Best Practices for Drivers

A properly designed and implemented driver will run correctly on both single-processor and multiprocessor systems. Because Windows is a fully preemptible operating system, most of the problems commonly observed on multiprocessor systems will eventually occur on single-processor systems, too.

Here are a few guidelines to help you develop drivers that operate properly and perform well on both single-processor and multiprocessor architectures:

· Assume that every driver will run on multiprocessor systems.

· Test every driver on as many different hardware configurations as possible. Always test drivers on multiprocessor systems to find errors that are related to locking, synchronization, and concurrency.

· Identify data and memory locations that are shared and might be accessed concurrently. Use locks to ensure that all potentially concurrent accesses occur serially.

· Use the simplest synchronization technique that meets your needs. Use interlocked operations and spin locks to perform atomic operations.

· Protect against compiler and processor reordering when required.

· Use standard Windows synchronization mechanisms whenever possible. They have implied memory barriers and are guaranteed to work on all supported hardware platforms.

· Write platform-neutral code. Do not create special cases in code for architecture-specific reordering scenarios.

· Use Driver Verifier and CUV to test for synchronization and locking problems.

· Use Kernrate, KrView, and (on Windows Vista) DevCon to collect performance data on multiprocessor systems.

Resources

General multiprocessor information:

Inside Microsoft Windows 2000, Third Edition
Solomon, David A. and Mark Russinovich. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2000.

Intel Itanium Architecture Software Developer’s Manual
http://www.intel.com/

Synchronization:

“Scheduling, Thread Context, and IRQL”
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/kernel/IRQL.mspx

“Locks, Deadlocks, and Synchronization”
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/kernel/locks.mspx

Testing:

“Analyze Driver Performance”
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/perform/drvperf.mspx

Microsoft Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK) Documentation:

Kernel-Mode Driver Architecture Design Guide
Synchronization Techniques

Kernel-Mode Driver Architecture Reference
Standard Driver Routines
Driver Support Routines

Driver Development Tools
Tools for Testing Drivers

Debugger extensions:

Debugging Tools for Windows
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/Debugging/default.mspx

Additional Tools:

Windows Resource Kit
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/default.asp

[1] Called with any PnP minor IRP code.

[2] Includes all driver dispatch routines except DispatchPower and DispatchPnP.

[3] Called with the minor IRP code IRP_MN_SET_POWER or IRP_MN_QUERY_POWER and Parameters.Power.Type set to SystemPowerState.

[4] Called with the minor IRP code IRP_MN_SET_POWER or IRP_MN_QUERY_POWER and Parameters.Power.Type set to DevicePowerState.

[5] Cancel routine is set in IoSetCancelRoutine and IoStartPacket.

[6] Called with the PnP minor IRP code IRP_MN_START_DEVICE.

[7] Called with any PnP minor IRP code except IRP_MN_START_DEVICE.

[8] Can be concurrent if driver supports more than one device. StartIo can be called any time after IRP_MN_START_DEVICE has completed for the target device.

[9] Includes all Dispatch routines except DispatchPnp and DispatchPower.

[10] Minor IRP codes IRP_MN_CANCEL_REMOVE_DEVICE, IRP_MN_CANCEL_STOP_DEVICE, IRP_MN_QUERY_REMOVE_DEVICE, IRP_MN_QUERY_STOP_DEVICE, IRP_MN_REMOVE_DEVICE, IRP_MN_START_DEVICE, IRP_MN_STOP_DEVICE, or IRP_MN_SURPRISE_REMOVAL.

[11] Called with minor IRP code IRP_MN_SET_POWER or IRP_MN_QUERY_POWER and Parameters.Power.Type set to SystemPowerState.

[12] Called with minor IRP code IRP_MN_SET_POWER or IRP_MN_QUERY_POWER and Parameters.Power.Type set to DevicePowerState.

[13] Cancel routine is set by a call to IoSetCancelRoutine or IoStartPacket.

[14] The InterruptService routine (ISR) cannot be called until IoConnectInterrupt has completed for the device, typically during processing of an IRP_MN_START_DEVICE request. The ISR can be called concurrently while the interrupt is connected.

[15] DispatchPnP can be called with state-change IRPs until IRP_MN_REMOVE_DEVICE has been completed.

[16] StartIo routine can be made noncancelable in a call to IoSetStartIoAttributes.

[17] Depends on the type of driver. In a WDM driver, they cannot be concurrent because the driver disconnects interrupts before Unload is called. In a legacy driver, they can be concurrent because the driver disconnects interrupts in the Unload routine.

[18] Includes Dispatch routines for all IRP major function codes except IRP_MJ_PNP, IRP_MJ_POWER, IRP_MJ_CREATE, IRP_MJ_CLOSE, and IRP_MJ_CLEANUP.

[19] Cancel routine can be set by a call to IoSetCancelRoutine or IoStartPacket.

[20] Support of cancellation of IRP_MJ_CREATE requests is planned for Windows Vista.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1055