements that need to be fulfilled in order to use these two
> +CPU flags:
>  
> -* The host CPU must support PCID and propagate it to the guest's virtual CPU(s)
> -* The guest Operating System must be updated to a version which mitigates the
> -  attack and utilizes the PCID feature marked by its flag.
> +* The host CPU(s) must support the feature and propagate it to the guest's virtual CPU(s)

nit, line length > 80

> +* The guest operating system must be updated to a version which mitigates the
> +  attacks and is able to utilize the CPU feature
> +
> +In order to use 'spec-ctrl', your CPU or system vendor also needs to provide a
> +so-called ``microcode update'' footnote:[You can use `intel-microcode' /
> +`amd-microcode' from Debian non-free if your vendor does not provide such an
> +update. Note that not all affected CPUs can be updated to support spec-ctrl.]
> +for your CPU.
>  
>  To check if the {pve} host supports PCID, execute the following command as root:
>  
> @@ -327,10 +340,23 @@ To check if the {pve} host supports PCID, execute the following command as root:
>  # grep ' pcid ' /proc/cpuinfo
>  ----
>  
> -If this does not return empty your host's CPU has support for PCID. If you use
> -`host' as CPU type and the guest OS is able to use it, you're done.
> -Otherwise you need to set the PCID CPU flag for the virtual CPU. This can be
> -done by editing the CPU options through the WebUI.
> +If this does not return empty your host's CPU has support for 'pcid'.
> +
> +To check if the {pve} host supports spec-ctrl, execute the following command as root:

line length

> +
> +----
> +# grep ' spec_ctrl ' /proc/cpuinfo
> +----
> +
> +If this does not return empty your host's CPU has support for 'spec-ctrl'.
> +
> +If you use `host' or another CPU type which enables the desired flags by
> +default, and you updated your guest OS to make use of the associated CPU
> +features, you're already set.
> +
> +Otherwise you need to set the desired CPU flag of the virtual CPU, either by
> +editing the CPU options in the WebUI, or by setting the 'flags' property of the
> +'cpu' option in the VM configuration file.
>  
>  NUMA
>  ^^^^
> 

besides the two line length nit this looks good:

Reviewed-by: Thomas Lamprecht <t.lamprecht at proxmox.com>