net/vdev_netvsc: implement core functionality
authorMatan Azrad <matan@mellanox.com>
Thu, 18 Jan 2018 13:51:43 +0000 (13:51 +0000)
committerFerruh Yigit <ferruh.yigit@intel.com>
Sun, 21 Jan 2018 14:51:52 +0000 (15:51 +0100)
As described in more details in the attached documentation (see patch
contents), this virtual device driver manages NetVSC interfaces in virtual
machines hosted by Hyper-V/Azure platforms.

This driver does not manage traffic nor Ethernet devices directly; it acts
as a thin configuration layer that automatically instantiates and controls
fail-safe PMD instances combining tap and PCI sub-devices, so that each
NetVSC interface is exposed as a single consolidated port to DPDK
applications.

PCI sub-devices being hot-pluggable (e.g. during VM migration),
applications automatically benefit from increased throughput when present
and automatic fallback on NetVSC otherwise without interruption thanks to
fail-safe's hot-plug handling.

Once initialized, the sole job of the vdev_netvsc driver is to regularly
scan for PCI devices to associate with NetVSC interfaces and feed their
addresses to corresponding fail-safe instances.

Signed-off-by: Adrien Mazarguil <adrien.mazarguil@6wind.com>
Signed-off-by: Matan Azrad <matan@mellanox.com>
doc/guides/nics/vdev_netvsc.rst
drivers/net/vdev_netvsc/Makefile
drivers/net/vdev_netvsc/vdev_netvsc.c

index a952908..fde1fb8 100644 (file)
@@ -12,9 +12,79 @@ platforms.
 
 .. _Hyper-V: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/network/overview-of-hyper-v
 
+Implementation details
+----------------------
+
+Each instance of this driver effectively needs to drive two devices: the
+NetVSC interface proper and its SR-IOV VF (referred to as "physical" from
+this point on) counterpart sharing the same MAC address.
+
+Physical devices are part of the host system and cannot be maintained during
+VM migration. From a VM standpoint they appear as hot-plug devices that come
+and go without prior notice.
+
+When the physical device is present, egress and most of the ingress traffic
+flows through it; only multicasts and other hypervisor control still flow
+through NetVSC. Otherwise, NetVSC acts as a fallback for all traffic.
+
+To avoid unnecessary code duplication and ensure maximum performance,
+handling of physical devices is left to their original PMDs; this virtual
+device driver (also known as *vdev*) manages other PMDs as summarized by the
+following block diagram::
+
+         .------------------.
+         | DPDK application |
+         `--------+---------'
+                  |
+           .------+------.
+           | DPDK ethdev |
+           `------+------'       Control
+                  |                 |
+     .------------+------------.    v    .--------------------.
+     |       failsafe PMD      +---------+ vdev_netvsc driver |
+     `--+-------------------+--'         `--------------------'
+        |                   |
+        |          .........|.........
+        |          :        |        :
+   .----+----.     :   .----+----.   :
+   | tap PMD |     :   | any PMD |   :
+   `----+----'     :   `----+----'   : <-- Hot-pluggable
+        |          :        |        :
+ .------+-------.  :  .-----+-----.  :
+ | NetVSC-based |  :  | SR-IOV VF |  :
+ |   netdevice  |  :  |   device  |  :
+ `--------------'  :  `-----------'  :
+                   :.................:
+
+
+This driver implementation may be temporary and should be improved or removed
+either when hot-plug will be fully supported in EAL and bus drivers or when
+a new NetVSC driver will be integrated.
+
 Build options
 -------------
 
 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VDEV_NETVSC_PMD`` (default ``y``)
 
    Toggle compilation of this driver.
+
+Run-time parameters
+-------------------
+
+To invoke this driver, applications have to explicitly provide the
+``--vdev=net_vdev_netvsc`` EAL option.
+
+The following device parameters are supported:
+
+- ``iface`` [string]
+
+  Provide a specific NetVSC interface (netdevice) name to attach this driver
+  to. Can be provided multiple times for additional instances.
+
+- ``mac`` [string]
+
+  Same as ``iface`` except a suitable NetVSC interface is located using its
+  MAC address.
+
+Not specifying either ``iface`` or ``mac`` makes this driver attach itself to
+all NetVSC interfaces found on the system.
index 2fb059d..f2b2ac5 100644 (file)
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ EXPORT_MAP := rte_pmd_vdev_netvsc_version.map
 CFLAGS += -O3
 CFLAGS += -g
 CFLAGS += -std=c11 -pedantic -Wall -Wextra
+CFLAGS += -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600
+CFLAGS += -D_BSD_SOURCE
+CFLAGS += -D_DEFAULT_SOURCE
 CFLAGS += $(WERROR_FLAGS)
 
 # Dependencies.
@@ -20,6 +23,7 @@ LDLIBS += -lrte_bus_vdev
 LDLIBS += -lrte_eal
 LDLIBS += -lrte_ethdev
 LDLIBS += -lrte_kvargs
+LDLIBS += -lrte_net
 
 # Source files.
 SRCS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_VDEV_NETVSC_PMD) += vdev_netvsc.c
index e895b32..21c3265 100644 (file)
@@ -3,17 +3,42 @@
  * Copyright 2017 Mellanox Technologies, Ltd.
  */
 
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <inttypes.h>
+#include <linux/sockios.h>
+#include <net/if.h>
+#include <net/if_arp.h>
+#include <netinet/ip.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/ioctl.h>
+#include <sys/queue.h>
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
+#include <rte_alarm.h>
+#include <rte_bus.h>
 #include <rte_bus_vdev.h>
 #include <rte_common.h>
 #include <rte_config.h>
+#include <rte_dev.h>
+#include <rte_errno.h>
+#include <rte_ethdev.h>
+#include <rte_ether.h>
 #include <rte_kvargs.h>
 #include <rte_log.h>
 
 #define VDEV_NETVSC_DRIVER net_vdev_netvsc
 #define VDEV_NETVSC_ARG_IFACE "iface"
 #define VDEV_NETVSC_ARG_MAC "mac"
+#define VDEV_NETVSC_PROBE_MS 1000
+
+#define NETVSC_CLASS_ID "{f8615163-df3e-46c5-913f-f2d2f965ed0e}"
 
 #define DRV_LOG(level, ...) \
        rte_log(RTE_LOG_ ## level, \
 /** Driver-specific log messages type. */
 static int vdev_netvsc_logtype;
 
+/** Context structure for a vdev_netvsc instance. */
+struct vdev_netvsc_ctx {
+       LIST_ENTRY(vdev_netvsc_ctx) entry; /**< Next entry in list. */
+       unsigned int id;                   /**< Unique ID. */
+       char name[64];                     /**< Unique name. */
+       char devname[64];                  /**< Fail-safe instance name. */
+       char devargs[256];                 /**< Fail-safe device arguments. */
+       char if_name[IF_NAMESIZE];         /**< NetVSC netdevice name. */
+       unsigned int if_index;             /**< NetVSC netdevice index. */
+       struct ether_addr if_addr;         /**< NetVSC MAC address. */
+       int pipe[2];                       /**< Fail-safe communication pipe. */
+       char yield[256];                   /**< PCI sub-device arguments. */
+};
+
+/** Context list is common to all driver instances. */
+static LIST_HEAD(, vdev_netvsc_ctx) vdev_netvsc_ctx_list =
+       LIST_HEAD_INITIALIZER(vdev_netvsc_ctx_list);
+
+/** Number of entries in context list. */
+static unsigned int vdev_netvsc_ctx_count;
+
 /** Number of driver instances relying on context list. */
 static unsigned int vdev_netvsc_ctx_inst;
 
+/**
+ * Destroy a vdev_netvsc context instance.
+ *
+ * @param ctx
+ *   Context to destroy.
+ */
+static void
+vdev_netvsc_ctx_destroy(struct vdev_netvsc_ctx *ctx)
+{
+       if (ctx->pipe[0] != -1)
+               close(ctx->pipe[0]);
+       if (ctx->pipe[1] != -1)
+               close(ctx->pipe[1]);
+       free(ctx);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Iterate over system network interfaces.
+ *
+ * This function runs a given callback function for each netdevice found on
+ * the system.
+ *
+ * @param func
+ *   Callback function pointer. List traversal is aborted when this function
+ *   returns a nonzero value.
+ * @param ...
+ *   Variable parameter list passed as @p va_list to @p func.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   0 when the entire list is traversed successfully, a negative error code
+ *   in case or failure, or the nonzero value returned by @p func when list
+ *   traversal is aborted.
+ */
+static int
+vdev_netvsc_foreach_iface(int (*func)(const struct if_nameindex *iface,
+                                     const struct ether_addr *eth_addr,
+                                     va_list ap), ...)
+{
+       struct if_nameindex *iface = if_nameindex();
+       int s = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_IP);
+       unsigned int i;
+       int ret = 0;
+
+       if (!iface) {
+               ret = -ENOBUFS;
+               DRV_LOG(ERR, "cannot retrieve system network interfaces");
+               goto error;
+       }
+       if (s == -1) {
+               ret = -errno;
+               DRV_LOG(ERR, "cannot open socket: %s", rte_strerror(errno));
+               goto error;
+       }
+       for (i = 0; iface[i].if_name; ++i) {
+               struct ifreq req;
+               struct ether_addr eth_addr;
+               va_list ap;
+
+               strncpy(req.ifr_name, iface[i].if_name, sizeof(req.ifr_name));
+               if (ioctl(s, SIOCGIFHWADDR, &req) == -1) {
+                       DRV_LOG(WARNING, "cannot retrieve information about"
+                                        " interface \"%s\": %s",
+                                        req.ifr_name, rte_strerror(errno));
+                       continue;
+               }
+               if (req.ifr_hwaddr.sa_family != ARPHRD_ETHER) {
+                       DRV_LOG(DEBUG, "interface %s is non-ethernet device",
+                               req.ifr_name);
+                       continue;
+               }
+               memcpy(eth_addr.addr_bytes, req.ifr_hwaddr.sa_data,
+                      RTE_DIM(eth_addr.addr_bytes));
+               va_start(ap, func);
+               ret = func(&iface[i], &eth_addr, ap);
+               va_end(ap);
+               if (ret)
+                       break;
+       }
+error:
+       if (s != -1)
+               close(s);
+       if (iface)
+               if_freenameindex(iface);
+       return ret;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Determine if a network interface is NetVSC.
+ *
+ * @param[in] iface
+ *   Pointer to netdevice description structure (name and index).
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   A nonzero value when interface is detected as NetVSC. In case of error,
+ *   rte_errno is updated and 0 returned.
+ */
+static int
+vdev_netvsc_iface_is_netvsc(const struct if_nameindex *iface)
+{
+       static const char temp[] = "/sys/class/net/%s/device/class_id";
+       char path[sizeof(temp) + IF_NAMESIZE];
+       FILE *f;
+       int ret;
+       int len = 0;
+
+       ret = snprintf(path, sizeof(path), temp, iface->if_name);
+       if (ret == -1 || (size_t)ret >= sizeof(path)) {
+               rte_errno = ENOBUFS;
+               return 0;
+       }
+       f = fopen(path, "r");
+       if (!f) {
+               rte_errno = errno;
+               return 0;
+       }
+       ret = fscanf(f, NETVSC_CLASS_ID "%n", &len);
+       if (ret == EOF)
+               rte_errno = errno;
+       ret = len == (int)strlen(NETVSC_CLASS_ID);
+       fclose(f);
+       return ret;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Retrieve network interface data from sysfs symbolic link.
+ *
+ * @param[out] buf
+ *   Output data buffer.
+ * @param size
+ *   Output buffer size.
+ * @param[in] if_name
+ *   Netdevice name.
+ * @param[in] relpath
+ *   Symbolic link path relative to netdevice sysfs entry.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   0 on success, a negative error code otherwise.
+ */
+static int
+vdev_netvsc_sysfs_readlink(char *buf, size_t size, const char *if_name,
+                          const char *relpath)
+{
+       int ret;
+
+       ret = snprintf(buf, size, "/sys/class/net/%s/%s", if_name, relpath);
+       if (ret == -1 || (size_t)ret >= size)
+               return -ENOBUFS;
+       ret = readlink(buf, buf, size);
+       if (ret == -1)
+               return -errno;
+       if ((size_t)ret >= size - 1)
+               return -ENOBUFS;
+       buf[ret] = '\0';
+       return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Probe a network interface to associate with vdev_netvsc context.
+ *
+ * This function determines if the network device matches the properties of
+ * the NetVSC interface associated with the vdev_netvsc context and
+ * communicates its bus address to the fail-safe PMD instance if so.
+ *
+ * It is normally used with vdev_netvsc_foreach_iface().
+ *
+ * @param[in] iface
+ *   Pointer to netdevice description structure (name and index).
+ * @param[in] eth_addr
+ *   MAC address associated with @p iface.
+ * @param ap
+ *   Variable arguments list comprising:
+ *
+ *   - struct vdev_netvsc_ctx *ctx:
+ *     Context to associate network interface with.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   A nonzero value when interface matches, 0 otherwise or in case of
+ *   error.
+ */
+static int
+vdev_netvsc_device_probe(const struct if_nameindex *iface,
+                   const struct ether_addr *eth_addr,
+                   va_list ap)
+{
+       struct vdev_netvsc_ctx *ctx = va_arg(ap, struct vdev_netvsc_ctx *);
+       char buf[RTE_MAX(sizeof(ctx->yield), 256u)];
+       const char *addr;
+       size_t len;
+       int ret;
+
+       /* Skip non-matching or unwanted NetVSC interfaces. */
+       if (ctx->if_index == iface->if_index) {
+               if (!strcmp(ctx->if_name, iface->if_name))
+                       return 0;
+               DRV_LOG(DEBUG,
+                       "NetVSC interface \"%s\" (index %u) renamed \"%s\"",
+                       ctx->if_name, ctx->if_index, iface->if_name);
+               strncpy(ctx->if_name, iface->if_name, sizeof(ctx->if_name));
+               return 0;
+       }
+       if (vdev_netvsc_iface_is_netvsc(iface))
+               return 0;
+       if (!is_same_ether_addr(eth_addr, &ctx->if_addr))
+               return 0;
+       /* Look for associated PCI device. */
+       ret = vdev_netvsc_sysfs_readlink(buf, sizeof(buf), iface->if_name,
+                                        "device/subsystem");
+       if (ret)
+               return 0;
+       addr = strrchr(buf, '/');
+       addr = addr ? addr + 1 : buf;
+       if (strcmp(addr, "pci"))
+               return 0;
+       ret = vdev_netvsc_sysfs_readlink(buf, sizeof(buf), iface->if_name,
+                                        "device");
+       if (ret)
+               return 0;
+       addr = strrchr(buf, '/');
+       addr = addr ? addr + 1 : buf;
+       len = strlen(addr);
+       if (!len)
+               return 0;
+       /* Send PCI device argument to fail-safe PMD instance. */
+       if (strcmp(addr, ctx->yield))
+               DRV_LOG(DEBUG, "associating PCI device \"%s\" with NetVSC"
+                       " interface \"%s\" (index %u)", addr, ctx->if_name,
+                       ctx->if_index);
+       memmove(buf, addr, len + 1);
+       addr = buf;
+       buf[len] = '\n';
+       ret = write(ctx->pipe[1], addr, len + 1);
+       buf[len] = '\0';
+       if (ret == -1) {
+               if (errno == EINTR || errno == EAGAIN)
+                       return 1;
+               DRV_LOG(WARNING, "cannot associate PCI device name \"%s\" with"
+                       " interface \"%s\": %s", addr, ctx->if_name,
+                       rte_strerror(errno));
+               return 1;
+       }
+       if ((size_t)ret != len + 1) {
+               /*
+                * Attempt to override previous partial write, no need to
+                * recover if that fails.
+                */
+               ret = write(ctx->pipe[1], "\n", 1);
+               (void)ret;
+               return 1;
+       }
+       fsync(ctx->pipe[1]);
+       memcpy(ctx->yield, addr, len + 1);
+       return 1;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Alarm callback that regularly probes system network interfaces.
+ *
+ * This callback runs at a frequency determined by VDEV_NETVSC_PROBE_MS as
+ * long as an vdev_netvsc context instance exists.
+ *
+ * @param arg
+ *   Ignored.
+ */
+static void
+vdev_netvsc_alarm(__rte_unused void *arg)
+{
+       struct vdev_netvsc_ctx *ctx;
+       int ret;
+
+       LIST_FOREACH(ctx, &vdev_netvsc_ctx_list, entry) {
+               ret = vdev_netvsc_foreach_iface(vdev_netvsc_device_probe, ctx);
+               if (ret)
+                       break;
+       }
+       if (!vdev_netvsc_ctx_count)
+               return;
+       ret = rte_eal_alarm_set(VDEV_NETVSC_PROBE_MS * 1000,
+                               vdev_netvsc_alarm, NULL);
+       if (ret < 0) {
+               DRV_LOG(ERR, "unable to reschedule alarm callback: %s",
+                       rte_strerror(-ret));
+       }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Probe a NetVSC interface to generate a vdev_netvsc context from.
+ *
+ * This function instantiates vdev_netvsc contexts either for all NetVSC
+ * devices found on the system or only a subset provided as device
+ * arguments.
+ *
+ * It is normally used with vdev_netvsc_foreach_iface().
+ *
+ * @param[in] iface
+ *   Pointer to netdevice description structure (name and index).
+ * @param[in] eth_addr
+ *   MAC address associated with @p iface.
+ * @param ap
+ *   Variable arguments list comprising:
+ *
+ *   - const char *name:
+ *     Name associated with current driver instance.
+ *
+ *   - struct rte_kvargs *kvargs:
+ *     Device arguments provided to current driver instance.
+ *
+ *   - unsigned int specified:
+ *     Number of specific netdevices provided as device arguments.
+ *
+ *   - unsigned int *matched:
+ *     The number of specified netdevices matched by this function.
+ *
+ * @return
+ *   A nonzero value when interface matches, 0 otherwise or in case of
+ *   error.
+ */
+static int
+vdev_netvsc_netvsc_probe(const struct if_nameindex *iface,
+                        const struct ether_addr *eth_addr,
+                        va_list ap)
+{
+       const char *name = va_arg(ap, const char *);
+       struct rte_kvargs *kvargs = va_arg(ap, struct rte_kvargs *);
+       unsigned int specified = va_arg(ap, unsigned int);
+       unsigned int *matched = va_arg(ap, unsigned int *);
+       unsigned int i;
+       struct vdev_netvsc_ctx *ctx;
+       int ret;
+
+       /* Probe all interfaces when none are specified. */
+       if (specified) {
+               for (i = 0; i != kvargs->count; ++i) {
+                       const struct rte_kvargs_pair *pair = &kvargs->pairs[i];
+
+                       if (!strcmp(pair->key, VDEV_NETVSC_ARG_IFACE)) {
+                               if (!strcmp(pair->value, iface->if_name))
+                                       break;
+                       } else if (!strcmp(pair->key, VDEV_NETVSC_ARG_MAC)) {
+                               struct ether_addr tmp;
+
+                               if (sscanf(pair->value,
+                                          "%" SCNx8 ":%" SCNx8 ":%" SCNx8 ":"
+                                          "%" SCNx8 ":%" SCNx8 ":%" SCNx8,
+                                          &tmp.addr_bytes[0],
+                                          &tmp.addr_bytes[1],
+                                          &tmp.addr_bytes[2],
+                                          &tmp.addr_bytes[3],
+                                          &tmp.addr_bytes[4],
+                                          &tmp.addr_bytes[5]) != 6) {
+                                       DRV_LOG(ERR,
+                                               "invalid MAC address format"
+                                               " \"%s\"",
+                                               pair->value);
+                                       return -EINVAL;
+                               }
+                               if (is_same_ether_addr(eth_addr, &tmp))
+                                       break;
+                       }
+               }
+               if (i == kvargs->count)
+                       return 0;
+               ++(*matched);
+       }
+       /* Weed out interfaces already handled. */
+       LIST_FOREACH(ctx, &vdev_netvsc_ctx_list, entry)
+               if (ctx->if_index == iface->if_index)
+                       break;
+       if (ctx) {
+               if (!specified)
+                       return 0;
+               DRV_LOG(WARNING,
+                       "interface \"%s\" (index %u) is already handled,"
+                       " skipping",
+                       iface->if_name, iface->if_index);
+               return 0;
+       }
+       if (!vdev_netvsc_iface_is_netvsc(iface)) {
+               if (!specified)
+                       return 0;
+               DRV_LOG(WARNING,
+                       "interface \"%s\" (index %u) is not NetVSC,"
+                       " skipping",
+                       iface->if_name, iface->if_index);
+               return 0;
+       }
+       /* Create interface context. */
+       ctx = calloc(1, sizeof(*ctx));
+       if (!ctx) {
+               ret = -errno;
+               DRV_LOG(ERR, "cannot allocate context for interface \"%s\": %s",
+                       iface->if_name, rte_strerror(errno));
+               goto error;
+       }
+       ctx->id = vdev_netvsc_ctx_count;
+       strncpy(ctx->if_name, iface->if_name, sizeof(ctx->if_name));
+       ctx->if_index = iface->if_index;
+       ctx->if_addr = *eth_addr;
+       ctx->pipe[0] = -1;
+       ctx->pipe[1] = -1;
+       ctx->yield[0] = '\0';
+       if (pipe(ctx->pipe) == -1) {
+               ret = -errno;
+               DRV_LOG(ERR,
+                       "cannot allocate control pipe for interface \"%s\": %s",
+                       ctx->if_name, rte_strerror(errno));
+               goto error;
+       }
+       for (i = 0; i != RTE_DIM(ctx->pipe); ++i) {
+               int flf = fcntl(ctx->pipe[i], F_GETFL);
+
+               if (flf != -1 &&
+                   fcntl(ctx->pipe[i], F_SETFL, flf | O_NONBLOCK) != -1)
+                       continue;
+               ret = -errno;
+               DRV_LOG(ERR, "cannot toggle non-blocking flag on control file"
+                       " descriptor #%u (%d): %s", i, ctx->pipe[i],
+                       rte_strerror(errno));
+               goto error;
+       }
+       /* Generate virtual device name and arguments. */
+       i = 0;
+       ret = snprintf(ctx->name, sizeof(ctx->name), "%s_id%u",
+                      name, ctx->id);
+       if (ret == -1 || (size_t)ret >= sizeof(ctx->name))
+               ++i;
+       ret = snprintf(ctx->devname, sizeof(ctx->devname), "net_failsafe_%s",
+                      ctx->name);
+       if (ret == -1 || (size_t)ret >= sizeof(ctx->devname))
+               ++i;
+       ret = snprintf(ctx->devargs, sizeof(ctx->devargs),
+                      "fd(%d),dev(net_tap_%s,remote=%s)",
+                      ctx->pipe[0], ctx->name, ctx->if_name);
+       if (ret == -1 || (size_t)ret >= sizeof(ctx->devargs))
+               ++i;
+       if (i) {
+               ret = -ENOBUFS;
+               DRV_LOG(ERR, "generated virtual device name or argument list"
+                       " too long for interface \"%s\"", ctx->if_name);
+               goto error;
+       }
+       /* Request virtual device generation. */
+       DRV_LOG(DEBUG, "generating virtual device \"%s\" with arguments \"%s\"",
+               ctx->devname, ctx->devargs);
+       vdev_netvsc_foreach_iface(vdev_netvsc_device_probe, ctx);
+       ret = rte_eal_hotplug_add("vdev", ctx->devname, ctx->devargs);
+       if (ret)
+               goto error;
+       LIST_INSERT_HEAD(&vdev_netvsc_ctx_list, ctx, entry);
+       ++vdev_netvsc_ctx_count;
+       DRV_LOG(DEBUG, "added NetVSC interface \"%s\" to context list",
+               ctx->if_name);
+       return 0;
+error:
+       if (ctx)
+               vdev_netvsc_ctx_destroy(ctx);
+       return ret;
+}
+
 /**
  * Probe NetVSC interfaces.
  *
+ * This function probes system netdevices according to the specified device
+ * arguments and starts a periodic alarm callback to notify the resulting
+ * fail-safe PMD instances of their sub-devices whereabouts.
+ *
  * @param dev
  *   Virtual device context for driver instance.
  *
@@ -49,12 +557,40 @@ vdev_netvsc_vdev_probe(struct rte_vdev_device *dev)
        const char *args = rte_vdev_device_args(dev);
        struct rte_kvargs *kvargs = rte_kvargs_parse(args ? args : "",
                                                     vdev_netvsc_arg);
+       unsigned int specified = 0;
+       unsigned int matched = 0;
+       unsigned int i;
+       int ret;
 
        DRV_LOG(DEBUG, "invoked as \"%s\", using arguments \"%s\"", name, args);
        if (!kvargs) {
                DRV_LOG(ERR, "cannot parse arguments list");
                goto error;
        }
+       for (i = 0; i != kvargs->count; ++i) {
+               const struct rte_kvargs_pair *pair = &kvargs->pairs[i];
+
+               if (!strcmp(pair->key, VDEV_NETVSC_ARG_IFACE) ||
+                   !strcmp(pair->key, VDEV_NETVSC_ARG_MAC))
+                       ++specified;
+       }
+       rte_eal_alarm_cancel(vdev_netvsc_alarm, NULL);
+       /* Gather interfaces. */
+       ret = vdev_netvsc_foreach_iface(vdev_netvsc_netvsc_probe, name, kvargs,
+                                       specified, &matched);
+       if (ret < 0)
+               goto error;
+       if (matched < specified)
+               DRV_LOG(WARNING,
+                       "some of the specified parameters did not match"
+                       " recognized network interfaces");
+       ret = rte_eal_alarm_set(VDEV_NETVSC_PROBE_MS * 1000,
+                               vdev_netvsc_alarm, NULL);
+       if (ret < 0) {
+               DRV_LOG(ERR, "unable to schedule alarm callback: %s",
+                       rte_strerror(-ret));
+               goto error;
+       }
 error:
        if (kvargs)
                rte_kvargs_free(kvargs);
@@ -65,6 +601,9 @@ error:
 /**
  * Remove driver instance.
  *
+ * The alarm callback and underlying vdev_netvsc context instances are only
+ * destroyed after the last PMD instance is removed.
+ *
  * @param dev
  *   Virtual device context for driver instance.
  *
@@ -74,7 +613,16 @@ error:
 static int
 vdev_netvsc_vdev_remove(__rte_unused struct rte_vdev_device *dev)
 {
-       --vdev_netvsc_ctx_inst;
+       if (--vdev_netvsc_ctx_inst)
+               return 0;
+       rte_eal_alarm_cancel(vdev_netvsc_alarm, NULL);
+       while (!LIST_EMPTY(&vdev_netvsc_ctx_list)) {
+               struct vdev_netvsc_ctx *ctx = LIST_FIRST(&vdev_netvsc_ctx_list);
+
+               LIST_REMOVE(ctx, entry);
+               --vdev_netvsc_ctx_count;
+               vdev_netvsc_ctx_destroy(ctx);
+       }
        return 0;
 }