xref: /openbmc/qemu/docs/specs/ppc-xive.rst (revision ddda3748)
1================================
2POWER9 XIVE interrupt controller
3================================
4
5The POWER9 processor comes with a new interrupt controller
6architecture, called XIVE as "eXternal Interrupt Virtualization
7Engine".
8
9Compared to the previous architecture, the main characteristics of
10XIVE are to support a larger number of interrupt sources and to
11deliver interrupts directly to virtual processors without hypervisor
12assistance. This removes the context switches required for the
13delivery process.
14
15
16XIVE architecture
17=================
18
19The XIVE IC is composed of three sub-engines, each taking care of a
20processing layer of external interrupts:
21
22- Interrupt Virtualization Source Engine (IVSE), or Source Controller
23  (SC). These are found in PCI PHBs, in the Processor Service
24  Interface (PSI) host bridge Controller, but also inside the main
25  controller for the core IPIs and other sub-chips (NX, CAP, NPU) of
26  the chip/processor. They are configured to feed the IVRE with
27  events.
28- Interrupt Virtualization Routing Engine (IVRE) or Virtualization
29  Controller (VC). It handles event coalescing and perform interrupt
30  routing by matching an event source number with an Event
31  Notification Descriptor (END).
32- Interrupt Virtualization Presentation Engine (IVPE) or Presentation
33  Controller (PC). It maintains the interrupt context state of each
34  thread and handles the delivery of the external interrupt to the
35  thread.
36
37::
38
39                XIVE Interrupt Controller
40                +------------------------------------+      IPIs
41                | +---------+ +---------+ +--------+ |    +-------+
42                | |IVRE     | |Common Q | |IVPE    |----> | CORES |
43                | |     esb | |         | |        |----> |       |
44                | |     eas | |  Bridge | |   tctx |----> |       |
45                | |SC   end | |         | |    nvt | |    |       |
46    +------+    | +---------+ +----+----+ +--------+ |    +-+-+-+-+
47    | RAM  |    +------------------|-----------------+      | | |
48    |      |                       |                        | | |
49    |      |                       |                        | | |
50    |      |  +--------------------v------------------------v-v-v--+    other
51    |      <--+                     Power Bus                      +--> chips
52    |  esb |  +---------+-----------------------+------------------+
53    |  eas |            |                       |
54    |  end |         +--|------+                |
55    |  nvt |       +----+----+ |           +----+----+
56    +------+       |IVSE     | |           |IVSE     |
57                   |         | |           |         |
58                   | PQ-bits | |           | PQ-bits |
59                   | local   |-+           |  in VC  |
60                   +---------+             +---------+
61                      PCIe                 NX,NPU,CAPI
62
63
64    PQ-bits: 2 bits source state machine (P:pending Q:queued)
65    esb: Event State Buffer (Array of PQ bits in an IVSE)
66    eas: Event Assignment Structure
67    end: Event Notification Descriptor
68    nvt: Notification Virtual Target
69    tctx: Thread interrupt Context registers
70
71
72
73XIVE internal tables
74--------------------
75
76Each of the sub-engines uses a set of tables to redirect interrupts
77from event sources to CPU threads.
78
79::
80
81                                            +-------+
82    User or O/S                             |  EQ   |
83        or                          +------>|entries|
84    Hypervisor                      |       |  ..   |
85      Memory                        |       +-------+
86                                    |           ^
87                                    |           |
88               +-------------------------------------------------+
89                                    |           |
90    Hypervisor      +------+    +---+--+    +---+--+   +------+
91      Memory        | ESB  |    | EAT  |    | ENDT |   | NVTT |
92     (skiboot)      +----+-+    +----+-+    +----+-+   +------+
93                      ^  |        ^  |        ^  |       ^
94                      |  |        |  |        |  |       |
95               +-------------------------------------------------+
96                      |  |        |  |        |  |       |
97                      |  |        |  |        |  |       |
98                 +----|--|--------|--|--------|--|-+   +-|-----+    +------+
99                 |    |  |        |  |        |  | |   | | tctx|    |Thread|
100     IPI or   ---+    +  v        +  v        +  v |---| +  .. |----->     |
101    HW events    |                                 |   |       |    |      |
102                 |             IVRE                |   | IVPE  |    +------+
103                 +---------------------------------+   +-------+
104
105
106The IVSE have a 2-bits state machine, P for pending and Q for queued,
107for each source that allows events to be triggered. They are stored in
108an Event State Buffer (ESB) array and can be controlled by MMIOs.
109
110If the event is let through, the IVRE looks up in the Event Assignment
111Structure (EAS) table for an Event Notification Descriptor (END)
112configured for the source. Each Event Notification Descriptor defines
113a notification path to a CPU and an in-memory Event Queue, in which
114will be enqueued an EQ data for the O/S to pull.
115
116The IVPE determines if a Notification Virtual Target (NVT) can handle
117the event by scanning the thread contexts of the VCPUs dispatched on
118the processor HW threads. It maintains the interrupt context state of
119each thread in a NVT table.
120
121XIVE thread interrupt context
122-----------------------------
123
124The XIVE presenter can generate four different exceptions to its
125HW threads:
126
127- hypervisor exception
128- O/S exception
129- Event-Based Branch (user level)
130- msgsnd (doorbell)
131
132Each exception has a state independent from the others called a Thread
133Interrupt Management context. This context is a set of registers which
134lets the thread handle priority management and interrupt
135acknowledgment among other things. The most important ones being :
136
137- Interrupt Priority Register  (PIPR)
138- Interrupt Pending Buffer     (IPB)
139- Current Processor Priority   (CPPR)
140- Notification Source Register (NSR)
141
142TIMA
143~~~~
144
145The Thread Interrupt Management registers are accessible through a
146specific MMIO region, called the Thread Interrupt Management Area
147(TIMA), four aligned pages, each exposing a different view of the
148registers. First page (page address ending in ``0b00``) gives access
149to the entire context and is reserved for the ring 0 view for the
150physical thread context. The second (page address ending in ``0b01``)
151is for the hypervisor, ring 1 view. The third (page address ending in
152``0b10``) is for the operating system, ring 2 view. The fourth (page
153address ending in ``0b11``) is for user level, ring 3 view.
154
155Interrupt flow from an O/S perspective
156~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
157
158After an event data has been enqueued in the O/S Event Queue, the IVPE
159raises the bit corresponding to the priority of the pending interrupt
160in the register IBP (Interrupt Pending Buffer) to indicate that an
161event is pending in one of the 8 priority queues. The Pending
162Interrupt Priority Register (PIPR) is also updated using the IPB. This
163register represent the priority of the most favored pending
164notification.
165
166The PIPR is then compared to the Current Processor Priority
167Register (CPPR). If it is more favored (numerically less than), the
168CPU interrupt line is raised and the EO bit of the Notification Source
169Register (NSR) is updated to notify the presence of an exception for
170the O/S. The O/S acknowledges the interrupt with a special load in the
171Thread Interrupt Management Area.
172
173The O/S handles the interrupt and when done, performs an EOI using a
174MMIO operation on the ESB management page of the associate source.
175
176Overview of the QEMU models for XIVE
177====================================
178
179The XiveSource models the IVSE in general, internal and external. It
180handles the source ESBs and the MMIO interface to control them.
181
182The XiveNotifier is a small helper interface interconnecting the
183XiveSource to the XiveRouter.
184
185The XiveRouter is an abstract model acting as a combined IVRE and
186IVPE. It routes event notifications using the EAS and END tables to
187the IVPE sub-engine which does a CAM scan to find a CPU to deliver the
188exception. Storage should be provided by the inheriting classes.
189
190XiveEnDSource is a special source object. It exposes the END ESB MMIOs
191of the Event Queues which are used for coalescing event notifications
192and for escalation. Not used on the field, only to sync the EQ cache
193in OPAL.
194
195Finally, the XiveTCTX contains the interrupt state context of a thread,
196four sets of registers, one for each exception that can be delivered
197to a CPU. These contexts are scanned by the IVPE to find a matching VP
198when a notification is triggered. It also models the Thread Interrupt
199Management Area (TIMA), which exposes the thread context registers to
200the CPU for interrupt management.
201