nova/releasenotes/notes/Deprecate-support-for-Intel-CMT-events-017fbb890b631d70.yaml
Kashyap Chamarthy fc4794acc6 libvirt: Deprecate support for monitoring Intel CMT perf events
Upstream Linux kernel has deleted[*] the `perf` framework integration
with Intel CMT (Cache Monitoring Technology; or "CQM" in Linux kernel
parlance), because the feature was broken by design -- an
incompatibility between Linux's `perf` infrastructure and Intel CMT
hardware support.  It was removed in upstream kernel version v4.14; but
bear in mind that downstream Linux distributions with lower kernel
versions than 4.14 have backported the said change.

Nova supports monitoring of the above mentioned Intel CMT events
(namely: 'cmt', 'mbm_local', and 'mbm_total') via the configuration
attribute `[libvirt]/enabled_perf_events`. Given that the underlying
Linux kernel infrastructure for Intel CMT is removed, we should remove
support for it in Nova too.  Otherwise enabling them in Nova, and
updating to a Linux kernel 4.14 (or above) will result in instances
failing to boot.

To that end, deprecate support for the three Intel CMT events in "Rocky"
release, with the intention to remove support for it in the upcoming
"Stein" release.  Note that we cannot deprecate / remove
`enabled_perf_events` config attribute altogether -- since there are
other[+] `perf` events besides Intel CMT.  Whether anyone is using those
other events with Nova is a good question to which we don't have an
equally good answer for, if at all.

[*] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=c39a0e2
[+] https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPerf

Closes-Bug: #1751073
Change-Id: I7e77f87650d966d605807c7be184e670259a81c1
Signed-off-by: Kashyap Chamarthy <kchamart@redhat.com>
2018-05-24 23:20:06 +00:00

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YAML

---
deprecations:
- |
Support to monitor performance events for Intel CMT (Cache
Monitoring Technology, or "CQM" in Linux kernel parlance) -- namely
``cmt``, ``mbm_local`` and ``mbm_total`` -- via the config attribute
``[libvirt]/enabled_perf_events`` is now *deprecated* from Nova, and
will be *removed* in the "Stein" release. Otherwise, if you have
enabled those events, and upgraded to Linux kernel 4.14 (or suitable
downstream version), it will result in instances failing to boot.
That is because the Linux kernel has deleted the `perf` framework
integration with Intel CMT, as the feature was broken by design --
an incompatibility between Linux's `perf` infrastructure and Intel
CMT. It was removed in upstream Linux version v4.14; but bear in
mind that downstream Linux distributions with lower kernel versions
than 4.14 have backported the said change.