docs/specs/acpi_nvdimm.txt

QEMU<->ACPI BIOS NVDIMM interface
---------------------------------

QEMU supports NVDIMM via ACPI. This document describes the basic concepts of
NVDIMM ACPI and the interface between QEMU and the ACPI BIOS.

NVDIMM ACPI Background
----------------------
NVDIMM is introduced in ACPI 6.0 which defines an NVDIMM root device under
_SB scope with a _HID of “ACPI0012”. For each NVDIMM present or intended
to be supported by platform, platform firmware also exposes an ACPI
Namespace Device under the root device.

The NVDIMM child devices under the NVDIMM root device are defined with _ADR
corresponding to the NFIT device handle. The NVDIMM root device and the
NVDIMM devices can have device specific methods (_DSM) to provide additional
functions specific to a particular NVDIMM implementation.

This is an example from ACPI 6.0, a platform contains one NVDIMM:

Scope (\_SB){
   Device (NVDR) // Root device
   {
      Name (_HID, “ACPI0012”)
      Method (_STA) {...}
      Method (_FIT) {...}
      Method (_DSM, ...) {...}
      Device (NVD)
      {
         Name(_ADR, h) //where h is NFIT Device Handle for this NVDIMM
         Method (_DSM, ...) {...}
      }
   }
}

Method supported on both NVDIMM root device and NVDIMM device
_DSM (Device Specific Method)
   It is a control method that enables devices to provide device specific
   control functions that are consumed by the device driver.
   The NVDIMM DSM specification can be found at:
        http://pmem.io/documents/NVDIMM_DSM_Interface_Example.pdf

   Arguments:
   Arg0 – A Buffer containing a UUID (16 Bytes)
   Arg1 – An Integer containing the Revision ID (4 Bytes)
   Arg2 – An Integer containing the Function Index (4 Bytes)
   Arg3 – A package containing parameters for the function specified by the
          UUID, Revision ID, and Function Index

   Return Value:
   If Function Index = 0, a Buffer containing a function index bitfield.
   Otherwise, the return value and type depends on the UUID, revision ID
   and function index which are described in the DSM specification.

Methods on NVDIMM ROOT Device
_FIT(Firmware Interface Table)
   It evaluates to a buffer returning data in the format of a series of NFIT
   Type Structure.

   Arguments: None

   Return Value:
   A Buffer containing a list of NFIT Type structure entries.

   The detailed definition of the structure can be found at ACPI 6.0: 5.2.25
   NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT).

QEMU NVDIMM Implemention
========================
QEMU uses 4 bytes IO Port starting from 0x0a18 and a RAM-based memory page
for NVDIMM ACPI.

Memory:
   QEMU uses BIOS Linker/loader feature to ask BIOS to allocate a memory
   page and dynamically patch its into a int32 object named "MEMA" in ACPI.

   This page is RAM-based and it is used to transfer data between _DSM
   method and QEMU. If ACPI has control, this pages is owned by ACPI which
   writes _DSM input data to it, otherwise, it is owned by QEMU which
   emulates _DSM access and writes the output data to it.

   ACPI writes _DSM Input Data (based on the offset in the page):
   [0x0 - 0x3]: 4 bytes, NVDIMM Device Handle, 0 is reserved for NVDIMM
                Root device.
   [0x4 - 0x7]: 4 bytes, Revision ID, that is the Arg1 of _DSM method.
   [0x8 - 0xB]: 4 bytes. Function Index, that is the Arg2 of _DSM method.
   [0xC - 0xFFF]: 4084 bytes, the Arg3 of _DSM method.

   QEMU Writes Output Data (based on the offset in the page):
   [0x0 - 0x3]: 4 bytes, the length of result
   [0x4 - 0xFFF]: 4092 bytes, the DSM result filled by QEMU

IO Port 0x0a18 - 0xa1b:
   ACPI writes the address of the memory page allocated by BIOS to this
   port then QEMU gets the control and fills the result in the memory page.

   write Access:
   [0x0a18 - 0xa1b]: 4 bytes, the address of the memory page allocated
                     by BIOS.

_DSM process diagram:
---------------------
"MEMA" indicates the address of memory page allocated by BIOS.

 +----------------------+      +-----------------------+
 |    1. OSPM           |      |    2. OSPM            |
 | save _DSM input data |      |  write "MEMA" to      | Exit to QEMU
 | to the page          +----->|  IO port 0x0a18       +------------+
 | indicated by "MEMA"  |      |                       |            |
 +----------------------+      +-----------------------+            |
                                                                    |
                                                                    v
 +-------------   ----+       +-----------+      +------------------+--------+
 |      5 QEMU        |       | 4 QEMU    |      |        3. QEMU            |
 | write _DSM result  |       |  emulate  |      | get _DSM input data from  |
 | to the page        +<------+ _DSM      +<-----+ the page indicated by the |
 |                    |       |           |      | value from the IO port    |
 +--------+-----------+       +-----------+      +---------------------------+
          |
          | Enter Guest
          |
          v
 +--------------------------+      +--------------+
 |     6 OSPM               |      |   7 OSPM     |
 | result size is returned  |      |  _DSM return |
 | by reading  DSM          +----->+              |
 | result from the page     |      |              |
 +--------------------------+      +--------------+

 _FIT implementation
 -------------------
 TODO (will fill it when nvdimm hotplug is introduced)