diff --git a/include/linux/kvm.h b/include/linux/kvm.h
index 1c908ac29c6c3287c2d0934ea1ca4a691dfce982..0ea064cbfbc8660a7119a22546165ca3ec3387cd 100644
--- a/include/linux/kvm.h
+++ b/include/linux/kvm.h
@@ -318,14 +318,14 @@ struct kvm_trace_rec {
 	__u32 vcpu_id;
 	union {
 		struct {
-			__u32 cycle_lo, cycle_hi;
+			__u64 cycle_u64;
 			__u32 extra_u32[KVM_TRC_EXTRA_MAX];
 		} cycle;
 		struct {
 			__u32 extra_u32[KVM_TRC_EXTRA_MAX];
 		} nocycle;
 	} u;
-};
+} __attribute__((packed));
 
 #define KVMIO 0xAE
 
diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_trace.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_trace.c
index 0e495470788da6b83061e2f9c6192ec76b809fb2..58141f31ea8fb218f8091b16f192857615ad66b6 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/kvm_trace.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_trace.c
@@ -72,11 +72,7 @@ static void kvm_add_trace(void *probe_private, void *call_data,
 	rec.cycle_in 	= p->cycle_in;
 
 	if (rec.cycle_in) {
-		u64 cycle = 0;
-
-		cycle = get_cycles();
-		rec.u.cycle.cycle_lo = (u32)cycle;
-		rec.u.cycle.cycle_hi = (u32)(cycle >> 32);
+		rec.u.cycle.cycle_u64 = get_cycles();
 
 		for (i = 0; i < rec.extra_u32; i++)
 			rec.u.cycle.extra_u32[i] = va_arg(*args, u32);
@@ -114,8 +110,18 @@ static int kvm_subbuf_start_callback(struct rchan_buf *buf, void *subbuf,
 {
 	struct kvm_trace *kt;
 
-	if (!relay_buf_full(buf))
+	if (!relay_buf_full(buf)) {
+		if (!prev_subbuf) {
+			/*
+			 * executed only once when the channel is opened
+			 * save metadata as first record
+			 */
+			subbuf_start_reserve(buf, sizeof(u32));
+			*(u32 *)subbuf = 0x12345678;
+		}
+
 		return 1;
+	}
 
 	kt = buf->chan->private_data;
 	atomic_inc(&kt->lost_records);