Re: xen-netback hotplug-status regression bug

[Paul Durrant <xadimgnik@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/04/2021 19:25, Michael Brown wrote:
> Commit https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/1f25657 ("xen-netback: 
> remove 'hotplug-status' once it has served its purpose") seems to have 
> introduced a regression that prevents a vif frontend from transitioning 
> more than once into Connected state.
> As far as I can tell:
>
> - The defined vif script (e.g. /etc/xen/scripts/vif-bridge) executes 
> only once, at domU startup, and sets 
> backend/vif/<domU>/0/hotplug-status="connected"
> - When the frontend first enters Connected state, 
> drivers/net/xen-netback/xenbus.c's connect() sets up a watch on 
> "hotplug-status" with the callback function hotplug_status_changed()
> - When hotplug_status_changed() is triggered by the watch, it 
> transitions the backend to Connected state and calls xenbus_rm() to 
> delete the "hotplug-status" attribute.
> If the frontend subsequently disconnects and reconnects (e.g. 
> transitions through Closed->Initialising->Connected) then:
> - Nothing recreates "hotplug-status"
>
> - When the frontend re-enters Connected state, connect() sets up a watch 
> on "hotplug-status" again
> - The callback hotplug_status_changed() is never triggered, and so the 
> backend device never transitions to Connected state.
That's not how I read it. Given that "hotplug-status" is removed by the 
call to hotplug_status_changed() then the next call to connect() should 
fail to register the watch and 'have_hotplug_status_watch' should be 0. 
Thus backend_switch_state() should not defer the transition to 
XenbusStateConnected in any subsequent interaction with the frontend.

> Reverting the commit would fix this bug, but would obviously also 
> reintroduce the race condition that the commit was designed to avoid.
> I'm happy to put together a patch, if one of the maintainers could 
> suggest a sensible design approach.
Are you seeing the watch successfully re-registered even though the node 
does not exist? Perhaps there has been a change in xenstore behaviour?
  Paul

> I'm not a list member, so please CC me directly on replies.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Michael