Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developers Manual Volume 3B, System Programming Guide Part 2

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Table Of Contents

Chapter 18 Debugging and Performance Monitoring
- 18.1 Overview of Debug Support Facilities
- 18.2 Debug Registers
  - 18.2.1 Debug Address Registers (DR0-DR3)
  - 18.2.2 Debug Registers DR4 and DR5
  - 18.2.3 Debug Status Register (DR6)
  - 18.2.4 Debug Control Register (DR7)
  - 18.2.5 Breakpoint Field Recognition
  - 18.2.6 Debug Registers and Intel® 64 Processors
- 18.3 Debug Exceptions
  - 18.3.1 Debug Exception (#DB)-Interrupt Vector 1
  - 18.3.2 Breakpoint Exception (#BP)-Interrupt Vector 3
- 18.4 Last Branch Recording Overview
- 18.5 Last Branch, Interrupt, and Exception Recording (Intel® Core™2 Duo and Intel® Atom™ Processor Family)
  - 18.5.1 IA32_DEBUGCTL MSR
  - 18.5.2 LBR Stack
  - 18.5.3 BTS and Related Facilities
    - 18.5.3.1 Freezing LBR and Performance Counters on PMI
    - 18.5.3.2 Debug Store (DS) Mechanism
- 18.6 Last Branch, Interrupt, and Exception Recording (Intel® Core™i7 Processor Family)
  - 18.6.1 LBR Stack
  - 18.6.2 Filtering of Last Branch Records
- 18.7 Last Branch, Interrupt, and Exception Recording (Processors based on Intel NetBurst® Microarchitecture)
  - 18.7.1 CPL-Qualified Branch Trace Mechanism
  - 18.7.2 MSR_DEBUGCTLA MSR
  - 18.7.3 LBR Stack for Processors Based on Intel NetBurst Microarchitecture
    - 18.7.3.1 LBR Stack and Intel® 64 Processors
  - 18.7.4 Monitoring Branches, Exceptions, and Interrupts
  - 18.7.5 Single-Stepping on Branches, Exceptions, and Interrupts
  - 18.7.6 Branch Trace Messages
  - 18.7.7 Last Exception Records
    - 18.7.7.1 Last Exception Records and Intel 64 Architecture
  - 18.7.8 Branch Trace Store (BTS)
- 18.8 Last Branch, Interrupt, and Exception Recording (Intel® Core™ Solo and Intel® Core™ Duo Processors)
- 18.9 Last Branch, Interrupt, and Exception Recording (Pentium M Processors)
- 18.10 Last Branch, Interrupt, and Exception Recording (P6 Family Processors)
  - 18.10.1 DEBUGCTLMSR Register
  - 18.10.2 Last Branch and Last Exception MSRs
  - 18.10.3 Monitoring Branches, Exceptions, and Interrupts
- 18.11 Time-Stamp Counter
  - 18.11.1 Invariant TSC
  - 18.11.2 IA32_TSC_AUX Register and RDTSCP Support
- 18.12 Performance Monitoring Overview
- 18.13 Architectural Performance Monitoring
  - 18.13.1 Architectural Performance Monitoring Version 1
    - 18.13.1.1 Architectural Performance Monitoring Version 1 Facilities
  - 18.13.2 Additional Architectural Performance Monitoring Extensions
    - 18.13.2.1 Architectural Performance Monitoring Version 2 Facilities
    - 18.13.2.2 Architectural Performance Monitoring Version 3 Facilities
  - 18.13.3 Pre-defined Architectural Performance Events
- 18.14 Performance Monitoring (Intel® Core™ Solo and Intel® Core™ Duo Processors)
- 18.15 Performance Monitoring (Processors based on Intel® Core™ Microarchitecture)
  - 18.15.1 Fixed-function Performance Counters
  - 18.15.2 Global Counter Control Facilities
  - 18.15.3 At-Retirement Events
  - 18.15.4 Precise Event Based Sampling (PEBS)
- 18.16 Performance Monitoring (Processors based on Intel® Atom™ Microarchitecture)
- 18.17 Performance Monitoring for Processors based on Intel® Microarchitecture (Nehalem)
  - 18.17.1 Enhancements of Performance Monitoring in the Processor Core
  - 18.17.2 Performance Monitoring Facility in the Uncore
- 18.18 Performance Monitoring (Processors Based on Intel NetBurst microarchitecture)
  - 18.18.1 ESCR MSRs
  - 18.18.2 Performance Counters
  - 18.18.3 CCCR MSRs
  - 18.18.4 Debug Store (DS) Mechanism
  - 18.18.5 DS Save Area
    - 18.18.5.1 DS Save Area and IA-32e Mode Operation
  - 18.18.6 Programming the Performance Counters for Non-Retirement Events
  - 18.18.7 At-Retirement Counting
  - 18.18.8 Precise Event-Based Sampling (PEBS)
  - 18.18.9 Operating System Implications
- 18.19 Performance Monitoring and Intel Hyper- Threading Technology in Processors Based on Intel NetBurst Microarchitecture
  - 18.19.1 ESCR MSRs
  - 18.19.2 CCCR MSRs
  - 18.19.3 IA32_PEBS_ENABLE MSR
  - 18.19.4 Performance Monitoring Events
- 18.20 Counting Clocks
  - 18.20.1 Non-Halted Clockticks
  - 18.20.2 Non-Sleep Clockticks
  - 18.20.3 Incrementing the Time-Stamp Counter
  - 18.20.4 Non-Halted Reference Clockticks
  - 18.20.5 Cycle Counting and Opportunistic Processor Operation
- 18.21 Performance Monitoring, Branch Profiling and System Events
- 18.22 Performance Monitoring and Dual-Core Technology
- 18.23 Performance Monitoring on 64-bit Intel Xeon Processor MP with Up to 8-MByte L3 Cache
- 18.24 Performance Monitoring on L3 and Caching Bus Controller sub-systems
  - 18.24.1 Overview of Performance Monitoring with L3/Caching Bus Controller
  - 18.24.2 GBSQ Event Interface
  - 18.24.3 GSNPQ Event Interface
  - 18.24.4 FSB Event Interface
    - 18.24.4.1 FSB Sub-Event Mask Interface
  - 18.24.5 Common Event Control Interface
- 18.25 Performance Monitoring (P6 Family Processor)
  - 18.25.1 PerfEvtSel0 and PerfEvtSel1 MSRs
  - 18.25.2 PerfCtr0 and PerfCtr1 MSRs
  - 18.25.3 Starting and Stopping the Performance-Monitoring Counters
  - 18.25.4 Event and Time-Stamp Monitoring Software
  - 18.25.5 Monitoring Counter Overflow
- 18.26 Performance Monitoring (Pentium Processors)
  - 18.26.1 Control and Event Select Register (CESR)
  - 18.26.2 Use of the Performance-Monitoring Pins
  - 18.26.3 Events Counted
Chapter 19 Introduction to Virtual-Machine Extensions
- 19.1 Overview
- 19.2 Virtual Machine Architecture
- 19.3 Introduction to VMX Operation
- 19.4 Life Cycle of VMM Software
- 19.5 Virtual-Machine Control Structure
- 19.6 Discovering Support for VMX
- 19.7 Enabling and Entering VMX Operation
- 19.8 Restrictions on VMX Operation
Chapter 20 Virtual-Machine Control Structures
- 20.1 Overview
- 20.2 Format of the VMCS Region
- 20.3 Organization of VMCS Data
- 20.4 Guest-State Area
  - 20.4.1 Guest Register State
  - 20.4.2 Guest Non-Register State
- 20.5 Host-State Area
- 20.6 VM-Execution Control Fields
- 20.7 VM-Exit Control Fields
  - 20.7.1 VM-Exit Controls
  - 20.7.2 VM-Exit Controls for MSRs
- 20.8 VM-Entry Control Fields
- 20.9 VM-Exit Information Fields
- 20.10 Software Access to the VMCS and Related Structures
- 20.11 Using VMCLEAR to Initialize a VMCS Region
Chapter 21 VMX Non-Root Operation
- 21.1 Instructions That Cause VM Exits
- 21.2 APIC-Access VM Exits
- 21.3 Other Causes of VM Exits
- 21.4 Changes to Instruction Behavior in VMX Non- Root Operation
- 21.5 APIC Accesses That Do Not Cause VM Exits
- 21.6 Other Changes in VMX Non-Root Operation
  - 21.6.1 Event Blocking
  - 21.6.2 Treatment of Task Switches
- 21.7 Features Specific to VMX Non-Root Operation
Chapter 22 VM Entries
- 22.1 Basic VM-Entry Checks
- 22.2 Checks on VMX Controls and Host-State Area
- 22.3 Checking and Loading Guest State
- 22.4 Loading MSRs
- 22.5 Event Injection
  - 22.5.1 Vectored-Event Injection
    - 22.5.1.1 Details of Vectored-Event Injection
    - 22.5.1.2 VM Exits During Event Injection
  - 22.5.2 Injection of Pending MTF VM Exits
- 22.6 Special Features of VM Entry
- 22.7 VM-Entry Failures During or After Loading Guest State
- 22.8 Machine Checks During VM Entry
Chapter 23 VM Exits
- 23.1 Architectural State Before a VM Exit
- 23.2 Recording VM-Exit Information and Updating VM-Entry Control Fields
- 23.3 Saving Guest State
- 23.4 Saving MSRs
- 23.5 Loading Host State
- 23.6 Loading MSRs
- 23.7 VMX Aborts
- 23.8 Machine Check During VM Exit
Chapter 24 Support for Address Translation
- 24.1 Virtual Processor Identifiers (VPIDs)
- 24.2 Extended Page Tables (EPT)
- 24.3 Caching Translation Information
Chapter 25 System Management
- 25.1 System Management Mode Overview
  - 25.1.1 System Management Mode and VMX Operation
- 25.2 System Management Interrupt (SMI)
- 25.3 Switching Between SMM and the Other Processor Operating Modes
  - 25.3.1 Entering SMM
  - 25.3.2 Exiting From SMM
- 25.4 SMRAM
  - 25.4.1 SMRAM State Save Map
    - 25.4.1.1 SMRAM State Save Map and Intel 64 Architecture
  - 25.4.2 SMRAM Caching
- 25.5 SMI Handler Execution Environment
- 25.6 Exceptions and Interrupts Within SMM
- 25.7 Managing Synchronous and Asynchronous System Management Interrupts
  - 25.7.1 I/O State Implementation
- 25.8 NMI Handling While in SMM
- 25.9 SMM Revision Identifier
- 25.10 Auto HALT Restart
  - 25.10.1 Executing the HLT Instruction in SMM
- 25.11 SMBASE Relocation
  - 25.11.1 Relocating SMRAM to an Address Above 1 MByte
- 25.12 I/O Instruction Restart
  - 25.12.1 Back-to-Back SMI Interrupts When I/O Instruction Restart Is Being Used
- 25.13 SMM Multiple-Processor Considerations
- 25.14 Default Treatment of SMIs and SMM with VMX Operation and SMX Operation
- 25.15 Dual-Monitor Treatment of SMIs and SMM
- 25.16 SMI and Processor Extended State Management
Chapter 26 Virtual-Machine Monitor Programming Considerations
- 26.1 VMX System Programming Overview
- 26.2 Supporting Processor Operating Modes in Guest Environments
  - 26.2.1 Emulating Guest Execution
- 26.3 Managing VMCS Regions and Pointers
- 26.4 Using VMX Instructions
- 26.5 VMM Setup & Tear Down
  - 26.5.1 Algorithms for Determining VMX Capabilities
- 26.6 Preparation and Launching a Virtual Machine
- 26.7 Handling of VM Exits
  - 26.7.1 Handling VM Exits Due to Exceptions
    - 26.7.1.1 Reflecting Exceptions to Guest Software
    - 26.7.1.2 Resuming Guest Software after Handling an Exception
- 26.8 Multi-Processor Considerations
- 26.9 32-Bit and 64-Bit Guest Environments
- 26.10 Handling Model Specific Registers
- 26.11 Handling Accesses to Control Registers
- 26.12 Performance Considerations
Chapter 27 Virtualization of System Resources
- 27.1 Overview
- 27.2 Virtualization Support for Debugging Facilities
  - 27.2.1 Debug Exceptions
- 27.3 Memory Virtualization
- 27.4 Microcode Update Facility
  - 27.4.1 Early Load of Microcode Updates
  - 27.4.2 Late Load of Microcode Updates
Chapter 28 Handling Boundary Conditions in a Virtual Machine Monitor
- 28.1 Overview
- 28.2 Interrupt Handling in VMX Operation
- 28.3 External Interrupt Virtualization
- 28.4 Error Handling by VMM
  - 28.4.1 VM-Exit Failures
  - 28.4.2 Machine Check Considerations
- 28.5 Handling Activity States by VMM
Appendix A Performance-Monitoring Events
- A.1 Architectural Performance-Monitoring Events
- A.2 Performance Monitoring Events for Intel® Intel® Core™i7 Processor Family
- A.3 Performance Monitoring Events for Intel® Xeon® Processor 5200, 5400 Series and Intel® Core™2 Extreme ProcessorS QX 9000 Series
- A.4 Performance Monitoring Events for Intel® Xeon® Processor 3000, 3200, 5100, 5300 Series and Intel® Core™2 Duo ProcessorS
- A.5 Performance Monitoring Events for Intel® Atom™ ProcessorS
- A.6 Performance Monitoring Events for Intel® Core™ Solo and Intel® Core™ Duo ProcessorS
- A.7 Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon Processor Performance-Monitoring Events
- A.8 Performance Monitoring Events for Intel® Pentium® M ProcessorS
- A.9 P6 Family Processor Performance- Monitoring Events
- A.10 Pentium Processor Performance- Monitoring Events
Appendix B Model-Specific Registers (MSRs)
- B.1 Architectural MSRs
- B.2 MSRs In the Intel® Core™ 2 Processor Family
- B.3 MSRs In the Intel® Atom™ Processor Family
- B.4 MSRs In the Intel® Microarchitecture (Nehalem)
- B.5 MSRs In the Pentium® 4 and Intel® Xeon® Processors
  - B.5.1 MSRs Unique to Intel Xeon Processor MP with L3 Cache
- B.6 MSRs In Intel® Core™ Solo and Intel® Core™ Duo Processors
- B.7 MSRs In the Pentium M Processor
- B.8 MSRs In the P6 Family Processors
- B.9 MSRs in Pentium Processors
Appendix C MP Initialization For P6 Family Processors
- C.1 Overview of the MP Initialization Process For P6 Family Processors
- C.2 MP Initialization Protocol Algorithm
  - C.2.1 Error Detection and Handling During the MP Initialization Protocol
Appendix D Programming the LINT0 and LINT1 Inputs
- D.1 Constants
- D.2 LINT[0:1] Pins Programming Procedure
Appendix E Interpreting Machine-Check Error Codes
- E.1 Incremental Decoding Information: Processor Family 06H Machine Error Codes For Machine Check
- E.2 Incremental Decoding Information: Intel Core 2 Processor Family Machine Error Codes For Machine Check
  - E.2.1 Model-Specific Machine Check Error Codes for Intel Xeon Processor 7400 Series
    - E.2.1.1 Processor Machine Check Status Register Incremental MCA Error Code Definition
  - E.2.2 Intel Xeon Processor 7400 Model Specific Error Code Field
    - E.2.2.1 Processor Model Specific Error Code Field Type B: Bus and Interconnect Error
    - E.2.2.2 Processor Model Specific Error Code Field Type C: Cache Bus Controller Error
- E.3 Incremental Decoding Information: Processor Family with CPUID DisplayFamily_DisplayModel Signature 06_1AH, Machine Error Codes For Machine Check
- E.4 Incremental Decoding Information: Processor Family 0FH Machine Error Codes For Machine Check
Appendix F APIC Bus Message Formats
- F.1 Bus Message Formats
- F.2 EOI Message
Appendix G VMX Capability Reporting Facility
- G.1 Basic VMX Information
- G.2 Reserved Controls and Default Settings
- G.3 VM-Execution Controls
- G.4 VM-Exit Controls
- G.5 VM-Entry Controls
- G.6 Miscellaneous Data
- G.7 VMX-Fixed Bits in CR0
- G.8 VMX-Fixed Bits in CR4
- G.9 VMCS Enumeration
- G.10 VPID and EPT Capabilities
Appendix H Field Encoding in VMCS
- H.1 16-Bit Fields
- H.2 64-Bit Fields
- H.3 32-Bit Fields
- H.4 Natural-Width Fields
Appendix I VMX Basic Exit Reasons

Vol. 3 21-1

CHAPTER 21

VMX NON-ROOT OPERATION

In a virtualized environment using VMX, the guest software stack typically runs on a

logical processor in VMX non-root operation. This mode of operation is similar to that

of ordinary processor operation outside of the virtualized environment. This chapter

describes the differences between VMX non-root operation and ordinary processor

operation with special attention to causes of VM exits (which bring a logical processor

from VMX non-root operation to root operation). The differences between VMX non-

root operation and ordinary processor operation are described in the following

sections:

• Section 21.1, “Instructions That Cause VM Exits”

• Section 21.2, “APIC-Access VM Exits”

• Section 21.3, “Other Causes of VM Exits”

• Section 21.4, “Changes to Instruction Behavior in VMX Non-Root Operation”

• Section 21.5, “APIC Accesses That Do Not Cause VM Exits”

• Section 21.6, “Other Changes in VMX Non-Root Operation”

• Section 21.7, “Features Specific to VMX Non-Root Operation”

Chapter 20, “Virtual-Machine Control Structures,” describes the data control struc-

ture that governs VMX operation (root and non-root). Chapter 22, “VM Entries,”

describes the operation of VM entries which allow the processor to transition from

VMX root operation to non-root operation.

21.1 INSTRUCTIONS THAT CAUSE VM EXITS

Certain instructions may cause VM exits if executed in VMX non-root operation.

Unless otherwise specified, such VM exits are “fault-like,” meaning that the instruc-

tion causing the VM exit does not execute and no processor state is updated by the

instruction. Section 23.1 details architectural state in the context of a VM exit.

Section 21.1.1 defines the prioritization between faults and VM exits for instructions

subject to both. Section 21.1.2 identifies instructions that cause VM exits whenever

they are executed in VMX non-root operation (and thus can never be executed in

VMX non-root operation). Section 21.1.3 identifies instructions that cause VM exits

depending on the settings of certain VM-execution control fields (see Section 20.6).

21.1.1 Relative Priority of Faults and VM Exits

The following principles describe the ordering between existing faults and VM exits: