Inter-processor interrupt: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:57, 28 December 2013

Revision as of 00:07, 29 December 2013

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{{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}}

An '''inter-processor interrupt''' ('''IPI''') is a special type of [[interrupt]] by which one processor may interrupt another processor in a [[multiprocessor]] system whenif the firstinterrupting processor requires action from the other processor. Actions that might be requested include:

* flushes of [[memory management unit]] caches, such as [[translation lookaside buffer]]s, on other processors when memory mappings are changed by one processor;

* stopping when the system is being shut down by one processor.

== Mechanism ==

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=== Linux/Unix ===

In Unix/Linux, the IPI interrupt is often used by the CPU in the [[Symmetric multiprocessor|SMP]] and [[Asymmetric multiprocessing|AMP]] configurations to communicate with other processors in the setup.

== Other uses ==

In [[x86 architecture|x86]] based systems, an IPI synchronizes the cache and [[memory management unit]] (MMU) between processors.

==See also==