Linux Returns To Parallel CPU Microcode Updates To Reduce Cloud Disruption

[schmidtbag]

How slow can it possibly be? I understand every second counts for large servers but I didn't think the microcode updates were slow enough to even notice they were happening. But, I honestly have no idea how long it takes per-core.

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux Returns To Parallel CPU Microcode Updates To Reduce Cloud Disruption

Following the Spectre mitigations coming to light last year, the late microcode update process for CPUs was serialized. However, this has led to complaints from cloud vendors and other customers with large core count servers where downtime/disruptions need to be minimal. So now the CPU microcode update process is being parallelized again...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Restores-Parallel-ucode