From ad56b738c5dd223a2f66685830f82194025a6138 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Rapoport Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:22:47 +0200 Subject: docs/vm: rename documentation files to .rst Signed-off-by: Mike Rapoport Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet --- Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node | 2 +- .../ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-hugepages | 2 +- Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-ksm | 2 +- Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-slab | 4 +- Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 12 +- Documentation/dev-tools/kasan.rst | 2 +- Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt | 4 +- Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt | 2 +- Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt | 6 +- Documentation/vm/00-INDEX | 58 +- Documentation/vm/active_mm.rst | 91 +++ Documentation/vm/active_mm.txt | 91 --- Documentation/vm/balance | 102 ---- Documentation/vm/balance.rst | 102 ++++ Documentation/vm/cleancache.rst | 296 ++++++++++ Documentation/vm/cleancache.txt | 296 ---------- Documentation/vm/frontswap.rst | 293 ++++++++++ Documentation/vm/frontswap.txt | 293 ---------- Documentation/vm/highmem.rst | 147 +++++ Documentation/vm/highmem.txt | 147 ----- Documentation/vm/hmm.rst | 374 +++++++++++++ Documentation/vm/hmm.txt | 374 ------------- Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.rst | 587 ++++++++++++++++++++ Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.txt | 587 -------------------- Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst | 386 +++++++++++++ Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt | 386 ------------- Documentation/vm/hwpoison.rst | 186 +++++++ Documentation/vm/hwpoison.txt | 186 ------- Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.rst | 115 ++++ Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.txt | 115 ---- Documentation/vm/ksm.rst | 183 ++++++ Documentation/vm/ksm.txt | 183 ------ Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst | 99 ++++ Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt | 99 ---- Documentation/vm/numa | 150 ----- Documentation/vm/numa.rst | 150 +++++ Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst | 485 ++++++++++++++++ Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt | 485 ---------------- Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting | 87 --- Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst | 87 +++ Documentation/vm/page_frags | 45 -- Documentation/vm/page_frags.rst | 45 ++ Documentation/vm/page_migration | 257 --------- Documentation/vm/page_migration.rst | 257 +++++++++ Documentation/vm/page_owner.rst | 90 +++ Documentation/vm/page_owner.txt | 90 --- Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst | 197 +++++++ Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt | 197 ------- Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.rst | 33 ++ Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.txt | 33 -- Documentation/vm/slub.rst | 361 ++++++++++++ Documentation/vm/slub.txt | 361 ------------ Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst | 47 ++ Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt | 47 -- Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock | 100 ---- Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock.rst | 100 ++++ Documentation/vm/swap_numa.rst | 80 +++ Documentation/vm/swap_numa.txt | 80 --- Documentation/vm/transhuge.rst | 573 +++++++++++++++++++ Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt | 573 ------------------- Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.rst | 614 +++++++++++++++++++++ Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.txt | 614 --------------------- Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.rst | 241 ++++++++ Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.txt | 241 -------- Documentation/vm/z3fold.rst | 30 + Documentation/vm/z3fold.txt | 30 - Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.rst | 82 +++ Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.txt | 82 --- Documentation/vm/zswap.rst | 135 +++++ Documentation/vm/zswap.txt | 135 ----- MAINTAINERS | 2 +- arch/alpha/Kconfig | 2 +- arch/ia64/Kconfig | 2 +- arch/mips/Kconfig | 2 +- arch/powerpc/Kconfig | 2 +- fs/Kconfig | 2 +- fs/dax.c | 2 +- fs/proc/task_mmu.c | 4 +- include/linux/hmm.h | 2 +- include/linux/memremap.h | 4 +- include/linux/mmu_notifier.h | 2 +- include/linux/sched/mm.h | 4 +- include/linux/swap.h | 2 +- mm/Kconfig | 6 +- mm/cleancache.c | 2 +- mm/frontswap.c | 2 +- mm/hmm.c | 2 +- mm/huge_memory.c | 4 +- mm/hugetlb.c | 4 +- mm/ksm.c | 4 +- mm/mmap.c | 2 +- mm/rmap.c | 6 +- mm/util.c | 2 +- 93 files changed, 6546 insertions(+), 6546 deletions(-) create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/active_mm.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/active_mm.txt delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/balance create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/balance.rst create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/cleancache.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/cleancache.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/frontswap.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/frontswap.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/highmem.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/highmem.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hmm.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hmm.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hwpoison.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/hwpoison.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/ksm.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/ksm.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/numa create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/numa.rst create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/page_frags create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/page_frags.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/page_migration create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/page_migration.rst create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/page_owner.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/page_owner.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/slub.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/slub.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock.rst create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/swap_numa.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/swap_numa.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/transhuge.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/z3fold.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/z3fold.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.txt create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/zswap.rst delete mode 100644 Documentation/vm/zswap.txt diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node b/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node index 5b2d0f08867c..b38f4b734567 100644 --- a/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node +++ b/Documentation/ABI/stable/sysfs-devices-node @@ -90,4 +90,4 @@ Date: December 2009 Contact: Lee Schermerhorn Description: The node's huge page size control/query attributes. - See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt \ No newline at end of file + See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-hugepages b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-hugepages index e21c00571cf4..5140b233356c 100644 --- a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-hugepages +++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-hugepages @@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ Description: free_hugepages surplus_hugepages resv_hugepages - See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt for details. + See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst for details. diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-ksm b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-ksm index 73e653ee2481..dfc13244cda3 100644 --- a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-ksm +++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-mm-ksm @@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Description: Kernel Samepage Merging daemon sysfs interface sleep_millisecs: how many milliseconds ksm should sleep between scans. - See Documentation/vm/ksm.txt for more information. + See Documentation/vm/ksm.rst for more information. What: /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/merge_across_nodes Date: January 2013 diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-slab b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-slab index 2cc0a72b64be..29601d93a1c2 100644 --- a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-slab +++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-kernel-slab @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Description: The alloc_calls file is read-only and lists the kernel code locations from which allocations for this cache were performed. The alloc_calls file only contains information if debugging is - enabled for that cache (see Documentation/vm/slub.txt). + enabled for that cache (see Documentation/vm/slub.rst). What: /sys/kernel/slab/cache/alloc_fastpath Date: February 2008 @@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ Contact: Pekka Enberg , Description: The free_calls file is read-only and lists the locations of object frees if slab debugging is enabled (see - Documentation/vm/slub.txt). + Documentation/vm/slub.rst). What: /sys/kernel/slab/cache/free_fastpath Date: February 2008 diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt index 1d1d53f85ddd..5d6e5509c049 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt @@ -3887,7 +3887,7 @@ cache (risks via metadata attacks are mostly unchanged). Debug options disable merging on their own. - For more information see Documentation/vm/slub.txt. + For more information see Documentation/vm/slub.rst. slab_max_order= [MM, SLAB] Determines the maximum allowed order for slabs. @@ -3901,7 +3901,7 @@ slub_debug can create guard zones around objects and may poison objects when not in use. Also tracks the last alloc / free. For more information see - Documentation/vm/slub.txt. + Documentation/vm/slub.rst. slub_memcg_sysfs= [MM, SLUB] Determines whether to enable sysfs directories for @@ -3915,7 +3915,7 @@ Determines the maximum allowed order for slabs. A high setting may cause OOMs due to memory fragmentation. For more information see - Documentation/vm/slub.txt. + Documentation/vm/slub.rst. slub_min_objects= [MM, SLUB] The minimum number of objects per slab. SLUB will @@ -3924,12 +3924,12 @@ the number of objects indicated. The higher the number of objects the smaller the overhead of tracking slabs and the less frequently locks need to be acquired. - For more information see Documentation/vm/slub.txt. + For more information see Documentation/vm/slub.rst. slub_min_order= [MM, SLUB] Determines the minimum page order for slabs. Must be lower than slub_max_order. - For more information see Documentation/vm/slub.txt. + For more information see Documentation/vm/slub.rst. slub_nomerge [MM, SLUB] Same with slab_nomerge. This is supported for legacy. @@ -4285,7 +4285,7 @@ Format: [always|madvise|never] Can be used to control the default behavior of the system with respect to transparent hugepages. - See Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt for more details. + See Documentation/vm/transhuge.rst for more details. tsc= Disable clocksource stability checks for TSC. Format: diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/kasan.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/kasan.rst index f7a18f274357..aabc8738b3d8 100644 --- a/Documentation/dev-tools/kasan.rst +++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/kasan.rst @@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ A typical out of bounds access report looks like this:: The header of the report discribe what kind of bug happened and what kind of access caused it. It's followed by the description of the accessed slub object -(see 'SLUB Debug output' section in Documentation/vm/slub.txt for details) and +(see 'SLUB Debug output' section in Documentation/vm/slub.rst for details) and the description of the accessed memory page. In the last section the report shows memory state around the accessed address. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt index 2a84bb334894..2d3984c70feb 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt @@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ guarantees: The /proc/PID/clear_refs is used to reset the PG_Referenced and ACCESSED/YOUNG bits on both physical and virtual pages associated with a process, and the -soft-dirty bit on pte (see Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt for details). +soft-dirty bit on pte (see Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst for details). To clear the bits for all the pages associated with the process > echo 1 > /proc/PID/clear_refs @@ -536,7 +536,7 @@ Any other value written to /proc/PID/clear_refs will have no effect. The /proc/pid/pagemap gives the PFN, which can be used to find the pageflags using /proc/kpageflags and number of times a page is mapped using -/proc/kpagecount. For detailed explanation, see Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt. +/proc/kpagecount. For detailed explanation, see Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst. The /proc/pid/numa_maps is an extension based on maps, showing the memory locality and binding policy, as well as the memory usage (in pages) of diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt index a85355cf85f4..627389a34f77 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/tmpfs.txt @@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ policy for the file will revert to "default" policy. NUMA memory allocation policies have optional flags that can be used in conjunction with their modes. These optional flags can be specified when tmpfs is mounted by appending them to the mode before the NodeList. -See Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt for a list of all available +See Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst for a list of all available memory allocation policy mode flags and their effect on memory policy. =static is equivalent to MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt index ff234d229cbb..ef581a940439 100644 --- a/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt +++ b/Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt @@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ nr_hugepages Change the minimum size of the hugepage pool. -See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt +See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst ============================================================== @@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ nr_overcommit_hugepages Change the maximum size of the hugepage pool. The maximum is nr_hugepages + nr_overcommit_hugepages. -See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt +See Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst ============================================================== @@ -668,7 +668,7 @@ and don't use much of it. The default value is 0. -See Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting and +See Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst and mm/mmap.c::__vm_enough_memory() for more information. ============================================================== diff --git a/Documentation/vm/00-INDEX b/Documentation/vm/00-INDEX index 0278f2c85efb..cda564d55b3c 100644 --- a/Documentation/vm/00-INDEX +++ b/Documentation/vm/00-INDEX @@ -1,62 +1,62 @@ 00-INDEX - this file. -active_mm.txt +active_mm.rst - An explanation from Linus about tsk->active_mm vs tsk->mm. -balance +balance.rst - various information on memory balancing. -cleancache.txt +cleancache.rst - Intro to cleancache and page-granularity victim cache. -frontswap.txt +frontswap.rst - Outline frontswap, part of the transcendent memory frontend. -highmem.txt +highmem.rst - Outline of highmem and common issues. -hmm.txt +hmm.rst - Documentation of heterogeneous memory management -hugetlbpage.txt +hugetlbpage.rst - a brief summary of hugetlbpage support in the Linux kernel. -hugetlbfs_reserv.txt +hugetlbfs_reserv.rst - A brief overview of hugetlbfs reservation design/implementation. -hwpoison.txt +hwpoison.rst - explains what hwpoison is -idle_page_tracking.txt +idle_page_tracking.rst - description of the idle page tracking feature. -ksm.txt +ksm.rst - how to use the Kernel Samepage Merging feature. -mmu_notifier.txt +mmu_notifier.rst - a note about clearing pte/pmd and mmu notifications -numa +numa.rst - information about NUMA specific code in the Linux vm. -numa_memory_policy.txt +numa_memory_policy.rst - documentation of concepts and APIs of the 2.6 memory policy support. -overcommit-accounting +overcommit-accounting.rst - description of the Linux kernels overcommit handling modes. -page_frags +page_frags.rst - description of page fragments allocator -page_migration +page_migration.rst - description of page migration in NUMA systems. -pagemap.txt +pagemap.rst - pagemap, from the userspace perspective -page_owner.txt +page_owner.rst - tracking about who allocated each page -remap_file_pages.txt +remap_file_pages.rst - a note about remap_file_pages() system call -slub.txt +slub.rst - a short users guide for SLUB. -soft-dirty.txt +soft-dirty.rst - short explanation for soft-dirty PTEs -split_page_table_lock +split_page_table_lock.rst - Separate per-table lock to improve scalability of the old page_table_lock. -swap_numa.txt +swap_numa.rst - automatic binding of swap device to numa node -transhuge.txt +transhuge.rst - Transparent Hugepage Support, alternative way of using hugepages. -unevictable-lru.txt +unevictable-lru.rst - Unevictable LRU infrastructure -userfaultfd.txt +userfaultfd.rst - description of userfaultfd system call z3fold.txt - outline of z3fold allocator for storing compressed pages -zsmalloc.txt +zsmalloc.rst - outline of zsmalloc allocator for storing compressed pages -zswap.txt +zswap.rst - Intro to compressed cache for swap pages diff --git a/Documentation/vm/active_mm.rst b/Documentation/vm/active_mm.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..c84471b180f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/active_mm.rst @@ -0,0 +1,91 @@ +.. _active_mm: + +========= +Active MM +========= + +:: + + List: linux-kernel + Subject: Re: active_mm + From: Linus Torvalds + Date: 1999-07-30 21:36:24 + + Cc'd to linux-kernel, because I don't write explanations all that often, + and when I do I feel better about more people reading them. + + On Fri, 30 Jul 1999, David Mosberger wrote: + > + > Is there a brief description someplace on how "mm" vs. "active_mm" in + > the task_struct are supposed to be used? (My apologies if this was + > discussed on the mailing lists---I just returned from vacation and + > wasn't able to follow linux-kernel for a while). + + Basically, the new setup is: + + - we have "real address spaces" and "anonymous address spaces". The + difference is that an anonymous address space doesn't care about the + user-level page tables at all, so when we do a context switch into an + anonymous address space we just leave the previous address space + active. + + The obvious use for a "anonymous address space" is any thread that + doesn't need any user mappings - all kernel threads basically fall into + this category, but even "real" threads can temporarily say that for + some amount of time they are not going to be interested in user space, + and that the scheduler might as well try to avoid wasting time on + switching the VM state around. Currently only the old-style bdflush + sync does that. + + - "tsk->mm" points to the "real address space". For an anonymous process, + tsk->mm will be NULL, for the logical reason that an anonymous process + really doesn't _have_ a real address space at all. + + - however, we obviously need to keep track of which address space we + "stole" for such an anonymous user. For that, we have "tsk->active_mm", + which shows what the currently active address space is. + + The rule is that for a process with a real address space (ie tsk->mm is + non-NULL) the active_mm obviously always has to be the same as the real + one. + + For a anonymous process, tsk->mm == NULL, and tsk->active_mm is the + "borrowed" mm while the anonymous process is running. When the + anonymous process gets scheduled away, the borrowed address space is + returned and cleared. + + To support all that, the "struct mm_struct" now has two counters: a + "mm_users" counter that is how many "real address space users" there are, + and a "mm_count" counter that is the number of "lazy" users (ie anonymous + users) plus one if there are any real users. + + Usually there is at least one real user, but it could be that the real + user exited on another CPU while a lazy user was still active, so you do + actually get cases where you have a address space that is _only_ used by + lazy users. That is often a short-lived state, because once that thread + gets scheduled away in favour of a real thread, the "zombie" mm gets + released because "mm_users" becomes zero. + + Also, a new rule is that _nobody_ ever has "init_mm" as a real MM any + more. "init_mm" should be considered just a "lazy context when no other + context is available", and in fact it is mainly used just at bootup when + no real VM has yet been created. So code that used to check + + if (current->mm == &init_mm) + + should generally just do + + if (!current->mm) + + instead (which makes more sense anyway - the test is basically one of "do + we have a user context", and is generally done by the page fault handler + and things like that). + + Anyway, I put a pre-patch-2.3.13-1 on ftp.kernel.org just a moment ago, + because it slightly changes the interfaces to accommodate the alpha (who + would have thought it, but the alpha actually ends up having one of the + ugliest context switch codes - unlike the other architectures where the MM + and register state is separate, the alpha PALcode joins the two, and you + need to switch both together). + + (From http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=93337278602211&w=2) diff --git a/Documentation/vm/active_mm.txt b/Documentation/vm/active_mm.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c84471b180f8..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/active_mm.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,91 +0,0 @@ -.. _active_mm: - -========= -Active MM -========= - -:: - - List: linux-kernel - Subject: Re: active_mm - From: Linus Torvalds - Date: 1999-07-30 21:36:24 - - Cc'd to linux-kernel, because I don't write explanations all that often, - and when I do I feel better about more people reading them. - - On Fri, 30 Jul 1999, David Mosberger wrote: - > - > Is there a brief description someplace on how "mm" vs. "active_mm" in - > the task_struct are supposed to be used? (My apologies if this was - > discussed on the mailing lists---I just returned from vacation and - > wasn't able to follow linux-kernel for a while). - - Basically, the new setup is: - - - we have "real address spaces" and "anonymous address spaces". The - difference is that an anonymous address space doesn't care about the - user-level page tables at all, so when we do a context switch into an - anonymous address space we just leave the previous address space - active. - - The obvious use for a "anonymous address space" is any thread that - doesn't need any user mappings - all kernel threads basically fall into - this category, but even "real" threads can temporarily say that for - some amount of time they are not going to be interested in user space, - and that the scheduler might as well try to avoid wasting time on - switching the VM state around. Currently only the old-style bdflush - sync does that. - - - "tsk->mm" points to the "real address space". For an anonymous process, - tsk->mm will be NULL, for the logical reason that an anonymous process - really doesn't _have_ a real address space at all. - - - however, we obviously need to keep track of which address space we - "stole" for such an anonymous user. For that, we have "tsk->active_mm", - which shows what the currently active address space is. - - The rule is that for a process with a real address space (ie tsk->mm is - non-NULL) the active_mm obviously always has to be the same as the real - one. - - For a anonymous process, tsk->mm == NULL, and tsk->active_mm is the - "borrowed" mm while the anonymous process is running. When the - anonymous process gets scheduled away, the borrowed address space is - returned and cleared. - - To support all that, the "struct mm_struct" now has two counters: a - "mm_users" counter that is how many "real address space users" there are, - and a "mm_count" counter that is the number of "lazy" users (ie anonymous - users) plus one if there are any real users. - - Usually there is at least one real user, but it could be that the real - user exited on another CPU while a lazy user was still active, so you do - actually get cases where you have a address space that is _only_ used by - lazy users. That is often a short-lived state, because once that thread - gets scheduled away in favour of a real thread, the "zombie" mm gets - released because "mm_users" becomes zero. - - Also, a new rule is that _nobody_ ever has "init_mm" as a real MM any - more. "init_mm" should be considered just a "lazy context when no other - context is available", and in fact it is mainly used just at bootup when - no real VM has yet been created. So code that used to check - - if (current->mm == &init_mm) - - should generally just do - - if (!current->mm) - - instead (which makes more sense anyway - the test is basically one of "do - we have a user context", and is generally done by the page fault handler - and things like that). - - Anyway, I put a pre-patch-2.3.13-1 on ftp.kernel.org just a moment ago, - because it slightly changes the interfaces to accommodate the alpha (who - would have thought it, but the alpha actually ends up having one of the - ugliest context switch codes - unlike the other architectures where the MM - and register state is separate, the alpha PALcode joins the two, and you - need to switch both together). - - (From http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=93337278602211&w=2) diff --git a/Documentation/vm/balance b/Documentation/vm/balance deleted file mode 100644 index 6a1fadf3e173..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/balance +++ /dev/null @@ -1,102 +0,0 @@ -.. _balance: - -================ -Memory Balancing -================ - -Started Jan 2000 by Kanoj Sarcar - -Memory balancing is needed for !__GFP_ATOMIC and !__GFP_KSWAPD_RECLAIM as -well as for non __GFP_IO allocations. - -The first reason why a caller may avoid reclaim is that the caller can not -sleep due to holding a spinlock or is in interrupt context. The second may -be that the caller is willing to fail the allocation without incurring the -overhead of page reclaim. This may happen for opportunistic high-order -allocation requests that have order-0 fallback options. In such cases, -the caller may also wish to avoid waking kswapd. - -__GFP_IO allocation requests are made to prevent file system deadlocks. - -In the absence of non sleepable allocation requests, it seems detrimental -to be doing balancing. Page reclamation can be kicked off lazily, that -is, only when needed (aka zone free memory is 0), instead of making it -a proactive process. - -That being said, the kernel should try to fulfill requests for direct -mapped pages from the direct mapped pool, instead of falling back on -the dma pool, so as to keep the dma pool filled for dma requests (atomic -or not). A similar argument applies to highmem and direct mapped pages. -OTOH, if there is a lot of free dma pages, it is preferable to satisfy -regular memory requests by allocating one from the dma pool, instead -of incurring the overhead of regular zone balancing. - -In 2.2, memory balancing/page reclamation would kick off only when the -_total_ number of free pages fell below 1/64 th of total memory. With the -right ratio of dma and regular memory, it is quite possible that balancing -would not be done even when the dma zone was completely empty. 2.2 has -been running production machines of varying memory sizes, and seems to be -doing fine even with the presence of this problem. In 2.3, due to -HIGHMEM, this problem is aggravated. - -In 2.3, zone balancing can be done in one of two ways: depending on the -zone size (and possibly of the size of lower class zones), we can decide -at init time how many free pages we should aim for while balancing any -zone. The good part is, while balancing, we do not need to look at sizes -of lower class zones, the bad part is, we might do too frequent balancing -due to ignoring possibly lower usage in the lower class zones. Also, -with a slight change in the allocation routine, it is possible to reduce -the memclass() macro to be a simple equality. - -Another possible solution is that we balance only when the free memory -of a zone _and_ all its lower class zones falls below 1/64th of the -total memory in the zone and its lower class zones. This fixes the 2.2 -balancing problem, and stays as close to 2.2 behavior as possible. Also, -the balancing algorithm works the same way on the various architectures, -which have different numbers and types of zones. If we wanted to get -fancy, we could assign different weights to free pages in different -zones in the future. - -Note that if the size of the regular zone is huge compared to dma zone, -it becomes less significant to consider the free dma pages while -deciding whether to balance the regular zone. The first solution -becomes more attractive then. - -The appended patch implements the second solution. It also "fixes" two -problems: first, kswapd is woken up as in 2.2 on low memory conditions -for non-sleepable allocations. Second, the HIGHMEM zone is also balanced, -so as to give a fighting chance for replace_with_highmem() to get a -HIGHMEM page, as well as to ensure that HIGHMEM allocations do not -fall back into regular zone. This also makes sure that HIGHMEM pages -are not leaked (for example, in situations where a HIGHMEM page is in -the swapcache but is not being used by anyone) - -kswapd also needs to know about the zones it should balance. kswapd is -primarily needed in a situation where balancing can not be done, -probably because all allocation requests are coming from intr context -and all process contexts are sleeping. For 2.3, kswapd does not really -need to balance the highmem zone, since intr context does not request -highmem pages. kswapd looks at the zone_wake_kswapd field in the zone -structure to decide whether a zone needs balancing. - -Page stealing from process memory and shm is done if stealing the page would -alleviate memory pressure on any zone in the page's node that has fallen below -its watermark. - -watemark[WMARK_MIN/WMARK_LOW/WMARK_HIGH]/low_on_memory/zone_wake_kswapd: These -are per-zone fields, used to determine when a zone needs to be balanced. When -the number of pages falls below watermark[WMARK_MIN], the hysteric field -low_on_memory gets set. This stays set till the number of free pages becomes -watermark[WMARK_HIGH]. When low_on_memory is set, page allocation requests will -try to free some pages in the zone (providing GFP_WAIT is set in the request). -Orthogonal to this, is the decision to poke kswapd to free some zone pages. -That decision is not hysteresis based, and is done when the number of free -pages is below watermark[WMARK_LOW]; in which case zone_wake_kswapd is also set. - - -(Good) Ideas that I have heard: - -1. Dynamic experience should influence balancing: number of failed requests - for a zone can be tracked and fed into the balancing scheme (jalvo@mbay.net) -2. Implement a replace_with_highmem()-like replace_with_regular() to preserve - dma pages. (lkd@tantalophile.demon.co.uk) diff --git a/Documentation/vm/balance.rst b/Documentation/vm/balance.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..6a1fadf3e173 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/balance.rst @@ -0,0 +1,102 @@ +.. _balance: + +================ +Memory Balancing +================ + +Started Jan 2000 by Kanoj Sarcar + +Memory balancing is needed for !__GFP_ATOMIC and !__GFP_KSWAPD_RECLAIM as +well as for non __GFP_IO allocations. + +The first reason why a caller may avoid reclaim is that the caller can not +sleep due to holding a spinlock or is in interrupt context. The second may +be that the caller is willing to fail the allocation without incurring the +overhead of page reclaim. This may happen for opportunistic high-order +allocation requests that have order-0 fallback options. In such cases, +the caller may also wish to avoid waking kswapd. + +__GFP_IO allocation requests are made to prevent file system deadlocks. + +In the absence of non sleepable allocation requests, it seems detrimental +to be doing balancing. Page reclamation can be kicked off lazily, that +is, only when needed (aka zone free memory is 0), instead of making it +a proactive process. + +That being said, the kernel should try to fulfill requests for direct +mapped pages from the direct mapped pool, instead of falling back on +the dma pool, so as to keep the dma pool filled for dma requests (atomic +or not). A similar argument applies to highmem and direct mapped pages. +OTOH, if there is a lot of free dma pages, it is preferable to satisfy +regular memory requests by allocating one from the dma pool, instead +of incurring the overhead of regular zone balancing. + +In 2.2, memory balancing/page reclamation would kick off only when the +_total_ number of free pages fell below 1/64 th of total memory. With the +right ratio of dma and regular memory, it is quite possible that balancing +would not be done even when the dma zone was completely empty. 2.2 has +been running production machines of varying memory sizes, and seems to be +doing fine even with the presence of this problem. In 2.3, due to +HIGHMEM, this problem is aggravated. + +In 2.3, zone balancing can be done in one of two ways: depending on the +zone size (and possibly of the size of lower class zones), we can decide +at init time how many free pages we should aim for while balancing any +zone. The good part is, while balancing, we do not need to look at sizes +of lower class zones, the bad part is, we might do too frequent balancing +due to ignoring possibly lower usage in the lower class zones. Also, +with a slight change in the allocation routine, it is possible to reduce +the memclass() macro to be a simple equality. + +Another possible solution is that we balance only when the free memory +of a zone _and_ all its lower class zones falls below 1/64th of the +total memory in the zone and its lower class zones. This fixes the 2.2 +balancing problem, and stays as close to 2.2 behavior as possible. Also, +the balancing algorithm works the same way on the various architectures, +which have different numbers and types of zones. If we wanted to get +fancy, we could assign different weights to free pages in different +zones in the future. + +Note that if the size of the regular zone is huge compared to dma zone, +it becomes less significant to consider the free dma pages while +deciding whether to balance the regular zone. The first solution +becomes more attractive then. + +The appended patch implements the second solution. It also "fixes" two +problems: first, kswapd is woken up as in 2.2 on low memory conditions +for non-sleepable allocations. Second, the HIGHMEM zone is also balanced, +so as to give a fighting chance for replace_with_highmem() to get a +HIGHMEM page, as well as to ensure that HIGHMEM allocations do not +fall back into regular zone. This also makes sure that HIGHMEM pages +are not leaked (for example, in situations where a HIGHMEM page is in +the swapcache but is not being used by anyone) + +kswapd also needs to know about the zones it should balance. kswapd is +primarily needed in a situation where balancing can not be done, +probably because all allocation requests are coming from intr context +and all process contexts are sleeping. For 2.3, kswapd does not really +need to balance the highmem zone, since intr context does not request +highmem pages. kswapd looks at the zone_wake_kswapd field in the zone +structure to decide whether a zone needs balancing. + +Page stealing from process memory and shm is done if stealing the page would +alleviate memory pressure on any zone in the page's node that has fallen below +its watermark. + +watemark[WMARK_MIN/WMARK_LOW/WMARK_HIGH]/low_on_memory/zone_wake_kswapd: These +are per-zone fields, used to determine when a zone needs to be balanced. When +the number of pages falls below watermark[WMARK_MIN], the hysteric field +low_on_memory gets set. This stays set till the number of free pages becomes +watermark[WMARK_HIGH]. When low_on_memory is set, page allocation requests will +try to free some pages in the zone (providing GFP_WAIT is set in the request). +Orthogonal to this, is the decision to poke kswapd to free some zone pages. +That decision is not hysteresis based, and is done when the number of free +pages is below watermark[WMARK_LOW]; in which case zone_wake_kswapd is also set. + + +(Good) Ideas that I have heard: + +1. Dynamic experience should influence balancing: number of failed requests + for a zone can be tracked and fed into the balancing scheme (jalvo@mbay.net) +2. Implement a replace_with_highmem()-like replace_with_regular() to preserve + dma pages. (lkd@tantalophile.demon.co.uk) diff --git a/Documentation/vm/cleancache.rst b/Documentation/vm/cleancache.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..68cba9131c31 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/cleancache.rst @@ -0,0 +1,296 @@ +.. _cleancache: + +========== +Cleancache +========== + +Motivation +========== + +Cleancache is a new optional feature provided by the VFS layer that +potentially dramatically increases page cache effectiveness for +many workloads in many environments at a negligible cost. + +Cleancache can be thought of as a page-granularity victim cache for clean +pages that the kernel's pageframe replacement algorithm (PFRA) would like +to keep around, but can't since there isn't enough memory. So when the +PFRA "evicts" a page, it first attempts to use cleancache code to +put the data contained in that page into "transcendent memory", memory +that is not directly accessible or addressable by the kernel and is +of unknown and possibly time-varying size. + +Later, when a cleancache-enabled filesystem wishes to access a page +in a file on disk, it first checks cleancache to see if it already +contains it; if it does, the page of data is copied into the kernel +and a disk access is avoided. + +Transcendent memory "drivers" for cleancache are currently implemented +in Xen (using hypervisor memory) and zcache (using in-kernel compressed +memory) and other implementations are in development. + +:ref:`FAQs ` are included below. + +Implementation Overview +======================= + +A cleancache "backend" that provides transcendent memory registers itself +to the kernel's cleancache "frontend" by calling cleancache_register_ops, +passing a pointer to a cleancache_ops structure with funcs set appropriately. +The functions provided must conform to certain semantics as follows: + +Most important, cleancache is "ephemeral". Pages which are copied into +cleancache have an indefinite lifetime which is completely unknowable +by the kernel and so may or may not still be in cleancache at any later time. +Thus, as its name implies, cleancache is not suitable for dirty pages. +Cleancache has complete discretion over what pages to preserve and what +pages to discard and when. + +Mounting a cleancache-enabled filesystem should call "init_fs" to obtain a +pool id which, if positive, must be saved in the filesystem's superblock; +a negative return value indicates failure. A "put_page" will copy a +(presumably about-to-be-evicted) page into cleancache and associate it with +the pool id, a file key, and a page index into the file. (The combination +of a pool id, a file key, and an index is sometimes called a "handle".) +A "get_page" will copy the page, if found, from cleancache into kernel memory. +An "invalidate_page" will ensure the page no longer is present in cleancache; +an "invalidate_inode" will invalidate all pages associated with the specified +file; and, when a filesystem is unmounted, an "invalidate_fs" will invalidate +all pages in all files specified by the given pool id and also surrender +the pool id. + +An "init_shared_fs", like init_fs, obtains a pool id but tells cleancache +to treat the pool as shared using a 128-bit UUID as a key. On systems +that may run multiple kernels (such as hard partitioned or virtualized +systems) that may share a clustered filesystem, and where cleancache +may be shared among those kernels, calls to init_shared_fs that specify the +same UUID will receive the same pool id, thus allowing the pages to +be shared. Note that any security requirements must be imposed outside +of the kernel (e.g. by "tools" that control cleancache). Or a +cleancache implementation can simply disable shared_init by always +returning a negative value. + +If a get_page is successful on a non-shared pool, the page is invalidated +(thus making cleancache an "exclusive" cache). On a shared pool, the page +is NOT invalidated on a successful get_page so that it remains accessible to +other sharers. The kernel is responsible for ensuring coherency between +cleancache (shared or not), the page cache, and the filesystem, using +cleancache invalidate operations as required. + +Note that cleancache must enforce put-put-get coherency and get-get +coherency. For the former, if two puts are made to the same handle but +with different data, say AAA by the first put and BBB by the second, a +subsequent get can never return the stale data (AAA). For get-get coherency, +if a get for a given handle fails, subsequent gets for that handle will +never succeed unless preceded by a successful put with that handle. + +Last, cleancache provides no SMP serialization guarantees; if two +different Linux threads are simultaneously putting and invalidating a page +with the same handle, the results are indeterminate. Callers must +lock the page to ensure serial behavior. + +Cleancache Performance Metrics +============================== + +If properly configured, monitoring of cleancache is done via debugfs in +the `/sys/kernel/debug/cleancache` directory. The effectiveness of cleancache +can be measured (across all filesystems) with: + +``succ_gets`` + number of gets that were successful + +``failed_gets`` + number of gets that failed + +``puts`` + number of puts attempted (all "succeed") + +``invalidates`` + number of invalidates attempted + +A backend implementation may provide additional metrics. + +.. _faq: + +FAQ +=== + +* Where's the value? (Andrew Morton) + +Cleancache provides a significant performance benefit to many workloads +in many environments with negligible overhead by improving the +effectiveness of the pagecache. Clean pagecache pages are +saved in transcendent memory (RAM that is otherwise not directly +addressable to the kernel); fetching those pages later avoids "refaults" +and thus disk reads. + +Cleancache (and its sister code "frontswap") provide interfaces for +this transcendent memory (aka "tmem"), which conceptually lies between +fast kernel-directly-addressable RAM and slower DMA/asynchronous devices. +Disallowing direct kernel or userland reads/writes to tmem +is ideal when data is transformed to a different form and size (such +as with compression) or secretly moved (as might be useful for write- +balancing for some RAM-like devices). Evicted page-cache pages (and +swap pages) are a great use for this kind of slower-than-RAM-but-much- +faster-than-disk transcendent memory, and the cleancache (and frontswap) +"page-object-oriented" specification provides a nice way to read and +write -- and indirectly "name" -- the pages. + +In the virtual case, the whole point of virtualization is to statistically +multiplex physical resources across the varying demands of multiple +virtual machines. This is really hard to do with RAM and efforts to +do it well with no kernel change have essentially failed (except in some +well-publicized special-case workloads). Cleancache -- and frontswap -- +with a fairly small impact on the kernel, provide a huge amount +of flexibility for more dynamic, flexible RAM multiplexing. +Specifically, the Xen Transcendent Memory backend allows otherwise +"fallow" hypervisor-owned RAM to not only be "time-shared" between multiple +virtual machines, but the pages can be compressed and deduplicated to +optimize RAM utilization. And when guest OS's are induced to surrender +underutilized RAM (e.g. with "self-ballooning"), page cache pages +are the first to go, and cleancache allows those pages to be +saved and reclaimed if overall host system memory conditions allow. + +And the identical interface used for cleancache can be used in +physical systems as well. The zcache driver acts as a memory-hungry +device that stores pages of data in a compressed state. And +the proposed "RAMster" driver shares RAM across multiple physical +systems. + +* Why does cleancache have its sticky fingers so deep inside the + filesystems and VFS? (Andrew Morton and Christoph Hellwig) + +The core hooks for cleancache in VFS are in most cases a single line +and the minimum set are placed precisely where needed to maintain +coherency (via cleancache_invalidate operations) between cleancache, +the page cache, and disk. All hooks compile into nothingness if +cleancache is config'ed off and turn into a function-pointer- +compare-to-NULL if config'ed on but no backend claims the ops +functions, or to a compare-struct-element-to-negative if a +backend claims the ops functions but a filesystem doesn't enable +cleancache. + +Some filesystems are built entirely on top of VFS and the hooks +in VFS are sufficient, so don't require an "init_fs" hook; the +initial implementation of cleancache didn't provide this hook. +But for some filesystems (such as btrfs), the VFS hooks are +incomplete and one or more hooks in fs-specific code are required. +And for some other filesystems, such as tmpfs, cleancache may +be counterproductive. So it seemed prudent to require a filesystem +to "opt in" to use cleancache, which requires adding a hook in +each filesystem. Not all filesystems are supported by cleancache +only because they haven't been tested. The existing set should +be sufficient to validate the concept, the opt-in approach means +that untested filesystems are not affected, and the hooks in the +existing filesystems should make it very easy to add more +filesystems in the future. + +The total impact of the hooks to existing fs and mm files is only +about 40 lines added (not counting comments and blank lines). + +* Why not make cleancache asynchronous and batched so it can more + easily interface with real devices with DMA instead of copying each + individual page? (Minchan Kim) + +The one-page-at-a-time copy semantics simplifies the implementation +on both the frontend and backend and also allows the backend to +do fancy things on-the-fly like page compression and +page deduplication. And since the data is "gone" (copied into/out +of the pageframe) before the cleancache get/put call returns, +a great deal of race conditions and potential coherency issues +are avoided. While the interface seems odd for a "real device" +or for real kernel-addressable RAM, it makes perfect sense for +transcendent memory. + +* Why is non-shared cleancache "exclusive"? And where is the + page "invalidated" after a "get"? (Minchan Kim) + +The main reason is to free up space in transcendent memory and +to avoid unnecessary cleancache_invalidate calls. If you want inclusive, +the page can be "put" immediately following the "get". If +put-after-get for inclusive becomes common, the interface could +be easily extended to add a "get_no_invalidate" call. + +The invalidate is done by the cleancache backend implementation. + +* What's the performance impact? + +Performance analysis has been presented at OLS'09 and LCA'10. +Briefly, performance gains can be significant on most workloads, +especially when memory pressure is high (e.g. when RAM is +overcommitted in a virtual workload); and because the hooks are +invoked primarily in place of or in addition to a disk read/write, +overhead is negligible even in worst case workloads. Basically +cleancache replaces I/O with memory-copy-CPU-overhead; on older +single-core systems with slow memory-copy speeds, cleancache +has little value, but in newer multicore machines, especially +consolidated/virtualized machines, it has great value. + +* How do I add cleancache support for filesystem X? (Boaz Harrash) + +Filesystems that are well-behaved and conform to certain +restrictions can utilize cleancache simply by making a call to +cleancache_init_fs at mount time. Unusual, misbehaving, or +poorly layered filesystems must either add additional hooks +and/or undergo extensive additional testing... or should just +not enable the optional cleancache. + +Some points for a filesystem to consider: + + - The FS should be block-device-based (e.g. a ram-based FS such + as tmpfs should not enable cleancache) + - To ensure coherency/correctness, the FS must ensure that all + file removal or truncation operations either go through VFS or + add hooks to do the equivalent cleancache "invalidate" operations + - To ensure coherency/correctness, either inode numbers must + be unique across the lifetime of the on-disk file OR the + FS must provide an "encode_fh" function. + - The FS must call the VFS superblock alloc and deactivate routines + or add hooks to do the equivalent cleancache calls done there. + - To maximize performance, all pages fetched from the FS should + go through the do_mpag_readpage routine or the FS should add + hooks to do the equivalent (cf. btrfs) + - Currently, the FS blocksize must be the same as PAGESIZE. This + is not an architectural restriction, but no backends currently + support anything different. + - A clustered FS should invoke the "shared_init_fs" cleancache + hook to get best performance for some backends. + +* Why not use the KVA of the inode as the key? (Christoph Hellwig) + +If cleancache would use the inode virtual address instead of +inode/filehandle, the pool id could be eliminated. But, this +won't work because cleancache retains pagecache data pages +persistently even when the inode has been pruned from the +inode unused list, and only invalidates the data page if the file +gets removed/truncated. So if cleancache used the inode kva, +there would be potential coherency issues if/when the inode +kva is reused for a different file. Alternately, if cleancache +invalidated the pages when the inode kva was freed, much of the value +of cleancache would be lost because the cache of pages in cleanache +is potentially much larger than the kernel pagecache and is most +useful if the pages survive inode cache removal. + +* Why is a global variable required? + +The cleancache_enabled flag is checked in all of the frequently-used +cleancache hooks. The alternative is a function call to check a static +variable. Since cleancache is enabled dynamically at runtime, systems +that don't enable cleancache would suffer thousands (possibly +tens-of-thousands) of unnecessary function calls per second. So the +global variable allows cleancache to be enabled by default at compile +time, but have insignificant performance impact when cleancache remains +disabled at runtime. + +* Does cleanache work with KVM? + +The memory model of KVM is sufficiently different that a cleancache +backend may have less value for KVM. This remains to be tested, +especially in an overcommitted system. + +* Does cleancache work in userspace? It sounds useful for + memory hungry caches like web browsers. (Jamie Lokier) + +No plans yet, though we agree it sounds useful, at least for +apps that bypass the page cache (e.g. O_DIRECT). + +Last updated: Dan Magenheimer, April 13 2011 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/cleancache.txt b/Documentation/vm/cleancache.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 68cba9131c31..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/cleancache.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,296 +0,0 @@ -.. _cleancache: - -========== -Cleancache -========== - -Motivation -========== - -Cleancache is a new optional feature provided by the VFS layer that -potentially dramatically increases page cache effectiveness for -many workloads in many environments at a negligible cost. - -Cleancache can be thought of as a page-granularity victim cache for clean -pages that the kernel's pageframe replacement algorithm (PFRA) would like -to keep around, but can't since there isn't enough memory. So when the -PFRA "evicts" a page, it first attempts to use cleancache code to -put the data contained in that page into "transcendent memory", memory -that is not directly accessible or addressable by the kernel and is -of unknown and possibly time-varying size. - -Later, when a cleancache-enabled filesystem wishes to access a page -in a file on disk, it first checks cleancache to see if it already -contains it; if it does, the page of data is copied into the kernel -and a disk access is avoided. - -Transcendent memory "drivers" for cleancache are currently implemented -in Xen (using hypervisor memory) and zcache (using in-kernel compressed -memory) and other implementations are in development. - -:ref:`FAQs ` are included below. - -Implementation Overview -======================= - -A cleancache "backend" that provides transcendent memory registers itself -to the kernel's cleancache "frontend" by calling cleancache_register_ops, -passing a pointer to a cleancache_ops structure with funcs set appropriately. -The functions provided must conform to certain semantics as follows: - -Most important, cleancache is "ephemeral". Pages which are copied into -cleancache have an indefinite lifetime which is completely unknowable -by the kernel and so may or may not still be in cleancache at any later time. -Thus, as its name implies, cleancache is not suitable for dirty pages. -Cleancache has complete discretion over what pages to preserve and what -pages to discard and when. - -Mounting a cleancache-enabled filesystem should call "init_fs" to obtain a -pool id which, if positive, must be saved in the filesystem's superblock; -a negative return value indicates failure. A "put_page" will copy a -(presumably about-to-be-evicted) page into cleancache and associate it with -the pool id, a file key, and a page index into the file. (The combination -of a pool id, a file key, and an index is sometimes called a "handle".) -A "get_page" will copy the page, if found, from cleancache into kernel memory. -An "invalidate_page" will ensure the page no longer is present in cleancache; -an "invalidate_inode" will invalidate all pages associated with the specified -file; and, when a filesystem is unmounted, an "invalidate_fs" will invalidate -all pages in all files specified by the given pool id and also surrender -the pool id. - -An "init_shared_fs", like init_fs, obtains a pool id but tells cleancache -to treat the pool as shared using a 128-bit UUID as a key. On systems -that may run multiple kernels (such as hard partitioned or virtualized -systems) that may share a clustered filesystem, and where cleancache -may be shared among those kernels, calls to init_shared_fs that specify the -same UUID will receive the same pool id, thus allowing the pages to -be shared. Note that any security requirements must be imposed outside -of the kernel (e.g. by "tools" that control cleancache). Or a -cleancache implementation can simply disable shared_init by always -returning a negative value. - -If a get_page is successful on a non-shared pool, the page is invalidated -(thus making cleancache an "exclusive" cache). On a shared pool, the page -is NOT invalidated on a successful get_page so that it remains accessible to -other sharers. The kernel is responsible for ensuring coherency between -cleancache (shared or not), the page cache, and the filesystem, using -cleancache invalidate operations as required. - -Note that cleancache must enforce put-put-get coherency and get-get -coherency. For the former, if two puts are made to the same handle but -with different data, say AAA by the first put and BBB by the second, a -subsequent get can never return the stale data (AAA). For get-get coherency, -if a get for a given handle fails, subsequent gets for that handle will -never succeed unless preceded by a successful put with that handle. - -Last, cleancache provides no SMP serialization guarantees; if two -different Linux threads are simultaneously putting and invalidating a page -with the same handle, the results are indeterminate. Callers must -lock the page to ensure serial behavior. - -Cleancache Performance Metrics -============================== - -If properly configured, monitoring of cleancache is done via debugfs in -the `/sys/kernel/debug/cleancache` directory. The effectiveness of cleancache -can be measured (across all filesystems) with: - -``succ_gets`` - number of gets that were successful - -``failed_gets`` - number of gets that failed - -``puts`` - number of puts attempted (all "succeed") - -``invalidates`` - number of invalidates attempted - -A backend implementation may provide additional metrics. - -.. _faq: - -FAQ -=== - -* Where's the value? (Andrew Morton) - -Cleancache provides a significant performance benefit to many workloads -in many environments with negligible overhead by improving the -effectiveness of the pagecache. Clean pagecache pages are -saved in transcendent memory (RAM that is otherwise not directly -addressable to the kernel); fetching those pages later avoids "refaults" -and thus disk reads. - -Cleancache (and its sister code "frontswap") provide interfaces for -this transcendent memory (aka "tmem"), which conceptually lies between -fast kernel-directly-addressable RAM and slower DMA/asynchronous devices. -Disallowing direct kernel or userland reads/writes to tmem -is ideal when data is transformed to a different form and size (such -as with compression) or secretly moved (as might be useful for write- -balancing for some RAM-like devices). Evicted page-cache pages (and -swap pages) are a great use for this kind of slower-than-RAM-but-much- -faster-than-disk transcendent memory, and the cleancache (and frontswap) -"page-object-oriented" specification provides a nice way to read and -write -- and indirectly "name" -- the pages. - -In the virtual case, the whole point of virtualization is to statistically -multiplex physical resources across the varying demands of multiple -virtual machines. This is really hard to do with RAM and efforts to -do it well with no kernel change have essentially failed (except in some -well-publicized special-case workloads). Cleancache -- and frontswap -- -with a fairly small impact on the kernel, provide a huge amount -of flexibility for more dynamic, flexible RAM multiplexing. -Specifically, the Xen Transcendent Memory backend allows otherwise -"fallow" hypervisor-owned RAM to not only be "time-shared" between multiple -virtual machines, but the pages can be compressed and deduplicated to -optimize RAM utilization. And when guest OS's are induced to surrender -underutilized RAM (e.g. with "self-ballooning"), page cache pages -are the first to go, and cleancache allows those pages to be -saved and reclaimed if overall host system memory conditions allow. - -And the identical interface used for cleancache can be used in -physical systems as well. The zcache driver acts as a memory-hungry -device that stores pages of data in a compressed state. And -the proposed "RAMster" driver shares RAM across multiple physical -systems. - -* Why does cleancache have its sticky fingers so deep inside the - filesystems and VFS? (Andrew Morton and Christoph Hellwig) - -The core hooks for cleancache in VFS are in most cases a single line -and the minimum set are placed precisely where needed to maintain -coherency (via cleancache_invalidate operations) between cleancache, -the page cache, and disk. All hooks compile into nothingness if -cleancache is config'ed off and turn into a function-pointer- -compare-to-NULL if config'ed on but no backend claims the ops -functions, or to a compare-struct-element-to-negative if a -backend claims the ops functions but a filesystem doesn't enable -cleancache. - -Some filesystems are built entirely on top of VFS and the hooks -in VFS are sufficient, so don't require an "init_fs" hook; the -initial implementation of cleancache didn't provide this hook. -But for some filesystems (such as btrfs), the VFS hooks are -incomplete and one or more hooks in fs-specific code are required. -And for some other filesystems, such as tmpfs, cleancache may -be counterproductive. So it seemed prudent to require a filesystem -to "opt in" to use cleancache, which requires adding a hook in -each filesystem. Not all filesystems are supported by cleancache -only because they haven't been tested. The existing set should -be sufficient to validate the concept, the opt-in approach means -that untested filesystems are not affected, and the hooks in the -existing filesystems should make it very easy to add more -filesystems in the future. - -The total impact of the hooks to existing fs and mm files is only -about 40 lines added (not counting comments and blank lines). - -* Why not make cleancache asynchronous and batched so it can more - easily interface with real devices with DMA instead of copying each - individual page? (Minchan Kim) - -The one-page-at-a-time copy semantics simplifies the implementation -on both the frontend and backend and also allows the backend to -do fancy things on-the-fly like page compression and -page deduplication. And since the data is "gone" (copied into/out -of the pageframe) before the cleancache get/put call returns, -a great deal of race conditions and potential coherency issues -are avoided. While the interface seems odd for a "real device" -or for real kernel-addressable RAM, it makes perfect sense for -transcendent memory. - -* Why is non-shared cleancache "exclusive"? And where is the - page "invalidated" after a "get"? (Minchan Kim) - -The main reason is to free up space in transcendent memory and -to avoid unnecessary cleancache_invalidate calls. If you want inclusive, -the page can be "put" immediately following the "get". If -put-after-get for inclusive becomes common, the interface could -be easily extended to add a "get_no_invalidate" call. - -The invalidate is done by the cleancache backend implementation. - -* What's the performance impact? - -Performance analysis has been presented at OLS'09 and LCA'10. -Briefly, performance gains can be significant on most workloads, -especially when memory pressure is high (e.g. when RAM is -overcommitted in a virtual workload); and because the hooks are -invoked primarily in place of or in addition to a disk read/write, -overhead is negligible even in worst case workloads. Basically -cleancache replaces I/O with memory-copy-CPU-overhead; on older -single-core systems with slow memory-copy speeds, cleancache -has little value, but in newer multicore machines, especially -consolidated/virtualized machines, it has great value. - -* How do I add cleancache support for filesystem X? (Boaz Harrash) - -Filesystems that are well-behaved and conform to certain -restrictions can utilize cleancache simply by making a call to -cleancache_init_fs at mount time. Unusual, misbehaving, or -poorly layered filesystems must either add additional hooks -and/or undergo extensive additional testing... or should just -not enable the optional cleancache. - -Some points for a filesystem to consider: - - - The FS should be block-device-based (e.g. a ram-based FS such - as tmpfs should not enable cleancache) - - To ensure coherency/correctness, the FS must ensure that all - file removal or truncation operations either go through VFS or - add hooks to do the equivalent cleancache "invalidate" operations - - To ensure coherency/correctness, either inode numbers must - be unique across the lifetime of the on-disk file OR the - FS must provide an "encode_fh" function. - - The FS must call the VFS superblock alloc and deactivate routines - or add hooks to do the equivalent cleancache calls done there. - - To maximize performance, all pages fetched from the FS should - go through the do_mpag_readpage routine or the FS should add - hooks to do the equivalent (cf. btrfs) - - Currently, the FS blocksize must be the same as PAGESIZE. This - is not an architectural restriction, but no backends currently - support anything different. - - A clustered FS should invoke the "shared_init_fs" cleancache - hook to get best performance for some backends. - -* Why not use the KVA of the inode as the key? (Christoph Hellwig) - -If cleancache would use the inode virtual address instead of -inode/filehandle, the pool id could be eliminated. But, this -won't work because cleancache retains pagecache data pages -persistently even when the inode has been pruned from the -inode unused list, and only invalidates the data page if the file -gets removed/truncated. So if cleancache used the inode kva, -there would be potential coherency issues if/when the inode -kva is reused for a different file. Alternately, if cleancache -invalidated the pages when the inode kva was freed, much of the value -of cleancache would be lost because the cache of pages in cleanache -is potentially much larger than the kernel pagecache and is most -useful if the pages survive inode cache removal. - -* Why is a global variable required? - -The cleancache_enabled flag is checked in all of the frequently-used -cleancache hooks. The alternative is a function call to check a static -variable. Since cleancache is enabled dynamically at runtime, systems -that don't enable cleancache would suffer thousands (possibly -tens-of-thousands) of unnecessary function calls per second. So the -global variable allows cleancache to be enabled by default at compile -time, but have insignificant performance impact when cleancache remains -disabled at runtime. - -* Does cleanache work with KVM? - -The memory model of KVM is sufficiently different that a cleancache -backend may have less value for KVM. This remains to be tested, -especially in an overcommitted system. - -* Does cleancache work in userspace? It sounds useful for - memory hungry caches like web browsers. (Jamie Lokier) - -No plans yet, though we agree it sounds useful, at least for -apps that bypass the page cache (e.g. O_DIRECT). - -Last updated: Dan Magenheimer, April 13 2011 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/frontswap.rst b/Documentation/vm/frontswap.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..1979f430c1c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/frontswap.rst @@ -0,0 +1,293 @@ +.. _frontswap: + +========= +Frontswap +========= + +Frontswap provides a "transcendent memory" interface for swap pages. +In some environments, dramatic performance savings may be obtained because +swapped pages are saved in RAM (or a RAM-like device) instead of a swap disk. + +(Note, frontswap -- and :ref:`cleancache` (merged at 3.0) -- are the "frontends" +and the only necessary changes to the core kernel for transcendent memory; +all other supporting code -- the "backends" -- is implemented as drivers. +See the LWN.net article `Transcendent memory in a nutshell`_ +for a detailed overview of frontswap and related kernel parts) + +.. _Transcendent memory in a nutshell: https://lwn.net/Articles/454795/ + +Frontswap is so named because it can be thought of as the opposite of +a "backing" store for a swap device. The storage is assumed to be +a synchronous concurrency-safe page-oriented "pseudo-RAM device" conforming +to the requirements of transcendent memory (such as Xen's "tmem", or +in-kernel compressed memory, aka "zcache", or future RAM-like devices); +this pseudo-RAM device is not directly accessible or addressable by the +kernel and is of unknown and possibly time-varying size. The driver +links itself to frontswap by calling frontswap_register_ops to set the +frontswap_ops funcs appropriately and the functions it provides must +conform to certain policies as follows: + +An "init" prepares the device to receive frontswap pages associated +with the specified swap device number (aka "type"). A "store" will +copy the page to transcendent memory and associate it with the type and +offset associated with the page. A "load" will copy the page, if found, +from transcendent memory into kernel memory, but will NOT remove the page +from transcendent memory. An "invalidate_page" will remove the page +from transcendent memory and an "invalidate_area" will remove ALL pages +associated with the swap type (e.g., like swapoff) and notify the "device" +to refuse further stores with that swap type. + +Once a page is successfully stored, a matching load on the page will normally +succeed. So when the kernel finds itself in a situation where it needs +to swap out a page, it first attempts to use frontswap. If the store returns +success, the data has been successfully saved to transcendent memory and +a disk write and, if the data is later read back, a disk read are avoided. +If a store returns failure, transcendent memory has rejected the data, and the +page can be written to swap as usual. + +If a backend chooses, frontswap can be configured as a "writethrough +cache" by calling frontswap_writethrough(). In this mode, the reduction +in swap device writes is lost (and also a non-trivial performance advantage) +in order to allow the backend to arbitrarily "reclaim" space used to +store frontswap pages to more completely manage its memory usage. + +Note that if a page is stored and the page already exists in transcendent memory +(a "duplicate" store), either the store succeeds and the data is overwritten, +or the store fails AND the page is invalidated. This ensures stale data may +never be obtained from frontswap. + +If properly configured, monitoring of frontswap is done via debugfs in +the `/sys/kernel/debug/frontswap` directory. The effectiveness of +frontswap can be measured (across all swap devices) with: + +``failed_stores`` + how many store attempts have failed + +``loads`` + how many loads were attempted (all should succeed) + +``succ_stores`` + how many store attempts have succeeded + +``invalidates`` + how many invalidates were attempted + +A backend implementation may provide additional metrics. + +FAQ +=== + +* Where's the value? + +When a workload starts swapping, performance falls through the floor. +Frontswap significantly increases performance in many such workloads by +providing a clean, dynamic interface to read and write swap pages to +"transcendent memory" that is otherwise not directly addressable to the kernel. +This interface is ideal when data is transformed to a different form +and size (such as with compression) or secretly moved (as might be +useful for write-balancing for some RAM-like devices). Swap pages (and +evicted page-cache pages) are a great use for this kind of slower-than-RAM- +but-much-faster-than-disk "pseudo-RAM device" and the frontswap (and +cleancache) interface to transcendent memory provides a nice way to read +and write -- and indirectly "name" -- the pages. + +Frontswap -- and cleancache -- with a fairly small impact on the kernel, +provides a huge amount of flexibility for more dynamic, flexible RAM +utilization in various system configurations: + +In the single kernel case, aka "zcache", pages are compressed and +stored in local memory, thus increasing the total anonymous pages +that can be safely kept in RAM. Zcache essentially trades off CPU +cycles used in compression/decompression for better memory utilization. +Benchmarks have shown little or no impact when memory pressure is +low while providing a significant performance improvement (25%+) +on some workloads under high memory pressure. + +"RAMster" builds on zcache by adding "peer-to-peer" transcendent memory +support for clustered systems. Frontswap pages are locally compressed +as in zcache, but then "remotified" to another system's RAM. This +allows RAM to be dynamically load-balanced back-and-forth as needed, +i.e. when system A is overcommitted, it can swap to system B, and +vice versa. RAMster can also be configured as a memory server so +many servers in a cluster can swap, dynamically as needed, to a single +server configured with a large amount of RAM... without pre-configuring +how much of the RAM is available for each of the clients! + +In the virtual case, the whole point of virtualization is to statistically +multiplex physical resources across the varying demands of multiple +virtual machines. This is really hard to do with RAM and efforts to do +it well with no kernel changes have essentially failed (except in some +well-publicized special-case workloads). +Specifically, the Xen Transcendent Memory backend allows otherwise +"fallow" hypervisor-owned RAM to not only be "time-shared" between multiple +virtual machines, but the pages can be compressed and deduplicated to +optimize RAM utilization. And when guest OS's are induced to surrender +underutilized RAM (e.g. with "selfballooning"), sudden unexpected +memory pressure may result in swapping; frontswap allows those pages +to be swapped to and from hypervisor RAM (if overall host system memory +conditions allow), thus mitigating the potentially awful performance impact +of unplanned swapping. + +A KVM implementation is underway and has been RFC'ed to lkml. And, +using frontswap, investigation is also underway on the use of NVM as +a memory extension technology. + +* Sure there may be performance advantages in some situations, but + what's the space/time overhead of frontswap? + +If CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is disabled, every frontswap hook compiles into +nothingness and the only overhead is a few extra bytes per swapon'ed +swap device. If CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is enabled but no frontswap "backend" +registers, there is one extra global variable compared to zero for +every swap page read or written. If CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is enabled +AND a frontswap backend registers AND the backend fails every "store" +request (i.e. provides no memory despite claiming it might), +CPU overhead is still negligible -- and since every frontswap fail +precedes a swap page write-to-disk, the system is highly likely +to be I/O bound and using a small fraction of a percent of a CPU +will be irrelevant anyway. + +As for space, if CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is enabled AND a frontswap backend +registers, one bit is allocated for every swap page for every swap +device that is swapon'd. This is added to the EIGHT bits (which +was sixteen until about 2.6.34) that the kernel already allocates +for every swap page for every swap device that is swapon'd. (Hugh +Dickins has observed that frontswap could probably steal one of +the existing eight bits, but let's worry about that minor optimization +later.) For very large swap disks (which are rare) on a standard +4K pagesize, this is 1MB per 32GB swap. + +When swap pages are stored in transcendent memory instead of written +out to disk, there is a side effect that this may create more memory +pressure that can potentially outweigh the other advantages. A +backend, such as zcache, must implement policies to carefully (but +dynamically) manage memory limits to ensure this doesn't happen. + +* OK, how about a quick overview of what this frontswap patch does + in terms that a kernel hacker can grok? + +Let's assume that a frontswap "backend" has registered during +kernel initialization; this registration indicates that this +frontswap backend has access to some "memory" that is not directly +accessible by the kernel. Exactly how much memory it provides is +entirely dynamic and random. + +Whenever a swap-device is swapon'd frontswap_init() is called, +passing the swap device number (aka "type") as a parameter. +This notifies frontswap to expect attempts to "store" swap pages +associated with that number. + +Whenever the swap subsystem is readying a page to write to a swap +device (c.f swap_writepage()), frontswap_store is called. Frontswap +consults with the frontswap backend and if the backend says it does NOT +have room, frontswap_store returns -1 and the kernel swaps the page +to the swap device as normal. Note that the response from the frontswap +backend is unpredictable to the kernel; it may choose to never accept a +page, it could accept every ninth page, or it might accept every +page. But if the backend does accept a page, the data from the page +has already been copied and associated with the type and offset, +and the backend guarantees the persistence of the data. In this case, +frontswap sets a bit in the "frontswap_map" for the swap device +corresponding to the page offset on the swap device to which it would +otherwise have written the data. + +When the swap subsystem needs to swap-in a page (swap_readpage()), +it first calls frontswap_load() which checks the frontswap_map to +see if the page was earlier accepted by the frontswap backend. If +it was, the page of data is filled from the frontswap backend and +the swap-in is complete. If not, the normal swap-in code is +executed to obtain the page of data from the real swap device. + +So every time the frontswap backend accepts a page, a swap device read +and (potentially) a swap device write are replaced by a "frontswap backend +store" and (possibly) a "frontswap backend loads", which are presumably much +faster. + +* Can't frontswap be configured as a "special" swap device that is + just higher priority than any real swap device (e.g. like zswap, + or maybe swap-over-nbd/NFS)? + +No. First, the existing swap subsystem doesn't allow for any kind of +swap hierarchy. Perhaps it could be rewritten to accommodate a hierarchy, +but this would require fairly drastic changes. Even if it were +rewritten, the existing swap subsystem uses the block I/O layer which +assumes a swap device is fixed size and any page in it is linearly +addressable. Frontswap barely touches the existing swap subsystem, +and works around the constraints of the block I/O subsystem to provide +a great deal of flexibility and dynamicity. + +For example, the acceptance of any swap page by the frontswap backend is +entirely unpredictable. This is critical to the definition of frontswap +backends because it grants completely dynamic discretion to the +backend. In zcache, one cannot know a priori how compressible a page is. +"Poorly" compressible pages can be rejected, and "poorly" can itself be +defined dynamically depending on current memory constraints. + +Further, frontswap is entirely synchronous whereas a real swap +device is, by definition, asynchronous and uses block I/O. The +block I/O layer is not only unnecessary, but may perform "optimizations" +that are inappropriate for a RAM-oriented device including delaying +the write of some pages for a significant amount of time. Synchrony is +required to ensure the dynamicity of the backend and to avoid thorny race +conditions that would unnecessarily and greatly complicate frontswap +and/or the block I/O subsystem. That said, only the initial "store" +and "load" operations need be synchronous. A separate asynchronous thread +is free to manipulate the pages stored by frontswap. For example, +the "remotification" thread in RAMster uses standard asynchronous +kernel sockets to move compressed frontswap pages to a remote machine. +Similarly, a KVM guest-side implementation could do in-guest compression +and use "batched" hypercalls. + +In a virtualized environment, the dynamicity allows the hypervisor +(or host OS) to do "intelligent overcommit". For example, it can +choose to accept pages only until host-swapping might be imminent, +then force guests to do their own swapping. + +There is a downside to the transcendent memory specifications for +frontswap: Since any "store" might fail, there must always be a real +slot on a real swap device to swap the page. Thus frontswap must be +implemented as a "shadow" to every swapon'd device with the potential +capability of holding every page that the swap device might have held +and the possibility that it might hold no pages at all. This means +that frontswap cannot contain more pages than the total of swapon'd +swap devices. For example, if NO swap device is configured on some +installation, frontswap is useless. Swapless portable devices +can still use frontswap but a backend for such devices must configure +some kind of "ghost" swap device and ensure that it is never used. + +* Why this weird definition about "duplicate stores"? If a page + has been previously successfully stored, can't it always be + successfully overwritten? + +Nearly always it can, but no, sometimes it cannot. Consider an example +where data is compressed and the original 4K page has been compressed +to 1K. Now an attempt is made to overwrite the page with data that +is non-compressible and so would take the entire 4K. But the backend +has no more space. In this case, the store must be rejected. Whenever +frontswap rejects a store that would overwrite, it also must invalidate +the old data and ensure that it is no longer accessible. Since the +swap subsystem then writes the new data to the read swap device, +this is the correct course of action to ensure coherency. + +* What is frontswap_shrink for? + +When the (non-frontswap) swap subsystem swaps out a page to a real +swap device, that page is only taking up low-value pre-allocated disk +space. But if frontswap has placed a page in transcendent memory, that +page may be taking up valuable real estate. The frontswap_shrink +routine allows code outside of the swap subsystem to force pages out +of the memory managed by frontswap and back into kernel-addressable memory. +For example, in RAMster, a "suction driver" thread will attempt +to "repatriate" pages sent to a remote machine back to the local machine; +this is driven using the frontswap_shrink mechanism when memory pressure +subsides. + +* Why does the frontswap patch create the new include file swapfile.h? + +The frontswap code depends on some swap-subsystem-internal data +structures that have, over the years, moved back and forth between +static and global. This seemed a reasonable compromise: Define +them as global but declare them in a new include file that isn't +included by the large number of source files that include swap.h. + +Dan Magenheimer, last updated April 9, 2012 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/frontswap.txt b/Documentation/vm/frontswap.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1979f430c1c5..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/frontswap.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,293 +0,0 @@ -.. _frontswap: - -========= -Frontswap -========= - -Frontswap provides a "transcendent memory" interface for swap pages. -In some environments, dramatic performance savings may be obtained because -swapped pages are saved in RAM (or a RAM-like device) instead of a swap disk. - -(Note, frontswap -- and :ref:`cleancache` (merged at 3.0) -- are the "frontends" -and the only necessary changes to the core kernel for transcendent memory; -all other supporting code -- the "backends" -- is implemented as drivers. -See the LWN.net article `Transcendent memory in a nutshell`_ -for a detailed overview of frontswap and related kernel parts) - -.. _Transcendent memory in a nutshell: https://lwn.net/Articles/454795/ - -Frontswap is so named because it can be thought of as the opposite of -a "backing" store for a swap device. The storage is assumed to be -a synchronous concurrency-safe page-oriented "pseudo-RAM device" conforming -to the requirements of transcendent memory (such as Xen's "tmem", or -in-kernel compressed memory, aka "zcache", or future RAM-like devices); -this pseudo-RAM device is not directly accessible or addressable by the -kernel and is of unknown and possibly time-varying size. The driver -links itself to frontswap by calling frontswap_register_ops to set the -frontswap_ops funcs appropriately and the functions it provides must -conform to certain policies as follows: - -An "init" prepares the device to receive frontswap pages associated -with the specified swap device number (aka "type"). A "store" will -copy the page to transcendent memory and associate it with the type and -offset associated with the page. A "load" will copy the page, if found, -from transcendent memory into kernel memory, but will NOT remove the page -from transcendent memory. An "invalidate_page" will remove the page -from transcendent memory and an "invalidate_area" will remove ALL pages -associated with the swap type (e.g., like swapoff) and notify the "device" -to refuse further stores with that swap type. - -Once a page is successfully stored, a matching load on the page will normally -succeed. So when the kernel finds itself in a situation where it needs -to swap out a page, it first attempts to use frontswap. If the store returns -success, the data has been successfully saved to transcendent memory and -a disk write and, if the data is later read back, a disk read are avoided. -If a store returns failure, transcendent memory has rejected the data, and the -page can be written to swap as usual. - -If a backend chooses, frontswap can be configured as a "writethrough -cache" by calling frontswap_writethrough(). In this mode, the reduction -in swap device writes is lost (and also a non-trivial performance advantage) -in order to allow the backend to arbitrarily "reclaim" space used to -store frontswap pages to more completely manage its memory usage. - -Note that if a page is stored and the page already exists in transcendent memory -(a "duplicate" store), either the store succeeds and the data is overwritten, -or the store fails AND the page is invalidated. This ensures stale data may -never be obtained from frontswap. - -If properly configured, monitoring of frontswap is done via debugfs in -the `/sys/kernel/debug/frontswap` directory. The effectiveness of -frontswap can be measured (across all swap devices) with: - -``failed_stores`` - how many store attempts have failed - -``loads`` - how many loads were attempted (all should succeed) - -``succ_stores`` - how many store attempts have succeeded - -``invalidates`` - how many invalidates were attempted - -A backend implementation may provide additional metrics. - -FAQ -=== - -* Where's the value? - -When a workload starts swapping, performance falls through the floor. -Frontswap significantly increases performance in many such workloads by -providing a clean, dynamic interface to read and write swap pages to -"transcendent memory" that is otherwise not directly addressable to the kernel. -This interface is ideal when data is transformed to a different form -and size (such as with compression) or secretly moved (as might be -useful for write-balancing for some RAM-like devices). Swap pages (and -evicted page-cache pages) are a great use for this kind of slower-than-RAM- -but-much-faster-than-disk "pseudo-RAM device" and the frontswap (and -cleancache) interface to transcendent memory provides a nice way to read -and write -- and indirectly "name" -- the pages. - -Frontswap -- and cleancache -- with a fairly small impact on the kernel, -provides a huge amount of flexibility for more dynamic, flexible RAM -utilization in various system configurations: - -In the single kernel case, aka "zcache", pages are compressed and -stored in local memory, thus increasing the total anonymous pages -that can be safely kept in RAM. Zcache essentially trades off CPU -cycles used in compression/decompression for better memory utilization. -Benchmarks have shown little or no impact when memory pressure is -low while providing a significant performance improvement (25%+) -on some workloads under high memory pressure. - -"RAMster" builds on zcache by adding "peer-to-peer" transcendent memory -support for clustered systems. Frontswap pages are locally compressed -as in zcache, but then "remotified" to another system's RAM. This -allows RAM to be dynamically load-balanced back-and-forth as needed, -i.e. when system A is overcommitted, it can swap to system B, and -vice versa. RAMster can also be configured as a memory server so -many servers in a cluster can swap, dynamically as needed, to a single -server configured with a large amount of RAM... without pre-configuring -how much of the RAM is available for each of the clients! - -In the virtual case, the whole point of virtualization is to statistically -multiplex physical resources across the varying demands of multiple -virtual machines. This is really hard to do with RAM and efforts to do -it well with no kernel changes have essentially failed (except in some -well-publicized special-case workloads). -Specifically, the Xen Transcendent Memory backend allows otherwise -"fallow" hypervisor-owned RAM to not only be "time-shared" between multiple -virtual machines, but the pages can be compressed and deduplicated to -optimize RAM utilization. And when guest OS's are induced to surrender -underutilized RAM (e.g. with "selfballooning"), sudden unexpected -memory pressure may result in swapping; frontswap allows those pages -to be swapped to and from hypervisor RAM (if overall host system memory -conditions allow), thus mitigating the potentially awful performance impact -of unplanned swapping. - -A KVM implementation is underway and has been RFC'ed to lkml. And, -using frontswap, investigation is also underway on the use of NVM as -a memory extension technology. - -* Sure there may be performance advantages in some situations, but - what's the space/time overhead of frontswap? - -If CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is disabled, every frontswap hook compiles into -nothingness and the only overhead is a few extra bytes per swapon'ed -swap device. If CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is enabled but no frontswap "backend" -registers, there is one extra global variable compared to zero for -every swap page read or written. If CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is enabled -AND a frontswap backend registers AND the backend fails every "store" -request (i.e. provides no memory despite claiming it might), -CPU overhead is still negligible -- and since every frontswap fail -precedes a swap page write-to-disk, the system is highly likely -to be I/O bound and using a small fraction of a percent of a CPU -will be irrelevant anyway. - -As for space, if CONFIG_FRONTSWAP is enabled AND a frontswap backend -registers, one bit is allocated for every swap page for every swap -device that is swapon'd. This is added to the EIGHT bits (which -was sixteen until about 2.6.34) that the kernel already allocates -for every swap page for every swap device that is swapon'd. (Hugh -Dickins has observed that frontswap could probably steal one of -the existing eight bits, but let's worry about that minor optimization -later.) For very large swap disks (which are rare) on a standard -4K pagesize, this is 1MB per 32GB swap. - -When swap pages are stored in transcendent memory instead of written -out to disk, there is a side effect that this may create more memory -pressure that can potentially outweigh the other advantages. A -backend, such as zcache, must implement policies to carefully (but -dynamically) manage memory limits to ensure this doesn't happen. - -* OK, how about a quick overview of what this frontswap patch does - in terms that a kernel hacker can grok? - -Let's assume that a frontswap "backend" has registered during -kernel initialization; this registration indicates that this -frontswap backend has access to some "memory" that is not directly -accessible by the kernel. Exactly how much memory it provides is -entirely dynamic and random. - -Whenever a swap-device is swapon'd frontswap_init() is called, -passing the swap device number (aka "type") as a parameter. -This notifies frontswap to expect attempts to "store" swap pages -associated with that number. - -Whenever the swap subsystem is readying a page to write to a swap -device (c.f swap_writepage()), frontswap_store is called. Frontswap -consults with the frontswap backend and if the backend says it does NOT -have room, frontswap_store returns -1 and the kernel swaps the page -to the swap device as normal. Note that the response from the frontswap -backend is unpredictable to the kernel; it may choose to never accept a -page, it could accept every ninth page, or it might accept every -page. But if the backend does accept a page, the data from the page -has already been copied and associated with the type and offset, -and the backend guarantees the persistence of the data. In this case, -frontswap sets a bit in the "frontswap_map" for the swap device -corresponding to the page offset on the swap device to which it would -otherwise have written the data. - -When the swap subsystem needs to swap-in a page (swap_readpage()), -it first calls frontswap_load() which checks the frontswap_map to -see if the page was earlier accepted by the frontswap backend. If -it was, the page of data is filled from the frontswap backend and -the swap-in is complete. If not, the normal swap-in code is -executed to obtain the page of data from the real swap device. - -So every time the frontswap backend accepts a page, a swap device read -and (potentially) a swap device write are replaced by a "frontswap backend -store" and (possibly) a "frontswap backend loads", which are presumably much -faster. - -* Can't frontswap be configured as a "special" swap device that is - just higher priority than any real swap device (e.g. like zswap, - or maybe swap-over-nbd/NFS)? - -No. First, the existing swap subsystem doesn't allow for any kind of -swap hierarchy. Perhaps it could be rewritten to accommodate a hierarchy, -but this would require fairly drastic changes. Even if it were -rewritten, the existing swap subsystem uses the block I/O layer which -assumes a swap device is fixed size and any page in it is linearly -addressable. Frontswap barely touches the existing swap subsystem, -and works around the constraints of the block I/O subsystem to provide -a great deal of flexibility and dynamicity. - -For example, the acceptance of any swap page by the frontswap backend is -entirely unpredictable. This is critical to the definition of frontswap -backends because it grants completely dynamic discretion to the -backend. In zcache, one cannot know a priori how compressible a page is. -"Poorly" compressible pages can be rejected, and "poorly" can itself be -defined dynamically depending on current memory constraints. - -Further, frontswap is entirely synchronous whereas a real swap -device is, by definition, asynchronous and uses block I/O. The -block I/O layer is not only unnecessary, but may perform "optimizations" -that are inappropriate for a RAM-oriented device including delaying -the write of some pages for a significant amount of time. Synchrony is -required to ensure the dynamicity of the backend and to avoid thorny race -conditions that would unnecessarily and greatly complicate frontswap -and/or the block I/O subsystem. That said, only the initial "store" -and "load" operations need be synchronous. A separate asynchronous thread -is free to manipulate the pages stored by frontswap. For example, -the "remotification" thread in RAMster uses standard asynchronous -kernel sockets to move compressed frontswap pages to a remote machine. -Similarly, a KVM guest-side implementation could do in-guest compression -and use "batched" hypercalls. - -In a virtualized environment, the dynamicity allows the hypervisor -(or host OS) to do "intelligent overcommit". For example, it can -choose to accept pages only until host-swapping might be imminent, -then force guests to do their own swapping. - -There is a downside to the transcendent memory specifications for -frontswap: Since any "store" might fail, there must always be a real -slot on a real swap device to swap the page. Thus frontswap must be -implemented as a "shadow" to every swapon'd device with the potential -capability of holding every page that the swap device might have held -and the possibility that it might hold no pages at all. This means -that frontswap cannot contain more pages than the total of swapon'd -swap devices. For example, if NO swap device is configured on some -installation, frontswap is useless. Swapless portable devices -can still use frontswap but a backend for such devices must configure -some kind of "ghost" swap device and ensure that it is never used. - -* Why this weird definition about "duplicate stores"? If a page - has been previously successfully stored, can't it always be - successfully overwritten? - -Nearly always it can, but no, sometimes it cannot. Consider an example -where data is compressed and the original 4K page has been compressed -to 1K. Now an attempt is made to overwrite the page with data that -is non-compressible and so would take the entire 4K. But the backend -has no more space. In this case, the store must be rejected. Whenever -frontswap rejects a store that would overwrite, it also must invalidate -the old data and ensure that it is no longer accessible. Since the -swap subsystem then writes the new data to the read swap device, -this is the correct course of action to ensure coherency. - -* What is frontswap_shrink for? - -When the (non-frontswap) swap subsystem swaps out a page to a real -swap device, that page is only taking up low-value pre-allocated disk -space. But if frontswap has placed a page in transcendent memory, that -page may be taking up valuable real estate. The frontswap_shrink -routine allows code outside of the swap subsystem to force pages out -of the memory managed by frontswap and back into kernel-addressable memory. -For example, in RAMster, a "suction driver" thread will attempt -to "repatriate" pages sent to a remote machine back to the local machine; -this is driven using the frontswap_shrink mechanism when memory pressure -subsides. - -* Why does the frontswap patch create the new include file swapfile.h? - -The frontswap code depends on some swap-subsystem-internal data -structures that have, over the years, moved back and forth between -static and global. This seemed a reasonable compromise: Define -them as global but declare them in a new include file that isn't -included by the large number of source files that include swap.h. - -Dan Magenheimer, last updated April 9, 2012 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/highmem.rst b/Documentation/vm/highmem.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..0f69a9fec34d --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/highmem.rst @@ -0,0 +1,147 @@ +.. _highmem: + +==================== +High Memory Handling +==================== + +By: Peter Zijlstra + +.. contents:: :local: + +What Is High Memory? +==================== + +High memory (highmem) is used when the size of physical memory approaches or +exceeds the maximum size of virtual memory. At that point it becomes +impossible for the kernel to keep all of the available physical memory mapped +at all times. This means the kernel needs to start using temporary mappings of +the pieces of physical memory that it wants to access. + +The part of (physical) memory not covered by a permanent mapping is what we +refer to as 'highmem'. There are various architecture dependent constraints on +where exactly that border lies. + +In the i386 arch, for example, we choose to map the kernel into every process's +VM space so that we don't have to pay the full TLB invalidation costs for +kernel entry/exit. This means the available virtual memory space (4GiB on +i386) has to be divided between user and kernel space. + +The traditional split for architectures using this approach is 3:1, 3GiB for +userspace and the top 1GiB for kernel space:: + + +--------+ 0xffffffff + | Kernel | + +--------+ 0xc0000000 + | | + | User | + | | + +--------+ 0x00000000 + +This means that the kernel can at most map 1GiB of physical memory at any one +time, but because we need virtual address space for other things - including +temporary maps to access the rest of the physical memory - the actual direct +map will typically be less (usually around ~896MiB). + +Other architectures that have mm context tagged TLBs can have separate kernel +and user maps. Some hardware (like some ARMs), however, have limited virtual +space when they use mm context tags. + + +Temporary Virtual Mappings +========================== + +The kernel contains several ways of creating temporary mappings: + +* vmap(). This can be used to make a long duration mapping of multiple + physical pages into a contiguous virtual space. It needs global + synchronization to unmap. + +* kmap(). This permits a short duration mapping of a single page. It needs + global synchronization, but is amortized somewhat. It is also prone to + deadlocks when using in a nested fashion, and so it is not recommended for + new code. + +* kmap_atomic(). This permits a very short duration mapping of a single + page. Since the mapping is restricted to the CPU that issued it, it + performs well, but the issuing task is therefore required to stay on that + CPU until it has finished, lest some other task displace its mappings. + + kmap_atomic() may also be used by interrupt contexts, since it is does not + sleep and the caller may not sleep until after kunmap_atomic() is called. + + It may be assumed that k[un]map_atomic() won't fail. + + +Using kmap_atomic +================= + +When and where to use kmap_atomic() is straightforward. It is used when code +wants to access the contents of a page that might be allocated from high memory +(see __GFP_HIGHMEM), for example a page in the pagecache. The API has two +functions, and they can be used in a manner similar to the following:: + + /* Find the page of interest. */ + struct page *page = find_get_page(mapping, offset); + + /* Gain access to the contents of that page. */ + void *vaddr = kmap_atomic(page); + + /* Do something to the contents of that page. */ + memset(vaddr, 0, PAGE_SIZE); + + /* Unmap that page. */ + kunmap_atomic(vaddr); + +Note that the kunmap_atomic() call takes the result of the kmap_atomic() call +not the argument. + +If you need to map two pages because you want to copy from one page to +another you need to keep the kmap_atomic calls strictly nested, like:: + + vaddr1 = kmap_atomic(page1); + vaddr2 = kmap_atomic(page2); + + memcpy(vaddr1, vaddr2, PAGE_SIZE); + + kunmap_atomic(vaddr2); + kunmap_atomic(vaddr1); + + +Cost of Temporary Mappings +========================== + +The cost of creating temporary mappings can be quite high. The arch has to +manipulate the kernel's page tables, the data TLB and/or the MMU's registers. + +If CONFIG_HIGHMEM is not set, then the kernel will try and create a mapping +simply with a bit of arithmetic that will convert the page struct address into +a pointer to the page contents rather than juggling mappings about. In such a +case, the unmap operation may be a null operation. + +If CONFIG_MMU is not set, then there can be no temporary mappings and no +highmem. In such a case, the arithmetic approach will also be used. + + +i386 PAE +======== + +The i386 arch, under some circumstances, will permit you to stick up to 64GiB +of RAM into your 32-bit machine. This has a number of consequences: + +* Linux needs a page-frame structure for each page in the system and the + pageframes need to live in the permanent mapping, which means: + +* you can have 896M/sizeof(struct page) page-frames at most; with struct + page being 32-bytes that would end up being something in the order of 112G + worth of pages; the kernel, however, needs to store more than just + page-frames in that memory... + +* PAE makes your page tables larger - which slows the system down as more + data has to be accessed to traverse in TLB fills and the like. One + advantage is that PAE has more PTE bits and can provide advanced features + like NX and PAT. + +The general recommendation is that you don't use more than 8GiB on a 32-bit +machine - although more might work for you and your workload, you're pretty +much on your own - don't expect kernel developers to really care much if things +come apart. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/highmem.txt b/Documentation/vm/highmem.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0f69a9fec34d..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/highmem.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,147 +0,0 @@ -.. _highmem: - -==================== -High Memory Handling -==================== - -By: Peter Zijlstra - -.. contents:: :local: - -What Is High Memory? -==================== - -High memory (highmem) is used when the size of physical memory approaches or -exceeds the maximum size of virtual memory. At that point it becomes -impossible for the kernel to keep all of the available physical memory mapped -at all times. This means the kernel needs to start using temporary mappings of -the pieces of physical memory that it wants to access. - -The part of (physical) memory not covered by a permanent mapping is what we -refer to as 'highmem'. There are various architecture dependent constraints on -where exactly that border lies. - -In the i386 arch, for example, we choose to map the kernel into every process's -VM space so that we don't have to pay the full TLB invalidation costs for -kernel entry/exit. This means the available virtual memory space (4GiB on -i386) has to be divided between user and kernel space. - -The traditional split for architectures using this approach is 3:1, 3GiB for -userspace and the top 1GiB for kernel space:: - - +--------+ 0xffffffff - | Kernel | - +--------+ 0xc0000000 - | | - | User | - | | - +--------+ 0x00000000 - -This means that the kernel can at most map 1GiB of physical memory at any one -time, but because we need virtual address space for other things - including -temporary maps to access the rest of the physical memory - the actual direct -map will typically be less (usually around ~896MiB). - -Other architectures that have mm context tagged TLBs can have separate kernel -and user maps. Some hardware (like some ARMs), however, have limited virtual -space when they use mm context tags. - - -Temporary Virtual Mappings -========================== - -The kernel contains several ways of creating temporary mappings: - -* vmap(). This can be used to make a long duration mapping of multiple - physical pages into a contiguous virtual space. It needs global - synchronization to unmap. - -* kmap(). This permits a short duration mapping of a single page. It needs - global synchronization, but is amortized somewhat. It is also prone to - deadlocks when using in a nested fashion, and so it is not recommended for - new code. - -* kmap_atomic(). This permits a very short duration mapping of a single - page. Since the mapping is restricted to the CPU that issued it, it - performs well, but the issuing task is therefore required to stay on that - CPU until it has finished, lest some other task displace its mappings. - - kmap_atomic() may also be used by interrupt contexts, since it is does not - sleep and the caller may not sleep until after kunmap_atomic() is called. - - It may be assumed that k[un]map_atomic() won't fail. - - -Using kmap_atomic -================= - -When and where to use kmap_atomic() is straightforward. It is used when code -wants to access the contents of a page that might be allocated from high memory -(see __GFP_HIGHMEM), for example a page in the pagecache. The API has two -functions, and they can be used in a manner similar to the following:: - - /* Find the page of interest. */ - struct page *page = find_get_page(mapping, offset); - - /* Gain access to the contents of that page. */ - void *vaddr = kmap_atomic(page); - - /* Do something to the contents of that page. */ - memset(vaddr, 0, PAGE_SIZE); - - /* Unmap that page. */ - kunmap_atomic(vaddr); - -Note that the kunmap_atomic() call takes the result of the kmap_atomic() call -not the argument. - -If you need to map two pages because you want to copy from one page to -another you need to keep the kmap_atomic calls strictly nested, like:: - - vaddr1 = kmap_atomic(page1); - vaddr2 = kmap_atomic(page2); - - memcpy(vaddr1, vaddr2, PAGE_SIZE); - - kunmap_atomic(vaddr2); - kunmap_atomic(vaddr1); - - -Cost of Temporary Mappings -========================== - -The cost of creating temporary mappings can be quite high. The arch has to -manipulate the kernel's page tables, the data TLB and/or the MMU's registers. - -If CONFIG_HIGHMEM is not set, then the kernel will try and create a mapping -simply with a bit of arithmetic that will convert the page struct address into -a pointer to the page contents rather than juggling mappings about. In such a -case, the unmap operation may be a null operation. - -If CONFIG_MMU is not set, then there can be no temporary mappings and no -highmem. In such a case, the arithmetic approach will also be used. - - -i386 PAE -======== - -The i386 arch, under some circumstances, will permit you to stick up to 64GiB -of RAM into your 32-bit machine. This has a number of consequences: - -* Linux needs a page-frame structure for each page in the system and the - pageframes need to live in the permanent mapping, which means: - -* you can have 896M/sizeof(struct page) page-frames at most; with struct - page being 32-bytes that would end up being something in the order of 112G - worth of pages; the kernel, however, needs to store more than just - page-frames in that memory... - -* PAE makes your page tables larger - which slows the system down as more - data has to be accessed to traverse in TLB fills and the like. One - advantage is that PAE has more PTE bits and can provide advanced features - like NX and PAT. - -The general recommendation is that you don't use more than 8GiB on a 32-bit -machine - although more might work for you and your workload, you're pretty -much on your own - don't expect kernel developers to really care much if things -come apart. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hmm.rst b/Documentation/vm/hmm.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..3fafa3381730 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/hmm.rst @@ -0,0 +1,374 @@ +.. hmm: + +===================================== +Heterogeneous Memory Management (HMM) +===================================== + +Transparently allow any component of a program to use any memory region of said +program with a device without using device specific memory allocator. This is +becoming a requirement to simplify the use of advance heterogeneous computing +where GPU, DSP or FPGA are use to perform various computations. + +This document is divided as follow, in the first section i expose the problems +related to the use of a device specific allocator. The second section i expose +the hardware limitations that are inherent to many platforms. The third section +gives an overview of HMM designs. The fourth section explains how CPU page- +table mirroring works and what is HMM purpose in this context. Fifth section +deals with how device memory is represented inside the kernel. Finaly the last +section present the new migration helper that allow to leverage the device DMA +engine. + +.. contents:: :local: + +Problems of using device specific memory allocator +================================================== + +Device with large amount of on board memory (several giga bytes) like GPU have +historically manage their memory through dedicated driver specific API. This +creates a disconnect between memory allocated and managed by device driver and +regular application memory (private anonymous, share memory or regular file +back memory). From here on i will refer to this aspect as split address space. +I use share address space to refer to the opposite situation ie one in which +any memory region can be use by device transparently. + +Split address space because device can only access memory allocated through the +device specific API. This imply that all memory object in a program are not +equal from device point of view which complicate large program that rely on a +wide set of libraries. + +Concretly this means that code that wants to leverage device like GPU need to +copy object between genericly allocated memory (malloc, mmap private/share/) +and memory allocated through the device driver API (this still end up with an +mmap but of the device file). + +For flat dataset (array, grid, image, ...) this isn't too hard to achieve but +complex data-set (list, tree, ...) are hard to get right. Duplicating a complex +data-set need to re-map all the pointer relations between each of its elements. +This is error prone and program gets harder to debug because of the duplicate +data-set. + +Split address space also means that library can not transparently use data they +are getting from core program or other library and thus each library might have +to duplicate its input data-set using specific memory allocator. Large project +suffer from this and waste resources because of the various memory copy. + +Duplicating each library API to accept as input or output memory allocted by +each device specific allocator is not a viable option. It would lead to a +combinatorial explosions in the library entry points. + +Finaly with the advance of high level language constructs (in C++ but in other +language too) it is now possible for compiler to leverage GPU or other devices +without even the programmer knowledge. Some of compiler identified patterns are +only do-able with a share address. It is as well more reasonable to use a share +address space for all the other patterns. + + +System bus, device memory characteristics +========================================= + +System bus cripple share address due to few limitations. Most system bus only +allow basic memory access from device to main memory, even cache coherency is +often optional. Access to device memory from CPU is even more limited, most +often than not it is not cache coherent. + +If we only consider the PCIE bus than device can access main memory (often +through an IOMMU) and be cache coherent with the CPUs. However it only allows +a limited set of atomic operation from device on main memory. This is worse +in the other direction the CPUs can only access a limited range of the device +memory and can not perform atomic operations on it. Thus device memory can not +be consider like regular memory from kernel point of view. + +Another crippling factor is the limited bandwidth (~32GBytes/s with PCIE 4.0 +and 16 lanes). This is 33 times less that fastest GPU memory (1 TBytes/s). +The final limitation is latency, access to main memory from the device has an +order of magnitude higher latency than when the device access its own memory. + +Some platform are developing new system bus or additions/modifications to PCIE +to address some of those limitations (OpenCAPI, CCIX). They mainly allow two +way cache coherency between CPU and device and allow all atomic operations the +architecture supports. Saddly not all platform are following this trends and +some major architecture are left without hardware solutions to those problems. + +So for share address space to make sense not only we must allow device to +access any memory memory but we must also permit any memory to be migrated to +device memory while device is using it (blocking CPU access while it happens). + + +Share address space and migration +================================= + +HMM intends to provide two main features. First one is to share the address +space by duplication the CPU page table into the device page table so same +address point to same memory and this for any valid main memory address in +the process address space. + +To achieve this, HMM offer a set of helpers to populate the device page table +while keeping track of CPU page table updates. Device page table updates are +not as easy as CPU page table updates. To update the device page table you must +allow a buffer (or use a pool of pre-allocated buffer) and write GPU specifics +commands in it to perform the update (unmap, cache invalidations and flush, +...). This can not be done through common code for all device. Hence why HMM +provides helpers to factor out everything that can be while leaving the gory +details to the device driver. + +The second mechanism HMM provide is a new kind of ZONE_DEVICE memory that does +allow to allocate a struct page for each page of the device memory. Those page +are special because the CPU can not map them. They however allow to migrate +main memory to device memory using exhisting migration mechanism and everything +looks like if page was swap out to disk from CPU point of view. Using a struct +page gives the easiest and cleanest integration with existing mm mechanisms. +Again here HMM only provide helpers, first to hotplug new ZONE_DEVICE memory +for the device memory and second to perform migration. Policy decision of what +and when to migrate things is left to the device driver. + +Note that any CPU access to a device page trigger a page fault and a migration +back to main memory ie when a page backing an given address A is migrated from +a main memory page to a device page then any CPU access to address A trigger a +page fault and initiate a migration back to main memory. + + +With this two features, HMM not only allow a device to mirror a process address +space and keeps both CPU and device page table synchronize, but also allow to +leverage device memory by migrating part of data-set that is actively use by a +device. + + +Address space mirroring implementation and API +============================================== + +Address space mirroring main objective is to allow to duplicate range of CPU +page table into a device page table and HMM helps keeping both synchronize. A +device driver that want to mirror a process address space must start with the +registration of an hmm_mirror struct:: + + int hmm_mirror_register(struct hmm_mirror *mirror, + struct mm_struct *mm); + int hmm_mirror_register_locked(struct hmm_mirror *mirror, + struct mm_struct *mm); + +The locked variant is to be use when the driver is already holding the mmap_sem +of the mm in write mode. The mirror struct has a set of callback that are use +to propagate CPU page table:: + + struct hmm_mirror_ops { + /* sync_cpu_device_pagetables() - synchronize page tables + * + * @mirror: pointer to struct hmm_mirror + * @update_type: type of update that occurred to the CPU page table + * @start: virtual start address of the range to update + * @end: virtual end address of the range to update + * + * This callback ultimately originates from mmu_notifiers when the CPU + * page table is updated. The device driver must update its page table + * in response to this callback. The update argument tells what action + * to perform. + * + * The device driver must not return from this callback until the device + * page tables are completely updated (TLBs flushed, etc); this is a + * synchronous call. + */ + void (*update)(struct hmm_mirror *mirror, + enum hmm_update action, + unsigned long start, + unsigned long end); + }; + +Device driver must perform update to the range following action (turn range +read only, or fully unmap, ...). Once driver callback returns the device must +be done with the update. + + +When device driver wants to populate a range of virtual address it can use +either:: + + int hmm_vma_get_pfns(struct vm_area_struct *vma, + struct hmm_range *range, + unsigned long start, + unsigned long end, + hmm_pfn_t *pfns); + int hmm_vma_fault(struct vm_area_struct *vma, + struct hmm_range *range, + unsigned long start, + unsigned long end, + hmm_pfn_t *pfns, + bool write, + bool block); + +First one (hmm_vma_get_pfns()) will only fetch present CPU page table entry and +will not trigger a page fault on missing or non present entry. The second one +do trigger page fault on missing or read only entry if write parameter is true. +Page fault use the generic mm page fault code path just like a CPU page fault. + +Both function copy CPU page table into their pfns array argument. Each entry in +that array correspond to an address in the virtual range. HMM provide a set of +flags to help driver identify special CPU page table entries. + +Locking with the update() callback is the most important aspect the driver must +respect in order to keep things properly synchronize. The usage pattern is:: + + int driver_populate_range(...) + { + struct hmm_range range; + ... + again: + ret = hmm_vma_get_pfns(vma, &range, start, end, pfns); + if (ret) + return ret; + take_lock(driver->update); + if (!hmm_vma_range_done(vma, &range)) { + release_lock(driver->update); + goto again; + } + + // Use pfns array content to update device page table + + release_lock(driver->update); + return 0; + } + +The driver->update lock is the same lock that driver takes inside its update() +callback. That lock must be call before hmm_vma_range_done() to avoid any race +with a concurrent CPU page table update. + +HMM implements all this on top of the mmu_notifier API because we wanted to a +simpler API and also to be able to perform optimization latter own like doing +concurrent device update in multi-devices scenario. + +HMM also serve as an impedence missmatch between how CPU page table update are +done (by CPU write to the page table and TLB flushes) from how device update +their own page table. Device update is a multi-step process, first appropriate +commands are write to a buffer, then this buffer is schedule for execution on +the device. It is only once the device has executed commands in the buffer that +the update is done. Creating and scheduling update command buffer can happen +concurrently for multiple devices. Waiting for each device to report commands +as executed is serialize (there is no point in doing this concurrently). + + +Represent and manage device memory from core kernel point of view +================================================================= + +Several differents design were try to support device memory. First one use +device specific data structure to keep information about migrated memory and +HMM hooked itself in various place of mm code to handle any access to address +that were back by device memory. It turns out that this ended up replicating +most of the fields of struct page and also needed many kernel code path to be +updated to understand this new kind of memory. + +Thing is most kernel code path never try to access the memory behind a page +but only care about struct page contents. Because of this HMM switchted to +directly using struct page for device memory which left most kernel code path +un-aware of the difference. We only need to make sure that no one ever try to +map those page from the CPU side. + +HMM provide a set of helpers to register and hotplug device memory as a new +region needing struct page. This is offer through a very simple API:: + + struct hmm_devmem *hmm_devmem_add(const struct hmm_devmem_ops *ops, + struct device *device, + unsigned long size); + void hmm_devmem_remove(struct hmm_devmem *devmem); + +The hmm_devmem_ops is where most of the important things are:: + + struct hmm_devmem_ops { + void (*free)(struct hmm_devmem *devmem, struct page *page); + int (*fault)(struct hmm_devmem *devmem, + struct vm_area_struct *vma, + unsigned long addr, + struct page *page, + unsigned flags, + pmd_t *pmdp); + }; + +The first callback (free()) happens when the last reference on a device page is +drop. This means the device page is now free and no longer use by anyone. The +second callback happens whenever CPU try to access a device page which it can +not do. This second callback must trigger a migration back to system memory. + + +Migrate to and from device memory +================================= + +Because CPU can not access device memory, migration must use device DMA engine +to perform copy from and to device memory. For this we need a new migration +helper:: + + int migrate_vma(const struct migrate_vma_ops *ops, + struct vm_area_struct *vma, + unsigned long mentries, + unsigned long start, + unsigned long end, + unsigned long *src, + unsigned long *dst, + void *private); + +Unlike other migration function it works on a range of virtual address, there +is two reasons for that. First device DMA copy has a high setup overhead cost +and thus batching multiple pages is needed as otherwise the migration overhead +make the whole excersie pointless. The second reason is because driver trigger +such migration base on range of address the device is actively accessing. + +The migrate_vma_ops struct define two callbacks. First one (alloc_and_copy()) +control destination memory allocation and copy operation. Second one is there +to allow device driver to perform cleanup operation after migration:: + + struct migrate_vma_ops { + void (*alloc_and_copy)(struct vm_area_struct *vma, + const unsigned long *src, + unsigned long *dst, + unsigned long start, + unsigned long end, + void *private); + void (*finalize_and_map)(struct vm_area_struct *vma, + const unsigned long *src, + const unsigned long *dst, + unsigned long start, + unsigned long end, + void *private); + }; + +It is important to stress that this migration helpers allow for hole in the +virtual address range. Some pages in the range might not be migrated for all +the usual reasons (page is pin, page is lock, ...). This helper does not fail +but just skip over those pages. + +The alloc_and_copy() might as well decide to not migrate all pages in the +range (for reasons under the callback control). For those the callback just +have to leave the corresponding dst entry empty. + +Finaly the migration of the struct page might fails (for file back page) for +various reasons (failure to freeze reference, or update page cache, ...). If +that happens then the finalize_and_map() can catch any pages that was not +migrated. Note those page were still copied to new page and thus we wasted +bandwidth but this is considered as a rare event and a price that we are +willing to pay to keep all the code simpler. + + +Memory cgroup (memcg) and rss accounting +======================================== + +For now device memory is accounted as any regular page in rss counters (either +anonymous if device page is use for anonymous, file if device page is use for +file back page or shmem if device page is use for share memory). This is a +deliberate choice to keep existing application that might start using device +memory without knowing about it to keep runing unimpacted. + +Drawbacks is that OOM killer might kill an application using a lot of device +memory and not a lot of regular system memory and thus not freeing much system +memory. We want to gather more real world experience on how application and +system react under memory pressure in the presence of device memory before +deciding to account device memory differently. + + +Same decision was made for memory cgroup. Device memory page are accounted +against same memory cgroup a regular page would be accounted to. This does +simplify migration to and from device memory. This also means that migration +back from device memory to regular memory can not fail because it would +go above memory cgroup limit. We might revisit this choice latter on once we +get more experience in how device memory is use and its impact on memory +resource control. + + +Note that device memory can never be pin nor by device driver nor through GUP +and thus such memory is always free upon process exit. Or when last reference +is drop in case of share memory or file back memory. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hmm.txt b/Documentation/vm/hmm.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3fafa3381730..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/hmm.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,374 +0,0 @@ -.. hmm: - -===================================== -Heterogeneous Memory Management (HMM) -===================================== - -Transparently allow any component of a program to use any memory region of said -program with a device without using device specific memory allocator. This is -becoming a requirement to simplify the use of advance heterogeneous computing -where GPU, DSP or FPGA are use to perform various computations. - -This document is divided as follow, in the first section i expose the problems -related to the use of a device specific allocator. The second section i expose -the hardware limitations that are inherent to many platforms. The third section -gives an overview of HMM designs. The fourth section explains how CPU page- -table mirroring works and what is HMM purpose in this context. Fifth section -deals with how device memory is represented inside the kernel. Finaly the last -section present the new migration helper that allow to leverage the device DMA -engine. - -.. contents:: :local: - -Problems of using device specific memory allocator -================================================== - -Device with large amount of on board memory (several giga bytes) like GPU have -historically manage their memory through dedicated driver specific API. This -creates a disconnect between memory allocated and managed by device driver and -regular application memory (private anonymous, share memory or regular file -back memory). From here on i will refer to this aspect as split address space. -I use share address space to refer to the opposite situation ie one in which -any memory region can be use by device transparently. - -Split address space because device can only access memory allocated through the -device specific API. This imply that all memory object in a program are not -equal from device point of view which complicate large program that rely on a -wide set of libraries. - -Concretly this means that code that wants to leverage device like GPU need to -copy object between genericly allocated memory (malloc, mmap private/share/) -and memory allocated through the device driver API (this still end up with an -mmap but of the device file). - -For flat dataset (array, grid, image, ...) this isn't too hard to achieve but -complex data-set (list, tree, ...) are hard to get right. Duplicating a complex -data-set need to re-map all the pointer relations between each of its elements. -This is error prone and program gets harder to debug because of the duplicate -data-set. - -Split address space also means that library can not transparently use data they -are getting from core program or other library and thus each library might have -to duplicate its input data-set using specific memory allocator. Large project -suffer from this and waste resources because of the various memory copy. - -Duplicating each library API to accept as input or output memory allocted by -each device specific allocator is not a viable option. It would lead to a -combinatorial explosions in the library entry points. - -Finaly with the advance of high level language constructs (in C++ but in other -language too) it is now possible for compiler to leverage GPU or other devices -without even the programmer knowledge. Some of compiler identified patterns are -only do-able with a share address. It is as well more reasonable to use a share -address space for all the other patterns. - - -System bus, device memory characteristics -========================================= - -System bus cripple share address due to few limitations. Most system bus only -allow basic memory access from device to main memory, even cache coherency is -often optional. Access to device memory from CPU is even more limited, most -often than not it is not cache coherent. - -If we only consider the PCIE bus than device can access main memory (often -through an IOMMU) and be cache coherent with the CPUs. However it only allows -a limited set of atomic operation from device on main memory. This is worse -in the other direction the CPUs can only access a limited range of the device -memory and can not perform atomic operations on it. Thus device memory can not -be consider like regular memory from kernel point of view. - -Another crippling factor is the limited bandwidth (~32GBytes/s with PCIE 4.0 -and 16 lanes). This is 33 times less that fastest GPU memory (1 TBytes/s). -The final limitation is latency, access to main memory from the device has an -order of magnitude higher latency than when the device access its own memory. - -Some platform are developing new system bus or additions/modifications to PCIE -to address some of those limitations (OpenCAPI, CCIX). They mainly allow two -way cache coherency between CPU and device and allow all atomic operations the -architecture supports. Saddly not all platform are following this trends and -some major architecture are left without hardware solutions to those problems. - -So for share address space to make sense not only we must allow device to -access any memory memory but we must also permit any memory to be migrated to -device memory while device is using it (blocking CPU access while it happens). - - -Share address space and migration -================================= - -HMM intends to provide two main features. First one is to share the address -space by duplication the CPU page table into the device page table so same -address point to same memory and this for any valid main memory address in -the process address space. - -To achieve this, HMM offer a set of helpers to populate the device page table -while keeping track of CPU page table updates. Device page table updates are -not as easy as CPU page table updates. To update the device page table you must -allow a buffer (or use a pool of pre-allocated buffer) and write GPU specifics -commands in it to perform the update (unmap, cache invalidations and flush, -...). This can not be done through common code for all device. Hence why HMM -provides helpers to factor out everything that can be while leaving the gory -details to the device driver. - -The second mechanism HMM provide is a new kind of ZONE_DEVICE memory that does -allow to allocate a struct page for each page of the device memory. Those page -are special because the CPU can not map them. They however allow to migrate -main memory to device memory using exhisting migration mechanism and everything -looks like if page was swap out to disk from CPU point of view. Using a struct -page gives the easiest and cleanest integration with existing mm mechanisms. -Again here HMM only provide helpers, first to hotplug new ZONE_DEVICE memory -for the device memory and second to perform migration. Policy decision of what -and when to migrate things is left to the device driver. - -Note that any CPU access to a device page trigger a page fault and a migration -back to main memory ie when a page backing an given address A is migrated from -a main memory page to a device page then any CPU access to address A trigger a -page fault and initiate a migration back to main memory. - - -With this two features, HMM not only allow a device to mirror a process address -space and keeps both CPU and device page table synchronize, but also allow to -leverage device memory by migrating part of data-set that is actively use by a -device. - - -Address space mirroring implementation and API -============================================== - -Address space mirroring main objective is to allow to duplicate range of CPU -page table into a device page table and HMM helps keeping both synchronize. A -device driver that want to mirror a process address space must start with the -registration of an hmm_mirror struct:: - - int hmm_mirror_register(struct hmm_mirror *mirror, - struct mm_struct *mm); - int hmm_mirror_register_locked(struct hmm_mirror *mirror, - struct mm_struct *mm); - -The locked variant is to be use when the driver is already holding the mmap_sem -of the mm in write mode. The mirror struct has a set of callback that are use -to propagate CPU page table:: - - struct hmm_mirror_ops { - /* sync_cpu_device_pagetables() - synchronize page tables - * - * @mirror: pointer to struct hmm_mirror - * @update_type: type of update that occurred to the CPU page table - * @start: virtual start address of the range to update - * @end: virtual end address of the range to update - * - * This callback ultimately originates from mmu_notifiers when the CPU - * page table is updated. The device driver must update its page table - * in response to this callback. The update argument tells what action - * to perform. - * - * The device driver must not return from this callback until the device - * page tables are completely updated (TLBs flushed, etc); this is a - * synchronous call. - */ - void (*update)(struct hmm_mirror *mirror, - enum hmm_update action, - unsigned long start, - unsigned long end); - }; - -Device driver must perform update to the range following action (turn range -read only, or fully unmap, ...). Once driver callback returns the device must -be done with the update. - - -When device driver wants to populate a range of virtual address it can use -either:: - - int hmm_vma_get_pfns(struct vm_area_struct *vma, - struct hmm_range *range, - unsigned long start, - unsigned long end, - hmm_pfn_t *pfns); - int hmm_vma_fault(struct vm_area_struct *vma, - struct hmm_range *range, - unsigned long start, - unsigned long end, - hmm_pfn_t *pfns, - bool write, - bool block); - -First one (hmm_vma_get_pfns()) will only fetch present CPU page table entry and -will not trigger a page fault on missing or non present entry. The second one -do trigger page fault on missing or read only entry if write parameter is true. -Page fault use the generic mm page fault code path just like a CPU page fault. - -Both function copy CPU page table into their pfns array argument. Each entry in -that array correspond to an address in the virtual range. HMM provide a set of -flags to help driver identify special CPU page table entries. - -Locking with the update() callback is the most important aspect the driver must -respect in order to keep things properly synchronize. The usage pattern is:: - - int driver_populate_range(...) - { - struct hmm_range range; - ... - again: - ret = hmm_vma_get_pfns(vma, &range, start, end, pfns); - if (ret) - return ret; - take_lock(driver->update); - if (!hmm_vma_range_done(vma, &range)) { - release_lock(driver->update); - goto again; - } - - // Use pfns array content to update device page table - - release_lock(driver->update); - return 0; - } - -The driver->update lock is the same lock that driver takes inside its update() -callback. That lock must be call before hmm_vma_range_done() to avoid any race -with a concurrent CPU page table update. - -HMM implements all this on top of the mmu_notifier API because we wanted to a -simpler API and also to be able to perform optimization latter own like doing -concurrent device update in multi-devices scenario. - -HMM also serve as an impedence missmatch between how CPU page table update are -done (by CPU write to the page table and TLB flushes) from how device update -their own page table. Device update is a multi-step process, first appropriate -commands are write to a buffer, then this buffer is schedule for execution on -the device. It is only once the device has executed commands in the buffer that -the update is done. Creating and scheduling update command buffer can happen -concurrently for multiple devices. Waiting for each device to report commands -as executed is serialize (there is no point in doing this concurrently). - - -Represent and manage device memory from core kernel point of view -================================================================= - -Several differents design were try to support device memory. First one use -device specific data structure to keep information about migrated memory and -HMM hooked itself in various place of mm code to handle any access to address -that were back by device memory. It turns out that this ended up replicating -most of the fields of struct page and also needed many kernel code path to be -updated to understand this new kind of memory. - -Thing is most kernel code path never try to access the memory behind a page -but only care about struct page contents. Because of this HMM switchted to -directly using struct page for device memory which left most kernel code path -un-aware of the difference. We only need to make sure that no one ever try to -map those page from the CPU side. - -HMM provide a set of helpers to register and hotplug device memory as a new -region needing struct page. This is offer through a very simple API:: - - struct hmm_devmem *hmm_devmem_add(const struct hmm_devmem_ops *ops, - struct device *device, - unsigned long size); - void hmm_devmem_remove(struct hmm_devmem *devmem); - -The hmm_devmem_ops is where most of the important things are:: - - struct hmm_devmem_ops { - void (*free)(struct hmm_devmem *devmem, struct page *page); - int (*fault)(struct hmm_devmem *devmem, - struct vm_area_struct *vma, - unsigned long addr, - struct page *page, - unsigned flags, - pmd_t *pmdp); - }; - -The first callback (free()) happens when the last reference on a device page is -drop. This means the device page is now free and no longer use by anyone. The -second callback happens whenever CPU try to access a device page which it can -not do. This second callback must trigger a migration back to system memory. - - -Migrate to and from device memory -================================= - -Because CPU can not access device memory, migration must use device DMA engine -to perform copy from and to device memory. For this we need a new migration -helper:: - - int migrate_vma(const struct migrate_vma_ops *ops, - struct vm_area_struct *vma, - unsigned long mentries, - unsigned long start, - unsigned long end, - unsigned long *src, - unsigned long *dst, - void *private); - -Unlike other migration function it works on a range of virtual address, there -is two reasons for that. First device DMA copy has a high setup overhead cost -and thus batching multiple pages is needed as otherwise the migration overhead -make the whole excersie pointless. The second reason is because driver trigger -such migration base on range of address the device is actively accessing. - -The migrate_vma_ops struct define two callbacks. First one (alloc_and_copy()) -control destination memory allocation and copy operation. Second one is there -to allow device driver to perform cleanup operation after migration:: - - struct migrate_vma_ops { - void (*alloc_and_copy)(struct vm_area_struct *vma, - const unsigned long *src, - unsigned long *dst, - unsigned long start, - unsigned long end, - void *private); - void (*finalize_and_map)(struct vm_area_struct *vma, - const unsigned long *src, - const unsigned long *dst, - unsigned long start, - unsigned long end, - void *private); - }; - -It is important to stress that this migration helpers allow for hole in the -virtual address range. Some pages in the range might not be migrated for all -the usual reasons (page is pin, page is lock, ...). This helper does not fail -but just skip over those pages. - -The alloc_and_copy() might as well decide to not migrate all pages in the -range (for reasons under the callback control). For those the callback just -have to leave the corresponding dst entry empty. - -Finaly the migration of the struct page might fails (for file back page) for -various reasons (failure to freeze reference, or update page cache, ...). If -that happens then the finalize_and_map() can catch any pages that was not -migrated. Note those page were still copied to new page and thus we wasted -bandwidth but this is considered as a rare event and a price that we are -willing to pay to keep all the code simpler. - - -Memory cgroup (memcg) and rss accounting -======================================== - -For now device memory is accounted as any regular page in rss counters (either -anonymous if device page is use for anonymous, file if device page is use for -file back page or shmem if device page is use for share memory). This is a -deliberate choice to keep existing application that might start using device -memory without knowing about it to keep runing unimpacted. - -Drawbacks is that OOM killer might kill an application using a lot of device -memory and not a lot of regular system memory and thus not freeing much system -memory. We want to gather more real world experience on how application and -system react under memory pressure in the presence of device memory before -deciding to account device memory differently. - - -Same decision was made for memory cgroup. Device memory page are accounted -against same memory cgroup a regular page would be accounted to. This does -simplify migration to and from device memory. This also means that migration -back from device memory to regular memory can not fail because it would -go above memory cgroup limit. We might revisit this choice latter on once we -get more experience in how device memory is use and its impact on memory -resource control. - - -Note that device memory can never be pin nor by device driver nor through GUP -and thus such memory is always free upon process exit. Or when last reference -is drop in case of share memory or file back memory. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.rst b/Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..36a87a2ea435 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.rst @@ -0,0 +1,587 @@ +.. _hugetlbfs_reserve: + +===================== +Hugetlbfs Reservation +===================== + +Overview +======== + +Huge pages as described at :ref:`hugetlbpage` are typically +preallocated for application use. These huge pages are instantiated in a +task's address space at page fault time if the VMA indicates huge pages are +to be used. If no huge page exists at page fault time, the task is sent +a SIGBUS and often dies an unhappy death. Shortly after huge page support +was added, it was determined that it would be better to detect a shortage +of huge pages at mmap() time. The idea is that if there were not enough +huge pages to cover the mapping, the mmap() would fail. This was first +done with a simple check in the code at mmap() time to determine if there +were enough free huge pages to cover the mapping. Like most things in the +kernel, the code has evolved over time. However, the basic idea was to +'reserve' huge pages at mmap() time to ensure that huge pages would be +available for page faults in that mapping. The description below attempts to +describe how huge page reserve processing is done in the v4.10 kernel. + + +Audience +======== +This description is primarily targeted at kernel developers who are modifying +hugetlbfs code. + + +The Data Structures +=================== + +resv_huge_pages + This is a global (per-hstate) count of reserved huge pages. Reserved + huge pages are only available to the task which reserved them. + Therefore, the number of huge pages generally available is computed + as (``free_huge_pages - resv_huge_pages``). +Reserve Map + A reserve map is described by the structure:: + + struct resv_map { + struct kref refs; + spinlock_t lock; + struct list_head regions; + long adds_in_progress; + struct list_head region_cache; + long region_cache_count; + }; + + There is one reserve map for each huge page mapping in the system. + The regions list within the resv_map describes the regions within + the mapping. A region is described as:: + + struct file_region { + struct list_head link; + long from; + long to; + }; + + The 'from' and 'to' fields of the file region structure are huge page + indices into the mapping. Depending on the type of mapping, a + region in the reserv_map may indicate reservations exist for the + range, or reservations do not exist. +Flags for MAP_PRIVATE Reservations + These are stored in the bottom bits of the reservation map pointer. + + ``#define HPAGE_RESV_OWNER (1UL << 0)`` + Indicates this task is the owner of the reservations + associated with the mapping. + ``#define HPAGE_RESV_UNMAPPED (1UL << 1)`` + Indicates task originally mapping this range (and creating + reserves) has unmapped a page from this task (the child) + due to a failed COW. +Page Flags + The PagePrivate page flag is used to indicate that a huge page + reservation must be restored when the huge page is freed. More + details will be discussed in the "Freeing huge pages" section. + + +Reservation Map Location (Private or Shared) +============================================ + +A huge page mapping or segment is either private or shared. If private, +it is typically only available to a single address space (task). If shared, +it can be mapped into multiple address spaces (tasks). The location and +semantics of the reservation map is significantly different for two types +of mappings. Location differences are: + +- For private mappings, the reservation map hangs off the the VMA structure. + Specifically, vma->vm_private_data. This reserve map is created at the + time the mapping (mmap(MAP_PRIVATE)) is created. +- For shared mappings, the reservation map hangs off the inode. Specifically, + inode->i_mapping->private_data. Since shared mappings are always backed + by files in the hugetlbfs filesystem, the hugetlbfs code ensures each inode + contains a reservation map. As a result, the reservation map is allocated + when the inode is created. + + +Creating Reservations +===================== +Reservations are created when a huge page backed shared memory segment is +created (shmget(SHM_HUGETLB)) or a mapping is created via mmap(MAP_HUGETLB). +These operations result in a call to the routine hugetlb_reserve_pages():: + + int hugetlb_reserve_pages(struct inode *inode, + long from, long to, + struct vm_area_struct *vma, + vm_flags_t vm_flags) + +The first thing hugetlb_reserve_pages() does is check for the NORESERVE +flag was specified in either the shmget() or mmap() call. If NORESERVE +was specified, then this routine returns immediately as no reservation +are desired. + +The arguments 'from' and 'to' are huge page indices into the mapping or +underlying file. For shmget(), 'from' is always 0 and 'to' corresponds to +the length of the segment/mapping. For mmap(), the offset argument could +be used to specify the offset into the underlying file. In such a case +the 'from' and 'to' arguments have been adjusted by this offset. + +One of the big differences between PRIVATE and SHARED mappings is the way +in which reservations are represented in the reservation map. + +- For shared mappings, an entry in the reservation map indicates a reservation + exists or did exist for the corresponding page. As reservations are + consumed, the reservation map is not modified. +- For private mappings, the lack of an entry in the reservation map indicates + a reservation exists for the corresponding page. As reservations are + consumed, entries are added to the reservation map. Therefore, the + reservation map can also be used to determine which reservations have + been consumed. + +For private mappings, hugetlb_reserve_pages() creates the reservation map and +hangs it off the VMA structure. In addition, the HPAGE_RESV_OWNER flag is set +to indicate this VMA owns the reservations. + +The reservation map is consulted to determine how many huge page reservations +are needed for the current mapping/segment. For private mappings, this is +always the value (to - from). However, for shared mappings it is possible that some reservations may already exist within the range (to - from). See the +section :ref:`Reservation Map Modifications ` +for details on how this is accomplished. + +The mapping may be associated with a subpool. If so, the subpool is consulted +to ensure there is sufficient space for the mapping. It is possible that the +subpool has set aside reservations that can be used for the mapping. See the +section :ref:`Subpool Reservations ` for more details. + +After consulting the reservation map and subpool, the number of needed new +reservations is known. The routine hugetlb_acct_memory() is called to check +for and take the requested number of reservations. hugetlb_acct_memory() +calls into routines that potentially allocate and adjust surplus page counts. +However, within those routines the code is simply checking to ensure there +are enough free huge pages to accommodate the reservation. If there are, +the global reservation count resv_huge_pages is adjusted something like the +following:: + + if (resv_needed <= (resv_huge_pages - free_huge_pages)) + resv_huge_pages += resv_needed; + +Note that the global lock hugetlb_lock is held when checking and adjusting +these counters. + +If there were enough free huge pages and the global count resv_huge_pages +was adjusted, then the reservation map associated with the mapping is +modified to reflect the reservations. In the case of a shared mapping, a +file_region will exist that includes the range 'from' 'to'. For private +mappings, no modifications are made to the reservation map as lack of an +entry indicates a reservation exists. + +If hugetlb_reserve_pages() was successful, the global reservation count and +reservation map associated with the mapping will be modified as required to +ensure reservations exist for the range 'from' - 'to'. + +.. _consume_resv: + +Consuming Reservations/Allocating a Huge Page +============================================= + +Reservations are consumed when huge pages associated with the reservations +are allocated and instantiated in the corresponding mapping. The allocation +is performed within the routine alloc_huge_page():: + + struct page *alloc_huge_page(struct vm_area_struct *vma, + unsigned long addr, int avoid_reserve) + +alloc_huge_page is passed a VMA pointer and a virtual address, so it can +consult the reservation map to determine if a reservation exists. In addition, +alloc_huge_page takes the argument avoid_reserve which indicates reserves +should not be used even if it appears they have been set aside for the +specified address. The avoid_reserve argument is most often used in the case +of Copy on Write and Page Migration where additional copies of an existing +page are being allocated. + +The helper routine vma_needs_reservation() is called to determine if a +reservation exists for the address within the mapping(vma). See the section +:ref:`Reservation Map Helper Routines ` for detailed +information on what this routine does. +The value returned from vma_needs_reservation() is generally +0 or 1. 0 if a reservation exists for the address, 1 if no reservation exists. +If a reservation does not exist, and there is a subpool associated with the +mapping the subpool is consulted to determine if it contains reservations. +If the subpool contains reservations, one can be used for this allocation. +However, in every case the avoid_reserve argument overrides the use of +a reservation for the allocation. After determining whether a reservation +exists and can be used for the allocation, the routine dequeue_huge_page_vma() +is called. This routine takes two arguments related to reservations: + +- avoid_reserve, this is the same value/argument passed to alloc_huge_page() +- chg, even though this argument is of type long only the values 0 or 1 are + passed to dequeue_huge_page_vma. If the value is 0, it indicates a + reservation exists (see the section "Memory Policy and Reservations" for + possible issues). If the value is 1, it indicates a reservation does not + exist and the page must be taken from the global free pool if possible. + +The free lists associated with the memory policy of the VMA are searched for +a free page. If a page is found, the value free_huge_pages is decremented +when the page is removed from the free list. If there was a reservation +associated with the page, the following adjustments are made:: + + SetPagePrivate(page); /* Indicates allocating this page consumed + * a reservation, and if an error is + * encountered such that the page must be + * freed, the reservation will be restored. */ + resv_huge_pages--; /* Decrement the global reservation count */ + +Note, if no huge page can be found that satisfies the VMA's memory policy +an attempt will be made to allocate one using the buddy allocator. This +brings up the issue of surplus huge pages and overcommit which is beyond +the scope reservations. Even if a surplus page is allocated, the same +reservation based adjustments as above will be made: SetPagePrivate(page) and +resv_huge_pages--. + +After obtaining a new huge page, (page)->private is set to the value of +the subpool associated with the page if it exists. This will be used for +subpool accounting when the page is freed. + +The routine vma_commit_reservation() is then called to adjust the reserve +map based on the consumption of the reservation. In general, this involves +ensuring the page is represented within a file_region structure of the region +map. For shared mappings where the the reservation was present, an entry +in the reserve map already existed so no change is made. However, if there +was no reservation in a shared mapping or this was a private mapping a new +entry must be created. + +It is possible that the reserve map could have been changed between the call +to vma_needs_reservation() at the beginning of alloc_huge_page() and the +call to vma_commit_reservation() after the page was allocated. This would +be possible if hugetlb_reserve_pages was called for the same page in a shared +mapping. In such cases, the reservation count and subpool free page count +will be off by one. This rare condition can be identified by comparing the +return value from vma_needs_reservation and vma_commit_reservation. If such +a race is detected, the subpool and global reserve counts are adjusted to +compensate. See the section +:ref:`Reservation Map Helper Routines ` for more +information on these routines. + + +Instantiate Huge Pages +====================== + +After huge page allocation, the page is typically added to the page tables +of the allocating task. Before this, pages in a shared mapping are added +to the page cache and pages in private mappings are added to an anonymous +reverse mapping. In both cases, the PagePrivate flag is cleared. Therefore, +when a huge page that has been instantiated is freed no adjustment is made +to the global reservation count (resv_huge_pages). + + +Freeing Huge Pages +================== + +Huge page freeing is performed by the routine free_huge_page(). This routine +is the destructor for hugetlbfs compound pages. As a result, it is only +passed a pointer to the page struct. When a huge page is freed, reservation +accounting may need to be performed. This would be the case if the page was +associated with a subpool that contained reserves, or the page is being freed +on an error path where a global reserve count must be restored. + +The page->private field points to any subpool associated with the page. +If the PagePrivate flag is set, it indicates the global reserve count should +be adjusted (see the section +:ref:`Consuming Reservations/Allocating a Huge Page ` +for information on how these are set). + +The routine first calls hugepage_subpool_put_pages() for the page. If this +routine returns a value of 0 (which does not equal the value passed 1) it +indicates reserves are associated with the subpool, and this newly free page +must be used to keep the number of subpool reserves above the minimum size. +Therefore, the global resv_huge_pages counter is incremented in this case. + +If the PagePrivate flag was set in the page, the global resv_huge_pages counter +will always be incremented. + +.. _sub_pool_resv: + +Subpool Reservations +==================== + +There is a struct hstate associated with each huge page size. The hstate +tracks all huge pages of the specified size. A subpool represents a subset +of pages within a hstate that is associated with a mounted hugetlbfs +filesystem. + +When a hugetlbfs filesystem is mounted a min_size option can be specified +which indicates the minimum number of huge pages required by the filesystem. +If this option is specified, the number of huge pages corresponding to +min_size are reserved for use by the filesystem. This number is tracked in +the min_hpages field of a struct hugepage_subpool. At mount time, +hugetlb_acct_memory(min_hpages) is called to reserve the specified number of +huge pages. If they can not be reserved, the mount fails. + +The routines hugepage_subpool_get/put_pages() are called when pages are +obtained from or released back to a subpool. They perform all subpool +accounting, and track any reservations associated with the subpool. +hugepage_subpool_get/put_pages are passed the number of huge pages by which +to adjust the subpool 'used page' count (down for get, up for put). Normally, +they return the same value that was passed or an error if not enough pages +exist in the subpool. + +However, if reserves are associated with the subpool a return value less +than the passed value may be returned. This return value indicates the +number of additional global pool adjustments which must be made. For example, +suppose a subpool contains 3 reserved huge pages and someone asks for 5. +The 3 reserved pages associated with the subpool can be used to satisfy part +of the request. But, 2 pages must be obtained from the global pools. To +relay this information to the caller, the value 2 is returned. The caller +is then responsible for attempting to obtain the additional two pages from +the global pools. + + +COW and Reservations +==================== + +Since shared mappings all point to and use the same underlying pages, the +biggest reservation concern for COW is private mappings. In this case, +two tasks can be pointing at the same previously allocated page. One task +attempts to write to the page, so a new page must be allocated so that each +task points to its own page. + +When the page was originally allocated, the reservation for that page was +consumed. When an attempt to allocate a new page is made as a result of +COW, it is possible that no free huge pages are free and the allocation +will fail. + +When the private mapping was originally created, the owner of the mapping +was noted by setting the HPAGE_RESV_OWNER bit in the pointer to the reservation +map of the owner. Since the owner created the mapping, the owner owns all +the reservations associated with the mapping. Therefore, when a write fault +occurs and there is no page available, different action is taken for the owner +and non-owner of the reservation. + +In the case where the faulting task is not the owner, the fault will fail and +the task will typically receive a SIGBUS. + +If the owner is the faulting task, we want it to succeed since it owned the +original reservation. To accomplish this, the page is unmapped from the +non-owning task. In this way, the only reference is from the owning task. +In addition, the HPAGE_RESV_UNMAPPED bit is set in the reservation map pointer +of the non-owning task. The non-owning task may receive a SIGBUS if it later +faults on a non-present page. But, the original owner of the +mapping/reservation will behave as expected. + + +.. _resv_map_modifications: + +Reservation Map Modifications +============================= + +The following low level routines are used to make modifications to a +reservation map. Typically, these routines are not called directly. Rather, +a reservation map helper routine is called which calls one of these low level +routines. These low level routines are fairly well documented in the source +code (mm/hugetlb.c). These routines are:: + + long region_chg(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); + long region_add(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); + void region_abort(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); + long region_count(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); + +Operations on the reservation map typically involve two operations: + +1) region_chg() is called to examine the reserve map and determine how + many pages in the specified range [f, t) are NOT currently represented. + + The calling code performs global checks and allocations to determine if + there are enough huge pages for the operation to succeed. + +2) + a) If the operation can succeed, region_add() is called to actually modify + the reservation map for the same range [f, t) previously passed to + region_chg(). + b) If the operation can not succeed, region_abort is called for the same + range [f, t) to abort the operation. + +Note that this is a two step process where region_add() and region_abort() +are guaranteed to succeed after a prior call to region_chg() for the same +range. region_chg() is responsible for pre-allocating any data structures +necessary to ensure the subsequent operations (specifically region_add())) +will succeed. + +As mentioned above, region_chg() determines the number of pages in the range +which are NOT currently represented in the map. This number is returned to +the caller. region_add() returns the number of pages in the range added to +the map. In most cases, the return value of region_add() is the same as the +return value of region_chg(). However, in the case of shared mappings it is +possible for changes to the reservation map to be made between the calls to +region_chg() and region_add(). In this case, the return value of region_add() +will not match the return value of region_chg(). It is likely that in such +cases global counts and subpool accounting will be incorrect and in need of +adjustment. It is the responsibility of the caller to check for this condition +and make the appropriate adjustments. + +The routine region_del() is called to remove regions from a reservation map. +It is typically called in the following situations: + +- When a file in the hugetlbfs filesystem is being removed, the inode will + be released and the reservation map freed. Before freeing the reservation + map, all the individual file_region structures must be freed. In this case + region_del is passed the range [0, LONG_MAX). +- When a hugetlbfs file is being truncated. In this case, all allocated pages + after the new file size must be freed. In addition, any file_region entries + in the reservation map past the new end of file must be deleted. In this + case, region_del is passed the range [new_end_of_file, LONG_MAX). +- When a hole is being punched in a hugetlbfs file. In this case, huge pages + are removed from the middle of the file one at a time. As the pages are + removed, region_del() is called to remove the corresponding entry from the + reservation map. In this case, region_del is passed the range + [page_idx, page_idx + 1). + +In every case, region_del() will return the number of pages removed from the +reservation map. In VERY rare cases, region_del() can fail. This can only +happen in the hole punch case where it has to split an existing file_region +entry and can not allocate a new structure. In this error case, region_del() +will return -ENOMEM. The problem here is that the reservation map will +indicate that there is a reservation for the page. However, the subpool and +global reservation counts will not reflect the reservation. To handle this +situation, the routine hugetlb_fix_reserve_counts() is called to adjust the +counters so that they correspond with the reservation map entry that could +not be deleted. + +region_count() is called when unmapping a private huge page mapping. In +private mappings, the lack of a entry in the reservation map indicates that +a reservation exists. Therefore, by counting the number of entries in the +reservation map we know how many reservations were consumed and how many are +outstanding (outstanding = (end - start) - region_count(resv, start, end)). +Since the mapping is going away, the subpool and global reservation counts +are decremented by the number of outstanding reservations. + +.. _resv_map_helpers: + +Reservation Map Helper Routines +=============================== + +Several helper routines exist to query and modify the reservation maps. +These routines are only interested with reservations for a specific huge +page, so they just pass in an address instead of a range. In addition, +they pass in the associated VMA. From the VMA, the type of mapping (private +or shared) and the location of the reservation map (inode or VMA) can be +determined. These routines simply call the underlying routines described +in the section "Reservation Map Modifications". However, they do take into +account the 'opposite' meaning of reservation map entries for private and +shared mappings and hide this detail from the caller:: + + long vma_needs_reservation(struct hstate *h, + struct vm_area_struct *vma, + unsigned long addr) + +This routine calls region_chg() for the specified page. If no reservation +exists, 1 is returned. If a reservation exists, 0 is returned:: + + long vma_commit_reservation(struct hstate *h, + struct vm_area_struct *vma, + unsigned long addr) + +This calls region_add() for the specified page. As in the case of region_chg +and region_add, this routine is to be called after a previous call to +vma_needs_reservation. It will add a reservation entry for the page. It +returns 1 if the reservation was added and 0 if not. The return value should +be compared with the return value of the previous call to +vma_needs_reservation. An unexpected difference indicates the reservation +map was modified between calls:: + + void vma_end_reservation(struct hstate *h, + struct vm_area_struct *vma, + unsigned long addr) + +This calls region_abort() for the specified page. As in the case of region_chg +and region_abort, this routine is to be called after a previous call to +vma_needs_reservation. It will abort/end the in progress reservation add +operation:: + + long vma_add_reservation(struct hstate *h, + struct vm_area_struct *vma, + unsigned long addr) + +This is a special wrapper routine to help facilitate reservation cleanup +on error paths. It is only called from the routine restore_reserve_on_error(). +This routine is used in conjunction with vma_needs_reservation in an attempt +to add a reservation to the reservation map. It takes into account the +different reservation map semantics for private and shared mappings. Hence, +region_add is called for shared mappings (as an entry present in the map +indicates a reservation), and region_del is called for private mappings (as +the absence of an entry in the map indicates a reservation). See the section +"Reservation cleanup in error paths" for more information on what needs to +be done on error paths. + + +Reservation Cleanup in Error Paths +================================== + +As mentioned in the section +:ref:`Reservation Map Helper Routines `, reservation +map modifications are performed in two steps. First vma_needs_reservation +is called before a page is allocated. If the allocation is successful, +then vma_commit_reservation is called. If not, vma_end_reservation is called. +Global and subpool reservation counts are adjusted based on success or failure +of the operation and all is well. + +Additionally, after a huge page is instantiated the PagePrivate flag is +cleared so that accounting when the page is ultimately freed is correct. + +However, there are several instances where errors are encountered after a huge +page is allocated but before it is instantiated. In this case, the page +allocation has consumed the reservation and made the appropriate subpool, +reservation map and global count adjustments. If the page is freed at this +time (before instantiation and clearing of PagePrivate), then free_huge_page +will increment the global reservation count. However, the reservation map +indicates the reservation was consumed. This resulting inconsistent state +will cause the 'leak' of a reserved huge page. The global reserve count will +be higher than it should and prevent allocation of a pre-allocated page. + +The routine restore_reserve_on_error() attempts to handle this situation. It +is fairly well documented. The intention of this routine is to restore +the reservation map to the way it was before the page allocation. In this +way, the state of the reservation map will correspond to the global reservation +count after the page is freed. + +The routine restore_reserve_on_error itself may encounter errors while +attempting to restore the reservation map entry. In this case, it will +simply clear the PagePrivate flag of the page. In this way, the global +reserve count will not be incremented when the page is freed. However, the +reservation map will continue to look as though the reservation was consumed. +A page can still be allocated for the address, but it will not use a reserved +page as originally intended. + +There is some code (most notably userfaultfd) which can not call +restore_reserve_on_error. In this case, it simply modifies the PagePrivate +so that a reservation will not be leaked when the huge page is freed. + + +Reservations and Memory Policy +============================== +Per-node huge page lists existed in struct hstate when git was first used +to manage Linux code. The concept of reservations was added some time later. +When reservations were added, no attempt was made to take memory policy +into account. While cpusets are not exactly the same as memory policy, this +comment in hugetlb_acct_memory sums up the interaction between reservations +and cpusets/memory policy:: + + /* + * When cpuset is configured, it breaks the strict hugetlb page + * reservation as the accounting is done on a global variable. Such + * reservation is completely rubbish in the presence of cpuset because + * the reservation is not checked against page availability for the + * current cpuset. Application can still potentially OOM'ed by kernel + * with lack of free htlb page in cpuset that the task is in. + * Attempt to enforce strict accounting with cpuset is almost + * impossible (or too ugly) because cpuset is too fluid that + * task or memory node can be dynamically moved between cpusets. + * + * The change of semantics for shared hugetlb mapping with cpuset is + * undesirable. However, in order to preserve some of the semantics, + * we fall back to check against current free page availability as + * a best attempt and hopefully to minimize the impact of changing + * semantics that cpuset has. + */ + +Huge page reservations were added to prevent unexpected page allocation +failures (OOM) at page fault time. However, if an application makes use +of cpusets or memory policy there is no guarantee that huge pages will be +available on the required nodes. This is true even if there are a sufficient +number of global reservations. + + +Mike Kravetz, 7 April 2017 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.txt b/Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 36a87a2ea435..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/hugetlbfs_reserv.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,587 +0,0 @@ -.. _hugetlbfs_reserve: - -===================== -Hugetlbfs Reservation -===================== - -Overview -======== - -Huge pages as described at :ref:`hugetlbpage` are typically -preallocated for application use. These huge pages are instantiated in a -task's address space at page fault time if the VMA indicates huge pages are -to be used. If no huge page exists at page fault time, the task is sent -a SIGBUS and often dies an unhappy death. Shortly after huge page support -was added, it was determined that it would be better to detect a shortage -of huge pages at mmap() time. The idea is that if there were not enough -huge pages to cover the mapping, the mmap() would fail. This was first -done with a simple check in the code at mmap() time to determine if there -were enough free huge pages to cover the mapping. Like most things in the -kernel, the code has evolved over time. However, the basic idea was to -'reserve' huge pages at mmap() time to ensure that huge pages would be -available for page faults in that mapping. The description below attempts to -describe how huge page reserve processing is done in the v4.10 kernel. - - -Audience -======== -This description is primarily targeted at kernel developers who are modifying -hugetlbfs code. - - -The Data Structures -=================== - -resv_huge_pages - This is a global (per-hstate) count of reserved huge pages. Reserved - huge pages are only available to the task which reserved them. - Therefore, the number of huge pages generally available is computed - as (``free_huge_pages - resv_huge_pages``). -Reserve Map - A reserve map is described by the structure:: - - struct resv_map { - struct kref refs; - spinlock_t lock; - struct list_head regions; - long adds_in_progress; - struct list_head region_cache; - long region_cache_count; - }; - - There is one reserve map for each huge page mapping in the system. - The regions list within the resv_map describes the regions within - the mapping. A region is described as:: - - struct file_region { - struct list_head link; - long from; - long to; - }; - - The 'from' and 'to' fields of the file region structure are huge page - indices into the mapping. Depending on the type of mapping, a - region in the reserv_map may indicate reservations exist for the - range, or reservations do not exist. -Flags for MAP_PRIVATE Reservations - These are stored in the bottom bits of the reservation map pointer. - - ``#define HPAGE_RESV_OWNER (1UL << 0)`` - Indicates this task is the owner of the reservations - associated with the mapping. - ``#define HPAGE_RESV_UNMAPPED (1UL << 1)`` - Indicates task originally mapping this range (and creating - reserves) has unmapped a page from this task (the child) - due to a failed COW. -Page Flags - The PagePrivate page flag is used to indicate that a huge page - reservation must be restored when the huge page is freed. More - details will be discussed in the "Freeing huge pages" section. - - -Reservation Map Location (Private or Shared) -============================================ - -A huge page mapping or segment is either private or shared. If private, -it is typically only available to a single address space (task). If shared, -it can be mapped into multiple address spaces (tasks). The location and -semantics of the reservation map is significantly different for two types -of mappings. Location differences are: - -- For private mappings, the reservation map hangs off the the VMA structure. - Specifically, vma->vm_private_data. This reserve map is created at the - time the mapping (mmap(MAP_PRIVATE)) is created. -- For shared mappings, the reservation map hangs off the inode. Specifically, - inode->i_mapping->private_data. Since shared mappings are always backed - by files in the hugetlbfs filesystem, the hugetlbfs code ensures each inode - contains a reservation map. As a result, the reservation map is allocated - when the inode is created. - - -Creating Reservations -===================== -Reservations are created when a huge page backed shared memory segment is -created (shmget(SHM_HUGETLB)) or a mapping is created via mmap(MAP_HUGETLB). -These operations result in a call to the routine hugetlb_reserve_pages():: - - int hugetlb_reserve_pages(struct inode *inode, - long from, long to, - struct vm_area_struct *vma, - vm_flags_t vm_flags) - -The first thing hugetlb_reserve_pages() does is check for the NORESERVE -flag was specified in either the shmget() or mmap() call. If NORESERVE -was specified, then this routine returns immediately as no reservation -are desired. - -The arguments 'from' and 'to' are huge page indices into the mapping or -underlying file. For shmget(), 'from' is always 0 and 'to' corresponds to -the length of the segment/mapping. For mmap(), the offset argument could -be used to specify the offset into the underlying file. In such a case -the 'from' and 'to' arguments have been adjusted by this offset. - -One of the big differences between PRIVATE and SHARED mappings is the way -in which reservations are represented in the reservation map. - -- For shared mappings, an entry in the reservation map indicates a reservation - exists or did exist for the corresponding page. As reservations are - consumed, the reservation map is not modified. -- For private mappings, the lack of an entry in the reservation map indicates - a reservation exists for the corresponding page. As reservations are - consumed, entries are added to the reservation map. Therefore, the - reservation map can also be used to determine which reservations have - been consumed. - -For private mappings, hugetlb_reserve_pages() creates the reservation map and -hangs it off the VMA structure. In addition, the HPAGE_RESV_OWNER flag is set -to indicate this VMA owns the reservations. - -The reservation map is consulted to determine how many huge page reservations -are needed for the current mapping/segment. For private mappings, this is -always the value (to - from). However, for shared mappings it is possible that some reservations may already exist within the range (to - from). See the -section :ref:`Reservation Map Modifications ` -for details on how this is accomplished. - -The mapping may be associated with a subpool. If so, the subpool is consulted -to ensure there is sufficient space for the mapping. It is possible that the -subpool has set aside reservations that can be used for the mapping. See the -section :ref:`Subpool Reservations ` for more details. - -After consulting the reservation map and subpool, the number of needed new -reservations is known. The routine hugetlb_acct_memory() is called to check -for and take the requested number of reservations. hugetlb_acct_memory() -calls into routines that potentially allocate and adjust surplus page counts. -However, within those routines the code is simply checking to ensure there -are enough free huge pages to accommodate the reservation. If there are, -the global reservation count resv_huge_pages is adjusted something like the -following:: - - if (resv_needed <= (resv_huge_pages - free_huge_pages)) - resv_huge_pages += resv_needed; - -Note that the global lock hugetlb_lock is held when checking and adjusting -these counters. - -If there were enough free huge pages and the global count resv_huge_pages -was adjusted, then the reservation map associated with the mapping is -modified to reflect the reservations. In the case of a shared mapping, a -file_region will exist that includes the range 'from' 'to'. For private -mappings, no modifications are made to the reservation map as lack of an -entry indicates a reservation exists. - -If hugetlb_reserve_pages() was successful, the global reservation count and -reservation map associated with the mapping will be modified as required to -ensure reservations exist for the range 'from' - 'to'. - -.. _consume_resv: - -Consuming Reservations/Allocating a Huge Page -============================================= - -Reservations are consumed when huge pages associated with the reservations -are allocated and instantiated in the corresponding mapping. The allocation -is performed within the routine alloc_huge_page():: - - struct page *alloc_huge_page(struct vm_area_struct *vma, - unsigned long addr, int avoid_reserve) - -alloc_huge_page is passed a VMA pointer and a virtual address, so it can -consult the reservation map to determine if a reservation exists. In addition, -alloc_huge_page takes the argument avoid_reserve which indicates reserves -should not be used even if it appears they have been set aside for the -specified address. The avoid_reserve argument is most often used in the case -of Copy on Write and Page Migration where additional copies of an existing -page are being allocated. - -The helper routine vma_needs_reservation() is called to determine if a -reservation exists for the address within the mapping(vma). See the section -:ref:`Reservation Map Helper Routines ` for detailed -information on what this routine does. -The value returned from vma_needs_reservation() is generally -0 or 1. 0 if a reservation exists for the address, 1 if no reservation exists. -If a reservation does not exist, and there is a subpool associated with the -mapping the subpool is consulted to determine if it contains reservations. -If the subpool contains reservations, one can be used for this allocation. -However, in every case the avoid_reserve argument overrides the use of -a reservation for the allocation. After determining whether a reservation -exists and can be used for the allocation, the routine dequeue_huge_page_vma() -is called. This routine takes two arguments related to reservations: - -- avoid_reserve, this is the same value/argument passed to alloc_huge_page() -- chg, even though this argument is of type long only the values 0 or 1 are - passed to dequeue_huge_page_vma. If the value is 0, it indicates a - reservation exists (see the section "Memory Policy and Reservations" for - possible issues). If the value is 1, it indicates a reservation does not - exist and the page must be taken from the global free pool if possible. - -The free lists associated with the memory policy of the VMA are searched for -a free page. If a page is found, the value free_huge_pages is decremented -when the page is removed from the free list. If there was a reservation -associated with the page, the following adjustments are made:: - - SetPagePrivate(page); /* Indicates allocating this page consumed - * a reservation, and if an error is - * encountered such that the page must be - * freed, the reservation will be restored. */ - resv_huge_pages--; /* Decrement the global reservation count */ - -Note, if no huge page can be found that satisfies the VMA's memory policy -an attempt will be made to allocate one using the buddy allocator. This -brings up the issue of surplus huge pages and overcommit which is beyond -the scope reservations. Even if a surplus page is allocated, the same -reservation based adjustments as above will be made: SetPagePrivate(page) and -resv_huge_pages--. - -After obtaining a new huge page, (page)->private is set to the value of -the subpool associated with the page if it exists. This will be used for -subpool accounting when the page is freed. - -The routine vma_commit_reservation() is then called to adjust the reserve -map based on the consumption of the reservation. In general, this involves -ensuring the page is represented within a file_region structure of the region -map. For shared mappings where the the reservation was present, an entry -in the reserve map already existed so no change is made. However, if there -was no reservation in a shared mapping or this was a private mapping a new -entry must be created. - -It is possible that the reserve map could have been changed between the call -to vma_needs_reservation() at the beginning of alloc_huge_page() and the -call to vma_commit_reservation() after the page was allocated. This would -be possible if hugetlb_reserve_pages was called for the same page in a shared -mapping. In such cases, the reservation count and subpool free page count -will be off by one. This rare condition can be identified by comparing the -return value from vma_needs_reservation and vma_commit_reservation. If such -a race is detected, the subpool and global reserve counts are adjusted to -compensate. See the section -:ref:`Reservation Map Helper Routines ` for more -information on these routines. - - -Instantiate Huge Pages -====================== - -After huge page allocation, the page is typically added to the page tables -of the allocating task. Before this, pages in a shared mapping are added -to the page cache and pages in private mappings are added to an anonymous -reverse mapping. In both cases, the PagePrivate flag is cleared. Therefore, -when a huge page that has been instantiated is freed no adjustment is made -to the global reservation count (resv_huge_pages). - - -Freeing Huge Pages -================== - -Huge page freeing is performed by the routine free_huge_page(). This routine -is the destructor for hugetlbfs compound pages. As a result, it is only -passed a pointer to the page struct. When a huge page is freed, reservation -accounting may need to be performed. This would be the case if the page was -associated with a subpool that contained reserves, or the page is being freed -on an error path where a global reserve count must be restored. - -The page->private field points to any subpool associated with the page. -If the PagePrivate flag is set, it indicates the global reserve count should -be adjusted (see the section -:ref:`Consuming Reservations/Allocating a Huge Page ` -for information on how these are set). - -The routine first calls hugepage_subpool_put_pages() for the page. If this -routine returns a value of 0 (which does not equal the value passed 1) it -indicates reserves are associated with the subpool, and this newly free page -must be used to keep the number of subpool reserves above the minimum size. -Therefore, the global resv_huge_pages counter is incremented in this case. - -If the PagePrivate flag was set in the page, the global resv_huge_pages counter -will always be incremented. - -.. _sub_pool_resv: - -Subpool Reservations -==================== - -There is a struct hstate associated with each huge page size. The hstate -tracks all huge pages of the specified size. A subpool represents a subset -of pages within a hstate that is associated with a mounted hugetlbfs -filesystem. - -When a hugetlbfs filesystem is mounted a min_size option can be specified -which indicates the minimum number of huge pages required by the filesystem. -If this option is specified, the number of huge pages corresponding to -min_size are reserved for use by the filesystem. This number is tracked in -the min_hpages field of a struct hugepage_subpool. At mount time, -hugetlb_acct_memory(min_hpages) is called to reserve the specified number of -huge pages. If they can not be reserved, the mount fails. - -The routines hugepage_subpool_get/put_pages() are called when pages are -obtained from or released back to a subpool. They perform all subpool -accounting, and track any reservations associated with the subpool. -hugepage_subpool_get/put_pages are passed the number of huge pages by which -to adjust the subpool 'used page' count (down for get, up for put). Normally, -they return the same value that was passed or an error if not enough pages -exist in the subpool. - -However, if reserves are associated with the subpool a return value less -than the passed value may be returned. This return value indicates the -number of additional global pool adjustments which must be made. For example, -suppose a subpool contains 3 reserved huge pages and someone asks for 5. -The 3 reserved pages associated with the subpool can be used to satisfy part -of the request. But, 2 pages must be obtained from the global pools. To -relay this information to the caller, the value 2 is returned. The caller -is then responsible for attempting to obtain the additional two pages from -the global pools. - - -COW and Reservations -==================== - -Since shared mappings all point to and use the same underlying pages, the -biggest reservation concern for COW is private mappings. In this case, -two tasks can be pointing at the same previously allocated page. One task -attempts to write to the page, so a new page must be allocated so that each -task points to its own page. - -When the page was originally allocated, the reservation for that page was -consumed. When an attempt to allocate a new page is made as a result of -COW, it is possible that no free huge pages are free and the allocation -will fail. - -When the private mapping was originally created, the owner of the mapping -was noted by setting the HPAGE_RESV_OWNER bit in the pointer to the reservation -map of the owner. Since the owner created the mapping, the owner owns all -the reservations associated with the mapping. Therefore, when a write fault -occurs and there is no page available, different action is taken for the owner -and non-owner of the reservation. - -In the case where the faulting task is not the owner, the fault will fail and -the task will typically receive a SIGBUS. - -If the owner is the faulting task, we want it to succeed since it owned the -original reservation. To accomplish this, the page is unmapped from the -non-owning task. In this way, the only reference is from the owning task. -In addition, the HPAGE_RESV_UNMAPPED bit is set in the reservation map pointer -of the non-owning task. The non-owning task may receive a SIGBUS if it later -faults on a non-present page. But, the original owner of the -mapping/reservation will behave as expected. - - -.. _resv_map_modifications: - -Reservation Map Modifications -============================= - -The following low level routines are used to make modifications to a -reservation map. Typically, these routines are not called directly. Rather, -a reservation map helper routine is called which calls one of these low level -routines. These low level routines are fairly well documented in the source -code (mm/hugetlb.c). These routines are:: - - long region_chg(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); - long region_add(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); - void region_abort(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); - long region_count(struct resv_map *resv, long f, long t); - -Operations on the reservation map typically involve two operations: - -1) region_chg() is called to examine the reserve map and determine how - many pages in the specified range [f, t) are NOT currently represented. - - The calling code performs global checks and allocations to determine if - there are enough huge pages for the operation to succeed. - -2) - a) If the operation can succeed, region_add() is called to actually modify - the reservation map for the same range [f, t) previously passed to - region_chg(). - b) If the operation can not succeed, region_abort is called for the same - range [f, t) to abort the operation. - -Note that this is a two step process where region_add() and region_abort() -are guaranteed to succeed after a prior call to region_chg() for the same -range. region_chg() is responsible for pre-allocating any data structures -necessary to ensure the subsequent operations (specifically region_add())) -will succeed. - -As mentioned above, region_chg() determines the number of pages in the range -which are NOT currently represented in the map. This number is returned to -the caller. region_add() returns the number of pages in the range added to -the map. In most cases, the return value of region_add() is the same as the -return value of region_chg(). However, in the case of shared mappings it is -possible for changes to the reservation map to be made between the calls to -region_chg() and region_add(). In this case, the return value of region_add() -will not match the return value of region_chg(). It is likely that in such -cases global counts and subpool accounting will be incorrect and in need of -adjustment. It is the responsibility of the caller to check for this condition -and make the appropriate adjustments. - -The routine region_del() is called to remove regions from a reservation map. -It is typically called in the following situations: - -- When a file in the hugetlbfs filesystem is being removed, the inode will - be released and the reservation map freed. Before freeing the reservation - map, all the individual file_region structures must be freed. In this case - region_del is passed the range [0, LONG_MAX). -- When a hugetlbfs file is being truncated. In this case, all allocated pages - after the new file size must be freed. In addition, any file_region entries - in the reservation map past the new end of file must be deleted. In this - case, region_del is passed the range [new_end_of_file, LONG_MAX). -- When a hole is being punched in a hugetlbfs file. In this case, huge pages - are removed from the middle of the file one at a time. As the pages are - removed, region_del() is called to remove the corresponding entry from the - reservation map. In this case, region_del is passed the range - [page_idx, page_idx + 1). - -In every case, region_del() will return the number of pages removed from the -reservation map. In VERY rare cases, region_del() can fail. This can only -happen in the hole punch case where it has to split an existing file_region -entry and can not allocate a new structure. In this error case, region_del() -will return -ENOMEM. The problem here is that the reservation map will -indicate that there is a reservation for the page. However, the subpool and -global reservation counts will not reflect the reservation. To handle this -situation, the routine hugetlb_fix_reserve_counts() is called to adjust the -counters so that they correspond with the reservation map entry that could -not be deleted. - -region_count() is called when unmapping a private huge page mapping. In -private mappings, the lack of a entry in the reservation map indicates that -a reservation exists. Therefore, by counting the number of entries in the -reservation map we know how many reservations were consumed and how many are -outstanding (outstanding = (end - start) - region_count(resv, start, end)). -Since the mapping is going away, the subpool and global reservation counts -are decremented by the number of outstanding reservations. - -.. _resv_map_helpers: - -Reservation Map Helper Routines -=============================== - -Several helper routines exist to query and modify the reservation maps. -These routines are only interested with reservations for a specific huge -page, so they just pass in an address instead of a range. In addition, -they pass in the associated VMA. From the VMA, the type of mapping (private -or shared) and the location of the reservation map (inode or VMA) can be -determined. These routines simply call the underlying routines described -in the section "Reservation Map Modifications". However, they do take into -account the 'opposite' meaning of reservation map entries for private and -shared mappings and hide this detail from the caller:: - - long vma_needs_reservation(struct hstate *h, - struct vm_area_struct *vma, - unsigned long addr) - -This routine calls region_chg() for the specified page. If no reservation -exists, 1 is returned. If a reservation exists, 0 is returned:: - - long vma_commit_reservation(struct hstate *h, - struct vm_area_struct *vma, - unsigned long addr) - -This calls region_add() for the specified page. As in the case of region_chg -and region_add, this routine is to be called after a previous call to -vma_needs_reservation. It will add a reservation entry for the page. It -returns 1 if the reservation was added and 0 if not. The return value should -be compared with the return value of the previous call to -vma_needs_reservation. An unexpected difference indicates the reservation -map was modified between calls:: - - void vma_end_reservation(struct hstate *h, - struct vm_area_struct *vma, - unsigned long addr) - -This calls region_abort() for the specified page. As in the case of region_chg -and region_abort, this routine is to be called after a previous call to -vma_needs_reservation. It will abort/end the in progress reservation add -operation:: - - long vma_add_reservation(struct hstate *h, - struct vm_area_struct *vma, - unsigned long addr) - -This is a special wrapper routine to help facilitate reservation cleanup -on error paths. It is only called from the routine restore_reserve_on_error(). -This routine is used in conjunction with vma_needs_reservation in an attempt -to add a reservation to the reservation map. It takes into account the -different reservation map semantics for private and shared mappings. Hence, -region_add is called for shared mappings (as an entry present in the map -indicates a reservation), and region_del is called for private mappings (as -the absence of an entry in the map indicates a reservation). See the section -"Reservation cleanup in error paths" for more information on what needs to -be done on error paths. - - -Reservation Cleanup in Error Paths -================================== - -As mentioned in the section -:ref:`Reservation Map Helper Routines `, reservation -map modifications are performed in two steps. First vma_needs_reservation -is called before a page is allocated. If the allocation is successful, -then vma_commit_reservation is called. If not, vma_end_reservation is called. -Global and subpool reservation counts are adjusted based on success or failure -of the operation and all is well. - -Additionally, after a huge page is instantiated the PagePrivate flag is -cleared so that accounting when the page is ultimately freed is correct. - -However, there are several instances where errors are encountered after a huge -page is allocated but before it is instantiated. In this case, the page -allocation has consumed the reservation and made the appropriate subpool, -reservation map and global count adjustments. If the page is freed at this -time (before instantiation and clearing of PagePrivate), then free_huge_page -will increment the global reservation count. However, the reservation map -indicates the reservation was consumed. This resulting inconsistent state -will cause the 'leak' of a reserved huge page. The global reserve count will -be higher than it should and prevent allocation of a pre-allocated page. - -The routine restore_reserve_on_error() attempts to handle this situation. It -is fairly well documented. The intention of this routine is to restore -the reservation map to the way it was before the page allocation. In this -way, the state of the reservation map will correspond to the global reservation -count after the page is freed. - -The routine restore_reserve_on_error itself may encounter errors while -attempting to restore the reservation map entry. In this case, it will -simply clear the PagePrivate flag of the page. In this way, the global -reserve count will not be incremented when the page is freed. However, the -reservation map will continue to look as though the reservation was consumed. -A page can still be allocated for the address, but it will not use a reserved -page as originally intended. - -There is some code (most notably userfaultfd) which can not call -restore_reserve_on_error. In this case, it simply modifies the PagePrivate -so that a reservation will not be leaked when the huge page is freed. - - -Reservations and Memory Policy -============================== -Per-node huge page lists existed in struct hstate when git was first used -to manage Linux code. The concept of reservations was added some time later. -When reservations were added, no attempt was made to take memory policy -into account. While cpusets are not exactly the same as memory policy, this -comment in hugetlb_acct_memory sums up the interaction between reservations -and cpusets/memory policy:: - - /* - * When cpuset is configured, it breaks the strict hugetlb page - * reservation as the accounting is done on a global variable. Such - * reservation is completely rubbish in the presence of cpuset because - * the reservation is not checked against page availability for the - * current cpuset. Application can still potentially OOM'ed by kernel - * with lack of free htlb page in cpuset that the task is in. - * Attempt to enforce strict accounting with cpuset is almost - * impossible (or too ugly) because cpuset is too fluid that - * task or memory node can be dynamically moved between cpusets. - * - * The change of semantics for shared hugetlb mapping with cpuset is - * undesirable. However, in order to preserve some of the semantics, - * we fall back to check against current free page availability as - * a best attempt and hopefully to minimize the impact of changing - * semantics that cpuset has. - */ - -Huge page reservations were added to prevent unexpected page allocation -failures (OOM) at page fault time. However, if an application makes use -of cpusets or memory policy there is no guarantee that huge pages will be -available on the required nodes. This is true even if there are a sufficient -number of global reservations. - - -Mike Kravetz, 7 April 2017 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst b/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..a5da14b05b4b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst @@ -0,0 +1,386 @@ +.. _hugetlbpage: + +============= +HugeTLB Pages +============= + +Overview +======== + +The intent of this file is to give a brief summary of hugetlbpage support in +the Linux kernel. This support is built on top of multiple page size support +that is provided by most modern architectures. For example, x86 CPUs normally +support 4K and 2M (1G if architecturally supported) page sizes, ia64 +architecture supports multiple page sizes 4K, 8K, 64K, 256K, 1M, 4M, 16M, +256M and ppc64 supports 4K and 16M. A TLB is a cache of virtual-to-physical +translations. Typically this is a very scarce resource on processor. +Operating systems try to make best use of limited number of TLB resources. +This optimization is more critical now as bigger and bigger physical memories +(several GBs) are more readily available. + +Users can use the huge page support in Linux kernel by either using the mmap +system call or standard SYSV shared memory system calls (shmget, shmat). + +First the Linux kernel needs to be built with the CONFIG_HUGETLBFS +(present under "File systems") and CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE (selected +automatically when CONFIG_HUGETLBFS is selected) configuration +options. + +The ``/proc/meminfo`` file provides information about the total number of +persistent hugetlb pages in the kernel's huge page pool. It also displays +default huge page size and information about the number of free, reserved +and surplus huge pages in the pool of huge pages of default size. +The huge page size is needed for generating the proper alignment and +size of the arguments to system calls that map huge page regions. + +The output of ``cat /proc/meminfo`` will include lines like:: + + HugePages_Total: uuu + HugePages_Free: vvv + HugePages_Rsvd: www + HugePages_Surp: xxx + Hugepagesize: yyy kB + Hugetlb: zzz kB + +where: + +HugePages_Total + is the size of the pool of huge pages. +HugePages_Free + is the number of huge pages in the pool that are not yet + allocated. +HugePages_Rsvd + is short for "reserved," and is the number of huge pages for + which a commitment to allocate from the pool has been made, + but no allocation has yet been made. Reserved huge pages + guarantee that an application will be able to allocate a + huge page from the pool of huge pages at fault time. +HugePages_Surp + is short for "surplus," and is the number of huge pages in + the pool above the value in ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages``. The + maximum number of surplus huge pages is controlled by + ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_overcommit_hugepages``. +Hugepagesize + is the default hugepage size (in Kb). +Hugetlb + is the total amount of memory (in kB), consumed by huge + pages of all sizes. + If huge pages of different sizes are in use, this number + will exceed HugePages_Total \* Hugepagesize. To get more + detailed information, please, refer to + ``/sys/kernel/mm/hugepages`` (described below). + + +``/proc/filesystems`` should also show a filesystem of type "hugetlbfs" +configured in the kernel. + +``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages`` indicates the current number of "persistent" huge +pages in the kernel's huge page pool. "Persistent" huge pages will be +returned to the huge page pool when freed by a task. A user with root +privileges can dynamically allocate more or free some persistent huge pages +by increasing or decreasing the value of ``nr_hugepages``. + +Pages that are used as huge pages are reserved inside the kernel and cannot +be used for other purposes. Huge pages cannot be swapped out under +memory pressure. + +Once a number of huge pages have been pre-allocated to the kernel huge page +pool, a user with appropriate privilege can use either the mmap system call +or shared memory system calls to use the huge pages. See the discussion of +Using Huge Pages, below. + +The administrator can allocate persistent huge pages on the kernel boot +command line by specifying the "hugepages=N" parameter, where 'N' = the +number of huge pages requested. This is the most reliable method of +allocating huge pages as memory has not yet become fragmented. + +Some platforms support multiple huge page sizes. To allocate huge pages +of a specific size, one must precede the huge pages boot command parameters +with a huge page size selection parameter "hugepagesz=". must +be specified in bytes with optional scale suffix [kKmMgG]. The default huge +page size may be selected with the "default_hugepagesz=" boot parameter. + +When multiple huge page sizes are supported, ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages`` +indicates the current number of pre-allocated huge pages of the default size. +Thus, one can use the following command to dynamically allocate/deallocate +default sized persistent huge pages:: + + echo 20 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages + +This command will try to adjust the number of default sized huge pages in the +huge page pool to 20, allocating or freeing huge pages, as required. + +On a NUMA platform, the kernel will attempt to distribute the huge page pool +over all the set of allowed nodes specified by the NUMA memory policy of the +task that modifies ``nr_hugepages``. The default for the allowed nodes--when the +task has default memory policy--is all on-line nodes with memory. Allowed +nodes with insufficient available, contiguous memory for a huge page will be +silently skipped when allocating persistent huge pages. See the discussion +below of the interaction of task memory policy, cpusets and per node attributes +with the allocation and freeing of persistent huge pages. + +The success or failure of huge page allocation depends on the amount of +physically contiguous memory that is present in system at the time of the +allocation attempt. If the kernel is unable to allocate huge pages from +some nodes in a NUMA system, it will attempt to make up the difference by +allocating extra pages on other nodes with sufficient available contiguous +memory, if any. + +System administrators may want to put this command in one of the local rc +init files. This will enable the kernel to allocate huge pages early in +the boot process when the possibility of getting physical contiguous pages +is still very high. Administrators can verify the number of huge pages +actually allocated by checking the sysctl or meminfo. To check the per node +distribution of huge pages in a NUMA system, use:: + + cat /sys/devices/system/node/node*/meminfo | fgrep Huge + +``/proc/sys/vm/nr_overcommit_hugepages`` specifies how large the pool of +huge pages can grow, if more huge pages than ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages`` are +requested by applications. Writing any non-zero value into this file +indicates that the hugetlb subsystem is allowed to try to obtain that +number of "surplus" huge pages from the kernel's normal page pool, when the +persistent huge page pool is exhausted. As these surplus huge pages become +unused, they are freed back to the kernel's normal page pool. + +When increasing the huge page pool size via ``nr_hugepages``, any existing +surplus pages will first be promoted to persistent huge pages. Then, additional +huge pages will be allocated, if necessary and if possible, to fulfill +the new persistent huge page pool size. + +The administrator may shrink the pool of persistent huge pages for +the default huge page size by setting the ``nr_hugepages`` sysctl to a +smaller value. The kernel will attempt to balance the freeing of huge pages +across all nodes in the memory policy of the task modifying ``nr_hugepages``. +Any free huge pages on the selected nodes will be freed back to the kernel's +normal page pool. + +Caveat: Shrinking the persistent huge page pool via ``nr_hugepages`` such that +it becomes less than the number of huge pages in use will convert the balance +of the in-use huge pages to surplus huge pages. This will occur even if +the number of surplus pages it would exceed the overcommit value. As long as +this condition holds--that is, until ``nr_hugepages+nr_overcommit_hugepages`` is +increased sufficiently, or the surplus huge pages go out of use and are freed-- +no more surplus huge pages will be allowed to be allocated. + +With support for multiple huge page pools at run-time available, much of +the huge page userspace interface in ``/proc/sys/vm`` has been duplicated in +sysfs. +The ``/proc`` interfaces discussed above have been retained for backwards +compatibility. The root huge page control directory in sysfs is:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages + +For each huge page size supported by the running kernel, a subdirectory +will exist, of the form:: + + hugepages-${size}kB + +Inside each of these directories, the same set of files will exist:: + + nr_hugepages + nr_hugepages_mempolicy + nr_overcommit_hugepages + free_hugepages + resv_hugepages + surplus_hugepages + +which function as described above for the default huge page-sized case. + + +Interaction of Task Memory Policy with Huge Page Allocation/Freeing +=================================================================== + +Whether huge pages are allocated and freed via the ``/proc`` interface or +the ``/sysfs`` interface using the ``nr_hugepages_mempolicy`` attribute, the +NUMA nodes from which huge pages are allocated or freed are controlled by the +NUMA memory policy of the task that modifies the ``nr_hugepages_mempolicy`` +sysctl or attribute. When the ``nr_hugepages`` attribute is used, mempolicy +is ignored. + +The recommended method to allocate or free huge pages to/from the kernel +huge page pool, using the ``nr_hugepages`` example above, is:: + + numactl --interleave echo 20 \ + >/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages_mempolicy + +or, more succinctly:: + + numactl -m echo 20 >/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages_mempolicy + +This will allocate or free ``abs(20 - nr_hugepages)`` to or from the nodes +specified in , depending on whether number of persistent huge pages +is initially less than or greater than 20, respectively. No huge pages will be +allocated nor freed on any node not included in the specified . + +When adjusting the persistent hugepage count via ``nr_hugepages_mempolicy``, any +memory policy mode--bind, preferred, local or interleave--may be used. The +resulting effect on persistent huge page allocation is as follows: + +#. Regardless of mempolicy mode [see Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst], + persistent huge pages will be distributed across the node or nodes + specified in the mempolicy as if "interleave" had been specified. + However, if a node in the policy does not contain sufficient contiguous + memory for a huge page, the allocation will not "fallback" to the nearest + neighbor node with sufficient contiguous memory. To do this would cause + undesirable imbalance in the distribution of the huge page pool, or + possibly, allocation of persistent huge pages on nodes not allowed by + the task's memory policy. + +#. One or more nodes may be specified with the bind or interleave policy. + If more than one node is specified with the preferred policy, only the + lowest numeric id will be used. Local policy will select the node where + the task is running at the time the nodes_allowed mask is constructed. + For local policy to be deterministic, the task must be bound to a cpu or + cpus in a single node. Otherwise, the task could be migrated to some + other node at any time after launch and the resulting node will be + indeterminate. Thus, local policy is not very useful for this purpose. + Any of the other mempolicy modes may be used to specify a single node. + +#. The nodes allowed mask will be derived from any non-default task mempolicy, + whether this policy was set explicitly by the task itself or one of its + ancestors, such as numactl. This means that if the task is invoked from a + shell with non-default policy, that policy will be used. One can specify a + node list of "all" with numactl --interleave or --membind [-m] to achieve + interleaving over all nodes in the system or cpuset. + +#. Any task mempolicy specified--e.g., using numactl--will be constrained by + the resource limits of any cpuset in which the task runs. Thus, there will + be no way for a task with non-default policy running in a cpuset with a + subset of the system nodes to allocate huge pages outside the cpuset + without first moving to a cpuset that contains all of the desired nodes. + +#. Boot-time huge page allocation attempts to distribute the requested number + of huge pages over all on-lines nodes with memory. + +Per Node Hugepages Attributes +============================= + +A subset of the contents of the root huge page control directory in sysfs, +described above, will be replicated under each the system device of each +NUMA node with memory in:: + + /sys/devices/system/node/node[0-9]*/hugepages/ + +Under this directory, the subdirectory for each supported huge page size +contains the following attribute files:: + + nr_hugepages + free_hugepages + surplus_hugepages + +The free\_' and surplus\_' attribute files are read-only. They return the number +of free and surplus [overcommitted] huge pages, respectively, on the parent +node. + +The ``nr_hugepages`` attribute returns the total number of huge pages on the +specified node. When this attribute is written, the number of persistent huge +pages on the parent node will be adjusted to the specified value, if sufficient +resources exist, regardless of the task's mempolicy or cpuset constraints. + +Note that the number of overcommit and reserve pages remain global quantities, +as we don't know until fault time, when the faulting task's mempolicy is +applied, from which node the huge page allocation will be attempted. + + +Using Huge Pages +================ + +If the user applications are going to request huge pages using mmap system +call, then it is required that system administrator mount a file system of +type hugetlbfs:: + + mount -t hugetlbfs \ + -o uid=,gid=,mode=,pagesize=,size=,\ + min_size=,nr_inodes= none /mnt/huge + +This command mounts a (pseudo) filesystem of type hugetlbfs on the directory +``/mnt/huge``. Any files created on ``/mnt/huge`` uses huge pages. + +The ``uid`` and ``gid`` options sets the owner and group of the root of the +file system. By default the ``uid`` and ``gid`` of the current process +are taken. + +The ``mode`` option sets the mode of root of file system to value & 01777. +This value is given in octal. By default the value 0755 is picked. + +If the platform supports multiple huge page sizes, the ``pagesize`` option can +be used to specify the huge page size and associated pool. ``pagesize`` +is specified in bytes. If ``pagesize`` is not specified the platform's +default huge page size and associated pool will be used. + +The ``size`` option sets the maximum value of memory (huge pages) allowed +for that filesystem (``/mnt/huge``). The ``size`` option can be specified +in bytes, or as a percentage of the specified huge page pool (``nr_hugepages``). +The size is rounded down to HPAGE_SIZE boundary. + +The ``min_size`` option sets the minimum value of memory (huge pages) allowed +for the filesystem. ``min_size`` can be specified in the same way as ``size``, +either bytes or a percentage of the huge page pool. +At mount time, the number of huge pages specified by ``min_size`` are reserved +for use by the filesystem. +If there are not enough free huge pages available, the mount will fail. +As huge pages are allocated to the filesystem and freed, the reserve count +is adjusted so that the sum of allocated and reserved huge pages is always +at least ``min_size``. + +The option ``nr_inodes`` sets the maximum number of inodes that ``/mnt/huge`` +can use. + +If the ``size``, ``min_size`` or ``nr_inodes`` option is not provided on +command line then no limits are set. + +For ``pagesize``, ``size``, ``min_size`` and ``nr_inodes`` options, you can +use [G|g]/[M|m]/[K|k] to represent giga/mega/kilo. +For example, size=2K has the same meaning as size=2048. + +While read system calls are supported on files that reside on hugetlb +file systems, write system calls are not. + +Regular chown, chgrp, and chmod commands (with right permissions) could be +used to change the file attributes on hugetlbfs. + +Also, it is important to note that no such mount command is required if +applications are going to use only shmat/shmget system calls or mmap with +MAP_HUGETLB. For an example of how to use mmap with MAP_HUGETLB see +:ref:`map_hugetlb ` below. + +Users who wish to use hugetlb memory via shared memory segment should be a +member of a supplementary group and system admin needs to configure that gid +into ``/proc/sys/vm/hugetlb_shm_group``. It is possible for same or different +applications to use any combination of mmaps and shm* calls, though the mount of +filesystem will be required for using mmap calls without MAP_HUGETLB. + +Syscalls that operate on memory backed by hugetlb pages only have their lengths +aligned to the native page size of the processor; they will normally fail with +errno set to EINVAL or exclude hugetlb pages that extend beyond the length if +not hugepage aligned. For example, munmap(2) will fail if memory is backed by +a hugetlb page and the length is smaller than the hugepage size. + + +Examples +======== + +.. _map_hugetlb: + +``map_hugetlb`` + see tools/testing/selftests/vm/map_hugetlb.c + +``hugepage-shm`` + see tools/testing/selftests/vm/hugepage-shm.c + +``hugepage-mmap`` + see tools/testing/selftests/vm/hugepage-mmap.c + +The `libhugetlbfs`_ library provides a wide range of userspace tools +to help with huge page usability, environment setup, and control. + +.. _libhugetlbfs: https://github.com/libhugetlbfs/libhugetlbfs + +Kernel development regression testing +===================================== + +The most complete set of hugetlb tests are in the libhugetlbfs repository. +If you modify any hugetlb related code, use the libhugetlbfs test suite +to check for regressions. In addition, if you add any new hugetlb +functionality, please add appropriate tests to libhugetlbfs. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt b/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3bb0d991f102..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,386 +0,0 @@ -.. _hugetlbpage: - -============= -HugeTLB Pages -============= - -Overview -======== - -The intent of this file is to give a brief summary of hugetlbpage support in -the Linux kernel. This support is built on top of multiple page size support -that is provided by most modern architectures. For example, x86 CPUs normally -support 4K and 2M (1G if architecturally supported) page sizes, ia64 -architecture supports multiple page sizes 4K, 8K, 64K, 256K, 1M, 4M, 16M, -256M and ppc64 supports 4K and 16M. A TLB is a cache of virtual-to-physical -translations. Typically this is a very scarce resource on processor. -Operating systems try to make best use of limited number of TLB resources. -This optimization is more critical now as bigger and bigger physical memories -(several GBs) are more readily available. - -Users can use the huge page support in Linux kernel by either using the mmap -system call or standard SYSV shared memory system calls (shmget, shmat). - -First the Linux kernel needs to be built with the CONFIG_HUGETLBFS -(present under "File systems") and CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE (selected -automatically when CONFIG_HUGETLBFS is selected) configuration -options. - -The ``/proc/meminfo`` file provides information about the total number of -persistent hugetlb pages in the kernel's huge page pool. It also displays -default huge page size and information about the number of free, reserved -and surplus huge pages in the pool of huge pages of default size. -The huge page size is needed for generating the proper alignment and -size of the arguments to system calls that map huge page regions. - -The output of ``cat /proc/meminfo`` will include lines like:: - - HugePages_Total: uuu - HugePages_Free: vvv - HugePages_Rsvd: www - HugePages_Surp: xxx - Hugepagesize: yyy kB - Hugetlb: zzz kB - -where: - -HugePages_Total - is the size of the pool of huge pages. -HugePages_Free - is the number of huge pages in the pool that are not yet - allocated. -HugePages_Rsvd - is short for "reserved," and is the number of huge pages for - which a commitment to allocate from the pool has been made, - but no allocation has yet been made. Reserved huge pages - guarantee that an application will be able to allocate a - huge page from the pool of huge pages at fault time. -HugePages_Surp - is short for "surplus," and is the number of huge pages in - the pool above the value in ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages``. The - maximum number of surplus huge pages is controlled by - ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_overcommit_hugepages``. -Hugepagesize - is the default hugepage size (in Kb). -Hugetlb - is the total amount of memory (in kB), consumed by huge - pages of all sizes. - If huge pages of different sizes are in use, this number - will exceed HugePages_Total \* Hugepagesize. To get more - detailed information, please, refer to - ``/sys/kernel/mm/hugepages`` (described below). - - -``/proc/filesystems`` should also show a filesystem of type "hugetlbfs" -configured in the kernel. - -``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages`` indicates the current number of "persistent" huge -pages in the kernel's huge page pool. "Persistent" huge pages will be -returned to the huge page pool when freed by a task. A user with root -privileges can dynamically allocate more or free some persistent huge pages -by increasing or decreasing the value of ``nr_hugepages``. - -Pages that are used as huge pages are reserved inside the kernel and cannot -be used for other purposes. Huge pages cannot be swapped out under -memory pressure. - -Once a number of huge pages have been pre-allocated to the kernel huge page -pool, a user with appropriate privilege can use either the mmap system call -or shared memory system calls to use the huge pages. See the discussion of -Using Huge Pages, below. - -The administrator can allocate persistent huge pages on the kernel boot -command line by specifying the "hugepages=N" parameter, where 'N' = the -number of huge pages requested. This is the most reliable method of -allocating huge pages as memory has not yet become fragmented. - -Some platforms support multiple huge page sizes. To allocate huge pages -of a specific size, one must precede the huge pages boot command parameters -with a huge page size selection parameter "hugepagesz=". must -be specified in bytes with optional scale suffix [kKmMgG]. The default huge -page size may be selected with the "default_hugepagesz=" boot parameter. - -When multiple huge page sizes are supported, ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages`` -indicates the current number of pre-allocated huge pages of the default size. -Thus, one can use the following command to dynamically allocate/deallocate -default sized persistent huge pages:: - - echo 20 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages - -This command will try to adjust the number of default sized huge pages in the -huge page pool to 20, allocating or freeing huge pages, as required. - -On a NUMA platform, the kernel will attempt to distribute the huge page pool -over all the set of allowed nodes specified by the NUMA memory policy of the -task that modifies ``nr_hugepages``. The default for the allowed nodes--when the -task has default memory policy--is all on-line nodes with memory. Allowed -nodes with insufficient available, contiguous memory for a huge page will be -silently skipped when allocating persistent huge pages. See the discussion -below of the interaction of task memory policy, cpusets and per node attributes -with the allocation and freeing of persistent huge pages. - -The success or failure of huge page allocation depends on the amount of -physically contiguous memory that is present in system at the time of the -allocation attempt. If the kernel is unable to allocate huge pages from -some nodes in a NUMA system, it will attempt to make up the difference by -allocating extra pages on other nodes with sufficient available contiguous -memory, if any. - -System administrators may want to put this command in one of the local rc -init files. This will enable the kernel to allocate huge pages early in -the boot process when the possibility of getting physical contiguous pages -is still very high. Administrators can verify the number of huge pages -actually allocated by checking the sysctl or meminfo. To check the per node -distribution of huge pages in a NUMA system, use:: - - cat /sys/devices/system/node/node*/meminfo | fgrep Huge - -``/proc/sys/vm/nr_overcommit_hugepages`` specifies how large the pool of -huge pages can grow, if more huge pages than ``/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages`` are -requested by applications. Writing any non-zero value into this file -indicates that the hugetlb subsystem is allowed to try to obtain that -number of "surplus" huge pages from the kernel's normal page pool, when the -persistent huge page pool is exhausted. As these surplus huge pages become -unused, they are freed back to the kernel's normal page pool. - -When increasing the huge page pool size via ``nr_hugepages``, any existing -surplus pages will first be promoted to persistent huge pages. Then, additional -huge pages will be allocated, if necessary and if possible, to fulfill -the new persistent huge page pool size. - -The administrator may shrink the pool of persistent huge pages for -the default huge page size by setting the ``nr_hugepages`` sysctl to a -smaller value. The kernel will attempt to balance the freeing of huge pages -across all nodes in the memory policy of the task modifying ``nr_hugepages``. -Any free huge pages on the selected nodes will be freed back to the kernel's -normal page pool. - -Caveat: Shrinking the persistent huge page pool via ``nr_hugepages`` such that -it becomes less than the number of huge pages in use will convert the balance -of the in-use huge pages to surplus huge pages. This will occur even if -the number of surplus pages it would exceed the overcommit value. As long as -this condition holds--that is, until ``nr_hugepages+nr_overcommit_hugepages`` is -increased sufficiently, or the surplus huge pages go out of use and are freed-- -no more surplus huge pages will be allowed to be allocated. - -With support for multiple huge page pools at run-time available, much of -the huge page userspace interface in ``/proc/sys/vm`` has been duplicated in -sysfs. -The ``/proc`` interfaces discussed above have been retained for backwards -compatibility. The root huge page control directory in sysfs is:: - - /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages - -For each huge page size supported by the running kernel, a subdirectory -will exist, of the form:: - - hugepages-${size}kB - -Inside each of these directories, the same set of files will exist:: - - nr_hugepages - nr_hugepages_mempolicy - nr_overcommit_hugepages - free_hugepages - resv_hugepages - surplus_hugepages - -which function as described above for the default huge page-sized case. - - -Interaction of Task Memory Policy with Huge Page Allocation/Freeing -=================================================================== - -Whether huge pages are allocated and freed via the ``/proc`` interface or -the ``/sysfs`` interface using the ``nr_hugepages_mempolicy`` attribute, the -NUMA nodes from which huge pages are allocated or freed are controlled by the -NUMA memory policy of the task that modifies the ``nr_hugepages_mempolicy`` -sysctl or attribute. When the ``nr_hugepages`` attribute is used, mempolicy -is ignored. - -The recommended method to allocate or free huge pages to/from the kernel -huge page pool, using the ``nr_hugepages`` example above, is:: - - numactl --interleave echo 20 \ - >/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages_mempolicy - -or, more succinctly:: - - numactl -m echo 20 >/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages_mempolicy - -This will allocate or free ``abs(20 - nr_hugepages)`` to or from the nodes -specified in , depending on whether number of persistent huge pages -is initially less than or greater than 20, respectively. No huge pages will be -allocated nor freed on any node not included in the specified . - -When adjusting the persistent hugepage count via ``nr_hugepages_mempolicy``, any -memory policy mode--bind, preferred, local or interleave--may be used. The -resulting effect on persistent huge page allocation is as follows: - -#. Regardless of mempolicy mode [see Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt], - persistent huge pages will be distributed across the node or nodes - specified in the mempolicy as if "interleave" had been specified. - However, if a node in the policy does not contain sufficient contiguous - memory for a huge page, the allocation will not "fallback" to the nearest - neighbor node with sufficient contiguous memory. To do this would cause - undesirable imbalance in the distribution of the huge page pool, or - possibly, allocation of persistent huge pages on nodes not allowed by - the task's memory policy. - -#. One or more nodes may be specified with the bind or interleave policy. - If more than one node is specified with the preferred policy, only the - lowest numeric id will be used. Local policy will select the node where - the task is running at the time the nodes_allowed mask is constructed. - For local policy to be deterministic, the task must be bound to a cpu or - cpus in a single node. Otherwise, the task could be migrated to some - other node at any time after launch and the resulting node will be - indeterminate. Thus, local policy is not very useful for this purpose. - Any of the other mempolicy modes may be used to specify a single node. - -#. The nodes allowed mask will be derived from any non-default task mempolicy, - whether this policy was set explicitly by the task itself or one of its - ancestors, such as numactl. This means that if the task is invoked from a - shell with non-default policy, that policy will be used. One can specify a - node list of "all" with numactl --interleave or --membind [-m] to achieve - interleaving over all nodes in the system or cpuset. - -#. Any task mempolicy specified--e.g., using numactl--will be constrained by - the resource limits of any cpuset in which the task runs. Thus, there will - be no way for a task with non-default policy running in a cpuset with a - subset of the system nodes to allocate huge pages outside the cpuset - without first moving to a cpuset that contains all of the desired nodes. - -#. Boot-time huge page allocation attempts to distribute the requested number - of huge pages over all on-lines nodes with memory. - -Per Node Hugepages Attributes -============================= - -A subset of the contents of the root huge page control directory in sysfs, -described above, will be replicated under each the system device of each -NUMA node with memory in:: - - /sys/devices/system/node/node[0-9]*/hugepages/ - -Under this directory, the subdirectory for each supported huge page size -contains the following attribute files:: - - nr_hugepages - free_hugepages - surplus_hugepages - -The free\_' and surplus\_' attribute files are read-only. They return the number -of free and surplus [overcommitted] huge pages, respectively, on the parent -node. - -The ``nr_hugepages`` attribute returns the total number of huge pages on the -specified node. When this attribute is written, the number of persistent huge -pages on the parent node will be adjusted to the specified value, if sufficient -resources exist, regardless of the task's mempolicy or cpuset constraints. - -Note that the number of overcommit and reserve pages remain global quantities, -as we don't know until fault time, when the faulting task's mempolicy is -applied, from which node the huge page allocation will be attempted. - - -Using Huge Pages -================ - -If the user applications are going to request huge pages using mmap system -call, then it is required that system administrator mount a file system of -type hugetlbfs:: - - mount -t hugetlbfs \ - -o uid=,gid=,mode=,pagesize=,size=,\ - min_size=,nr_inodes= none /mnt/huge - -This command mounts a (pseudo) filesystem of type hugetlbfs on the directory -``/mnt/huge``. Any files created on ``/mnt/huge`` uses huge pages. - -The ``uid`` and ``gid`` options sets the owner and group of the root of the -file system. By default the ``uid`` and ``gid`` of the current process -are taken. - -The ``mode`` option sets the mode of root of file system to value & 01777. -This value is given in octal. By default the value 0755 is picked. - -If the platform supports multiple huge page sizes, the ``pagesize`` option can -be used to specify the huge page size and associated pool. ``pagesize`` -is specified in bytes. If ``pagesize`` is not specified the platform's -default huge page size and associated pool will be used. - -The ``size`` option sets the maximum value of memory (huge pages) allowed -for that filesystem (``/mnt/huge``). The ``size`` option can be specified -in bytes, or as a percentage of the specified huge page pool (``nr_hugepages``). -The size is rounded down to HPAGE_SIZE boundary. - -The ``min_size`` option sets the minimum value of memory (huge pages) allowed -for the filesystem. ``min_size`` can be specified in the same way as ``size``, -either bytes or a percentage of the huge page pool. -At mount time, the number of huge pages specified by ``min_size`` are reserved -for use by the filesystem. -If there are not enough free huge pages available, the mount will fail. -As huge pages are allocated to the filesystem and freed, the reserve count -is adjusted so that the sum of allocated and reserved huge pages is always -at least ``min_size``. - -The option ``nr_inodes`` sets the maximum number of inodes that ``/mnt/huge`` -can use. - -If the ``size``, ``min_size`` or ``nr_inodes`` option is not provided on -command line then no limits are set. - -For ``pagesize``, ``size``, ``min_size`` and ``nr_inodes`` options, you can -use [G|g]/[M|m]/[K|k] to represent giga/mega/kilo. -For example, size=2K has the same meaning as size=2048. - -While read system calls are supported on files that reside on hugetlb -file systems, write system calls are not. - -Regular chown, chgrp, and chmod commands (with right permissions) could be -used to change the file attributes on hugetlbfs. - -Also, it is important to note that no such mount command is required if -applications are going to use only shmat/shmget system calls or mmap with -MAP_HUGETLB. For an example of how to use mmap with MAP_HUGETLB see -:ref:`map_hugetlb ` below. - -Users who wish to use hugetlb memory via shared memory segment should be a -member of a supplementary group and system admin needs to configure that gid -into ``/proc/sys/vm/hugetlb_shm_group``. It is possible for same or different -applications to use any combination of mmaps and shm* calls, though the mount of -filesystem will be required for using mmap calls without MAP_HUGETLB. - -Syscalls that operate on memory backed by hugetlb pages only have their lengths -aligned to the native page size of the processor; they will normally fail with -errno set to EINVAL or exclude hugetlb pages that extend beyond the length if -not hugepage aligned. For example, munmap(2) will fail if memory is backed by -a hugetlb page and the length is smaller than the hugepage size. - - -Examples -======== - -.. _map_hugetlb: - -``map_hugetlb`` - see tools/testing/selftests/vm/map_hugetlb.c - -``hugepage-shm`` - see tools/testing/selftests/vm/hugepage-shm.c - -``hugepage-mmap`` - see tools/testing/selftests/vm/hugepage-mmap.c - -The `libhugetlbfs`_ library provides a wide range of userspace tools -to help with huge page usability, environment setup, and control. - -.. _libhugetlbfs: https://github.com/libhugetlbfs/libhugetlbfs - -Kernel development regression testing -===================================== - -The most complete set of hugetlb tests are in the libhugetlbfs repository. -If you modify any hugetlb related code, use the libhugetlbfs test suite -to check for regressions. In addition, if you add any new hugetlb -functionality, please add appropriate tests to libhugetlbfs. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hwpoison.rst b/Documentation/vm/hwpoison.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..070aa1e716b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/hwpoison.rst @@ -0,0 +1,186 @@ +.. hwpoison: + +======== +hwpoison +======== + +What is hwpoison? +================= + +Upcoming Intel CPUs have support for recovering from some memory errors +(``MCA recovery``). This requires the OS to declare a page "poisoned", +kill the processes associated with it and avoid using it in the future. + +This patchkit implements the necessary infrastructure in the VM. + +To quote the overview comment: + + * High level machine check handler. Handles pages reported by the + * hardware as being corrupted usually due to a 2bit ECC memory or cache + * failure. + * + * This focusses on pages detected as corrupted in the background. + * When the current CPU tries to consume corruption the currently + * running process can just be killed directly instead. This implies + * that if the error cannot be handled for some reason it's safe to + * just ignore it because no corruption has been consumed yet. Instead + * when that happens another machine check will happen. + * + * Handles page cache pages in various states. The tricky part + * here is that we can access any page asynchronous to other VM + * users, because memory failures could happen anytime and anywhere, + * possibly violating some of their assumptions. This is why this code + * has to be extremely careful. Generally it tries to use normal locking + * rules, as in get the standard locks, even if that means the + * error handling takes potentially a long time. + * + * Some of the operations here are somewhat inefficient and have non + * linear algorithmic complexity, because the data structures have not + * been optimized for this case. This is in particular the case + * for the mapping from a vma to a process. Since this case is expected + * to be rare we hope we can get away with this. + +The code consists of a the high level handler in mm/memory-failure.c, +a new page poison bit and various checks in the VM to handle poisoned +pages. + +The main target right now is KVM guests, but it works for all kinds +of applications. KVM support requires a recent qemu-kvm release. + +For the KVM use there was need for a new signal type so that +KVM can inject the machine check into the guest with the proper +address. This in theory allows other applications to handle +memory failures too. The expection is that near all applications +won't do that, but some very specialized ones might. + +Failure recovery modes +====================== + +There are two (actually three) modes memory failure recovery can be in: + +vm.memory_failure_recovery sysctl set to zero: + All memory failures cause a panic. Do not attempt recovery. + (on x86 this can be also affected by the tolerant level of the + MCE subsystem) + +early kill + (can be controlled globally and per process) + Send SIGBUS to the application as soon as the error is detected + This allows applications who can process memory errors in a gentle + way (e.g. drop affected object) + This is the mode used by KVM qemu. + +late kill + Send SIGBUS when the application runs into the corrupted page. + This is best for memory error unaware applications and default + Note some pages are always handled as late kill. + +User control +============ + +vm.memory_failure_recovery + See sysctl.txt + +vm.memory_failure_early_kill + Enable early kill mode globally + +PR_MCE_KILL + Set early/late kill mode/revert to system default + + arg1: PR_MCE_KILL_CLEAR: + Revert to system default + arg1: PR_MCE_KILL_SET: + arg2 defines thread specific mode + + PR_MCE_KILL_EARLY: + Early kill + PR_MCE_KILL_LATE: + Late kill + PR_MCE_KILL_DEFAULT + Use system global default + + Note that if you want to have a dedicated thread which handles + the SIGBUS(BUS_MCEERR_AO) on behalf of the process, you should + call prctl(PR_MCE_KILL_EARLY) on the designated thread. Otherwise, + the SIGBUS is sent to the main thread. + +PR_MCE_KILL_GET + return current mode + +Testing +======= + +* madvise(MADV_HWPOISON, ....) (as root) - Poison a page in the + process for testing + +* hwpoison-inject module through debugfs ``/sys/kernel/debug/hwpoison/`` + + corrupt-pfn + Inject hwpoison fault at PFN echoed into this file. This does + some early filtering to avoid corrupted unintended pages in test suites. + + unpoison-pfn + Software-unpoison page at PFN echoed into this file. This way + a page can be reused again. This only works for Linux + injected failures, not for real memory failures. + + Note these injection interfaces are not stable and might change between + kernel versions + + corrupt-filter-dev-major, corrupt-filter-dev-minor + Only handle memory failures to pages associated with the file + system defined by block device major/minor. -1U is the + wildcard value. This should be only used for testing with + artificial injection. + + corrupt-filter-memcg + Limit injection to pages owned by memgroup. Specified by inode + number of the memcg. + + Example:: + + mkdir /sys/fs/cgroup/mem/hwpoison + + usemem -m 100 -s 1000 & + echo `jobs -p` > /sys/fs/cgroup/mem/hwpoison/tasks + + memcg_ino=$(ls -id /sys/fs/cgroup/mem/hwpoison | cut -f1 -d' ') + echo $memcg_ino > /debug/hwpoison/corrupt-filter-memcg + + page-types -p `pidof init` --hwpoison # shall do nothing + page-types -p `pidof usemem` --hwpoison # poison its pages + + corrupt-filter-flags-mask, corrupt-filter-flags-value + When specified, only poison pages if ((page_flags & mask) == + value). This allows stress testing of many kinds of + pages. The page_flags are the same as in /proc/kpageflags. The + flag bits are defined in include/linux/kernel-page-flags.h and + documented in Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst + +* Architecture specific MCE injector + + x86 has mce-inject, mce-test + + Some portable hwpoison test programs in mce-test, see below. + +References +========== + +http://halobates.de/mce-lc09-2.pdf + Overview presentation from LinuxCon 09 + +git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/cpu/mce/mce-test.git + Test suite (hwpoison specific portable tests in tsrc) + +git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/cpu/mce/mce-inject.git + x86 specific injector + + +Limitations +=========== +- Not all page types are supported and never will. Most kernel internal + objects cannot be recovered, only LRU pages for now. +- Right now hugepage support is missing. + +--- +Andi Kleen, Oct 2009 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/hwpoison.txt b/Documentation/vm/hwpoison.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b1a8c241d6c2..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/hwpoison.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,186 +0,0 @@ -.. hwpoison: - -======== -hwpoison -======== - -What is hwpoison? -================= - -Upcoming Intel CPUs have support for recovering from some memory errors -(``MCA recovery``). This requires the OS to declare a page "poisoned", -kill the processes associated with it and avoid using it in the future. - -This patchkit implements the necessary infrastructure in the VM. - -To quote the overview comment: - - * High level machine check handler. Handles pages reported by the - * hardware as being corrupted usually due to a 2bit ECC memory or cache - * failure. - * - * This focusses on pages detected as corrupted in the background. - * When the current CPU tries to consume corruption the currently - * running process can just be killed directly instead. This implies - * that if the error cannot be handled for some reason it's safe to - * just ignore it because no corruption has been consumed yet. Instead - * when that happens another machine check will happen. - * - * Handles page cache pages in various states. The tricky part - * here is that we can access any page asynchronous to other VM - * users, because memory failures could happen anytime and anywhere, - * possibly violating some of their assumptions. This is why this code - * has to be extremely careful. Generally it tries to use normal locking - * rules, as in get the standard locks, even if that means the - * error handling takes potentially a long time. - * - * Some of the operations here are somewhat inefficient and have non - * linear algorithmic complexity, because the data structures have not - * been optimized for this case. This is in particular the case - * for the mapping from a vma to a process. Since this case is expected - * to be rare we hope we can get away with this. - -The code consists of a the high level handler in mm/memory-failure.c, -a new page poison bit and various checks in the VM to handle poisoned -pages. - -The main target right now is KVM guests, but it works for all kinds -of applications. KVM support requires a recent qemu-kvm release. - -For the KVM use there was need for a new signal type so that -KVM can inject the machine check into the guest with the proper -address. This in theory allows other applications to handle -memory failures too. The expection is that near all applications -won't do that, but some very specialized ones might. - -Failure recovery modes -====================== - -There are two (actually three) modes memory failure recovery can be in: - -vm.memory_failure_recovery sysctl set to zero: - All memory failures cause a panic. Do not attempt recovery. - (on x86 this can be also affected by the tolerant level of the - MCE subsystem) - -early kill - (can be controlled globally and per process) - Send SIGBUS to the application as soon as the error is detected - This allows applications who can process memory errors in a gentle - way (e.g. drop affected object) - This is the mode used by KVM qemu. - -late kill - Send SIGBUS when the application runs into the corrupted page. - This is best for memory error unaware applications and default - Note some pages are always handled as late kill. - -User control -============ - -vm.memory_failure_recovery - See sysctl.txt - -vm.memory_failure_early_kill - Enable early kill mode globally - -PR_MCE_KILL - Set early/late kill mode/revert to system default - - arg1: PR_MCE_KILL_CLEAR: - Revert to system default - arg1: PR_MCE_KILL_SET: - arg2 defines thread specific mode - - PR_MCE_KILL_EARLY: - Early kill - PR_MCE_KILL_LATE: - Late kill - PR_MCE_KILL_DEFAULT - Use system global default - - Note that if you want to have a dedicated thread which handles - the SIGBUS(BUS_MCEERR_AO) on behalf of the process, you should - call prctl(PR_MCE_KILL_EARLY) on the designated thread. Otherwise, - the SIGBUS is sent to the main thread. - -PR_MCE_KILL_GET - return current mode - -Testing -======= - -* madvise(MADV_HWPOISON, ....) (as root) - Poison a page in the - process for testing - -* hwpoison-inject module through debugfs ``/sys/kernel/debug/hwpoison/`` - - corrupt-pfn - Inject hwpoison fault at PFN echoed into this file. This does - some early filtering to avoid corrupted unintended pages in test suites. - - unpoison-pfn - Software-unpoison page at PFN echoed into this file. This way - a page can be reused again. This only works for Linux - injected failures, not for real memory failures. - - Note these injection interfaces are not stable and might change between - kernel versions - - corrupt-filter-dev-major, corrupt-filter-dev-minor - Only handle memory failures to pages associated with the file - system defined by block device major/minor. -1U is the - wildcard value. This should be only used for testing with - artificial injection. - - corrupt-filter-memcg - Limit injection to pages owned by memgroup. Specified by inode - number of the memcg. - - Example:: - - mkdir /sys/fs/cgroup/mem/hwpoison - - usemem -m 100 -s 1000 & - echo `jobs -p` > /sys/fs/cgroup/mem/hwpoison/tasks - - memcg_ino=$(ls -id /sys/fs/cgroup/mem/hwpoison | cut -f1 -d' ') - echo $memcg_ino > /debug/hwpoison/corrupt-filter-memcg - - page-types -p `pidof init` --hwpoison # shall do nothing - page-types -p `pidof usemem` --hwpoison # poison its pages - - corrupt-filter-flags-mask, corrupt-filter-flags-value - When specified, only poison pages if ((page_flags & mask) == - value). This allows stress testing of many kinds of - pages. The page_flags are the same as in /proc/kpageflags. The - flag bits are defined in include/linux/kernel-page-flags.h and - documented in Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt - -* Architecture specific MCE injector - - x86 has mce-inject, mce-test - - Some portable hwpoison test programs in mce-test, see below. - -References -========== - -http://halobates.de/mce-lc09-2.pdf - Overview presentation from LinuxCon 09 - -git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/cpu/mce/mce-test.git - Test suite (hwpoison specific portable tests in tsrc) - -git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/cpu/mce/mce-inject.git - x86 specific injector - - -Limitations -=========== -- Not all page types are supported and never will. Most kernel internal - objects cannot be recovered, only LRU pages for now. -- Right now hugepage support is missing. - ---- -Andi Kleen, Oct 2009 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.rst b/Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..d1c4609a5220 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.rst @@ -0,0 +1,115 @@ +.. _idle_page_tracking: + +================== +Idle Page Tracking +================== + +Motivation +========== + +The idle page tracking feature allows to track which memory pages are being +accessed by a workload and which are idle. This information can be useful for +estimating the workload's working set size, which, in turn, can be taken into +account when configuring the workload parameters, setting memory cgroup limits, +or deciding where to place the workload within a compute cluster. + +It is enabled by CONFIG_IDLE_PAGE_TRACKING=y. + +.. _user_api: + +User API +======== + +The idle page tracking API is located at ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle``. +Currently, it consists of the only read-write file, +``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap``. + +The file implements a bitmap where each bit corresponds to a memory page. The +bitmap is represented by an array of 8-byte integers, and the page at PFN #i is +mapped to bit #i%64 of array element #i/64, byte order is native. When a bit is +set, the corresponding page is idle. + +A page is considered idle if it has not been accessed since it was marked idle +(for more details on what "accessed" actually means see the :ref:`Implementation +Details ` section). +To mark a page idle one has to set the bit corresponding to +the page by writing to the file. A value written to the file is OR-ed with the +current bitmap value. + +Only accesses to user memory pages are tracked. These are pages mapped to a +process address space, page cache and buffer pages, swap cache pages. For other +page types (e.g. SLAB pages) an attempt to mark a page idle is silently ignored, +and hence such pages are never reported idle. + +For huge pages the idle flag is set only on the head page, so one has to read +``/proc/kpageflags`` in order to correctly count idle huge pages. + +Reading from or writing to ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` will return +-EINVAL if you are not starting the read/write on an 8-byte boundary, or +if the size of the read/write is not a multiple of 8 bytes. Writing to +this file beyond max PFN will return -ENXIO. + +That said, in order to estimate the amount of pages that are not used by a +workload one should: + + 1. Mark all the workload's pages as idle by setting corresponding bits in + ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap``. The pages can be found by reading + ``/proc/pid/pagemap`` if the workload is represented by a process, or by + filtering out alien pages using ``/proc/kpagecgroup`` in case the workload + is placed in a memory cgroup. + + 2. Wait until the workload accesses its working set. + + 3. Read ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` and count the number of bits set. + If one wants to ignore certain types of pages, e.g. mlocked pages since they + are not reclaimable, he or she can filter them out using + ``/proc/kpageflags``. + +See Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst for more information about +``/proc/pid/pagemap``, ``/proc/kpageflags``, and ``/proc/kpagecgroup``. + +.. _impl_details: + +Implementation Details +====================== + +The kernel internally keeps track of accesses to user memory pages in order to +reclaim unreferenced pages first on memory shortage conditions. A page is +considered referenced if it has been recently accessed via a process address +space, in which case one or more PTEs it is mapped to will have the Accessed bit +set, or marked accessed explicitly by the kernel (see mark_page_accessed()). The +latter happens when: + + - a userspace process reads or writes a page using a system call (e.g. read(2) + or write(2)) + + - a page that is used for storing filesystem buffers is read or written, + because a process needs filesystem metadata stored in it (e.g. lists a + directory tree) + + - a page is accessed by a device driver using get_user_pages() + +When a dirty page is written to swap or disk as a result of memory reclaim or +exceeding the dirty memory limit, it is not marked referenced. + +The idle memory tracking feature adds a new page flag, the Idle flag. This flag +is set manually, by writing to ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` (see the +:ref:`User API ` +section), and cleared automatically whenever a page is referenced as defined +above. + +When a page is marked idle, the Accessed bit must be cleared in all PTEs it is +mapped to, otherwise we will not be able to detect accesses to the page coming +from a process address space. To avoid interference with the reclaimer, which, +as noted above, uses the Accessed bit to promote actively referenced pages, one +more page flag is introduced, the Young flag. When the PTE Accessed bit is +cleared as a result of setting or updating a page's Idle flag, the Young flag +is set on the page. The reclaimer treats the Young flag as an extra PTE +Accessed bit and therefore will consider such a page as referenced. + +Since the idle memory tracking feature is based on the memory reclaimer logic, +it only works with pages that are on an LRU list, other pages are silently +ignored. That means it will ignore a user memory page if it is isolated, but +since there are usually not many of them, it should not affect the overall +result noticeably. In order not to stall scanning of the idle page bitmap, +locked pages may be skipped too. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.txt b/Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9cbe6f8d7a99..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,115 +0,0 @@ -.. _idle_page_tracking: - -================== -Idle Page Tracking -================== - -Motivation -========== - -The idle page tracking feature allows to track which memory pages are being -accessed by a workload and which are idle. This information can be useful for -estimating the workload's working set size, which, in turn, can be taken into -account when configuring the workload parameters, setting memory cgroup limits, -or deciding where to place the workload within a compute cluster. - -It is enabled by CONFIG_IDLE_PAGE_TRACKING=y. - -.. _user_api: - -User API -======== - -The idle page tracking API is located at ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle``. -Currently, it consists of the only read-write file, -``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap``. - -The file implements a bitmap where each bit corresponds to a memory page. The -bitmap is represented by an array of 8-byte integers, and the page at PFN #i is -mapped to bit #i%64 of array element #i/64, byte order is native. When a bit is -set, the corresponding page is idle. - -A page is considered idle if it has not been accessed since it was marked idle -(for more details on what "accessed" actually means see the :ref:`Implementation -Details ` section). -To mark a page idle one has to set the bit corresponding to -the page by writing to the file. A value written to the file is OR-ed with the -current bitmap value. - -Only accesses to user memory pages are tracked. These are pages mapped to a -process address space, page cache and buffer pages, swap cache pages. For other -page types (e.g. SLAB pages) an attempt to mark a page idle is silently ignored, -and hence such pages are never reported idle. - -For huge pages the idle flag is set only on the head page, so one has to read -``/proc/kpageflags`` in order to correctly count idle huge pages. - -Reading from or writing to ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` will return --EINVAL if you are not starting the read/write on an 8-byte boundary, or -if the size of the read/write is not a multiple of 8 bytes. Writing to -this file beyond max PFN will return -ENXIO. - -That said, in order to estimate the amount of pages that are not used by a -workload one should: - - 1. Mark all the workload's pages as idle by setting corresponding bits in - ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap``. The pages can be found by reading - ``/proc/pid/pagemap`` if the workload is represented by a process, or by - filtering out alien pages using ``/proc/kpagecgroup`` in case the workload - is placed in a memory cgroup. - - 2. Wait until the workload accesses its working set. - - 3. Read ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` and count the number of bits set. - If one wants to ignore certain types of pages, e.g. mlocked pages since they - are not reclaimable, he or she can filter them out using - ``/proc/kpageflags``. - -See Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt for more information about -``/proc/pid/pagemap``, ``/proc/kpageflags``, and ``/proc/kpagecgroup``. - -.. _impl_details: - -Implementation Details -====================== - -The kernel internally keeps track of accesses to user memory pages in order to -reclaim unreferenced pages first on memory shortage conditions. A page is -considered referenced if it has been recently accessed via a process address -space, in which case one or more PTEs it is mapped to will have the Accessed bit -set, or marked accessed explicitly by the kernel (see mark_page_accessed()). The -latter happens when: - - - a userspace process reads or writes a page using a system call (e.g. read(2) - or write(2)) - - - a page that is used for storing filesystem buffers is read or written, - because a process needs filesystem metadata stored in it (e.g. lists a - directory tree) - - - a page is accessed by a device driver using get_user_pages() - -When a dirty page is written to swap or disk as a result of memory reclaim or -exceeding the dirty memory limit, it is not marked referenced. - -The idle memory tracking feature adds a new page flag, the Idle flag. This flag -is set manually, by writing to ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` (see the -:ref:`User API ` -section), and cleared automatically whenever a page is referenced as defined -above. - -When a page is marked idle, the Accessed bit must be cleared in all PTEs it is -mapped to, otherwise we will not be able to detect accesses to the page coming -from a process address space. To avoid interference with the reclaimer, which, -as noted above, uses the Accessed bit to promote actively referenced pages, one -more page flag is introduced, the Young flag. When the PTE Accessed bit is -cleared as a result of setting or updating a page's Idle flag, the Young flag -is set on the page. The reclaimer treats the Young flag as an extra PTE -Accessed bit and therefore will consider such a page as referenced. - -Since the idle memory tracking feature is based on the memory reclaimer logic, -it only works with pages that are on an LRU list, other pages are silently -ignored. That means it will ignore a user memory page if it is isolated, but -since there are usually not many of them, it should not affect the overall -result noticeably. In order not to stall scanning of the idle page bitmap, -locked pages may be skipped too. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/ksm.rst b/Documentation/vm/ksm.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..87e7eef5ea9c --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/ksm.rst @@ -0,0 +1,183 @@ +.. _ksm: + +======================= +Kernel Samepage Merging +======================= + +KSM is a memory-saving de-duplication feature, enabled by CONFIG_KSM=y, +added to the Linux kernel in 2.6.32. See ``mm/ksm.c`` for its implementation, +and http://lwn.net/Articles/306704/ and http://lwn.net/Articles/330589/ + +The KSM daemon ksmd periodically scans those areas of user memory which +have been registered with it, looking for pages of identical content which +can be replaced by a single write-protected page (which is automatically +copied if a process later wants to update its content). + +KSM was originally developed for use with KVM (where it was known as +Kernel Shared Memory), to fit more virtual machines into physical memory, +by sharing the data common between them. But it can be useful to any +application which generates many instances of the same data. + +KSM only merges anonymous (private) pages, never pagecache (file) pages. +KSM's merged pages were originally locked into kernel memory, but can now +be swapped out just like other user pages (but sharing is broken when they +are swapped back in: ksmd must rediscover their identity and merge again). + +KSM only operates on those areas of address space which an application +has advised to be likely candidates for merging, by using the madvise(2) +system call: int madvise(addr, length, MADV_MERGEABLE). + +The app may call int madvise(addr, length, MADV_UNMERGEABLE) to cancel +that advice and restore unshared pages: whereupon KSM unmerges whatever +it merged in that range. Note: this unmerging call may suddenly require +more memory than is available - possibly failing with EAGAIN, but more +probably arousing the Out-Of-Memory killer. + +If KSM is not configured into the running kernel, madvise MADV_MERGEABLE +and MADV_UNMERGEABLE simply fail with EINVAL. If the running kernel was +built with CONFIG_KSM=y, those calls will normally succeed: even if the +the KSM daemon is not currently running, MADV_MERGEABLE still registers +the range for whenever the KSM daemon is started; even if the range +cannot contain any pages which KSM could actually merge; even if +MADV_UNMERGEABLE is applied to a range which was never MADV_MERGEABLE. + +If a region of memory must be split into at least one new MADV_MERGEABLE +or MADV_UNMERGEABLE region, the madvise may return ENOMEM if the process +will exceed vm.max_map_count (see Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt). + +Like other madvise calls, they are intended for use on mapped areas of +the user address space: they will report ENOMEM if the specified range +includes unmapped gaps (though working on the intervening mapped areas), +and might fail with EAGAIN if not enough memory for internal structures. + +Applications should be considerate in their use of MADV_MERGEABLE, +restricting its use to areas likely to benefit. KSM's scans may use a lot +of processing power: some installations will disable KSM for that reason. + +The KSM daemon is controlled by sysfs files in ``/sys/kernel/mm/ksm/``, +readable by all but writable only by root: + +pages_to_scan + how many present pages to scan before ksmd goes to sleep + e.g. ``echo 100 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/pages_to_scan`` Default: 100 + (chosen for demonstration purposes) + +sleep_millisecs + how many milliseconds ksmd should sleep before next scan + e.g. ``echo 20 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/sleep_millisecs`` Default: 20 + (chosen for demonstration purposes) + +merge_across_nodes + specifies if pages from different numa nodes can be merged. + When set to 0, ksm merges only pages which physically reside + in the memory area of same NUMA node. That brings lower + latency to access of shared pages. Systems with more nodes, at + significant NUMA distances, are likely to benefit from the + lower latency of setting 0. Smaller systems, which need to + minimize memory usage, are likely to benefit from the greater + sharing of setting 1 (default). You may wish to compare how + your system performs under each setting, before deciding on + which to use. merge_across_nodes setting can be changed only + when there are no ksm shared pages in system: set run 2 to + unmerge pages first, then to 1 after changing + merge_across_nodes, to remerge according to the new setting. + Default: 1 (merging across nodes as in earlier releases) + +run + set 0 to stop ksmd from running but keep merged pages, + set 1 to run ksmd e.g. ``echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run``, + set 2 to stop ksmd and unmerge all pages currently merged, but + leave mergeable areas registered for next run Default: 0 (must + be changed to 1 to activate KSM, except if CONFIG_SYSFS is + disabled) + +use_zero_pages + specifies whether empty pages (i.e. allocated pages that only + contain zeroes) should be treated specially. When set to 1, + empty pages are merged with the kernel zero page(s) instead of + with each other as it would happen normally. This can improve + the performance on architectures with coloured zero pages, + depending on the workload. Care should be taken when enabling + this setting, as it can potentially degrade the performance of + KSM for some workloads, for example if the checksums of pages + candidate for merging match the checksum of an empty + page. This setting can be changed at any time, it is only + effective for pages merged after the change. Default: 0 + (normal KSM behaviour as in earlier releases) + +max_page_sharing + Maximum sharing allowed for each KSM page. This enforces a + deduplication limit to avoid the virtual memory rmap lists to + grow too large. The minimum value is 2 as a newly created KSM + page will have at least two sharers. The rmap walk has O(N) + complexity where N is the number of rmap_items (i.e. virtual + mappings) that are sharing the page, which is in turn capped + by max_page_sharing. So this effectively spread the the linear + O(N) computational complexity from rmap walk context over + different KSM pages. The ksmd walk over the stable_node + "chains" is also O(N), but N is the number of stable_node + "dups", not the number of rmap_items, so it has not a + significant impact on ksmd performance. In practice the best + stable_node "dup" candidate will be kept and found at the head + of the "dups" list. The higher this value the faster KSM will + merge the memory (because there will be fewer stable_node dups + queued into the stable_node chain->hlist to check for pruning) + and the higher the deduplication factor will be, but the + slowest the worst case rmap walk could be for any given KSM + page. Slowing down the rmap_walk means there will be higher + latency for certain virtual memory operations happening during + swapping, compaction, NUMA balancing and page migration, in + turn decreasing responsiveness for the caller of those virtual + memory operations. The scheduler latency of other tasks not + involved with the VM operations doing the rmap walk is not + affected by this parameter as the rmap walks are always + schedule friendly themselves. + +stable_node_chains_prune_millisecs + How frequently to walk the whole list of stable_node "dups" + linked in the stable_node "chains" in order to prune stale + stable_nodes. Smaller milllisecs values will free up the KSM + metadata with lower latency, but they will make ksmd use more + CPU during the scan. This only applies to the stable_node + chains so it's a noop if not a single KSM page hit the + max_page_sharing yet (there would be no stable_node chains in + such case). + +The effectiveness of KSM and MADV_MERGEABLE is shown in ``/sys/kernel/mm/ksm/``: + +pages_shared + how many shared pages are being used +pages_sharing + how many more sites are sharing them i.e. how much saved +pages_unshared + how many pages unique but repeatedly checked for merging +pages_volatile + how many pages changing too fast to be placed in a tree +full_scans + how many times all mergeable areas have been scanned +stable_node_chains + number of stable node chains allocated, this is effectively + the number of KSM pages that hit the max_page_sharing limit +stable_node_dups + number of stable node dups queued into the stable_node chains + +A high ratio of pages_sharing to pages_shared indicates good sharing, but +a high ratio of pages_unshared to pages_sharing indicates wasted effort. +pages_volatile embraces several different kinds of activity, but a high +proportion there would also indicate poor use of madvise MADV_MERGEABLE. + +The maximum possible page_sharing/page_shared ratio is limited by the +max_page_sharing tunable. To increase the ratio max_page_sharing must +be increased accordingly. + +The stable_node_dups/stable_node_chains ratio is also affected by the +max_page_sharing tunable, and an high ratio may indicate fragmentation +in the stable_node dups, which could be solved by introducing +fragmentation algorithms in ksmd which would refile rmap_items from +one stable_node dup to another stable_node dup, in order to freeup +stable_node "dups" with few rmap_items in them, but that may increase +the ksmd CPU usage and possibly slowdown the readonly computations on +the KSM pages of the applications. + +Izik Eidus, +Hugh Dickins, 17 Nov 2009 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/ksm.txt b/Documentation/vm/ksm.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 87e7eef5ea9c..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/ksm.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,183 +0,0 @@ -.. _ksm: - -======================= -Kernel Samepage Merging -======================= - -KSM is a memory-saving de-duplication feature, enabled by CONFIG_KSM=y, -added to the Linux kernel in 2.6.32. See ``mm/ksm.c`` for its implementation, -and http://lwn.net/Articles/306704/ and http://lwn.net/Articles/330589/ - -The KSM daemon ksmd periodically scans those areas of user memory which -have been registered with it, looking for pages of identical content which -can be replaced by a single write-protected page (which is automatically -copied if a process later wants to update its content). - -KSM was originally developed for use with KVM (where it was known as -Kernel Shared Memory), to fit more virtual machines into physical memory, -by sharing the data common between them. But it can be useful to any -application which generates many instances of the same data. - -KSM only merges anonymous (private) pages, never pagecache (file) pages. -KSM's merged pages were originally locked into kernel memory, but can now -be swapped out just like other user pages (but sharing is broken when they -are swapped back in: ksmd must rediscover their identity and merge again). - -KSM only operates on those areas of address space which an application -has advised to be likely candidates for merging, by using the madvise(2) -system call: int madvise(addr, length, MADV_MERGEABLE). - -The app may call int madvise(addr, length, MADV_UNMERGEABLE) to cancel -that advice and restore unshared pages: whereupon KSM unmerges whatever -it merged in that range. Note: this unmerging call may suddenly require -more memory than is available - possibly failing with EAGAIN, but more -probably arousing the Out-Of-Memory killer. - -If KSM is not configured into the running kernel, madvise MADV_MERGEABLE -and MADV_UNMERGEABLE simply fail with EINVAL. If the running kernel was -built with CONFIG_KSM=y, those calls will normally succeed: even if the -the KSM daemon is not currently running, MADV_MERGEABLE still registers -the range for whenever the KSM daemon is started; even if the range -cannot contain any pages which KSM could actually merge; even if -MADV_UNMERGEABLE is applied to a range which was never MADV_MERGEABLE. - -If a region of memory must be split into at least one new MADV_MERGEABLE -or MADV_UNMERGEABLE region, the madvise may return ENOMEM if the process -will exceed vm.max_map_count (see Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt). - -Like other madvise calls, they are intended for use on mapped areas of -the user address space: they will report ENOMEM if the specified range -includes unmapped gaps (though working on the intervening mapped areas), -and might fail with EAGAIN if not enough memory for internal structures. - -Applications should be considerate in their use of MADV_MERGEABLE, -restricting its use to areas likely to benefit. KSM's scans may use a lot -of processing power: some installations will disable KSM for that reason. - -The KSM daemon is controlled by sysfs files in ``/sys/kernel/mm/ksm/``, -readable by all but writable only by root: - -pages_to_scan - how many present pages to scan before ksmd goes to sleep - e.g. ``echo 100 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/pages_to_scan`` Default: 100 - (chosen for demonstration purposes) - -sleep_millisecs - how many milliseconds ksmd should sleep before next scan - e.g. ``echo 20 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/sleep_millisecs`` Default: 20 - (chosen for demonstration purposes) - -merge_across_nodes - specifies if pages from different numa nodes can be merged. - When set to 0, ksm merges only pages which physically reside - in the memory area of same NUMA node. That brings lower - latency to access of shared pages. Systems with more nodes, at - significant NUMA distances, are likely to benefit from the - lower latency of setting 0. Smaller systems, which need to - minimize memory usage, are likely to benefit from the greater - sharing of setting 1 (default). You may wish to compare how - your system performs under each setting, before deciding on - which to use. merge_across_nodes setting can be changed only - when there are no ksm shared pages in system: set run 2 to - unmerge pages first, then to 1 after changing - merge_across_nodes, to remerge according to the new setting. - Default: 1 (merging across nodes as in earlier releases) - -run - set 0 to stop ksmd from running but keep merged pages, - set 1 to run ksmd e.g. ``echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run``, - set 2 to stop ksmd and unmerge all pages currently merged, but - leave mergeable areas registered for next run Default: 0 (must - be changed to 1 to activate KSM, except if CONFIG_SYSFS is - disabled) - -use_zero_pages - specifies whether empty pages (i.e. allocated pages that only - contain zeroes) should be treated specially. When set to 1, - empty pages are merged with the kernel zero page(s) instead of - with each other as it would happen normally. This can improve - the performance on architectures with coloured zero pages, - depending on the workload. Care should be taken when enabling - this setting, as it can potentially degrade the performance of - KSM for some workloads, for example if the checksums of pages - candidate for merging match the checksum of an empty - page. This setting can be changed at any time, it is only - effective for pages merged after the change. Default: 0 - (normal KSM behaviour as in earlier releases) - -max_page_sharing - Maximum sharing allowed for each KSM page. This enforces a - deduplication limit to avoid the virtual memory rmap lists to - grow too large. The minimum value is 2 as a newly created KSM - page will have at least two sharers. The rmap walk has O(N) - complexity where N is the number of rmap_items (i.e. virtual - mappings) that are sharing the page, which is in turn capped - by max_page_sharing. So this effectively spread the the linear - O(N) computational complexity from rmap walk context over - different KSM pages. The ksmd walk over the stable_node - "chains" is also O(N), but N is the number of stable_node - "dups", not the number of rmap_items, so it has not a - significant impact on ksmd performance. In practice the best - stable_node "dup" candidate will be kept and found at the head - of the "dups" list. The higher this value the faster KSM will - merge the memory (because there will be fewer stable_node dups - queued into the stable_node chain->hlist to check for pruning) - and the higher the deduplication factor will be, but the - slowest the worst case rmap walk could be for any given KSM - page. Slowing down the rmap_walk means there will be higher - latency for certain virtual memory operations happening during - swapping, compaction, NUMA balancing and page migration, in - turn decreasing responsiveness for the caller of those virtual - memory operations. The scheduler latency of other tasks not - involved with the VM operations doing the rmap walk is not - affected by this parameter as the rmap walks are always - schedule friendly themselves. - -stable_node_chains_prune_millisecs - How frequently to walk the whole list of stable_node "dups" - linked in the stable_node "chains" in order to prune stale - stable_nodes. Smaller milllisecs values will free up the KSM - metadata with lower latency, but they will make ksmd use more - CPU during the scan. This only applies to the stable_node - chains so it's a noop if not a single KSM page hit the - max_page_sharing yet (there would be no stable_node chains in - such case). - -The effectiveness of KSM and MADV_MERGEABLE is shown in ``/sys/kernel/mm/ksm/``: - -pages_shared - how many shared pages are being used -pages_sharing - how many more sites are sharing them i.e. how much saved -pages_unshared - how many pages unique but repeatedly checked for merging -pages_volatile - how many pages changing too fast to be placed in a tree -full_scans - how many times all mergeable areas have been scanned -stable_node_chains - number of stable node chains allocated, this is effectively - the number of KSM pages that hit the max_page_sharing limit -stable_node_dups - number of stable node dups queued into the stable_node chains - -A high ratio of pages_sharing to pages_shared indicates good sharing, but -a high ratio of pages_unshared to pages_sharing indicates wasted effort. -pages_volatile embraces several different kinds of activity, but a high -proportion there would also indicate poor use of madvise MADV_MERGEABLE. - -The maximum possible page_sharing/page_shared ratio is limited by the -max_page_sharing tunable. To increase the ratio max_page_sharing must -be increased accordingly. - -The stable_node_dups/stable_node_chains ratio is also affected by the -max_page_sharing tunable, and an high ratio may indicate fragmentation -in the stable_node dups, which could be solved by introducing -fragmentation algorithms in ksmd which would refile rmap_items from -one stable_node dup to another stable_node dup, in order to freeup -stable_node "dups" with few rmap_items in them, but that may increase -the ksmd CPU usage and possibly slowdown the readonly computations on -the KSM pages of the applications. - -Izik Eidus, -Hugh Dickins, 17 Nov 2009 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst b/Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..47baa1cf28c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst @@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ +.. _mmu_notifier: + +When do you need to notify inside page table lock ? +=================================================== + +When clearing a pte/pmd we are given a choice to notify the event through +(notify version of \*_clear_flush call mmu_notifier_invalidate_range) under +the page table lock. But that notification is not necessary in all cases. + +For secondary TLB (non CPU TLB) like IOMMU TLB or device TLB (when device use +thing like ATS/PASID to get the IOMMU to walk the CPU page table to access a +process virtual address space). There is only 2 cases when you need to notify +those secondary TLB while holding page table lock when clearing a pte/pmd: + + A) page backing address is free before mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end() + B) a page table entry is updated to point to a new page (COW, write fault + on zero page, __replace_page(), ...) + +Case A is obvious you do not want to take the risk for the device to write to +a page that might now be used by some completely different task. + +Case B is more subtle. For correctness it requires the following sequence to +happen: + + - take page table lock + - clear page table entry and notify ([pmd/pte]p_huge_clear_flush_notify()) + - set page table entry to point to new page + +If clearing the page table entry is not followed by a notify before setting +the new pte/pmd value then you can break memory model like C11 or C++11 for +the device. + +Consider the following scenario (device use a feature similar to ATS/PASID): + +Two address addrA and addrB such that \|addrA - addrB\| >= PAGE_SIZE we assume +they are write protected for COW (other case of B apply too). + +:: + + [Time N] -------------------------------------------------------------------- + CPU-thread-0 {try to write to addrA} + CPU-thread-1 {try to write to addrB} + CPU-thread-2 {} + CPU-thread-3 {} + DEV-thread-0 {read addrA and populate device TLB} + DEV-thread-2 {read addrB and populate device TLB} + [Time N+1] ------------------------------------------------------------------ + CPU-thread-0 {COW_step0: {mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start(addrA)}} + CPU-thread-1 {COW_step0: {mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start(addrB)}} + CPU-thread-2 {} + CPU-thread-3 {} + DEV-thread-0 {} + DEV-thread-2 {} + [Time N+2] ------------------------------------------------------------------ + CPU-thread-0 {COW_step1: {update page table to point to new page for addrA}} + CPU-thread-1 {COW_step1: {update page table to point to new page for addrB}} + CPU-thread-2 {} + CPU-thread-3 {} + DEV-thread-0 {} + DEV-thread-2 {} + [Time N+3] ------------------------------------------------------------------ + CPU-thread-0 {preempted} + CPU-thread-1 {preempted} + CPU-thread-2 {write to addrA which is a write to new page} + CPU-thread-3 {} + DEV-thread-0 {} + DEV-thread-2 {} + [Time N+3] ------------------------------------------------------------------ + CPU-thread-0 {preempted} + CPU-thread-1 {preempted} + CPU-thread-2 {} + CPU-thread-3 {write to addrB which is a write to new page} + DEV-thread-0 {} + DEV-thread-2 {} + [Time N+4] ------------------------------------------------------------------ + CPU-thread-0 {preempted} + CPU-thread-1 {COW_step3: {mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end(addrB)}} + CPU-thread-2 {} + CPU-thread-3 {} + DEV-thread-0 {} + DEV-thread-2 {} + [Time N+5] ------------------------------------------------------------------ + CPU-thread-0 {preempted} + CPU-thread-1 {} + CPU-thread-2 {} + CPU-thread-3 {} + DEV-thread-0 {read addrA from old page} + DEV-thread-2 {read addrB from new page} + +So here because at time N+2 the clear page table entry was not pair with a +notification to invalidate the secondary TLB, the device see the new value for +addrB before seing the new value for addrA. This break total memory ordering +for the device. + +When changing a pte to write protect or to point to a new write protected page +with same content (KSM) it is fine to delay the mmu_notifier_invalidate_range +call to mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end() outside the page table lock. This +is true even if the thread doing the page table update is preempted right after +releasing page table lock but before call mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end(). diff --git a/Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt b/Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 47baa1cf28c5..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,99 +0,0 @@ -.. _mmu_notifier: - -When do you need to notify inside page table lock ? -=================================================== - -When clearing a pte/pmd we are given a choice to notify the event through -(notify version of \*_clear_flush call mmu_notifier_invalidate_range) under -the page table lock. But that notification is not necessary in all cases. - -For secondary TLB (non CPU TLB) like IOMMU TLB or device TLB (when device use -thing like ATS/PASID to get the IOMMU to walk the CPU page table to access a -process virtual address space). There is only 2 cases when you need to notify -those secondary TLB while holding page table lock when clearing a pte/pmd: - - A) page backing address is free before mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end() - B) a page table entry is updated to point to a new page (COW, write fault - on zero page, __replace_page(), ...) - -Case A is obvious you do not want to take the risk for the device to write to -a page that might now be used by some completely different task. - -Case B is more subtle. For correctness it requires the following sequence to -happen: - - - take page table lock - - clear page table entry and notify ([pmd/pte]p_huge_clear_flush_notify()) - - set page table entry to point to new page - -If clearing the page table entry is not followed by a notify before setting -the new pte/pmd value then you can break memory model like C11 or C++11 for -the device. - -Consider the following scenario (device use a feature similar to ATS/PASID): - -Two address addrA and addrB such that \|addrA - addrB\| >= PAGE_SIZE we assume -they are write protected for COW (other case of B apply too). - -:: - - [Time N] -------------------------------------------------------------------- - CPU-thread-0 {try to write to addrA} - CPU-thread-1 {try to write to addrB} - CPU-thread-2 {} - CPU-thread-3 {} - DEV-thread-0 {read addrA and populate device TLB} - DEV-thread-2 {read addrB and populate device TLB} - [Time N+1] ------------------------------------------------------------------ - CPU-thread-0 {COW_step0: {mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start(addrA)}} - CPU-thread-1 {COW_step0: {mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_start(addrB)}} - CPU-thread-2 {} - CPU-thread-3 {} - DEV-thread-0 {} - DEV-thread-2 {} - [Time N+2] ------------------------------------------------------------------ - CPU-thread-0 {COW_step1: {update page table to point to new page for addrA}} - CPU-thread-1 {COW_step1: {update page table to point to new page for addrB}} - CPU-thread-2 {} - CPU-thread-3 {} - DEV-thread-0 {} - DEV-thread-2 {} - [Time N+3] ------------------------------------------------------------------ - CPU-thread-0 {preempted} - CPU-thread-1 {preempted} - CPU-thread-2 {write to addrA which is a write to new page} - CPU-thread-3 {} - DEV-thread-0 {} - DEV-thread-2 {} - [Time N+3] ------------------------------------------------------------------ - CPU-thread-0 {preempted} - CPU-thread-1 {preempted} - CPU-thread-2 {} - CPU-thread-3 {write to addrB which is a write to new page} - DEV-thread-0 {} - DEV-thread-2 {} - [Time N+4] ------------------------------------------------------------------ - CPU-thread-0 {preempted} - CPU-thread-1 {COW_step3: {mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end(addrB)}} - CPU-thread-2 {} - CPU-thread-3 {} - DEV-thread-0 {} - DEV-thread-2 {} - [Time N+5] ------------------------------------------------------------------ - CPU-thread-0 {preempted} - CPU-thread-1 {} - CPU-thread-2 {} - CPU-thread-3 {} - DEV-thread-0 {read addrA from old page} - DEV-thread-2 {read addrB from new page} - -So here because at time N+2 the clear page table entry was not pair with a -notification to invalidate the secondary TLB, the device see the new value for -addrB before seing the new value for addrA. This break total memory ordering -for the device. - -When changing a pte to write protect or to point to a new write protected page -with same content (KSM) it is fine to delay the mmu_notifier_invalidate_range -call to mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end() outside the page table lock. This -is true even if the thread doing the page table update is preempted right after -releasing page table lock but before call mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end(). diff --git a/Documentation/vm/numa b/Documentation/vm/numa deleted file mode 100644 index c81e7c56f0f9..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/numa +++ /dev/null @@ -1,150 +0,0 @@ -.. _numa: - -Started Nov 1999 by Kanoj Sarcar - -============= -What is NUMA? -============= - -This question can be answered from a couple of perspectives: the -hardware view and the Linux software view. - -From the hardware perspective, a NUMA system is a computer platform that -comprises multiple components or assemblies each of which may contain 0 -or more CPUs, local memory, and/or IO buses. For brevity and to -disambiguate the hardware view of these physical components/assemblies -from the software abstraction thereof, we'll call the components/assemblies -'cells' in this document. - -Each of the 'cells' may be viewed as an SMP [symmetric multi-processor] subset -of the system--although some components necessary for a stand-alone SMP system -may not be populated on any given cell. The cells of the NUMA system are -connected together with some sort of system interconnect--e.g., a crossbar or -point-to-point link are common types of NUMA system interconnects. Both of -these types of interconnects can be aggregated to create NUMA platforms with -cells at multiple distances from other cells. - -For Linux, the NUMA platforms of interest are primarily what is known as Cache -Coherent NUMA or ccNUMA systems. With ccNUMA systems, all memory is visible -to and accessible from any CPU attached to any cell and cache coherency -is handled in hardware by the processor caches and/or the system interconnect. - -Memory access time and effective memory bandwidth varies depending on how far -away the cell containing the CPU or IO bus making the memory access is from the -cell containing the target memory. For example, access to memory by CPUs -attached to the same cell will experience faster access times and higher -bandwidths than accesses to memory on other, remote cells. NUMA platforms -can have cells at multiple remote distances from any given cell. - -Platform vendors don't build NUMA systems just to make software developers' -lives interesting. Rather, this architecture is a means to provide scalable -memory bandwidth. However, to achieve scalable memory bandwidth, system and -application software must arrange for a large majority of the memory references -[cache misses] to be to "local" memory--memory on the same cell, if any--or -to the closest cell with memory. - -This leads to the Linux software view of a NUMA system: - -Linux divides the system's hardware resources into multiple software -abstractions called "nodes". Linux maps the nodes onto the physical cells -of the hardware platform, abstracting away some of the details for some -architectures. As with physical cells, software nodes may contain 0 or more -CPUs, memory and/or IO buses. And, again, memory accesses to memory on -"closer" nodes--nodes that map to closer cells--will generally experience -faster access times and higher effective bandwidth than accesses to more -remote cells. - -For some architectures, such as x86, Linux will "hide" any node representing a -physical cell that has no memory attached, and reassign any CPUs attached to -that cell to a node representing a cell that does have memory. Thus, on -these architectures, one cannot assume that all CPUs that Linux associates with -a given node will see the same local memory access times and bandwidth. - -In addition, for some architectures, again x86 is an example, Linux supports -the emulation of additional nodes. For NUMA emulation, linux will carve up -the existing nodes--or the system memory for non-NUMA platforms--into multiple -nodes. Each emulated node will manage a fraction of the underlying cells' -physical memory. NUMA emluation is useful for testing NUMA kernel and -application features on non-NUMA platforms, and as a sort of memory resource -management mechanism when used together with cpusets. -[see Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt] - -For each node with memory, Linux constructs an independent memory management -subsystem, complete with its own free page lists, in-use page lists, usage -statistics and locks to mediate access. In addition, Linux constructs for -each memory zone [one or more of DMA, DMA32, NORMAL, HIGH_MEMORY, MOVABLE], -an ordered "zonelist". A zonelist specifies the zones/nodes to visit when a -selected zone/node cannot satisfy the allocation request. This situation, -when a zone has no available memory to satisfy a request, is called -"overflow" or "fallback". - -Because some nodes contain multiple zones containing different types of -memory, Linux must decide whether to order the zonelists such that allocations -fall back to the same zone type on a different node, or to a different zone -type on the same node. This is an important consideration because some zones, -such as DMA or DMA32, represent relatively scarce resources. Linux chooses -a default Node ordered zonelist. This means it tries to fallback to other zones -from the same node before using remote nodes which are ordered by NUMA distance. - -By default, Linux will attempt to satisfy memory allocation requests from the -node to which the CPU that executes the request is assigned. Specifically, -Linux will attempt to allocate from the first node in the appropriate zonelist -for the node where the request originates. This is called "local allocation." -If the "local" node cannot satisfy the request, the kernel will examine other -nodes' zones in the selected zonelist looking for the first zone in the list -that can satisfy the request. - -Local allocation will tend to keep subsequent access to the allocated memory -"local" to the underlying physical resources and off the system interconnect-- -as long as the task on whose behalf the kernel allocated some memory does not -later migrate away from that memory. The Linux scheduler is aware of the -NUMA topology of the platform--embodied in the "scheduling domains" data -structures [see Documentation/scheduler/sched-domains.txt]--and the scheduler -attempts to minimize task migration to distant scheduling domains. However, -the scheduler does not take a task's NUMA footprint into account directly. -Thus, under sufficient imbalance, tasks can migrate between nodes, remote -from their initial node and kernel data structures. - -System administrators and application designers can restrict a task's migration -to improve NUMA locality using various CPU affinity command line interfaces, -such as taskset(1) and numactl(1), and program interfaces such as -sched_setaffinity(2). Further, one can modify the kernel's default local -allocation behavior using Linux NUMA memory policy. -[see Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt.] - -System administrators can restrict the CPUs and nodes' memories that a non- -privileged user can specify in the scheduling or NUMA commands and functions -using control groups and CPUsets. [see Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt] - -On architectures that do not hide memoryless nodes, Linux will include only -zones [nodes] with memory in the zonelists. This means that for a memoryless -node the "local memory node"--the node of the first zone in CPU's node's -zonelist--will not be the node itself. Rather, it will be the node that the -kernel selected as the nearest node with memory when it built the zonelists. -So, default, local allocations will succeed with the kernel supplying the -closest available memory. This is a consequence of the same mechanism that -allows such allocations to fallback to other nearby nodes when a node that -does contain memory overflows. - -Some kernel allocations do not want or cannot tolerate this allocation fallback -behavior. Rather they want to be sure they get memory from the specified node -or get notified that the node has no free memory. This is usually the case when -a subsystem allocates per CPU memory resources, for example. - -A typical model for making such an allocation is to obtain the node id of the -node to which the "current CPU" is attached using one of the kernel's -numa_node_id() or CPU_to_node() functions and then request memory from only -the node id returned. When such an allocation fails, the requesting subsystem -may revert to its own fallback path. The slab kernel memory allocator is an -example of this. Or, the subsystem may choose to disable or not to enable -itself on allocation failure. The kernel profiling subsystem is an example of -this. - -If the architecture supports--does not hide--memoryless nodes, then CPUs -attached to memoryless nodes would always incur the fallback path overhead -or some subsystems would fail to initialize if they attempted to allocated -memory exclusively from a node without memory. To support such -architectures transparently, kernel subsystems can use the numa_mem_id() -or cpu_to_mem() function to locate the "local memory node" for the calling or -specified CPU. Again, this is the same node from which default, local page -allocations will be attempted. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/numa.rst b/Documentation/vm/numa.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..aada84bc8c46 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/numa.rst @@ -0,0 +1,150 @@ +.. _numa: + +Started Nov 1999 by Kanoj Sarcar + +============= +What is NUMA? +============= + +This question can be answered from a couple of perspectives: the +hardware view and the Linux software view. + +From the hardware perspective, a NUMA system is a computer platform that +comprises multiple components or assemblies each of which may contain 0 +or more CPUs, local memory, and/or IO buses. For brevity and to +disambiguate the hardware view of these physical components/assemblies +from the software abstraction thereof, we'll call the components/assemblies +'cells' in this document. + +Each of the 'cells' may be viewed as an SMP [symmetric multi-processor] subset +of the system--although some components necessary for a stand-alone SMP system +may not be populated on any given cell. The cells of the NUMA system are +connected together with some sort of system interconnect--e.g., a crossbar or +point-to-point link are common types of NUMA system interconnects. Both of +these types of interconnects can be aggregated to create NUMA platforms with +cells at multiple distances from other cells. + +For Linux, the NUMA platforms of interest are primarily what is known as Cache +Coherent NUMA or ccNUMA systems. With ccNUMA systems, all memory is visible +to and accessible from any CPU attached to any cell and cache coherency +is handled in hardware by the processor caches and/or the system interconnect. + +Memory access time and effective memory bandwidth varies depending on how far +away the cell containing the CPU or IO bus making the memory access is from the +cell containing the target memory. For example, access to memory by CPUs +attached to the same cell will experience faster access times and higher +bandwidths than accesses to memory on other, remote cells. NUMA platforms +can have cells at multiple remote distances from any given cell. + +Platform vendors don't build NUMA systems just to make software developers' +lives interesting. Rather, this architecture is a means to provide scalable +memory bandwidth. However, to achieve scalable memory bandwidth, system and +application software must arrange for a large majority of the memory references +[cache misses] to be to "local" memory--memory on the same cell, if any--or +to the closest cell with memory. + +This leads to the Linux software view of a NUMA system: + +Linux divides the system's hardware resources into multiple software +abstractions called "nodes". Linux maps the nodes onto the physical cells +of the hardware platform, abstracting away some of the details for some +architectures. As with physical cells, software nodes may contain 0 or more +CPUs, memory and/or IO buses. And, again, memory accesses to memory on +"closer" nodes--nodes that map to closer cells--will generally experience +faster access times and higher effective bandwidth than accesses to more +remote cells. + +For some architectures, such as x86, Linux will "hide" any node representing a +physical cell that has no memory attached, and reassign any CPUs attached to +that cell to a node representing a cell that does have memory. Thus, on +these architectures, one cannot assume that all CPUs that Linux associates with +a given node will see the same local memory access times and bandwidth. + +In addition, for some architectures, again x86 is an example, Linux supports +the emulation of additional nodes. For NUMA emulation, linux will carve up +the existing nodes--or the system memory for non-NUMA platforms--into multiple +nodes. Each emulated node will manage a fraction of the underlying cells' +physical memory. NUMA emluation is useful for testing NUMA kernel and +application features on non-NUMA platforms, and as a sort of memory resource +management mechanism when used together with cpusets. +[see Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt] + +For each node with memory, Linux constructs an independent memory management +subsystem, complete with its own free page lists, in-use page lists, usage +statistics and locks to mediate access. In addition, Linux constructs for +each memory zone [one or more of DMA, DMA32, NORMAL, HIGH_MEMORY, MOVABLE], +an ordered "zonelist". A zonelist specifies the zones/nodes to visit when a +selected zone/node cannot satisfy the allocation request. This situation, +when a zone has no available memory to satisfy a request, is called +"overflow" or "fallback". + +Because some nodes contain multiple zones containing different types of +memory, Linux must decide whether to order the zonelists such that allocations +fall back to the same zone type on a different node, or to a different zone +type on the same node. This is an important consideration because some zones, +such as DMA or DMA32, represent relatively scarce resources. Linux chooses +a default Node ordered zonelist. This means it tries to fallback to other zones +from the same node before using remote nodes which are ordered by NUMA distance. + +By default, Linux will attempt to satisfy memory allocation requests from the +node to which the CPU that executes the request is assigned. Specifically, +Linux will attempt to allocate from the first node in the appropriate zonelist +for the node where the request originates. This is called "local allocation." +If the "local" node cannot satisfy the request, the kernel will examine other +nodes' zones in the selected zonelist looking for the first zone in the list +that can satisfy the request. + +Local allocation will tend to keep subsequent access to the allocated memory +"local" to the underlying physical resources and off the system interconnect-- +as long as the task on whose behalf the kernel allocated some memory does not +later migrate away from that memory. The Linux scheduler is aware of the +NUMA topology of the platform--embodied in the "scheduling domains" data +structures [see Documentation/scheduler/sched-domains.txt]--and the scheduler +attempts to minimize task migration to distant scheduling domains. However, +the scheduler does not take a task's NUMA footprint into account directly. +Thus, under sufficient imbalance, tasks can migrate between nodes, remote +from their initial node and kernel data structures. + +System administrators and application designers can restrict a task's migration +to improve NUMA locality using various CPU affinity command line interfaces, +such as taskset(1) and numactl(1), and program interfaces such as +sched_setaffinity(2). Further, one can modify the kernel's default local +allocation behavior using Linux NUMA memory policy. +[see Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst.] + +System administrators can restrict the CPUs and nodes' memories that a non- +privileged user can specify in the scheduling or NUMA commands and functions +using control groups and CPUsets. [see Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt] + +On architectures that do not hide memoryless nodes, Linux will include only +zones [nodes] with memory in the zonelists. This means that for a memoryless +node the "local memory node"--the node of the first zone in CPU's node's +zonelist--will not be the node itself. Rather, it will be the node that the +kernel selected as the nearest node with memory when it built the zonelists. +So, default, local allocations will succeed with the kernel supplying the +closest available memory. This is a consequence of the same mechanism that +allows such allocations to fallback to other nearby nodes when a node that +does contain memory overflows. + +Some kernel allocations do not want or cannot tolerate this allocation fallback +behavior. Rather they want to be sure they get memory from the specified node +or get notified that the node has no free memory. This is usually the case when +a subsystem allocates per CPU memory resources, for example. + +A typical model for making such an allocation is to obtain the node id of the +node to which the "current CPU" is attached using one of the kernel's +numa_node_id() or CPU_to_node() functions and then request memory from only +the node id returned. When such an allocation fails, the requesting subsystem +may revert to its own fallback path. The slab kernel memory allocator is an +example of this. Or, the subsystem may choose to disable or not to enable +itself on allocation failure. The kernel profiling subsystem is an example of +this. + +If the architecture supports--does not hide--memoryless nodes, then CPUs +attached to memoryless nodes would always incur the fallback path overhead +or some subsystems would fail to initialize if they attempted to allocated +memory exclusively from a node without memory. To support such +architectures transparently, kernel subsystems can use the numa_mem_id() +or cpu_to_mem() function to locate the "local memory node" for the calling or +specified CPU. Again, this is the same node from which default, local page +allocations will be attempted. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst b/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..8cd942ca114e --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.rst @@ -0,0 +1,485 @@ +.. _numa_memory_policy: + +=================== +Linux Memory Policy +=================== + +What is Linux Memory Policy? +============================ + +In the Linux kernel, "memory policy" determines from which node the kernel will +allocate memory in a NUMA system or in an emulated NUMA system. Linux has +supported platforms with Non-Uniform Memory Access architectures since 2.4.?. +The current memory policy support was added to Linux 2.6 around May 2004. This +document attempts to describe the concepts and APIs of the 2.6 memory policy +support. + +Memory policies should not be confused with cpusets +(``Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt``) +which is an administrative mechanism for restricting the nodes from which +memory may be allocated by a set of processes. Memory policies are a +programming interface that a NUMA-aware application can take advantage of. When +both cpusets and policies are applied to a task, the restrictions of the cpuset +takes priority. See :ref:`Memory Policies and cpusets ` +below for more details. + +Memory Policy Concepts +====================== + +Scope of Memory Policies +------------------------ + +The Linux kernel supports _scopes_ of memory policy, described here from +most general to most specific: + +System Default Policy + this policy is "hard coded" into the kernel. It is the policy + that governs all page allocations that aren't controlled by + one of the more specific policy scopes discussed below. When + the system is "up and running", the system default policy will + use "local allocation" described below. However, during boot + up, the system default policy will be set to interleave + allocations across all nodes with "sufficient" memory, so as + not to overload the initial boot node with boot-time + allocations. + +Task/Process Policy + this is an optional, per-task policy. When defined for a specific task, this policy controls all page allocations made by or on behalf of the task that aren't controlled by a more specific scope. If a task does not define a task policy, then all page allocations that would have been controlled by the task policy "fall back" to the System Default Policy. + + The task policy applies to the entire address space of a task. Thus, + it is inheritable, and indeed is inherited, across both fork() + [clone() w/o the CLONE_VM flag] and exec*(). This allows a parent task + to establish the task policy for a child task exec()'d from an + executable image that has no awareness of memory policy. See the + MEMORY POLICY APIS section, below, for an overview of the system call + that a task may use to set/change its task/process policy. + + In a multi-threaded task, task policies apply only to the thread + [Linux kernel task] that installs the policy and any threads + subsequently created by that thread. Any sibling threads existing + at the time a new task policy is installed retain their current + policy. + + A task policy applies only to pages allocated after the policy is + installed. Any pages already faulted in by the task when the task + changes its task policy remain where they were allocated based on + the policy at the time they were allocated. + +.. _vma_policy: + +VMA Policy + A "VMA" or "Virtual Memory Area" refers to a range of a task's + virtual address space. A task may define a specific policy for a range + of its virtual address space. See the MEMORY POLICIES APIS section, + below, for an overview of the mbind() system call used to set a VMA + policy. + + A VMA policy will govern the allocation of pages that back + this region ofthe address space. Any regions of the task's + address space that don't have an explicit VMA policy will fall + back to the task policy, which may itself fall back to the + System Default Policy. + + VMA policies have a few complicating details: + + * VMA policy applies ONLY to anonymous pages. These include + pages allocated for anonymous segments, such as the task + stack and heap, and any regions of the address space + mmap()ed with the MAP_ANONYMOUS flag. If a VMA policy is + applied to a file mapping, it will be ignored if the mapping + used the MAP_SHARED flag. If the file mapping used the + MAP_PRIVATE flag, the VMA policy will only be applied when + an anonymous page is allocated on an attempt to write to the + mapping-- i.e., at Copy-On-Write. + + * VMA policies are shared between all tasks that share a + virtual address space--a.k.a. threads--independent of when + the policy is installed; and they are inherited across + fork(). However, because VMA policies refer to a specific + region of a task's address space, and because the address + space is discarded and recreated on exec*(), VMA policies + are NOT inheritable across exec(). Thus, only NUMA-aware + applications may use VMA policies. + + * A task may install a new VMA policy on a sub-range of a + previously mmap()ed region. When this happens, Linux splits + the existing virtual memory area into 2 or 3 VMAs, each with + it's own policy. + + * By default, VMA policy applies only to pages allocated after + the policy is installed. Any pages already faulted into the + VMA range remain where they were allocated based on the + policy at the time they were allocated. However, since + 2.6.16, Linux supports page migration via the mbind() system + call, so that page contents can be moved to match a newly + installed policy. + +Shared Policy + Conceptually, shared policies apply to "memory objects" mapped + shared into one or more tasks' distinct address spaces. An + application installs a shared policies the same way as VMA + policies--using the mbind() system call specifying a range of + virtual addresses that map the shared object. However, unlike + VMA policies, which can be considered to be an attribute of a + range of a task's address space, shared policies apply + directly to the shared object. Thus, all tasks that attach to + the object share the policy, and all pages allocated for the + shared object, by any task, will obey the shared policy. + + As of 2.6.22, only shared memory segments, created by shmget() or + mmap(MAP_ANONYMOUS|MAP_SHARED), support shared policy. When shared + policy support was added to Linux, the associated data structures were + added to hugetlbfs shmem segments. At the time, hugetlbfs did not + support allocation at fault time--a.k.a lazy allocation--so hugetlbfs + shmem segments were never "hooked up" to the shared policy support. + Although hugetlbfs segments now support lazy allocation, their support + for shared policy has not been completed. + + As mentioned above :ref:`VMA policies `, + allocations of page cache pages for regular files mmap()ed + with MAP_SHARED ignore any VMA policy installed on the virtual + address range backed by the shared file mapping. Rather, + shared page cache pages, including pages backing private + mappings that have not yet been written by the task, follow + task policy, if any, else System Default Policy. + + The shared policy infrastructure supports different policies on subset + ranges of the shared object. However, Linux still splits the VMA of + the task that installs the policy for each range of distinct policy. + Thus, different tasks that attach to a shared memory segment can have + different VMA configurations mapping that one shared object. This + can be seen by examining the /proc//numa_maps of tasks sharing + a shared memory region, when one task has installed shared policy on + one or more ranges of the region. + +Components of Memory Policies +----------------------------- + +A Linux memory policy consists of a "mode", optional mode flags, and +an optional set of nodes. The mode determines the behavior of the +policy, the optional mode flags determine the behavior of the mode, +and the optional set of nodes can be viewed as the arguments to the +policy behavior. + +Internally, memory policies are implemented by a reference counted +structure, struct mempolicy. Details of this structure will be +discussed in context, below, as required to explain the behavior. + +Linux memory policy supports the following 4 behavioral modes: + +Default Mode--MPOL_DEFAULT + This mode is only used in the memory policy APIs. Internally, + MPOL_DEFAULT is converted to the NULL memory policy in all + policy scopes. Any existing non-default policy will simply be + removed when MPOL_DEFAULT is specified. As a result, + MPOL_DEFAULT means "fall back to the next most specific policy + scope." + + For example, a NULL or default task policy will fall back to the + system default policy. A NULL or default vma policy will fall + back to the task policy. + + When specified in one of the memory policy APIs, the Default mode + does not use the optional set of nodes. + + It is an error for the set of nodes specified for this policy to + be non-empty. + +MPOL_BIND + This mode specifies that memory must come from the set of + nodes specified by the policy. Memory will be allocated from + the node in the set with sufficient free memory that is + closest to the node where the allocation takes place. + +MPOL_PREFERRED + This mode specifies that the allocation should be attempted + from the single node specified in the policy. If that + allocation fails, the kernel will search other nodes, in order + of increasing distance from the preferred node based on + information provided by the platform firmware. + + Internally, the Preferred policy uses a single node--the + preferred_node member of struct mempolicy. When the internal + mode flag MPOL_F_LOCAL is set, the preferred_node is ignored + and the policy is interpreted as local allocation. "Local" + allocation policy can be viewed as a Preferred policy that + starts at the node containing the cpu where the allocation + takes place. + + It is possible for the user to specify that local allocation + is always preferred by passing an empty nodemask with this + mode. If an empty nodemask is passed, the policy cannot use + the MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES or MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES flags + described below. + +MPOL_INTERLEAVED + This mode specifies that page allocations be interleaved, on a + page granularity, across the nodes specified in the policy. + This mode also behaves slightly differently, based on the + context where it is used: + + For allocation of anonymous pages and shared memory pages, + Interleave mode indexes the set of nodes specified by the + policy using the page offset of the faulting address into the + segment [VMA] containing the address modulo the number of + nodes specified by the policy. It then attempts to allocate a + page, starting at the selected node, as if the node had been + specified by a Preferred policy or had been selected by a + local allocation. That is, allocation will follow the per + node zonelist. + + For allocation of page cache pages, Interleave mode indexes + the set of nodes specified by the policy using a node counter + maintained per task. This counter wraps around to the lowest + specified node after it reaches the highest specified node. + This will tend to spread the pages out over the nodes + specified by the policy based on the order in which they are + allocated, rather than based on any page offset into an + address range or file. During system boot up, the temporary + interleaved system default policy works in this mode. + +Linux memory policy supports the following optional mode flags: + +MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES + This flag specifies that the nodemask passed by + the user should not be remapped if the task or VMA's set of allowed + nodes changes after the memory policy has been defined. + + Without this flag, anytime a mempolicy is rebound because of a + change in the set of allowed nodes, the node (Preferred) or + nodemask (Bind, Interleave) is remapped to the new set of + allowed nodes. This may result in nodes being used that were + previously undesired. + + With this flag, if the user-specified nodes overlap with the + nodes allowed by the task's cpuset, then the memory policy is + applied to their intersection. If the two sets of nodes do not + overlap, the Default policy is used. + + For example, consider a task that is attached to a cpuset with + mems 1-3 that sets an Interleave policy over the same set. If + the cpuset's mems change to 3-5, the Interleave will now occur + over nodes 3, 4, and 5. With this flag, however, since only node + 3 is allowed from the user's nodemask, the "interleave" only + occurs over that node. If no nodes from the user's nodemask are + now allowed, the Default behavior is used. + + MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES cannot be combined with the + MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES flag. It also cannot be used for + MPOL_PREFERRED policies that were created with an empty nodemask + (local allocation). + +MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES + This flag specifies that the nodemask passed + by the user will be mapped relative to the set of the task or VMA's + set of allowed nodes. The kernel stores the user-passed nodemask, + and if the allowed nodes changes, then that original nodemask will + be remapped relative to the new set of allowed nodes. + + Without this flag (and without MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES), anytime a + mempolicy is rebound because of a change in the set of allowed + nodes, the node (Preferred) or nodemask (Bind, Interleave) is + remapped to the new set of allowed nodes. That remap may not + preserve the relative nature of the user's passed nodemask to its + set of allowed nodes upon successive rebinds: a nodemask of + 1,3,5 may be remapped to 7-9 and then to 1-3 if the set of + allowed nodes is restored to its original state. + + With this flag, the remap is done so that the node numbers from + the user's passed nodemask are relative to the set of allowed + nodes. In other words, if nodes 0, 2, and 4 are set in the user's + nodemask, the policy will be effected over the first (and in the + Bind or Interleave case, the third and fifth) nodes in the set of + allowed nodes. The nodemask passed by the user represents nodes + relative to task or VMA's set of allowed nodes. + + If the user's nodemask includes nodes that are outside the range + of the new set of allowed nodes (for example, node 5 is set in + the user's nodemask when the set of allowed nodes is only 0-3), + then the remap wraps around to the beginning of the nodemask and, + if not already set, sets the node in the mempolicy nodemask. + + For example, consider a task that is attached to a cpuset with + mems 2-5 that sets an Interleave policy over the same set with + MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES. If the cpuset's mems change to 3-7, the + interleave now occurs over nodes 3,5-7. If the cpuset's mems + then change to 0,2-3,5, then the interleave occurs over nodes + 0,2-3,5. + + Thanks to the consistent remapping, applications preparing + nodemasks to specify memory policies using this flag should + disregard their current, actual cpuset imposed memory placement + and prepare the nodemask as if they were always located on + memory nodes 0 to N-1, where N is the number of memory nodes the + policy is intended to manage. Let the kernel then remap to the + set of memory nodes allowed by the task's cpuset, as that may + change over time. + + MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES cannot be combined with the + MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES flag. It also cannot be used for + MPOL_PREFERRED policies that were created with an empty nodemask + (local allocation). + +Memory Policy Reference Counting +================================ + +To resolve use/free races, struct mempolicy contains an atomic reference +count field. Internal interfaces, mpol_get()/mpol_put() increment and +decrement this reference count, respectively. mpol_put() will only free +the structure back to the mempolicy kmem cache when the reference count +goes to zero. + +When a new memory policy is allocated, its reference count is initialized +to '1', representing the reference held by the task that is installing the +new policy. When a pointer to a memory policy structure is stored in another +structure, another reference is added, as the task's reference will be dropped +on completion of the policy installation. + +During run-time "usage" of the policy, we attempt to minimize atomic operations +on the reference count, as this can lead to cache lines bouncing between cpus +and NUMA nodes. "Usage" here means one of the following: + +1) querying of the policy, either by the task itself [using the get_mempolicy() + API discussed below] or by another task using the /proc//numa_maps + interface. + +2) examination of the policy to determine the policy mode and associated node + or node lists, if any, for page allocation. This is considered a "hot + path". Note that for MPOL_BIND, the "usage" extends across the entire + allocation process, which may sleep during page reclaimation, because the + BIND policy nodemask is used, by reference, to filter ineligible nodes. + +We can avoid taking an extra reference during the usages listed above as +follows: + +1) we never need to get/free the system default policy as this is never + changed nor freed, once the system is up and running. + +2) for querying the policy, we do not need to take an extra reference on the + target task's task policy nor vma policies because we always acquire the + task's mm's mmap_sem for read during the query. The set_mempolicy() and + mbind() APIs [see below] always acquire the mmap_sem for write when + installing or replacing task or vma policies. Thus, there is no possibility + of a task or thread freeing a policy while another task or thread is + querying it. + +3) Page allocation usage of task or vma policy occurs in the fault path where + we hold them mmap_sem for read. Again, because replacing the task or vma + policy requires that the mmap_sem be held for write, the policy can't be + freed out from under us while we're using it for page allocation. + +4) Shared policies require special consideration. One task can replace a + shared memory policy while another task, with a distinct mmap_sem, is + querying or allocating a page based on the policy. To resolve this + potential race, the shared policy infrastructure adds an extra reference + to the shared policy during lookup while holding a spin lock on the shared + policy management structure. This requires that we drop this extra + reference when we're finished "using" the policy. We must drop the + extra reference on shared policies in the same query/allocation paths + used for non-shared policies. For this reason, shared policies are marked + as such, and the extra reference is dropped "conditionally"--i.e., only + for shared policies. + + Because of this extra reference counting, and because we must lookup + shared policies in a tree structure under spinlock, shared policies are + more expensive to use in the page allocation path. This is especially + true for shared policies on shared memory regions shared by tasks running + on different NUMA nodes. This extra overhead can be avoided by always + falling back to task or system default policy for shared memory regions, + or by prefaulting the entire shared memory region into memory and locking + it down. However, this might not be appropriate for all applications. + +Memory Policy APIs + +Linux supports 3 system calls for controlling memory policy. These APIS +always affect only the calling task, the calling task's address space, or +some shared object mapped into the calling task's address space. + +.. note:: + the headers that define these APIs and the parameter data types for + user space applications reside in a package that is not part of the + Linux kernel. The kernel system call interfaces, with the 'sys\_' + prefix, are defined in ; the mode and flag + definitions are defined in . + +Set [Task] Memory Policy:: + + long set_mempolicy(int mode, const unsigned long *nmask, + unsigned long maxnode); + +Set's the calling task's "task/process memory policy" to mode +specified by the 'mode' argument and the set of nodes defined by +'nmask'. 'nmask' points to a bit mask of node ids containing at least +'maxnode' ids. Optional mode flags may be passed by combining the +'mode' argument with the flag (for example: MPOL_INTERLEAVE | +MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES). + +See the set_mempolicy(2) man page for more details + + +Get [Task] Memory Policy or Related Information:: + + long get_mempolicy(int *mode, + const unsigned long *nmask, unsigned long maxnode, + void *addr, int flags); + +Queries the "task/process memory policy" of the calling task, or the +policy or location of a specified virtual address, depending on the +'flags' argument. + +See the get_mempolicy(2) man page for more details + + +Install VMA/Shared Policy for a Range of Task's Address Space:: + + long mbind(void *start, unsigned long len, int mode, + const unsigned long *nmask, unsigned long maxnode, + unsigned flags); + +mbind() installs the policy specified by (mode, nmask, maxnodes) as a +VMA policy for the range of the calling task's address space specified +by the 'start' and 'len' arguments. Additional actions may be +requested via the 'flags' argument. + +See the mbind(2) man page for more details. + +Memory Policy Command Line Interface +==================================== + +Although not strictly part of the Linux implementation of memory policy, +a command line tool, numactl(8), exists that allows one to: + ++ set the task policy for a specified program via set_mempolicy(2), fork(2) and + exec(2) + ++ set the shared policy for a shared memory segment via mbind(2) + +The numactl(8) tool is packaged with the run-time version of the library +containing the memory policy system call wrappers. Some distributions +package the headers and compile-time libraries in a separate development +package. + +.. _mem_pol_and_cpusets: + +Memory Policies and cpusets +=========================== + +Memory policies work within cpusets as described above. For memory policies +that require a node or set of nodes, the nodes are restricted to the set of +nodes whose memories are allowed by the cpuset constraints. If the nodemask +specified for the policy contains nodes that are not allowed by the cpuset and +MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES is not used, the intersection of the set of nodes +specified for the policy and the set of nodes with memory is used. If the +result is the empty set, the policy is considered invalid and cannot be +installed. If MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES is used, the policy's nodes are mapped +onto and folded into the task's set of allowed nodes as previously described. + +The interaction of memory policies and cpusets can be problematic when tasks +in two cpusets share access to a memory region, such as shared memory segments +created by shmget() of mmap() with the MAP_ANONYMOUS and MAP_SHARED flags, and +any of the tasks install shared policy on the region, only nodes whose +memories are allowed in both cpusets may be used in the policies. Obtaining +this information requires "stepping outside" the memory policy APIs to use the +cpuset information and requires that one know in what cpusets other task might +be attaching to the shared region. Furthermore, if the cpusets' allowed +memory sets are disjoint, "local" allocation is the only valid policy. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt b/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8cd942ca114e..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,485 +0,0 @@ -.. _numa_memory_policy: - -=================== -Linux Memory Policy -=================== - -What is Linux Memory Policy? -============================ - -In the Linux kernel, "memory policy" determines from which node the kernel will -allocate memory in a NUMA system or in an emulated NUMA system. Linux has -supported platforms with Non-Uniform Memory Access architectures since 2.4.?. -The current memory policy support was added to Linux 2.6 around May 2004. This -document attempts to describe the concepts and APIs of the 2.6 memory policy -support. - -Memory policies should not be confused with cpusets -(``Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt``) -which is an administrative mechanism for restricting the nodes from which -memory may be allocated by a set of processes. Memory policies are a -programming interface that a NUMA-aware application can take advantage of. When -both cpusets and policies are applied to a task, the restrictions of the cpuset -takes priority. See :ref:`Memory Policies and cpusets ` -below for more details. - -Memory Policy Concepts -====================== - -Scope of Memory Policies ------------------------- - -The Linux kernel supports _scopes_ of memory policy, described here from -most general to most specific: - -System Default Policy - this policy is "hard coded" into the kernel. It is the policy - that governs all page allocations that aren't controlled by - one of the more specific policy scopes discussed below. When - the system is "up and running", the system default policy will - use "local allocation" described below. However, during boot - up, the system default policy will be set to interleave - allocations across all nodes with "sufficient" memory, so as - not to overload the initial boot node with boot-time - allocations. - -Task/Process Policy - this is an optional, per-task policy. When defined for a specific task, this policy controls all page allocations made by or on behalf of the task that aren't controlled by a more specific scope. If a task does not define a task policy, then all page allocations that would have been controlled by the task policy "fall back" to the System Default Policy. - - The task policy applies to the entire address space of a task. Thus, - it is inheritable, and indeed is inherited, across both fork() - [clone() w/o the CLONE_VM flag] and exec*(). This allows a parent task - to establish the task policy for a child task exec()'d from an - executable image that has no awareness of memory policy. See the - MEMORY POLICY APIS section, below, for an overview of the system call - that a task may use to set/change its task/process policy. - - In a multi-threaded task, task policies apply only to the thread - [Linux kernel task] that installs the policy and any threads - subsequently created by that thread. Any sibling threads existing - at the time a new task policy is installed retain their current - policy. - - A task policy applies only to pages allocated after the policy is - installed. Any pages already faulted in by the task when the task - changes its task policy remain where they were allocated based on - the policy at the time they were allocated. - -.. _vma_policy: - -VMA Policy - A "VMA" or "Virtual Memory Area" refers to a range of a task's - virtual address space. A task may define a specific policy for a range - of its virtual address space. See the MEMORY POLICIES APIS section, - below, for an overview of the mbind() system call used to set a VMA - policy. - - A VMA policy will govern the allocation of pages that back - this region ofthe address space. Any regions of the task's - address space that don't have an explicit VMA policy will fall - back to the task policy, which may itself fall back to the - System Default Policy. - - VMA policies have a few complicating details: - - * VMA policy applies ONLY to anonymous pages. These include - pages allocated for anonymous segments, such as the task - stack and heap, and any regions of the address space - mmap()ed with the MAP_ANONYMOUS flag. If a VMA policy is - applied to a file mapping, it will be ignored if the mapping - used the MAP_SHARED flag. If the file mapping used the - MAP_PRIVATE flag, the VMA policy will only be applied when - an anonymous page is allocated on an attempt to write to the - mapping-- i.e., at Copy-On-Write. - - * VMA policies are shared between all tasks that share a - virtual address space--a.k.a. threads--independent of when - the policy is installed; and they are inherited across - fork(). However, because VMA policies refer to a specific - region of a task's address space, and because the address - space is discarded and recreated on exec*(), VMA policies - are NOT inheritable across exec(). Thus, only NUMA-aware - applications may use VMA policies. - - * A task may install a new VMA policy on a sub-range of a - previously mmap()ed region. When this happens, Linux splits - the existing virtual memory area into 2 or 3 VMAs, each with - it's own policy. - - * By default, VMA policy applies only to pages allocated after - the policy is installed. Any pages already faulted into the - VMA range remain where they were allocated based on the - policy at the time they were allocated. However, since - 2.6.16, Linux supports page migration via the mbind() system - call, so that page contents can be moved to match a newly - installed policy. - -Shared Policy - Conceptually, shared policies apply to "memory objects" mapped - shared into one or more tasks' distinct address spaces. An - application installs a shared policies the same way as VMA - policies--using the mbind() system call specifying a range of - virtual addresses that map the shared object. However, unlike - VMA policies, which can be considered to be an attribute of a - range of a task's address space, shared policies apply - directly to the shared object. Thus, all tasks that attach to - the object share the policy, and all pages allocated for the - shared object, by any task, will obey the shared policy. - - As of 2.6.22, only shared memory segments, created by shmget() or - mmap(MAP_ANONYMOUS|MAP_SHARED), support shared policy. When shared - policy support was added to Linux, the associated data structures were - added to hugetlbfs shmem segments. At the time, hugetlbfs did not - support allocation at fault time--a.k.a lazy allocation--so hugetlbfs - shmem segments were never "hooked up" to the shared policy support. - Although hugetlbfs segments now support lazy allocation, their support - for shared policy has not been completed. - - As mentioned above :ref:`VMA policies `, - allocations of page cache pages for regular files mmap()ed - with MAP_SHARED ignore any VMA policy installed on the virtual - address range backed by the shared file mapping. Rather, - shared page cache pages, including pages backing private - mappings that have not yet been written by the task, follow - task policy, if any, else System Default Policy. - - The shared policy infrastructure supports different policies on subset - ranges of the shared object. However, Linux still splits the VMA of - the task that installs the policy for each range of distinct policy. - Thus, different tasks that attach to a shared memory segment can have - different VMA configurations mapping that one shared object. This - can be seen by examining the /proc//numa_maps of tasks sharing - a shared memory region, when one task has installed shared policy on - one or more ranges of the region. - -Components of Memory Policies ------------------------------ - -A Linux memory policy consists of a "mode", optional mode flags, and -an optional set of nodes. The mode determines the behavior of the -policy, the optional mode flags determine the behavior of the mode, -and the optional set of nodes can be viewed as the arguments to the -policy behavior. - -Internally, memory policies are implemented by a reference counted -structure, struct mempolicy. Details of this structure will be -discussed in context, below, as required to explain the behavior. - -Linux memory policy supports the following 4 behavioral modes: - -Default Mode--MPOL_DEFAULT - This mode is only used in the memory policy APIs. Internally, - MPOL_DEFAULT is converted to the NULL memory policy in all - policy scopes. Any existing non-default policy will simply be - removed when MPOL_DEFAULT is specified. As a result, - MPOL_DEFAULT means "fall back to the next most specific policy - scope." - - For example, a NULL or default task policy will fall back to the - system default policy. A NULL or default vma policy will fall - back to the task policy. - - When specified in one of the memory policy APIs, the Default mode - does not use the optional set of nodes. - - It is an error for the set of nodes specified for this policy to - be non-empty. - -MPOL_BIND - This mode specifies that memory must come from the set of - nodes specified by the policy. Memory will be allocated from - the node in the set with sufficient free memory that is - closest to the node where the allocation takes place. - -MPOL_PREFERRED - This mode specifies that the allocation should be attempted - from the single node specified in the policy. If that - allocation fails, the kernel will search other nodes, in order - of increasing distance from the preferred node based on - information provided by the platform firmware. - - Internally, the Preferred policy uses a single node--the - preferred_node member of struct mempolicy. When the internal - mode flag MPOL_F_LOCAL is set, the preferred_node is ignored - and the policy is interpreted as local allocation. "Local" - allocation policy can be viewed as a Preferred policy that - starts at the node containing the cpu where the allocation - takes place. - - It is possible for the user to specify that local allocation - is always preferred by passing an empty nodemask with this - mode. If an empty nodemask is passed, the policy cannot use - the MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES or MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES flags - described below. - -MPOL_INTERLEAVED - This mode specifies that page allocations be interleaved, on a - page granularity, across the nodes specified in the policy. - This mode also behaves slightly differently, based on the - context where it is used: - - For allocation of anonymous pages and shared memory pages, - Interleave mode indexes the set of nodes specified by the - policy using the page offset of the faulting address into the - segment [VMA] containing the address modulo the number of - nodes specified by the policy. It then attempts to allocate a - page, starting at the selected node, as if the node had been - specified by a Preferred policy or had been selected by a - local allocation. That is, allocation will follow the per - node zonelist. - - For allocation of page cache pages, Interleave mode indexes - the set of nodes specified by the policy using a node counter - maintained per task. This counter wraps around to the lowest - specified node after it reaches the highest specified node. - This will tend to spread the pages out over the nodes - specified by the policy based on the order in which they are - allocated, rather than based on any page offset into an - address range or file. During system boot up, the temporary - interleaved system default policy works in this mode. - -Linux memory policy supports the following optional mode flags: - -MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES - This flag specifies that the nodemask passed by - the user should not be remapped if the task or VMA's set of allowed - nodes changes after the memory policy has been defined. - - Without this flag, anytime a mempolicy is rebound because of a - change in the set of allowed nodes, the node (Preferred) or - nodemask (Bind, Interleave) is remapped to the new set of - allowed nodes. This may result in nodes being used that were - previously undesired. - - With this flag, if the user-specified nodes overlap with the - nodes allowed by the task's cpuset, then the memory policy is - applied to their intersection. If the two sets of nodes do not - overlap, the Default policy is used. - - For example, consider a task that is attached to a cpuset with - mems 1-3 that sets an Interleave policy over the same set. If - the cpuset's mems change to 3-5, the Interleave will now occur - over nodes 3, 4, and 5. With this flag, however, since only node - 3 is allowed from the user's nodemask, the "interleave" only - occurs over that node. If no nodes from the user's nodemask are - now allowed, the Default behavior is used. - - MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES cannot be combined with the - MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES flag. It also cannot be used for - MPOL_PREFERRED policies that were created with an empty nodemask - (local allocation). - -MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES - This flag specifies that the nodemask passed - by the user will be mapped relative to the set of the task or VMA's - set of allowed nodes. The kernel stores the user-passed nodemask, - and if the allowed nodes changes, then that original nodemask will - be remapped relative to the new set of allowed nodes. - - Without this flag (and without MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES), anytime a - mempolicy is rebound because of a change in the set of allowed - nodes, the node (Preferred) or nodemask (Bind, Interleave) is - remapped to the new set of allowed nodes. That remap may not - preserve the relative nature of the user's passed nodemask to its - set of allowed nodes upon successive rebinds: a nodemask of - 1,3,5 may be remapped to 7-9 and then to 1-3 if the set of - allowed nodes is restored to its original state. - - With this flag, the remap is done so that the node numbers from - the user's passed nodemask are relative to the set of allowed - nodes. In other words, if nodes 0, 2, and 4 are set in the user's - nodemask, the policy will be effected over the first (and in the - Bind or Interleave case, the third and fifth) nodes in the set of - allowed nodes. The nodemask passed by the user represents nodes - relative to task or VMA's set of allowed nodes. - - If the user's nodemask includes nodes that are outside the range - of the new set of allowed nodes (for example, node 5 is set in - the user's nodemask when the set of allowed nodes is only 0-3), - then the remap wraps around to the beginning of the nodemask and, - if not already set, sets the node in the mempolicy nodemask. - - For example, consider a task that is attached to a cpuset with - mems 2-5 that sets an Interleave policy over the same set with - MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES. If the cpuset's mems change to 3-7, the - interleave now occurs over nodes 3,5-7. If the cpuset's mems - then change to 0,2-3,5, then the interleave occurs over nodes - 0,2-3,5. - - Thanks to the consistent remapping, applications preparing - nodemasks to specify memory policies using this flag should - disregard their current, actual cpuset imposed memory placement - and prepare the nodemask as if they were always located on - memory nodes 0 to N-1, where N is the number of memory nodes the - policy is intended to manage. Let the kernel then remap to the - set of memory nodes allowed by the task's cpuset, as that may - change over time. - - MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES cannot be combined with the - MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES flag. It also cannot be used for - MPOL_PREFERRED policies that were created with an empty nodemask - (local allocation). - -Memory Policy Reference Counting -================================ - -To resolve use/free races, struct mempolicy contains an atomic reference -count field. Internal interfaces, mpol_get()/mpol_put() increment and -decrement this reference count, respectively. mpol_put() will only free -the structure back to the mempolicy kmem cache when the reference count -goes to zero. - -When a new memory policy is allocated, its reference count is initialized -to '1', representing the reference held by the task that is installing the -new policy. When a pointer to a memory policy structure is stored in another -structure, another reference is added, as the task's reference will be dropped -on completion of the policy installation. - -During run-time "usage" of the policy, we attempt to minimize atomic operations -on the reference count, as this can lead to cache lines bouncing between cpus -and NUMA nodes. "Usage" here means one of the following: - -1) querying of the policy, either by the task itself [using the get_mempolicy() - API discussed below] or by another task using the /proc//numa_maps - interface. - -2) examination of the policy to determine the policy mode and associated node - or node lists, if any, for page allocation. This is considered a "hot - path". Note that for MPOL_BIND, the "usage" extends across the entire - allocation process, which may sleep during page reclaimation, because the - BIND policy nodemask is used, by reference, to filter ineligible nodes. - -We can avoid taking an extra reference during the usages listed above as -follows: - -1) we never need to get/free the system default policy as this is never - changed nor freed, once the system is up and running. - -2) for querying the policy, we do not need to take an extra reference on the - target task's task policy nor vma policies because we always acquire the - task's mm's mmap_sem for read during the query. The set_mempolicy() and - mbind() APIs [see below] always acquire the mmap_sem for write when - installing or replacing task or vma policies. Thus, there is no possibility - of a task or thread freeing a policy while another task or thread is - querying it. - -3) Page allocation usage of task or vma policy occurs in the fault path where - we hold them mmap_sem for read. Again, because replacing the task or vma - policy requires that the mmap_sem be held for write, the policy can't be - freed out from under us while we're using it for page allocation. - -4) Shared policies require special consideration. One task can replace a - shared memory policy while another task, with a distinct mmap_sem, is - querying or allocating a page based on the policy. To resolve this - potential race, the shared policy infrastructure adds an extra reference - to the shared policy during lookup while holding a spin lock on the shared - policy management structure. This requires that we drop this extra - reference when we're finished "using" the policy. We must drop the - extra reference on shared policies in the same query/allocation paths - used for non-shared policies. For this reason, shared policies are marked - as such, and the extra reference is dropped "conditionally"--i.e., only - for shared policies. - - Because of this extra reference counting, and because we must lookup - shared policies in a tree structure under spinlock, shared policies are - more expensive to use in the page allocation path. This is especially - true for shared policies on shared memory regions shared by tasks running - on different NUMA nodes. This extra overhead can be avoided by always - falling back to task or system default policy for shared memory regions, - or by prefaulting the entire shared memory region into memory and locking - it down. However, this might not be appropriate for all applications. - -Memory Policy APIs - -Linux supports 3 system calls for controlling memory policy. These APIS -always affect only the calling task, the calling task's address space, or -some shared object mapped into the calling task's address space. - -.. note:: - the headers that define these APIs and the parameter data types for - user space applications reside in a package that is not part of the - Linux kernel. The kernel system call interfaces, with the 'sys\_' - prefix, are defined in ; the mode and flag - definitions are defined in . - -Set [Task] Memory Policy:: - - long set_mempolicy(int mode, const unsigned long *nmask, - unsigned long maxnode); - -Set's the calling task's "task/process memory policy" to mode -specified by the 'mode' argument and the set of nodes defined by -'nmask'. 'nmask' points to a bit mask of node ids containing at least -'maxnode' ids. Optional mode flags may be passed by combining the -'mode' argument with the flag (for example: MPOL_INTERLEAVE | -MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES). - -See the set_mempolicy(2) man page for more details - - -Get [Task] Memory Policy or Related Information:: - - long get_mempolicy(int *mode, - const unsigned long *nmask, unsigned long maxnode, - void *addr, int flags); - -Queries the "task/process memory policy" of the calling task, or the -policy or location of a specified virtual address, depending on the -'flags' argument. - -See the get_mempolicy(2) man page for more details - - -Install VMA/Shared Policy for a Range of Task's Address Space:: - - long mbind(void *start, unsigned long len, int mode, - const unsigned long *nmask, unsigned long maxnode, - unsigned flags); - -mbind() installs the policy specified by (mode, nmask, maxnodes) as a -VMA policy for the range of the calling task's address space specified -by the 'start' and 'len' arguments. Additional actions may be -requested via the 'flags' argument. - -See the mbind(2) man page for more details. - -Memory Policy Command Line Interface -==================================== - -Although not strictly part of the Linux implementation of memory policy, -a command line tool, numactl(8), exists that allows one to: - -+ set the task policy for a specified program via set_mempolicy(2), fork(2) and - exec(2) - -+ set the shared policy for a shared memory segment via mbind(2) - -The numactl(8) tool is packaged with the run-time version of the library -containing the memory policy system call wrappers. Some distributions -package the headers and compile-time libraries in a separate development -package. - -.. _mem_pol_and_cpusets: - -Memory Policies and cpusets -=========================== - -Memory policies work within cpusets as described above. For memory policies -that require a node or set of nodes, the nodes are restricted to the set of -nodes whose memories are allowed by the cpuset constraints. If the nodemask -specified for the policy contains nodes that are not allowed by the cpuset and -MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES is not used, the intersection of the set of nodes -specified for the policy and the set of nodes with memory is used. If the -result is the empty set, the policy is considered invalid and cannot be -installed. If MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES is used, the policy's nodes are mapped -onto and folded into the task's set of allowed nodes as previously described. - -The interaction of memory policies and cpusets can be problematic when tasks -in two cpusets share access to a memory region, such as shared memory segments -created by shmget() of mmap() with the MAP_ANONYMOUS and MAP_SHARED flags, and -any of the tasks install shared policy on the region, only nodes whose -memories are allowed in both cpusets may be used in the policies. Obtaining -this information requires "stepping outside" the memory policy APIs to use the -cpuset information and requires that one know in what cpusets other task might -be attaching to the shared region. Furthermore, if the cpusets' allowed -memory sets are disjoint, "local" allocation is the only valid policy. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting b/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting deleted file mode 100644 index 0dd54bbe4afa..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting +++ /dev/null @@ -1,87 +0,0 @@ -.. _overcommit_accounting: - -===================== -Overcommit Accounting -===================== - -The Linux kernel supports the following overcommit handling modes - -0 - Heuristic overcommit handling. Obvious overcommits of address - space are refused. Used for a typical system. It ensures a - seriously wild allocation fails while allowing overcommit to - reduce swap usage. root is allowed to allocate slightly more - memory in this mode. This is the default. - -1 - Always overcommit. Appropriate for some scientific - applications. Classic example is code using sparse arrays and - just relying on the virtual memory consisting almost entirely - of zero pages. - -2 - Don't overcommit. The total address space commit for the - system is not permitted to exceed swap + a configurable amount - (default is 50%) of physical RAM. Depending on the amount you - use, in most situations this means a process will not be - killed while accessing pages but will receive errors on memory - allocation as appropriate. - - Useful for applications that want to guarantee their memory - allocations will be available in the future without having to - initialize every page. - -The overcommit policy is set via the sysctl ``vm.overcommit_memory``. - -The overcommit amount can be set via ``vm.overcommit_ratio`` (percentage) -or ``vm.overcommit_kbytes`` (absolute value). - -The current overcommit limit and amount committed are viewable in -``/proc/meminfo`` as CommitLimit and Committed_AS respectively. - -Gotchas -======= - -The C language stack growth does an implicit mremap. If you want absolute -guarantees and run close to the edge you MUST mmap your stack for the -largest size you think you will need. For typical stack usage this does -not matter much but it's a corner case if you really really care - -In mode 2 the MAP_NORESERVE flag is ignored. - - -How It Works -============ - -The overcommit is based on the following rules - -For a file backed map - | SHARED or READ-only - 0 cost (the file is the map not swap) - | PRIVATE WRITABLE - size of mapping per instance - -For an anonymous or ``/dev/zero`` map - | SHARED - size of mapping - | PRIVATE READ-only - 0 cost (but of little use) - | PRIVATE WRITABLE - size of mapping per instance - -Additional accounting - | Pages made writable copies by mmap - | shmfs memory drawn from the same pool - -Status -====== - -* We account mmap memory mappings -* We account mprotect changes in commit -* We account mremap changes in size -* We account brk -* We account munmap -* We report the commit status in /proc -* Account and check on fork -* Review stack handling/building on exec -* SHMfs accounting -* Implement actual limit enforcement - -To Do -===== -* Account ptrace pages (this is hard) diff --git a/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst b/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..0dd54bbe4afa --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst @@ -0,0 +1,87 @@ +.. _overcommit_accounting: + +===================== +Overcommit Accounting +===================== + +The Linux kernel supports the following overcommit handling modes + +0 + Heuristic overcommit handling. Obvious overcommits of address + space are refused. Used for a typical system. It ensures a + seriously wild allocation fails while allowing overcommit to + reduce swap usage. root is allowed to allocate slightly more + memory in this mode. This is the default. + +1 + Always overcommit. Appropriate for some scientific + applications. Classic example is code using sparse arrays and + just relying on the virtual memory consisting almost entirely + of zero pages. + +2 + Don't overcommit. The total address space commit for the + system is not permitted to exceed swap + a configurable amount + (default is 50%) of physical RAM. Depending on the amount you + use, in most situations this means a process will not be + killed while accessing pages but will receive errors on memory + allocation as appropriate. + + Useful for applications that want to guarantee their memory + allocations will be available in the future without having to + initialize every page. + +The overcommit policy is set via the sysctl ``vm.overcommit_memory``. + +The overcommit amount can be set via ``vm.overcommit_ratio`` (percentage) +or ``vm.overcommit_kbytes`` (absolute value). + +The current overcommit limit and amount committed are viewable in +``/proc/meminfo`` as CommitLimit and Committed_AS respectively. + +Gotchas +======= + +The C language stack growth does an implicit mremap. If you want absolute +guarantees and run close to the edge you MUST mmap your stack for the +largest size you think you will need. For typical stack usage this does +not matter much but it's a corner case if you really really care + +In mode 2 the MAP_NORESERVE flag is ignored. + + +How It Works +============ + +The overcommit is based on the following rules + +For a file backed map + | SHARED or READ-only - 0 cost (the file is the map not swap) + | PRIVATE WRITABLE - size of mapping per instance + +For an anonymous or ``/dev/zero`` map + | SHARED - size of mapping + | PRIVATE READ-only - 0 cost (but of little use) + | PRIVATE WRITABLE - size of mapping per instance + +Additional accounting + | Pages made writable copies by mmap + | shmfs memory drawn from the same pool + +Status +====== + +* We account mmap memory mappings +* We account mprotect changes in commit +* We account mremap changes in size +* We account brk +* We account munmap +* We report the commit status in /proc +* Account and check on fork +* Review stack handling/building on exec +* SHMfs accounting +* Implement actual limit enforcement + +To Do +===== +* Account ptrace pages (this is hard) diff --git a/Documentation/vm/page_frags b/Documentation/vm/page_frags deleted file mode 100644 index 637cc49d1b2f..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/page_frags +++ /dev/null @@ -1,45 +0,0 @@ -.. _page_frags: - -============== -Page fragments -============== - -A page fragment is an arbitrary-length arbitrary-offset area of memory -which resides within a 0 or higher order compound page. Multiple -fragments within that page are individually refcounted, in the page's -reference counter. - -The page_frag functions, page_frag_alloc and page_frag_free, provide a -simple allocation framework for page fragments. This is used by the -network stack and network device drivers to provide a backing region of -memory for use as either an sk_buff->head, or to be used in the "frags" -portion of skb_shared_info. - -In order to make use of the page fragment APIs a backing page fragment -cache is needed. This provides a central point for the fragment allocation -and tracks allows multiple calls to make use of a cached page. The -advantage to doing this is that multiple calls to get_page can be avoided -which can be expensive at allocation time. However due to the nature of -this caching it is required that any calls to the cache be protected by -either a per-cpu limitation, or a per-cpu limitation and forcing interrupts -to be disabled when executing the fragment allocation. - -The network stack uses two separate caches per CPU to handle fragment -allocation. The netdev_alloc_cache is used by callers making use of the -__netdev_alloc_frag and __netdev_alloc_skb calls. The napi_alloc_cache is -used by callers of the __napi_alloc_frag and __napi_alloc_skb calls. The -main difference between these two calls is the context in which they may be -called. The "netdev" prefixed functions are usable in any context as these -functions will disable interrupts, while the "napi" prefixed functions are -only usable within the softirq context. - -Many network device drivers use a similar methodology for allocating page -fragments, but the page fragments are cached at the ring or descriptor -level. In order to enable these cases it is necessary to provide a generic -way of tearing down a page cache. For this reason __page_frag_cache_drain -was implemented. It allows for freeing multiple references from a single -page via a single call. The advantage to doing this is that it allows for -cleaning up the multiple references that were added to a page in order to -avoid calling get_page per allocation. - -Alexander Duyck, Nov 29, 2016. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/page_frags.rst b/Documentation/vm/page_frags.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..637cc49d1b2f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/page_frags.rst @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +.. _page_frags: + +============== +Page fragments +============== + +A page fragment is an arbitrary-length arbitrary-offset area of memory +which resides within a 0 or higher order compound page. Multiple +fragments within that page are individually refcounted, in the page's +reference counter. + +The page_frag functions, page_frag_alloc and page_frag_free, provide a +simple allocation framework for page fragments. This is used by the +network stack and network device drivers to provide a backing region of +memory for use as either an sk_buff->head, or to be used in the "frags" +portion of skb_shared_info. + +In order to make use of the page fragment APIs a backing page fragment +cache is needed. This provides a central point for the fragment allocation +and tracks allows multiple calls to make use of a cached page. The +advantage to doing this is that multiple calls to get_page can be avoided +which can be expensive at allocation time. However due to the nature of +this caching it is required that any calls to the cache be protected by +either a per-cpu limitation, or a per-cpu limitation and forcing interrupts +to be disabled when executing the fragment allocation. + +The network stack uses two separate caches per CPU to handle fragment +allocation. The netdev_alloc_cache is used by callers making use of the +__netdev_alloc_frag and __netdev_alloc_skb calls. The napi_alloc_cache is +used by callers of the __napi_alloc_frag and __napi_alloc_skb calls. The +main difference between these two calls is the context in which they may be +called. The "netdev" prefixed functions are usable in any context as these +functions will disable interrupts, while the "napi" prefixed functions are +only usable within the softirq context. + +Many network device drivers use a similar methodology for allocating page +fragments, but the page fragments are cached at the ring or descriptor +level. In order to enable these cases it is necessary to provide a generic +way of tearing down a page cache. For this reason __page_frag_cache_drain +was implemented. It allows for freeing multiple references from a single +page via a single call. The advantage to doing this is that it allows for +cleaning up the multiple references that were added to a page in order to +avoid calling get_page per allocation. + +Alexander Duyck, Nov 29, 2016. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/page_migration b/Documentation/vm/page_migration deleted file mode 100644 index 07b67a821a12..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/page_migration +++ /dev/null @@ -1,257 +0,0 @@ -.. _page_migration: - -============== -Page migration -============== - -Page migration allows the moving of the physical location of pages between -nodes in a numa system while the process is running. This means that the -virtual addresses that the process sees do not change. However, the -system rearranges the physical location of those pages. - -The main intend of page migration is to reduce the latency of memory access -by moving pages near to the processor where the process accessing that memory -is running. - -Page migration allows a process to manually relocate the node on which its -pages are located through the MF_MOVE and MF_MOVE_ALL options while setting -a new memory policy via mbind(). The pages of process can also be relocated -from another process using the sys_migrate_pages() function call. The -migrate_pages function call takes two sets of nodes and moves pages of a -process that are located on the from nodes to the destination nodes. -Page migration functions are provided by the numactl package by Andi Kleen -(a version later than 0.9.3 is required. Get it from -ftp://oss.sgi.com/www/projects/libnuma/download/). numactl provides libnuma -which provides an interface similar to other numa functionality for page -migration. cat ``/proc//numa_maps`` allows an easy review of where the -pages of a process are located. See also the numa_maps documentation in the -proc(5) man page. - -Manual migration is useful if for example the scheduler has relocated -a process to a processor on a distant node. A batch scheduler or an -administrator may detect the situation and move the pages of the process -nearer to the new processor. The kernel itself does only provide -manual page migration support. Automatic page migration may be implemented -through user space processes that move pages. A special function call -"move_pages" allows the moving of individual pages within a process. -A NUMA profiler may f.e. obtain a log showing frequent off node -accesses and may use the result to move pages to more advantageous -locations. - -Larger installations usually partition the system using cpusets into -sections of nodes. Paul Jackson has equipped cpusets with the ability to -move pages when a task is moved to another cpuset (See -Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt). -Cpusets allows the automation of process locality. If a task is moved to -a new cpuset then also all its pages are moved with it so that the -performance of the process does not sink dramatically. Also the pages -of processes in a cpuset are moved if the allowed memory nodes of a -cpuset are changed. - -Page migration allows the preservation of the relative location of pages -within a group of nodes for all migration techniques which will preserve a -particular memory allocation pattern generated even after migrating a -process. This is necessary in order to preserve the memory latencies. -Processes will run with similar performance after migration. - -Page migration occurs in several steps. First a high level -description for those trying to use migrate_pages() from the kernel -(for userspace usage see the Andi Kleen's numactl package mentioned above) -and then a low level description of how the low level details work. - -In kernel use of migrate_pages() -================================ - -1. Remove pages from the LRU. - - Lists of pages to be migrated are generated by scanning over - pages and moving them into lists. This is done by - calling isolate_lru_page(). - Calling isolate_lru_page increases the references to the page - so that it cannot vanish while the page migration occurs. - It also prevents the swapper or other scans to encounter - the page. - -2. We need to have a function of type new_page_t that can be - passed to migrate_pages(). This function should figure out - how to allocate the correct new page given the old page. - -3. The migrate_pages() function is called which attempts - to do the migration. It will call the function to allocate - the new page for each page that is considered for - moving. - -How migrate_pages() works -========================= - -migrate_pages() does several passes over its list of pages. A page is moved -if all references to a page are removable at the time. The page has -already been removed from the LRU via isolate_lru_page() and the refcount -is increased so that the page cannot be freed while page migration occurs. - -Steps: - -1. Lock the page to be migrated - -2. Insure that writeback is complete. - -3. Lock the new page that we want to move to. It is locked so that accesses to - this (not yet uptodate) page immediately lock while the move is in progress. - -4. All the page table references to the page are converted to migration - entries. This decreases the mapcount of a page. If the resulting - mapcount is not zero then we do not migrate the page. All user space - processes that attempt to access the page will now wait on the page lock. - -5. The radix tree lock is taken. This will cause all processes trying - to access the page via the mapping to block on the radix tree spinlock. - -6. The refcount of the page is examined and we back out if references remain - otherwise we know that we are the only one referencing this page. - -7. The radix tree is checked and if it does not contain the pointer to this - page then we back out because someone else modified the radix tree. - -8. The new page is prepped with some settings from the old page so that - accesses to the new page will discover a page with the correct settings. - -9. The radix tree is changed to point to the new page. - -10. The reference count of the old page is dropped because the radix tree - reference is gone. A reference to the new page is established because - the new page is referenced to by the radix tree. - -11. The radix tree lock is dropped. With that lookups in the mapping - become possible again. Processes will move from spinning on the tree_lock - to sleeping on the locked new page. - -12. The page contents are copied to the new page. - -13. The remaining page flags are copied to the new page. - -14. The old page flags are cleared to indicate that the page does - not provide any information anymore. - -15. Queued up writeback on the new page is triggered. - -16. If migration entries were page then replace them with real ptes. Doing - so will enable access for user space processes not already waiting for - the page lock. - -19. The page locks are dropped from the old and new page. - Processes waiting on the page lock will redo their page faults - and will reach the new page. - -20. The new page is moved to the LRU and can be scanned by the swapper - etc again. - -Non-LRU page migration -====================== - -Although original migration aimed for reducing the latency of memory access -for NUMA, compaction who want to create high-order page is also main customer. - -Current problem of the implementation is that it is designed to migrate only -*LRU* pages. However, there are potential non-lru pages which can be migrated -in drivers, for example, zsmalloc, virtio-balloon pages. - -For virtio-balloon pages, some parts of migration code path have been hooked -up and added virtio-balloon specific functions to intercept migration logics. -It's too specific to a driver so other drivers who want to make their pages -movable would have to add own specific hooks in migration path. - -To overclome the problem, VM supports non-LRU page migration which provides -generic functions for non-LRU movable pages without driver specific hooks -migration path. - -If a driver want to make own pages movable, it should define three functions -which are function pointers of struct address_space_operations. - -1. ``bool (*isolate_page) (struct page *page, isolate_mode_t mode);`` - - What VM expects on isolate_page function of driver is to return *true* - if driver isolates page successfully. On returing true, VM marks the page - as PG_isolated so concurrent isolation in several CPUs skip the page - for isolation. If a driver cannot isolate the page, it should return *false*. - - Once page is successfully isolated, VM uses page.lru fields so driver - shouldn't expect to preserve values in that fields. - -2. ``int (*migratepage) (struct address_space *mapping,`` -| ``struct page *newpage, struct page *oldpage, enum migrate_mode);`` - - After isolation, VM calls migratepage of driver with isolated page. - The function of migratepage is to move content of the old page to new page - and set up fields of struct page newpage. Keep in mind that you should - indicate to the VM the oldpage is no longer movable via __ClearPageMovable() - under page_lock if you migrated the oldpage successfully and returns - MIGRATEPAGE_SUCCESS. If driver cannot migrate the page at the moment, driver - can return -EAGAIN. On -EAGAIN, VM will retry page migration in a short time - because VM interprets -EAGAIN as "temporal migration failure". On returning - any error except -EAGAIN, VM will give up the page migration without retrying - in this time. - - Driver shouldn't touch page.lru field VM using in the functions. - -3. ``void (*putback_page)(struct page *);`` - - If migration fails on isolated page, VM should return the isolated page - to the driver so VM calls driver's putback_page with migration failed page. - In this function, driver should put the isolated page back to the own data - structure. - -4. non-lru movable page flags - - There are two page flags for supporting non-lru movable page. - - * PG_movable - - Driver should use the below function to make page movable under page_lock:: - - void __SetPageMovable(struct page *page, struct address_space *mapping) - - It needs argument of address_space for registering migration - family functions which will be called by VM. Exactly speaking, - PG_movable is not a real flag of struct page. Rather than, VM - reuses page->mapping's lower bits to represent it. - -:: - #define PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE 0x2 - page->mapping = page->mapping | PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE; - - so driver shouldn't access page->mapping directly. Instead, driver should - use page_mapping which mask off the low two bits of page->mapping under - page lock so it can get right struct address_space. - - For testing of non-lru movable page, VM supports __PageMovable function. - However, it doesn't guarantee to identify non-lru movable page because - page->mapping field is unified with other variables in struct page. - As well, if driver releases the page after isolation by VM, page->mapping - doesn't have stable value although it has PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE - (Look at __ClearPageMovable). But __PageMovable is cheap to catch whether - page is LRU or non-lru movable once the page has been isolated. Because - LRU pages never can have PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE in page->mapping. It is also - good for just peeking to test non-lru movable pages before more expensive - checking with lock_page in pfn scanning to select victim. - - For guaranteeing non-lru movable page, VM provides PageMovable function. - Unlike __PageMovable, PageMovable functions validates page->mapping and - mapping->a_ops->isolate_page under lock_page. The lock_page prevents sudden - destroying of page->mapping. - - Driver using __SetPageMovable should clear the flag via __ClearMovablePage - under page_lock before the releasing the page. - - * PG_isolated - - To prevent concurrent isolation among several CPUs, VM marks isolated page - as PG_isolated under lock_page. So if a CPU encounters PG_isolated non-lru - movable page, it can skip it. Driver doesn't need to manipulate the flag - because VM will set/clear it automatically. Keep in mind that if driver - sees PG_isolated page, it means the page have been isolated by VM so it - shouldn't touch page.lru field. - PG_isolated is alias with PG_reclaim flag so driver shouldn't use the flag - for own purpose. - -Christoph Lameter, May 8, 2006. -Minchan Kim, Mar 28, 2016. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/page_migration.rst b/Documentation/vm/page_migration.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..07b67a821a12 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/page_migration.rst @@ -0,0 +1,257 @@ +.. _page_migration: + +============== +Page migration +============== + +Page migration allows the moving of the physical location of pages between +nodes in a numa system while the process is running. This means that the +virtual addresses that the process sees do not change. However, the +system rearranges the physical location of those pages. + +The main intend of page migration is to reduce the latency of memory access +by moving pages near to the processor where the process accessing that memory +is running. + +Page migration allows a process to manually relocate the node on which its +pages are located through the MF_MOVE and MF_MOVE_ALL options while setting +a new memory policy via mbind(). The pages of process can also be relocated +from another process using the sys_migrate_pages() function call. The +migrate_pages function call takes two sets of nodes and moves pages of a +process that are located on the from nodes to the destination nodes. +Page migration functions are provided by the numactl package by Andi Kleen +(a version later than 0.9.3 is required. Get it from +ftp://oss.sgi.com/www/projects/libnuma/download/). numactl provides libnuma +which provides an interface similar to other numa functionality for page +migration. cat ``/proc//numa_maps`` allows an easy review of where the +pages of a process are located. See also the numa_maps documentation in the +proc(5) man page. + +Manual migration is useful if for example the scheduler has relocated +a process to a processor on a distant node. A batch scheduler or an +administrator may detect the situation and move the pages of the process +nearer to the new processor. The kernel itself does only provide +manual page migration support. Automatic page migration may be implemented +through user space processes that move pages. A special function call +"move_pages" allows the moving of individual pages within a process. +A NUMA profiler may f.e. obtain a log showing frequent off node +accesses and may use the result to move pages to more advantageous +locations. + +Larger installations usually partition the system using cpusets into +sections of nodes. Paul Jackson has equipped cpusets with the ability to +move pages when a task is moved to another cpuset (See +Documentation/cgroup-v1/cpusets.txt). +Cpusets allows the automation of process locality. If a task is moved to +a new cpuset then also all its pages are moved with it so that the +performance of the process does not sink dramatically. Also the pages +of processes in a cpuset are moved if the allowed memory nodes of a +cpuset are changed. + +Page migration allows the preservation of the relative location of pages +within a group of nodes for all migration techniques which will preserve a +particular memory allocation pattern generated even after migrating a +process. This is necessary in order to preserve the memory latencies. +Processes will run with similar performance after migration. + +Page migration occurs in several steps. First a high level +description for those trying to use migrate_pages() from the kernel +(for userspace usage see the Andi Kleen's numactl package mentioned above) +and then a low level description of how the low level details work. + +In kernel use of migrate_pages() +================================ + +1. Remove pages from the LRU. + + Lists of pages to be migrated are generated by scanning over + pages and moving them into lists. This is done by + calling isolate_lru_page(). + Calling isolate_lru_page increases the references to the page + so that it cannot vanish while the page migration occurs. + It also prevents the swapper or other scans to encounter + the page. + +2. We need to have a function of type new_page_t that can be + passed to migrate_pages(). This function should figure out + how to allocate the correct new page given the old page. + +3. The migrate_pages() function is called which attempts + to do the migration. It will call the function to allocate + the new page for each page that is considered for + moving. + +How migrate_pages() works +========================= + +migrate_pages() does several passes over its list of pages. A page is moved +if all references to a page are removable at the time. The page has +already been removed from the LRU via isolate_lru_page() and the refcount +is increased so that the page cannot be freed while page migration occurs. + +Steps: + +1. Lock the page to be migrated + +2. Insure that writeback is complete. + +3. Lock the new page that we want to move to. It is locked so that accesses to + this (not yet uptodate) page immediately lock while the move is in progress. + +4. All the page table references to the page are converted to migration + entries. This decreases the mapcount of a page. If the resulting + mapcount is not zero then we do not migrate the page. All user space + processes that attempt to access the page will now wait on the page lock. + +5. The radix tree lock is taken. This will cause all processes trying + to access the page via the mapping to block on the radix tree spinlock. + +6. The refcount of the page is examined and we back out if references remain + otherwise we know that we are the only one referencing this page. + +7. The radix tree is checked and if it does not contain the pointer to this + page then we back out because someone else modified the radix tree. + +8. The new page is prepped with some settings from the old page so that + accesses to the new page will discover a page with the correct settings. + +9. The radix tree is changed to point to the new page. + +10. The reference count of the old page is dropped because the radix tree + reference is gone. A reference to the new page is established because + the new page is referenced to by the radix tree. + +11. The radix tree lock is dropped. With that lookups in the mapping + become possible again. Processes will move from spinning on the tree_lock + to sleeping on the locked new page. + +12. The page contents are copied to the new page. + +13. The remaining page flags are copied to the new page. + +14. The old page flags are cleared to indicate that the page does + not provide any information anymore. + +15. Queued up writeback on the new page is triggered. + +16. If migration entries were page then replace them with real ptes. Doing + so will enable access for user space processes not already waiting for + the page lock. + +19. The page locks are dropped from the old and new page. + Processes waiting on the page lock will redo their page faults + and will reach the new page. + +20. The new page is moved to the LRU and can be scanned by the swapper + etc again. + +Non-LRU page migration +====================== + +Although original migration aimed for reducing the latency of memory access +for NUMA, compaction who want to create high-order page is also main customer. + +Current problem of the implementation is that it is designed to migrate only +*LRU* pages. However, there are potential non-lru pages which can be migrated +in drivers, for example, zsmalloc, virtio-balloon pages. + +For virtio-balloon pages, some parts of migration code path have been hooked +up and added virtio-balloon specific functions to intercept migration logics. +It's too specific to a driver so other drivers who want to make their pages +movable would have to add own specific hooks in migration path. + +To overclome the problem, VM supports non-LRU page migration which provides +generic functions for non-LRU movable pages without driver specific hooks +migration path. + +If a driver want to make own pages movable, it should define three functions +which are function pointers of struct address_space_operations. + +1. ``bool (*isolate_page) (struct page *page, isolate_mode_t mode);`` + + What VM expects on isolate_page function of driver is to return *true* + if driver isolates page successfully. On returing true, VM marks the page + as PG_isolated so concurrent isolation in several CPUs skip the page + for isolation. If a driver cannot isolate the page, it should return *false*. + + Once page is successfully isolated, VM uses page.lru fields so driver + shouldn't expect to preserve values in that fields. + +2. ``int (*migratepage) (struct address_space *mapping,`` +| ``struct page *newpage, struct page *oldpage, enum migrate_mode);`` + + After isolation, VM calls migratepage of driver with isolated page. + The function of migratepage is to move content of the old page to new page + and set up fields of struct page newpage. Keep in mind that you should + indicate to the VM the oldpage is no longer movable via __ClearPageMovable() + under page_lock if you migrated the oldpage successfully and returns + MIGRATEPAGE_SUCCESS. If driver cannot migrate the page at the moment, driver + can return -EAGAIN. On -EAGAIN, VM will retry page migration in a short time + because VM interprets -EAGAIN as "temporal migration failure". On returning + any error except -EAGAIN, VM will give up the page migration without retrying + in this time. + + Driver shouldn't touch page.lru field VM using in the functions. + +3. ``void (*putback_page)(struct page *);`` + + If migration fails on isolated page, VM should return the isolated page + to the driver so VM calls driver's putback_page with migration failed page. + In this function, driver should put the isolated page back to the own data + structure. + +4. non-lru movable page flags + + There are two page flags for supporting non-lru movable page. + + * PG_movable + + Driver should use the below function to make page movable under page_lock:: + + void __SetPageMovable(struct page *page, struct address_space *mapping) + + It needs argument of address_space for registering migration + family functions which will be called by VM. Exactly speaking, + PG_movable is not a real flag of struct page. Rather than, VM + reuses page->mapping's lower bits to represent it. + +:: + #define PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE 0x2 + page->mapping = page->mapping | PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE; + + so driver shouldn't access page->mapping directly. Instead, driver should + use page_mapping which mask off the low two bits of page->mapping under + page lock so it can get right struct address_space. + + For testing of non-lru movable page, VM supports __PageMovable function. + However, it doesn't guarantee to identify non-lru movable page because + page->mapping field is unified with other variables in struct page. + As well, if driver releases the page after isolation by VM, page->mapping + doesn't have stable value although it has PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE + (Look at __ClearPageMovable). But __PageMovable is cheap to catch whether + page is LRU or non-lru movable once the page has been isolated. Because + LRU pages never can have PAGE_MAPPING_MOVABLE in page->mapping. It is also + good for just peeking to test non-lru movable pages before more expensive + checking with lock_page in pfn scanning to select victim. + + For guaranteeing non-lru movable page, VM provides PageMovable function. + Unlike __PageMovable, PageMovable functions validates page->mapping and + mapping->a_ops->isolate_page under lock_page. The lock_page prevents sudden + destroying of page->mapping. + + Driver using __SetPageMovable should clear the flag via __ClearMovablePage + under page_lock before the releasing the page. + + * PG_isolated + + To prevent concurrent isolation among several CPUs, VM marks isolated page + as PG_isolated under lock_page. So if a CPU encounters PG_isolated non-lru + movable page, it can skip it. Driver doesn't need to manipulate the flag + because VM will set/clear it automatically. Keep in mind that if driver + sees PG_isolated page, it means the page have been isolated by VM so it + shouldn't touch page.lru field. + PG_isolated is alias with PG_reclaim flag so driver shouldn't use the flag + for own purpose. + +Christoph Lameter, May 8, 2006. +Minchan Kim, Mar 28, 2016. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/page_owner.rst b/Documentation/vm/page_owner.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..0ed5ab8c7ab4 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/page_owner.rst @@ -0,0 +1,90 @@ +.. _page_owner: + +================================================== +page owner: Tracking about who allocated each page +================================================== + +Introduction +============ + +page owner is for the tracking about who allocated each page. +It can be used to debug memory leak or to find a memory hogger. +When allocation happens, information about allocation such as call stack +and order of pages is stored into certain storage for each page. +When we need to know about status of all pages, we can get and analyze +this information. + +Although we already have tracepoint for tracing page allocation/free, +using it for analyzing who allocate each page is rather complex. We need +to enlarge the trace buffer for preventing overlapping until userspace +program launched. And, launched program continually dump out the trace +buffer for later analysis and it would change system behviour with more +possibility rather than just keeping it in memory, so bad for debugging. + +page owner can also be used for various purposes. For example, accurate +fragmentation statistics can be obtained through gfp flag information of +each page. It is already implemented and activated if page owner is +enabled. Other usages are more than welcome. + +page owner is disabled in default. So, if you'd like to use it, you need +to add "page_owner=on" into your boot cmdline. If the kernel is built +with page owner and page owner is disabled in runtime due to no enabling +boot option, runtime overhead is marginal. If disabled in runtime, it +doesn't require memory to store owner information, so there is no runtime +memory overhead. And, page owner inserts just two unlikely branches into +the page allocator hotpath and if not enabled, then allocation is done +like as the kernel without page owner. These two unlikely branches should +not affect to allocation performance, especially if the static keys jump +label patching functionality is available. Following is the kernel's code +size change due to this facility. + +- Without page owner:: + + text data bss dec hex filename + 40662 1493 644 42799 a72f mm/page_alloc.o + +- With page owner:: + + text data bss dec hex filename + 40892 1493 644 43029 a815 mm/page_alloc.o + 1427 24 8 1459 5b3 mm/page_ext.o + 2722 50 0 2772 ad4 mm/page_owner.o + +Although, roughly, 4 KB code is added in total, page_alloc.o increase by +230 bytes and only half of it is in hotpath. Building the kernel with +page owner and turning it on if needed would be great option to debug +kernel memory problem. + +There is one notice that is caused by implementation detail. page owner +stores information into the memory from struct page extension. This memory +is initialized some time later than that page allocator starts in sparse +memory system, so, until initialization, many pages can be allocated and +they would have no owner information. To fix it up, these early allocated +pages are investigated and marked as allocated in initialization phase. +Although it doesn't mean that they have the right owner information, +at least, we can tell whether the page is allocated or not, +more accurately. On 2GB memory x86-64 VM box, 13343 early allocated pages +are catched and marked, although they are mostly allocated from struct +page extension feature. Anyway, after that, no page is left in +un-tracking state. + +Usage +===== + +1) Build user-space helper:: + + cd tools/vm + make page_owner_sort + +2) Enable page owner: add "page_owner=on" to boot cmdline. + +3) Do the job what you want to debug + +4) Analyze information from page owner:: + + cat /sys/kernel/debug/page_owner > page_owner_full.txt + grep -v ^PFN page_owner_full.txt > page_owner.txt + ./page_owner_sort page_owner.txt sorted_page_owner.txt + + See the result about who allocated each page + in the ``sorted_page_owner.txt``. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/page_owner.txt b/Documentation/vm/page_owner.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0ed5ab8c7ab4..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/page_owner.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,90 +0,0 @@ -.. _page_owner: - -================================================== -page owner: Tracking about who allocated each page -================================================== - -Introduction -============ - -page owner is for the tracking about who allocated each page. -It can be used to debug memory leak or to find a memory hogger. -When allocation happens, information about allocation such as call stack -and order of pages is stored into certain storage for each page. -When we need to know about status of all pages, we can get and analyze -this information. - -Although we already have tracepoint for tracing page allocation/free, -using it for analyzing who allocate each page is rather complex. We need -to enlarge the trace buffer for preventing overlapping until userspace -program launched. And, launched program continually dump out the trace -buffer for later analysis and it would change system behviour with more -possibility rather than just keeping it in memory, so bad for debugging. - -page owner can also be used for various purposes. For example, accurate -fragmentation statistics can be obtained through gfp flag information of -each page. It is already implemented and activated if page owner is -enabled. Other usages are more than welcome. - -page owner is disabled in default. So, if you'd like to use it, you need -to add "page_owner=on" into your boot cmdline. If the kernel is built -with page owner and page owner is disabled in runtime due to no enabling -boot option, runtime overhead is marginal. If disabled in runtime, it -doesn't require memory to store owner information, so there is no runtime -memory overhead. And, page owner inserts just two unlikely branches into -the page allocator hotpath and if not enabled, then allocation is done -like as the kernel without page owner. These two unlikely branches should -not affect to allocation performance, especially if the static keys jump -label patching functionality is available. Following is the kernel's code -size change due to this facility. - -- Without page owner:: - - text data bss dec hex filename - 40662 1493 644 42799 a72f mm/page_alloc.o - -- With page owner:: - - text data bss dec hex filename - 40892 1493 644 43029 a815 mm/page_alloc.o - 1427 24 8 1459 5b3 mm/page_ext.o - 2722 50 0 2772 ad4 mm/page_owner.o - -Although, roughly, 4 KB code is added in total, page_alloc.o increase by -230 bytes and only half of it is in hotpath. Building the kernel with -page owner and turning it on if needed would be great option to debug -kernel memory problem. - -There is one notice that is caused by implementation detail. page owner -stores information into the memory from struct page extension. This memory -is initialized some time later than that page allocator starts in sparse -memory system, so, until initialization, many pages can be allocated and -they would have no owner information. To fix it up, these early allocated -pages are investigated and marked as allocated in initialization phase. -Although it doesn't mean that they have the right owner information, -at least, we can tell whether the page is allocated or not, -more accurately. On 2GB memory x86-64 VM box, 13343 early allocated pages -are catched and marked, although they are mostly allocated from struct -page extension feature. Anyway, after that, no page is left in -un-tracking state. - -Usage -===== - -1) Build user-space helper:: - - cd tools/vm - make page_owner_sort - -2) Enable page owner: add "page_owner=on" to boot cmdline. - -3) Do the job what you want to debug - -4) Analyze information from page owner:: - - cat /sys/kernel/debug/page_owner > page_owner_full.txt - grep -v ^PFN page_owner_full.txt > page_owner.txt - ./page_owner_sort page_owner.txt sorted_page_owner.txt - - See the result about who allocated each page - in the ``sorted_page_owner.txt``. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst b/Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..d54b4bfd3043 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/pagemap.rst @@ -0,0 +1,197 @@ +.. _pagemap: + +====================================== +pagemap from the Userspace Perspective +====================================== + +pagemap is a new (as of 2.6.25) set of interfaces in the kernel that allow +userspace programs to examine the page tables and related information by +reading files in ``/proc``. + +There are four components to pagemap: + + * ``/proc/pid/pagemap``. This file lets a userspace process find out which + physical frame each virtual page is mapped to. It contains one 64-bit + value for each virtual page, containing the following data (from + fs/proc/task_mmu.c, above pagemap_read): + + * Bits 0-54 page frame number (PFN) if present + * Bits 0-4 swap type if swapped + * Bits 5-54 swap offset if swapped + * Bit 55 pte is soft-dirty (see Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst) + * Bit 56 page exclusively mapped (since 4.2) + * Bits 57-60 zero + * Bit 61 page is file-page or shared-anon (since 3.5) + * Bit 62 page swapped + * Bit 63 page present + + Since Linux 4.0 only users with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability can get PFNs. + In 4.0 and 4.1 opens by unprivileged fail with -EPERM. Starting from + 4.2 the PFN field is zeroed if the user does not have CAP_SYS_ADMIN. + Reason: information about PFNs helps in exploiting Rowhammer vulnerability. + + If the page is not present but in swap, then the PFN contains an + encoding of the swap file number and the page's offset into the + swap. Unmapped pages return a null PFN. This allows determining + precisely which pages are mapped (or in swap) and comparing mapped + pages between processes. + + Efficient users of this interface will use /proc/pid/maps to + determine which areas of memory are actually mapped and llseek to + skip over unmapped regions. + + * ``/proc/kpagecount``. This file contains a 64-bit count of the number of + times each page is mapped, indexed by PFN. + + * ``/proc/kpageflags``. This file contains a 64-bit set of flags for each + page, indexed by PFN. + + The flags are (from ``fs/proc/page.c``, above kpageflags_read): + + 0. LOCKED + 1. ERROR + 2. REFERENCED + 3. UPTODATE + 4. DIRTY + 5. LRU + 6. ACTIVE + 7. SLAB + 8. WRITEBACK + 9. RECLAIM + 10. BUDDY + 11. MMAP + 12. ANON + 13. SWAPCACHE + 14. SWAPBACKED + 15. COMPOUND_HEAD + 16. COMPOUND_TAIL + 17. HUGE + 18. UNEVICTABLE + 19. HWPOISON + 20. NOPAGE + 21. KSM + 22. THP + 23. BALLOON + 24. ZERO_PAGE + 25. IDLE + + * ``/proc/kpagecgroup``. This file contains a 64-bit inode number of the + memory cgroup each page is charged to, indexed by PFN. Only available when + CONFIG_MEMCG is set. + +Short descriptions to the page flags: +===================================== + +0 - LOCKED + page is being locked for exclusive access, eg. by undergoing read/write IO +7 - SLAB + page is managed by the SLAB/SLOB/SLUB/SLQB kernel memory allocator + When compound page is used, SLUB/SLQB will only set this flag on the head + page; SLOB will not flag it at all. +10 - BUDDY + a free memory block managed by the buddy system allocator + The buddy system organizes free memory in blocks of various orders. + An order N block has 2^N physically contiguous pages, with the BUDDY flag + set for and _only_ for the first page. +15 - COMPOUND_HEAD + A compound page with order N consists of 2^N physically contiguous pages. + A compound page with order 2 takes the form of "HTTT", where H donates its + head page and T donates its tail page(s). The major consumers of compound + pages are hugeTLB pages (Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.rst), the SLUB etc. + memory allocators and various device drivers. However in this interface, + only huge/giga pages are made visible to end users. +16 - COMPOUND_TAIL + A compound page tail (see description above). +17 - HUGE + this is an integral part of a HugeTLB page +19 - HWPOISON + hardware detected memory corruption on this page: don't touch the data! +20 - NOPAGE + no page frame exists at the requested address +21 - KSM + identical memory pages dynamically shared between one or more processes +22 - THP + contiguous pages which construct transparent hugepages +23 - BALLOON + balloon compaction page +24 - ZERO_PAGE + zero page for pfn_zero or huge_zero page +25 - IDLE + page has not been accessed since it was marked idle (see + Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.rst). Note that this flag may be + stale in case the page was accessed via a PTE. To make sure the flag + is up-to-date one has to read ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` first. + +IO related page flags +--------------------- + +1 - ERROR + IO error occurred +3 - UPTODATE + page has up-to-date data + ie. for file backed page: (in-memory data revision >= on-disk one) +4 - DIRTY + page has been written to, hence contains new data + ie. for file backed page: (in-memory data revision > on-disk one) +8 - WRITEBACK + page is being synced to disk + +LRU related page flags +---------------------- + +5 - LRU + page is in one of the LRU lists +6 - ACTIVE + page is in the active LRU list +18 - UNEVICTABLE + page is in the unevictable (non-)LRU list It is somehow pinned and + not a candidate for LRU page reclaims, eg. ramfs pages, + shmctl(SHM_LOCK) and mlock() memory segments +2 - REFERENCED + page has been referenced since last LRU list enqueue/requeue +9 - RECLAIM + page will be reclaimed soon after its pageout IO completed +11 - MMAP + a memory mapped page +12 - ANON + a memory mapped page that is not part of a file +13 - SWAPCACHE + page is mapped to swap space, ie. has an associated swap entry +14 - SWAPBACKED + page is backed by swap/RAM + +The page-types tool in the tools/vm directory can be used to query the +above flags. + +Using pagemap to do something useful +==================================== + +The general procedure for using pagemap to find out about a process' memory +usage goes like this: + + 1. Read ``/proc/pid/maps`` to determine which parts of the memory space are + mapped to what. + 2. Select the maps you are interested in -- all of them, or a particular + library, or the stack or the heap, etc. + 3. Open ``/proc/pid/pagemap`` and seek to the pages you would like to examine. + 4. Read a u64 for each page from pagemap. + 5. Open ``/proc/kpagecount`` and/or ``/proc/kpageflags``. For each PFN you + just read, seek to that entry in the file, and read the data you want. + +For example, to find the "unique set size" (USS), which is the amount of +memory that a process is using that is not shared with any other process, +you can go through every map in the process, find the PFNs, look those up +in kpagecount, and tally up the number of pages that are only referenced +once. + +Other notes +=========== + +Reading from any of the files will return -EINVAL if you are not starting +the read on an 8-byte boundary (e.g., if you sought an odd number of bytes +into the file), or if the size of the read is not a multiple of 8 bytes. + +Before Linux 3.11 pagemap bits 55-60 were used for "page-shift" (which is +always 12 at most architectures). Since Linux 3.11 their meaning changes +after first clear of soft-dirty bits. Since Linux 4.2 they are used for +flags unconditionally. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt b/Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bd6d71740c88..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,197 +0,0 @@ -.. _pagemap: - -====================================== -pagemap from the Userspace Perspective -====================================== - -pagemap is a new (as of 2.6.25) set of interfaces in the kernel that allow -userspace programs to examine the page tables and related information by -reading files in ``/proc``. - -There are four components to pagemap: - - * ``/proc/pid/pagemap``. This file lets a userspace process find out which - physical frame each virtual page is mapped to. It contains one 64-bit - value for each virtual page, containing the following data (from - fs/proc/task_mmu.c, above pagemap_read): - - * Bits 0-54 page frame number (PFN) if present - * Bits 0-4 swap type if swapped - * Bits 5-54 swap offset if swapped - * Bit 55 pte is soft-dirty (see Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt) - * Bit 56 page exclusively mapped (since 4.2) - * Bits 57-60 zero - * Bit 61 page is file-page or shared-anon (since 3.5) - * Bit 62 page swapped - * Bit 63 page present - - Since Linux 4.0 only users with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability can get PFNs. - In 4.0 and 4.1 opens by unprivileged fail with -EPERM. Starting from - 4.2 the PFN field is zeroed if the user does not have CAP_SYS_ADMIN. - Reason: information about PFNs helps in exploiting Rowhammer vulnerability. - - If the page is not present but in swap, then the PFN contains an - encoding of the swap file number and the page's offset into the - swap. Unmapped pages return a null PFN. This allows determining - precisely which pages are mapped (or in swap) and comparing mapped - pages between processes. - - Efficient users of this interface will use /proc/pid/maps to - determine which areas of memory are actually mapped and llseek to - skip over unmapped regions. - - * ``/proc/kpagecount``. This file contains a 64-bit count of the number of - times each page is mapped, indexed by PFN. - - * ``/proc/kpageflags``. This file contains a 64-bit set of flags for each - page, indexed by PFN. - - The flags are (from ``fs/proc/page.c``, above kpageflags_read): - - 0. LOCKED - 1. ERROR - 2. REFERENCED - 3. UPTODATE - 4. DIRTY - 5. LRU - 6. ACTIVE - 7. SLAB - 8. WRITEBACK - 9. RECLAIM - 10. BUDDY - 11. MMAP - 12. ANON - 13. SWAPCACHE - 14. SWAPBACKED - 15. COMPOUND_HEAD - 16. COMPOUND_TAIL - 17. HUGE - 18. UNEVICTABLE - 19. HWPOISON - 20. NOPAGE - 21. KSM - 22. THP - 23. BALLOON - 24. ZERO_PAGE - 25. IDLE - - * ``/proc/kpagecgroup``. This file contains a 64-bit inode number of the - memory cgroup each page is charged to, indexed by PFN. Only available when - CONFIG_MEMCG is set. - -Short descriptions to the page flags: -===================================== - -0 - LOCKED - page is being locked for exclusive access, eg. by undergoing read/write IO -7 - SLAB - page is managed by the SLAB/SLOB/SLUB/SLQB kernel memory allocator - When compound page is used, SLUB/SLQB will only set this flag on the head - page; SLOB will not flag it at all. -10 - BUDDY - a free memory block managed by the buddy system allocator - The buddy system organizes free memory in blocks of various orders. - An order N block has 2^N physically contiguous pages, with the BUDDY flag - set for and _only_ for the first page. -15 - COMPOUND_HEAD - A compound page with order N consists of 2^N physically contiguous pages. - A compound page with order 2 takes the form of "HTTT", where H donates its - head page and T donates its tail page(s). The major consumers of compound - pages are hugeTLB pages (Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt), the SLUB etc. - memory allocators and various device drivers. However in this interface, - only huge/giga pages are made visible to end users. -16 - COMPOUND_TAIL - A compound page tail (see description above). -17 - HUGE - this is an integral part of a HugeTLB page -19 - HWPOISON - hardware detected memory corruption on this page: don't touch the data! -20 - NOPAGE - no page frame exists at the requested address -21 - KSM - identical memory pages dynamically shared between one or more processes -22 - THP - contiguous pages which construct transparent hugepages -23 - BALLOON - balloon compaction page -24 - ZERO_PAGE - zero page for pfn_zero or huge_zero page -25 - IDLE - page has not been accessed since it was marked idle (see - Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.txt). Note that this flag may be - stale in case the page was accessed via a PTE. To make sure the flag - is up-to-date one has to read ``/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap`` first. - -IO related page flags ---------------------- - -1 - ERROR - IO error occurred -3 - UPTODATE - page has up-to-date data - ie. for file backed page: (in-memory data revision >= on-disk one) -4 - DIRTY - page has been written to, hence contains new data - ie. for file backed page: (in-memory data revision > on-disk one) -8 - WRITEBACK - page is being synced to disk - -LRU related page flags ----------------------- - -5 - LRU - page is in one of the LRU lists -6 - ACTIVE - page is in the active LRU list -18 - UNEVICTABLE - page is in the unevictable (non-)LRU list It is somehow pinned and - not a candidate for LRU page reclaims, eg. ramfs pages, - shmctl(SHM_LOCK) and mlock() memory segments -2 - REFERENCED - page has been referenced since last LRU list enqueue/requeue -9 - RECLAIM - page will be reclaimed soon after its pageout IO completed -11 - MMAP - a memory mapped page -12 - ANON - a memory mapped page that is not part of a file -13 - SWAPCACHE - page is mapped to swap space, ie. has an associated swap entry -14 - SWAPBACKED - page is backed by swap/RAM - -The page-types tool in the tools/vm directory can be used to query the -above flags. - -Using pagemap to do something useful -==================================== - -The general procedure for using pagemap to find out about a process' memory -usage goes like this: - - 1. Read ``/proc/pid/maps`` to determine which parts of the memory space are - mapped to what. - 2. Select the maps you are interested in -- all of them, or a particular - library, or the stack or the heap, etc. - 3. Open ``/proc/pid/pagemap`` and seek to the pages you would like to examine. - 4. Read a u64 for each page from pagemap. - 5. Open ``/proc/kpagecount`` and/or ``/proc/kpageflags``. For each PFN you - just read, seek to that entry in the file, and read the data you want. - -For example, to find the "unique set size" (USS), which is the amount of -memory that a process is using that is not shared with any other process, -you can go through every map in the process, find the PFNs, look those up -in kpagecount, and tally up the number of pages that are only referenced -once. - -Other notes -=========== - -Reading from any of the files will return -EINVAL if you are not starting -the read on an 8-byte boundary (e.g., if you sought an odd number of bytes -into the file), or if the size of the read is not a multiple of 8 bytes. - -Before Linux 3.11 pagemap bits 55-60 were used for "page-shift" (which is -always 12 at most architectures). Since Linux 3.11 their meaning changes -after first clear of soft-dirty bits. Since Linux 4.2 they are used for -flags unconditionally. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.rst b/Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..7bef6718e3a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.rst @@ -0,0 +1,33 @@ +.. _remap_file_pages: + +============================== +remap_file_pages() system call +============================== + +The remap_file_pages() system call is used to create a nonlinear mapping, +that is, a mapping in which the pages of the file are mapped into a +nonsequential order in memory. The advantage of using remap_file_pages() +over using repeated calls to mmap(2) is that the former approach does not +require the kernel to create additional VMA (Virtual Memory Area) data +structures. + +Supporting of nonlinear mapping requires significant amount of non-trivial +code in kernel virtual memory subsystem including hot paths. Also to get +nonlinear mapping work kernel need a way to distinguish normal page table +entries from entries with file offset (pte_file). Kernel reserves flag in +PTE for this purpose. PTE flags are scarce resource especially on some CPU +architectures. It would be nice to free up the flag for other usage. + +Fortunately, there are not many users of remap_file_pages() in the wild. +It's only known that one enterprise RDBMS implementation uses the syscall +on 32-bit systems to map files bigger than can linearly fit into 32-bit +virtual address space. This use-case is not critical anymore since 64-bit +systems are widely available. + +The syscall is deprecated and replaced it with an emulation now. The +emulation creates new VMAs instead of nonlinear mappings. It's going to +work slower for rare users of remap_file_pages() but ABI is preserved. + +One side effect of emulation (apart from performance) is that user can hit +vm.max_map_count limit more easily due to additional VMAs. See comment for +DEFAULT_MAX_MAP_COUNT for more details on the limit. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.txt b/Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7bef6718e3a9..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,33 +0,0 @@ -.. _remap_file_pages: - -============================== -remap_file_pages() system call -============================== - -The remap_file_pages() system call is used to create a nonlinear mapping, -that is, a mapping in which the pages of the file are mapped into a -nonsequential order in memory. The advantage of using remap_file_pages() -over using repeated calls to mmap(2) is that the former approach does not -require the kernel to create additional VMA (Virtual Memory Area) data -structures. - -Supporting of nonlinear mapping requires significant amount of non-trivial -code in kernel virtual memory subsystem including hot paths. Also to get -nonlinear mapping work kernel need a way to distinguish normal page table -entries from entries with file offset (pte_file). Kernel reserves flag in -PTE for this purpose. PTE flags are scarce resource especially on some CPU -architectures. It would be nice to free up the flag for other usage. - -Fortunately, there are not many users of remap_file_pages() in the wild. -It's only known that one enterprise RDBMS implementation uses the syscall -on 32-bit systems to map files bigger than can linearly fit into 32-bit -virtual address space. This use-case is not critical anymore since 64-bit -systems are widely available. - -The syscall is deprecated and replaced it with an emulation now. The -emulation creates new VMAs instead of nonlinear mappings. It's going to -work slower for rare users of remap_file_pages() but ABI is preserved. - -One side effect of emulation (apart from performance) is that user can hit -vm.max_map_count limit more easily due to additional VMAs. See comment for -DEFAULT_MAX_MAP_COUNT for more details on the limit. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/slub.rst b/Documentation/vm/slub.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..3a775fd64e2d --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/slub.rst @@ -0,0 +1,361 @@ +.. _slub: + +========================== +Short users guide for SLUB +========================== + +The basic philosophy of SLUB is very different from SLAB. SLAB +requires rebuilding the kernel to activate debug options for all +slab caches. SLUB always includes full debugging but it is off by default. +SLUB can enable debugging only for selected slabs in order to avoid +an impact on overall system performance which may make a bug more +difficult to find. + +In order to switch debugging on one can add an option ``slub_debug`` +to the kernel command line. That will enable full debugging for +all slabs. + +Typically one would then use the ``slabinfo`` command to get statistical +data and perform operation on the slabs. By default ``slabinfo`` only lists +slabs that have data in them. See "slabinfo -h" for more options when +running the command. ``slabinfo`` can be compiled with +:: + + gcc -o slabinfo tools/vm/slabinfo.c + +Some of the modes of operation of ``slabinfo`` require that slub debugging +be enabled on the command line. F.e. no tracking information will be +available without debugging on and validation can only partially +be performed if debugging was not switched on. + +Some more sophisticated uses of slub_debug: +------------------------------------------- + +Parameters may be given to ``slub_debug``. If none is specified then full +debugging is enabled. Format: + +slub_debug= + Enable options for all slabs +slub_debug=, + Enable options only for select slabs + + +Possible debug options are:: + + F Sanity checks on (enables SLAB_DEBUG_CONSISTENCY_CHECKS + Sorry SLAB legacy issues) + Z Red zoning + P Poisoning (object and padding) + U User tracking (free and alloc) + T Trace (please only use on single slabs) + A Toggle failslab filter mark for the cache + O Switch debugging off for caches that would have + caused higher minimum slab orders + - Switch all debugging off (useful if the kernel is + configured with CONFIG_SLUB_DEBUG_ON) + +F.e. in order to boot just with sanity checks and red zoning one would specify:: + + slub_debug=FZ + +Trying to find an issue in the dentry cache? Try:: + + slub_debug=,dentry + +to only enable debugging on the dentry cache. + +Red zoning and tracking may realign the slab. We can just apply sanity checks +to the dentry cache with:: + + slub_debug=F,dentry + +Debugging options may require the minimum possible slab order to increase as +a result of storing the metadata (for example, caches with PAGE_SIZE object +sizes). This has a higher liklihood of resulting in slab allocation errors +in low memory situations or if there's high fragmentation of memory. To +switch off debugging for such caches by default, use:: + + slub_debug=O + +In case you forgot to enable debugging on the kernel command line: It is +possible to enable debugging manually when the kernel is up. Look at the +contents of:: + + /sys/kernel/slab// + +Look at the writable files. Writing 1 to them will enable the +corresponding debug option. All options can be set on a slab that does +not contain objects. If the slab already contains objects then sanity checks +and tracing may only be enabled. The other options may cause the realignment +of objects. + +Careful with tracing: It may spew out lots of information and never stop if +used on the wrong slab. + +Slab merging +============ + +If no debug options are specified then SLUB may merge similar slabs together +in order to reduce overhead and increase cache hotness of objects. +``slabinfo -a`` displays which slabs were merged together. + +Slab validation +=============== + +SLUB can validate all object if the kernel was booted with slub_debug. In +order to do so you must have the ``slabinfo`` tool. Then you can do +:: + + slabinfo -v + +which will test all objects. Output will be generated to the syslog. + +This also works in a more limited way if boot was without slab debug. +In that case ``slabinfo -v`` simply tests all reachable objects. Usually +these are in the cpu slabs and the partial slabs. Full slabs are not +tracked by SLUB in a non debug situation. + +Getting more performance +======================== + +To some degree SLUB's performance is limited by the need to take the +list_lock once in a while to deal with partial slabs. That overhead is +governed by the order of the allocation for each slab. The allocations +can be influenced by kernel parameters: + +.. slub_min_objects=x (default 4) +.. slub_min_order=x (default 0) +.. slub_max_order=x (default 3 (PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER)) + +``slub_min_objects`` + allows to specify how many objects must at least fit into one + slab in order for the allocation order to be acceptable. In + general slub will be able to perform this number of + allocations on a slab without consulting centralized resources + (list_lock) where contention may occur. + +``slub_min_order`` + specifies a minim order of slabs. A similar effect like + ``slub_min_objects``. + +``slub_max_order`` + specified the order at which ``slub_min_objects`` should no + longer be checked. This is useful to avoid SLUB trying to + generate super large order pages to fit ``slub_min_objects`` + of a slab cache with large object sizes into one high order + page. Setting command line parameter + ``debug_guardpage_minorder=N`` (N > 0), forces setting + ``slub_max_order`` to 0, what cause minimum possible order of + slabs allocation. + +SLUB Debug output +================= + +Here is a sample of slub debug output:: + + ==================================================================== + BUG kmalloc-8: Redzone overwritten + -------------------------------------------------------------------- + + INFO: 0xc90f6d28-0xc90f6d2b. First byte 0x00 instead of 0xcc + INFO: Slab 0xc528c530 flags=0x400000c3 inuse=61 fp=0xc90f6d58 + INFO: Object 0xc90f6d20 @offset=3360 fp=0xc90f6d58 + INFO: Allocated in get_modalias+0x61/0xf5 age=53 cpu=1 pid=554 + + Bytes b4 0xc90f6d10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a ........ZZZZZZZZ + Object 0xc90f6d20: 31 30 31 39 2e 30 30 35 1019.005 + Redzone 0xc90f6d28: 00 cc cc cc . + Padding 0xc90f6d50: 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a ZZZZZZZZ + + [] dump_trace+0x63/0x1eb + [] show_trace_log_lvl+0x1a/0x2f + [] show_trace+0x12/0x14 + [] dump_stack+0x16/0x18 + [] object_err+0x143/0x14b + [] check_object+0x66/0x234 + [] __slab_free+0x239/0x384 + [] kfree+0xa6/0xc6 + [] get_modalias+0xb9/0xf5 + [] dmi_dev_uevent+0x27/0x3c + [] dev_uevent+0x1ad/0x1da + [] kobject_uevent_env+0x20a/0x45b + [] kobject_uevent+0xa/0xf + [] store_uevent+0x4f/0x58 + [] dev_attr_store+0x29/0x2f + [] sysfs_write_file+0x16e/0x19c + [] vfs_write+0xd1/0x15a + [] sys_write+0x3d/0x72 + [] sysenter_past_esp+0x5f/0x99 + [] 0xb7f7b410 + ======================= + + FIX kmalloc-8: Restoring Redzone 0xc90f6d28-0xc90f6d2b=0xcc + +If SLUB encounters a corrupted object (full detection requires the kernel +to be booted with slub_debug) then the following output will be dumped +into the syslog: + +1. Description of the problem encountered + + This will be a message in the system log starting with:: + + =============================================== + BUG : + ----------------------------------------------- + + INFO: - + INFO: Slab
+ INFO: Object
+ INFO: Allocated in age= cpu= pid= + INFO: Freed in age= cpu= + pid= + + (Object allocation / free information is only available if SLAB_STORE_USER is + set for the slab. slub_debug sets that option) + +2. The object contents if an object was involved. + + Various types of lines can follow the BUG SLUB line: + + Bytes b4
: + Shows a few bytes before the object where the problem was detected. + Can be useful if the corruption does not stop with the start of the + object. + + Object
: + The bytes of the object. If the object is inactive then the bytes + typically contain poison values. Any non-poison value shows a + corruption by a write after free. + + Redzone
: + The Redzone following the object. The Redzone is used to detect + writes after the object. All bytes should always have the same + value. If there is any deviation then it is due to a write after + the object boundary. + + (Redzone information is only available if SLAB_RED_ZONE is set. + slub_debug sets that option) + + Padding
: + Unused data to fill up the space in order to get the next object + properly aligned. In the debug case we make sure that there are + at least 4 bytes of padding. This allows the detection of writes + before the object. + +3. A stackdump + + The stackdump describes the location where the error was detected. The cause + of the corruption is may be more likely found by looking at the function that + allocated or freed the object. + +4. Report on how the problem was dealt with in order to ensure the continued + operation of the system. + + These are messages in the system log beginning with:: + + FIX : + + In the above sample SLUB found that the Redzone of an active object has + been overwritten. Here a string of 8 characters was written into a slab that + has the length of 8 characters. However, a 8 character string needs a + terminating 0. That zero has overwritten the first byte of the Redzone field. + After reporting the details of the issue encountered the FIX SLUB message + tells us that SLUB has restored the Redzone to its proper value and then + system operations continue. + +Emergency operations +==================== + +Minimal debugging (sanity checks alone) can be enabled by booting with:: + + slub_debug=F + +This will be generally be enough to enable the resiliency features of slub +which will keep the system running even if a bad kernel component will +keep corrupting objects. This may be important for production systems. +Performance will be impacted by the sanity checks and there will be a +continual stream of error messages to the syslog but no additional memory +will be used (unlike full debugging). + +No guarantees. The kernel component still needs to be fixed. Performance +may be optimized further by locating the slab that experiences corruption +and enabling debugging only for that cache + +I.e.:: + + slub_debug=F,dentry + +If the corruption occurs by writing after the end of the object then it +may be advisable to enable a Redzone to avoid corrupting the beginning +of other objects:: + + slub_debug=FZ,dentry + +Extended slabinfo mode and plotting +=================================== + +The ``slabinfo`` tool has a special 'extended' ('-X') mode that includes: + - Slabcache Totals + - Slabs sorted by size (up to -N slabs, default 1) + - Slabs sorted by loss (up to -N slabs, default 1) + +Additionally, in this mode ``slabinfo`` does not dynamically scale +sizes (G/M/K) and reports everything in bytes (this functionality is +also available to other slabinfo modes via '-B' option) which makes +reporting more precise and accurate. Moreover, in some sense the `-X' +mode also simplifies the analysis of slabs' behaviour, because its +output can be plotted using the ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script. So it +pushes the analysis from looking through the numbers (tons of numbers) +to something easier -- visual analysis. + +To generate plots: + +a) collect slabinfo extended records, for example:: + + while [ 1 ]; do slabinfo -X >> FOO_STATS; sleep 1; done + +b) pass stats file(-s) to ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script:: + + slabinfo-gnuplot.sh FOO_STATS [FOO_STATS2 .. FOO_STATSN] + + The ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script will pre-processes the collected records + and generates 3 png files (and 3 pre-processing cache files) per STATS + file: + - Slabcache Totals: FOO_STATS-totals.png + - Slabs sorted by size: FOO_STATS-slabs-by-size.png + - Slabs sorted by loss: FOO_STATS-slabs-by-loss.png + +Another use case, when ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` can be useful, is when you +need to compare slabs' behaviour "prior to" and "after" some code +modification. To help you out there, ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script +can 'merge' the `Slabcache Totals` sections from different +measurements. To visually compare N plots: + +a) Collect as many STATS1, STATS2, .. STATSN files as you need:: + + while [ 1 ]; do slabinfo -X >> STATS; sleep 1; done + +b) Pre-process those STATS files:: + + slabinfo-gnuplot.sh STATS1 STATS2 .. STATSN + +c) Execute ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` in '-t' mode, passing all of the + generated pre-processed \*-totals:: + + slabinfo-gnuplot.sh -t STATS1-totals STATS2-totals .. STATSN-totals + + This will produce a single plot (png file). + + Plots, expectedly, can be large so some fluctuations or small spikes + can go unnoticed. To deal with that, ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` has two + options to 'zoom-in'/'zoom-out': + + a) ``-s %d,%d`` -- overwrites the default image width and heigh + b) ``-r %d,%d`` -- specifies a range of samples to use (for example, + in ``slabinfo -X >> FOO_STATS; sleep 1;`` case, using a ``-r + 40,60`` range will plot only samples collected between 40th and + 60th seconds). + +Christoph Lameter, May 30, 2007 +Sergey Senozhatsky, October 23, 2015 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/slub.txt b/Documentation/vm/slub.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3a775fd64e2d..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/slub.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,361 +0,0 @@ -.. _slub: - -========================== -Short users guide for SLUB -========================== - -The basic philosophy of SLUB is very different from SLAB. SLAB -requires rebuilding the kernel to activate debug options for all -slab caches. SLUB always includes full debugging but it is off by default. -SLUB can enable debugging only for selected slabs in order to avoid -an impact on overall system performance which may make a bug more -difficult to find. - -In order to switch debugging on one can add an option ``slub_debug`` -to the kernel command line. That will enable full debugging for -all slabs. - -Typically one would then use the ``slabinfo`` command to get statistical -data and perform operation on the slabs. By default ``slabinfo`` only lists -slabs that have data in them. See "slabinfo -h" for more options when -running the command. ``slabinfo`` can be compiled with -:: - - gcc -o slabinfo tools/vm/slabinfo.c - -Some of the modes of operation of ``slabinfo`` require that slub debugging -be enabled on the command line. F.e. no tracking information will be -available without debugging on and validation can only partially -be performed if debugging was not switched on. - -Some more sophisticated uses of slub_debug: -------------------------------------------- - -Parameters may be given to ``slub_debug``. If none is specified then full -debugging is enabled. Format: - -slub_debug= - Enable options for all slabs -slub_debug=, - Enable options only for select slabs - - -Possible debug options are:: - - F Sanity checks on (enables SLAB_DEBUG_CONSISTENCY_CHECKS - Sorry SLAB legacy issues) - Z Red zoning - P Poisoning (object and padding) - U User tracking (free and alloc) - T Trace (please only use on single slabs) - A Toggle failslab filter mark for the cache - O Switch debugging off for caches that would have - caused higher minimum slab orders - - Switch all debugging off (useful if the kernel is - configured with CONFIG_SLUB_DEBUG_ON) - -F.e. in order to boot just with sanity checks and red zoning one would specify:: - - slub_debug=FZ - -Trying to find an issue in the dentry cache? Try:: - - slub_debug=,dentry - -to only enable debugging on the dentry cache. - -Red zoning and tracking may realign the slab. We can just apply sanity checks -to the dentry cache with:: - - slub_debug=F,dentry - -Debugging options may require the minimum possible slab order to increase as -a result of storing the metadata (for example, caches with PAGE_SIZE object -sizes). This has a higher liklihood of resulting in slab allocation errors -in low memory situations or if there's high fragmentation of memory. To -switch off debugging for such caches by default, use:: - - slub_debug=O - -In case you forgot to enable debugging on the kernel command line: It is -possible to enable debugging manually when the kernel is up. Look at the -contents of:: - - /sys/kernel/slab// - -Look at the writable files. Writing 1 to them will enable the -corresponding debug option. All options can be set on a slab that does -not contain objects. If the slab already contains objects then sanity checks -and tracing may only be enabled. The other options may cause the realignment -of objects. - -Careful with tracing: It may spew out lots of information and never stop if -used on the wrong slab. - -Slab merging -============ - -If no debug options are specified then SLUB may merge similar slabs together -in order to reduce overhead and increase cache hotness of objects. -``slabinfo -a`` displays which slabs were merged together. - -Slab validation -=============== - -SLUB can validate all object if the kernel was booted with slub_debug. In -order to do so you must have the ``slabinfo`` tool. Then you can do -:: - - slabinfo -v - -which will test all objects. Output will be generated to the syslog. - -This also works in a more limited way if boot was without slab debug. -In that case ``slabinfo -v`` simply tests all reachable objects. Usually -these are in the cpu slabs and the partial slabs. Full slabs are not -tracked by SLUB in a non debug situation. - -Getting more performance -======================== - -To some degree SLUB's performance is limited by the need to take the -list_lock once in a while to deal with partial slabs. That overhead is -governed by the order of the allocation for each slab. The allocations -can be influenced by kernel parameters: - -.. slub_min_objects=x (default 4) -.. slub_min_order=x (default 0) -.. slub_max_order=x (default 3 (PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER)) - -``slub_min_objects`` - allows to specify how many objects must at least fit into one - slab in order for the allocation order to be acceptable. In - general slub will be able to perform this number of - allocations on a slab without consulting centralized resources - (list_lock) where contention may occur. - -``slub_min_order`` - specifies a minim order of slabs. A similar effect like - ``slub_min_objects``. - -``slub_max_order`` - specified the order at which ``slub_min_objects`` should no - longer be checked. This is useful to avoid SLUB trying to - generate super large order pages to fit ``slub_min_objects`` - of a slab cache with large object sizes into one high order - page. Setting command line parameter - ``debug_guardpage_minorder=N`` (N > 0), forces setting - ``slub_max_order`` to 0, what cause minimum possible order of - slabs allocation. - -SLUB Debug output -================= - -Here is a sample of slub debug output:: - - ==================================================================== - BUG kmalloc-8: Redzone overwritten - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - - INFO: 0xc90f6d28-0xc90f6d2b. First byte 0x00 instead of 0xcc - INFO: Slab 0xc528c530 flags=0x400000c3 inuse=61 fp=0xc90f6d58 - INFO: Object 0xc90f6d20 @offset=3360 fp=0xc90f6d58 - INFO: Allocated in get_modalias+0x61/0xf5 age=53 cpu=1 pid=554 - - Bytes b4 0xc90f6d10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a ........ZZZZZZZZ - Object 0xc90f6d20: 31 30 31 39 2e 30 30 35 1019.005 - Redzone 0xc90f6d28: 00 cc cc cc . - Padding 0xc90f6d50: 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a 5a ZZZZZZZZ - - [] dump_trace+0x63/0x1eb - [] show_trace_log_lvl+0x1a/0x2f - [] show_trace+0x12/0x14 - [] dump_stack+0x16/0x18 - [] object_err+0x143/0x14b - [] check_object+0x66/0x234 - [] __slab_free+0x239/0x384 - [] kfree+0xa6/0xc6 - [] get_modalias+0xb9/0xf5 - [] dmi_dev_uevent+0x27/0x3c - [] dev_uevent+0x1ad/0x1da - [] kobject_uevent_env+0x20a/0x45b - [] kobject_uevent+0xa/0xf - [] store_uevent+0x4f/0x58 - [] dev_attr_store+0x29/0x2f - [] sysfs_write_file+0x16e/0x19c - [] vfs_write+0xd1/0x15a - [] sys_write+0x3d/0x72 - [] sysenter_past_esp+0x5f/0x99 - [] 0xb7f7b410 - ======================= - - FIX kmalloc-8: Restoring Redzone 0xc90f6d28-0xc90f6d2b=0xcc - -If SLUB encounters a corrupted object (full detection requires the kernel -to be booted with slub_debug) then the following output will be dumped -into the syslog: - -1. Description of the problem encountered - - This will be a message in the system log starting with:: - - =============================================== - BUG : - ----------------------------------------------- - - INFO: - - INFO: Slab
- INFO: Object
- INFO: Allocated in age= cpu= pid= - INFO: Freed in age= cpu= - pid= - - (Object allocation / free information is only available if SLAB_STORE_USER is - set for the slab. slub_debug sets that option) - -2. The object contents if an object was involved. - - Various types of lines can follow the BUG SLUB line: - - Bytes b4
: - Shows a few bytes before the object where the problem was detected. - Can be useful if the corruption does not stop with the start of the - object. - - Object
: - The bytes of the object. If the object is inactive then the bytes - typically contain poison values. Any non-poison value shows a - corruption by a write after free. - - Redzone
: - The Redzone following the object. The Redzone is used to detect - writes after the object. All bytes should always have the same - value. If there is any deviation then it is due to a write after - the object boundary. - - (Redzone information is only available if SLAB_RED_ZONE is set. - slub_debug sets that option) - - Padding
: - Unused data to fill up the space in order to get the next object - properly aligned. In the debug case we make sure that there are - at least 4 bytes of padding. This allows the detection of writes - before the object. - -3. A stackdump - - The stackdump describes the location where the error was detected. The cause - of the corruption is may be more likely found by looking at the function that - allocated or freed the object. - -4. Report on how the problem was dealt with in order to ensure the continued - operation of the system. - - These are messages in the system log beginning with:: - - FIX : - - In the above sample SLUB found that the Redzone of an active object has - been overwritten. Here a string of 8 characters was written into a slab that - has the length of 8 characters. However, a 8 character string needs a - terminating 0. That zero has overwritten the first byte of the Redzone field. - After reporting the details of the issue encountered the FIX SLUB message - tells us that SLUB has restored the Redzone to its proper value and then - system operations continue. - -Emergency operations -==================== - -Minimal debugging (sanity checks alone) can be enabled by booting with:: - - slub_debug=F - -This will be generally be enough to enable the resiliency features of slub -which will keep the system running even if a bad kernel component will -keep corrupting objects. This may be important for production systems. -Performance will be impacted by the sanity checks and there will be a -continual stream of error messages to the syslog but no additional memory -will be used (unlike full debugging). - -No guarantees. The kernel component still needs to be fixed. Performance -may be optimized further by locating the slab that experiences corruption -and enabling debugging only for that cache - -I.e.:: - - slub_debug=F,dentry - -If the corruption occurs by writing after the end of the object then it -may be advisable to enable a Redzone to avoid corrupting the beginning -of other objects:: - - slub_debug=FZ,dentry - -Extended slabinfo mode and plotting -=================================== - -The ``slabinfo`` tool has a special 'extended' ('-X') mode that includes: - - Slabcache Totals - - Slabs sorted by size (up to -N slabs, default 1) - - Slabs sorted by loss (up to -N slabs, default 1) - -Additionally, in this mode ``slabinfo`` does not dynamically scale -sizes (G/M/K) and reports everything in bytes (this functionality is -also available to other slabinfo modes via '-B' option) which makes -reporting more precise and accurate. Moreover, in some sense the `-X' -mode also simplifies the analysis of slabs' behaviour, because its -output can be plotted using the ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script. So it -pushes the analysis from looking through the numbers (tons of numbers) -to something easier -- visual analysis. - -To generate plots: - -a) collect slabinfo extended records, for example:: - - while [ 1 ]; do slabinfo -X >> FOO_STATS; sleep 1; done - -b) pass stats file(-s) to ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script:: - - slabinfo-gnuplot.sh FOO_STATS [FOO_STATS2 .. FOO_STATSN] - - The ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script will pre-processes the collected records - and generates 3 png files (and 3 pre-processing cache files) per STATS - file: - - Slabcache Totals: FOO_STATS-totals.png - - Slabs sorted by size: FOO_STATS-slabs-by-size.png - - Slabs sorted by loss: FOO_STATS-slabs-by-loss.png - -Another use case, when ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` can be useful, is when you -need to compare slabs' behaviour "prior to" and "after" some code -modification. To help you out there, ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` script -can 'merge' the `Slabcache Totals` sections from different -measurements. To visually compare N plots: - -a) Collect as many STATS1, STATS2, .. STATSN files as you need:: - - while [ 1 ]; do slabinfo -X >> STATS; sleep 1; done - -b) Pre-process those STATS files:: - - slabinfo-gnuplot.sh STATS1 STATS2 .. STATSN - -c) Execute ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` in '-t' mode, passing all of the - generated pre-processed \*-totals:: - - slabinfo-gnuplot.sh -t STATS1-totals STATS2-totals .. STATSN-totals - - This will produce a single plot (png file). - - Plots, expectedly, can be large so some fluctuations or small spikes - can go unnoticed. To deal with that, ``slabinfo-gnuplot.sh`` has two - options to 'zoom-in'/'zoom-out': - - a) ``-s %d,%d`` -- overwrites the default image width and heigh - b) ``-r %d,%d`` -- specifies a range of samples to use (for example, - in ``slabinfo -X >> FOO_STATS; sleep 1;`` case, using a ``-r - 40,60`` range will plot only samples collected between 40th and - 60th seconds). - -Christoph Lameter, May 30, 2007 -Sergey Senozhatsky, October 23, 2015 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst b/Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..cb0cfd6672fa --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +.. _soft_dirty: + +=============== +Soft-Dirty PTEs +=============== + +The soft-dirty is a bit on a PTE which helps to track which pages a task +writes to. In order to do this tracking one should + + 1. Clear soft-dirty bits from the task's PTEs. + + This is done by writing "4" into the ``/proc/PID/clear_refs`` file of the + task in question. + + 2. Wait some time. + + 3. Read soft-dirty bits from the PTEs. + + This is done by reading from the ``/proc/PID/pagemap``. The bit 55 of the + 64-bit qword is the soft-dirty one. If set, the respective PTE was + written to since step 1. + + +Internally, to do this tracking, the writable bit is cleared from PTEs +when the soft-dirty bit is cleared. So, after this, when the task tries to +modify a page at some virtual address the #PF occurs and the kernel sets +the soft-dirty bit on the respective PTE. + +Note, that although all the task's address space is marked as r/o after the +soft-dirty bits clear, the #PF-s that occur after that are processed fast. +This is so, since the pages are still mapped to physical memory, and thus all +the kernel does is finds this fact out and puts both writable and soft-dirty +bits on the PTE. + +While in most cases tracking memory changes by #PF-s is more than enough +there is still a scenario when we can lose soft dirty bits -- a task +unmaps a previously mapped memory region and then maps a new one at exactly +the same place. When unmap is called, the kernel internally clears PTE values +including soft dirty bits. To notify user space application about such +memory region renewal the kernel always marks new memory regions (and +expanded regions) as soft dirty. + +This feature is actively used by the checkpoint-restore project. You +can find more details about it on http://criu.org + + +-- Pavel Emelyanov, Apr 9, 2013 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt b/Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cb0cfd6672fa..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,47 +0,0 @@ -.. _soft_dirty: - -=============== -Soft-Dirty PTEs -=============== - -The soft-dirty is a bit on a PTE which helps to track which pages a task -writes to. In order to do this tracking one should - - 1. Clear soft-dirty bits from the task's PTEs. - - This is done by writing "4" into the ``/proc/PID/clear_refs`` file of the - task in question. - - 2. Wait some time. - - 3. Read soft-dirty bits from the PTEs. - - This is done by reading from the ``/proc/PID/pagemap``. The bit 55 of the - 64-bit qword is the soft-dirty one. If set, the respective PTE was - written to since step 1. - - -Internally, to do this tracking, the writable bit is cleared from PTEs -when the soft-dirty bit is cleared. So, after this, when the task tries to -modify a page at some virtual address the #PF occurs and the kernel sets -the soft-dirty bit on the respective PTE. - -Note, that although all the task's address space is marked as r/o after the -soft-dirty bits clear, the #PF-s that occur after that are processed fast. -This is so, since the pages are still mapped to physical memory, and thus all -the kernel does is finds this fact out and puts both writable and soft-dirty -bits on the PTE. - -While in most cases tracking memory changes by #PF-s is more than enough -there is still a scenario when we can lose soft dirty bits -- a task -unmaps a previously mapped memory region and then maps a new one at exactly -the same place. When unmap is called, the kernel internally clears PTE values -including soft dirty bits. To notify user space application about such -memory region renewal the kernel always marks new memory regions (and -expanded regions) as soft dirty. - -This feature is actively used by the checkpoint-restore project. You -can find more details about it on http://criu.org - - --- Pavel Emelyanov, Apr 9, 2013 diff --git a/Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock b/Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock deleted file mode 100644 index 889b00be469f..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock +++ /dev/null @@ -1,100 +0,0 @@ -.. _split_page_table_lock: - -===================== -Split page table lock -===================== - -Originally, mm->page_table_lock spinlock protected all page tables of the -mm_struct. But this approach leads to poor page fault scalability of -multi-threaded applications due high contention on the lock. To improve -scalability, split page table lock was introduced. - -With split page table lock we have separate per-table lock to serialize -access to the table. At the moment we use split lock for PTE and PMD -tables. Access to higher level tables protected by mm->page_table_lock. - -There are helpers to lock/unlock a table and other accessor functions: - - - pte_offset_map_lock() - maps pte and takes PTE table lock, returns pointer to the taken - lock; - - pte_unmap_unlock() - unlocks and unmaps PTE table; - - pte_alloc_map_lock() - allocates PTE table if needed and take the lock, returns pointer - to taken lock or NULL if allocation failed; - - pte_lockptr() - returns pointer to PTE table lock; - - pmd_lock() - takes PMD table lock, returns pointer to taken lock; - - pmd_lockptr() - returns pointer to PMD table lock; - -Split page table lock for PTE tables is enabled compile-time if -CONFIG_SPLIT_PTLOCK_CPUS (usually 4) is less or equal to NR_CPUS. -If split lock is disabled, all tables guaded by mm->page_table_lock. - -Split page table lock for PMD tables is enabled, if it's enabled for PTE -tables and the architecture supports it (see below). - -Hugetlb and split page table lock -================================= - -Hugetlb can support several page sizes. We use split lock only for PMD -level, but not for PUD. - -Hugetlb-specific helpers: - - - huge_pte_lock() - takes pmd split lock for PMD_SIZE page, mm->page_table_lock - otherwise; - - huge_pte_lockptr() - returns pointer to table lock; - -Support of split page table lock by an architecture -=================================================== - -There's no need in special enabling of PTE split page table lock: -everything required is done by pgtable_page_ctor() and pgtable_page_dtor(), -which must be called on PTE table allocation / freeing. - -Make sure the architecture doesn't use slab allocator for page table -allocation: slab uses page->slab_cache for its pages. -This field shares storage with page->ptl. - -PMD split lock only makes sense if you have more than two page table -levels. - -PMD split lock enabling requires pgtable_pmd_page_ctor() call on PMD table -allocation and pgtable_pmd_page_dtor() on freeing. - -Allocation usually happens in pmd_alloc_one(), freeing in pmd_free() and -pmd_free_tlb(), but make sure you cover all PMD table allocation / freeing -paths: i.e X86_PAE preallocate few PMDs on pgd_alloc(). - -With everything in place you can set CONFIG_ARCH_ENABLE_SPLIT_PMD_PTLOCK. - -NOTE: pgtable_page_ctor() and pgtable_pmd_page_ctor() can fail -- it must -be handled properly. - -page->ptl -========= - -page->ptl is used to access split page table lock, where 'page' is struct -page of page containing the table. It shares storage with page->private -(and few other fields in union). - -To avoid increasing size of struct page and have best performance, we use a -trick: - - - if spinlock_t fits into long, we use page->ptr as spinlock, so we - can avoid indirect access and save a cache line. - - if size of spinlock_t is bigger then size of long, we use page->ptl as - pointer to spinlock_t and allocate it dynamically. This allows to use - split lock with enabled DEBUG_SPINLOCK or DEBUG_LOCK_ALLOC, but costs - one more cache line for indirect access; - -The spinlock_t allocated in pgtable_page_ctor() for PTE table and in -pgtable_pmd_page_ctor() for PMD table. - -Please, never access page->ptl directly -- use appropriate helper. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock.rst b/Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..889b00be469f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/split_page_table_lock.rst @@ -0,0 +1,100 @@ +.. _split_page_table_lock: + +===================== +Split page table lock +===================== + +Originally, mm->page_table_lock spinlock protected all page tables of the +mm_struct. But this approach leads to poor page fault scalability of +multi-threaded applications due high contention on the lock. To improve +scalability, split page table lock was introduced. + +With split page table lock we have separate per-table lock to serialize +access to the table. At the moment we use split lock for PTE and PMD +tables. Access to higher level tables protected by mm->page_table_lock. + +There are helpers to lock/unlock a table and other accessor functions: + + - pte_offset_map_lock() + maps pte and takes PTE table lock, returns pointer to the taken + lock; + - pte_unmap_unlock() + unlocks and unmaps PTE table; + - pte_alloc_map_lock() + allocates PTE table if needed and take the lock, returns pointer + to taken lock or NULL if allocation failed; + - pte_lockptr() + returns pointer to PTE table lock; + - pmd_lock() + takes PMD table lock, returns pointer to taken lock; + - pmd_lockptr() + returns pointer to PMD table lock; + +Split page table lock for PTE tables is enabled compile-time if +CONFIG_SPLIT_PTLOCK_CPUS (usually 4) is less or equal to NR_CPUS. +If split lock is disabled, all tables guaded by mm->page_table_lock. + +Split page table lock for PMD tables is enabled, if it's enabled for PTE +tables and the architecture supports it (see below). + +Hugetlb and split page table lock +================================= + +Hugetlb can support several page sizes. We use split lock only for PMD +level, but not for PUD. + +Hugetlb-specific helpers: + + - huge_pte_lock() + takes pmd split lock for PMD_SIZE page, mm->page_table_lock + otherwise; + - huge_pte_lockptr() + returns pointer to table lock; + +Support of split page table lock by an architecture +=================================================== + +There's no need in special enabling of PTE split page table lock: +everything required is done by pgtable_page_ctor() and pgtable_page_dtor(), +which must be called on PTE table allocation / freeing. + +Make sure the architecture doesn't use slab allocator for page table +allocation: slab uses page->slab_cache for its pages. +This field shares storage with page->ptl. + +PMD split lock only makes sense if you have more than two page table +levels. + +PMD split lock enabling requires pgtable_pmd_page_ctor() call on PMD table +allocation and pgtable_pmd_page_dtor() on freeing. + +Allocation usually happens in pmd_alloc_one(), freeing in pmd_free() and +pmd_free_tlb(), but make sure you cover all PMD table allocation / freeing +paths: i.e X86_PAE preallocate few PMDs on pgd_alloc(). + +With everything in place you can set CONFIG_ARCH_ENABLE_SPLIT_PMD_PTLOCK. + +NOTE: pgtable_page_ctor() and pgtable_pmd_page_ctor() can fail -- it must +be handled properly. + +page->ptl +========= + +page->ptl is used to access split page table lock, where 'page' is struct +page of page containing the table. It shares storage with page->private +(and few other fields in union). + +To avoid increasing size of struct page and have best performance, we use a +trick: + + - if spinlock_t fits into long, we use page->ptr as spinlock, so we + can avoid indirect access and save a cache line. + - if size of spinlock_t is bigger then size of long, we use page->ptl as + pointer to spinlock_t and allocate it dynamically. This allows to use + split lock with enabled DEBUG_SPINLOCK or DEBUG_LOCK_ALLOC, but costs + one more cache line for indirect access; + +The spinlock_t allocated in pgtable_page_ctor() for PTE table and in +pgtable_pmd_page_ctor() for PMD table. + +Please, never access page->ptl directly -- use appropriate helper. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/swap_numa.rst b/Documentation/vm/swap_numa.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..e0466f2db8fa --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/swap_numa.rst @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +.. _swap_numa: + +=========================================== +Automatically bind swap device to numa node +=========================================== + +If the system has more than one swap device and swap device has the node +information, we can make use of this information to decide which swap +device to use in get_swap_pages() to get better performance. + + +How to use this feature +======================= + +Swap device has priority and that decides the order of it to be used. To make +use of automatically binding, there is no need to manipulate priority settings +for swap devices. e.g. on a 2 node machine, assume 2 swap devices swapA and +swapB, with swapA attached to node 0 and swapB attached to node 1, are going +to be swapped on. Simply swapping them on by doing:: + + # swapon /dev/swapA + # swapon /dev/swapB + +Then node 0 will use the two swap devices in the order of swapA then swapB and +node 1 will use the two swap devices in the order of swapB then swapA. Note +that the order of them being swapped on doesn't matter. + +A more complex example on a 4 node machine. Assume 6 swap devices are going to +be swapped on: swapA and swapB are attached to node 0, swapC is attached to +node 1, swapD and swapE are attached to node 2 and swapF is attached to node3. +The way to swap them on is the same as above:: + + # swapon /dev/swapA + # swapon /dev/swapB + # swapon /dev/swapC + # swapon /dev/swapD + # swapon /dev/swapE + # swapon /dev/swapF + +Then node 0 will use them in the order of:: + + swapA/swapB -> swapC -> swapD -> swapE -> swapF + +swapA and swapB will be used in a round robin mode before any other swap device. + +node 1 will use them in the order of:: + + swapC -> swapA -> swapB -> swapD -> swapE -> swapF + +node 2 will use them in the order of:: + + swapD/swapE -> swapA -> swapB -> swapC -> swapF + +Similaly, swapD and swapE will be used in a round robin mode before any +other swap devices. + +node 3 will use them in the order of:: + + swapF -> swapA -> swapB -> swapC -> swapD -> swapE + + +Implementation details +====================== + +The current code uses a priority based list, swap_avail_list, to decide +which swap device to use and if multiple swap devices share the same +priority, they are used round robin. This change here replaces the single +global swap_avail_list with a per-numa-node list, i.e. for each numa node, +it sees its own priority based list of available swap devices. Swap +device's priority can be promoted on its matching node's swap_avail_list. + +The current swap device's priority is set as: user can set a >=0 value, +or the system will pick one starting from -1 then downwards. The priority +value in the swap_avail_list is the negated value of the swap device's +due to plist being sorted from low to high. The new policy doesn't change +the semantics for priority >=0 cases, the previous starting from -1 then +downwards now becomes starting from -2 then downwards and -1 is reserved +as the promoted value. So if multiple swap devices are attached to the same +node, they will all be promoted to priority -1 on that node's plist and will +be used round robin before any other swap devices. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/swap_numa.txt b/Documentation/vm/swap_numa.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e0466f2db8fa..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/swap_numa.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,80 +0,0 @@ -.. _swap_numa: - -=========================================== -Automatically bind swap device to numa node -=========================================== - -If the system has more than one swap device and swap device has the node -information, we can make use of this information to decide which swap -device to use in get_swap_pages() to get better performance. - - -How to use this feature -======================= - -Swap device has priority and that decides the order of it to be used. To make -use of automatically binding, there is no need to manipulate priority settings -for swap devices. e.g. on a 2 node machine, assume 2 swap devices swapA and -swapB, with swapA attached to node 0 and swapB attached to node 1, are going -to be swapped on. Simply swapping them on by doing:: - - # swapon /dev/swapA - # swapon /dev/swapB - -Then node 0 will use the two swap devices in the order of swapA then swapB and -node 1 will use the two swap devices in the order of swapB then swapA. Note -that the order of them being swapped on doesn't matter. - -A more complex example on a 4 node machine. Assume 6 swap devices are going to -be swapped on: swapA and swapB are attached to node 0, swapC is attached to -node 1, swapD and swapE are attached to node 2 and swapF is attached to node3. -The way to swap them on is the same as above:: - - # swapon /dev/swapA - # swapon /dev/swapB - # swapon /dev/swapC - # swapon /dev/swapD - # swapon /dev/swapE - # swapon /dev/swapF - -Then node 0 will use them in the order of:: - - swapA/swapB -> swapC -> swapD -> swapE -> swapF - -swapA and swapB will be used in a round robin mode before any other swap device. - -node 1 will use them in the order of:: - - swapC -> swapA -> swapB -> swapD -> swapE -> swapF - -node 2 will use them in the order of:: - - swapD/swapE -> swapA -> swapB -> swapC -> swapF - -Similaly, swapD and swapE will be used in a round robin mode before any -other swap devices. - -node 3 will use them in the order of:: - - swapF -> swapA -> swapB -> swapC -> swapD -> swapE - - -Implementation details -====================== - -The current code uses a priority based list, swap_avail_list, to decide -which swap device to use and if multiple swap devices share the same -priority, they are used round robin. This change here replaces the single -global swap_avail_list with a per-numa-node list, i.e. for each numa node, -it sees its own priority based list of available swap devices. Swap -device's priority can be promoted on its matching node's swap_avail_list. - -The current swap device's priority is set as: user can set a >=0 value, -or the system will pick one starting from -1 then downwards. The priority -value in the swap_avail_list is the negated value of the swap device's -due to plist being sorted from low to high. The new policy doesn't change -the semantics for priority >=0 cases, the previous starting from -1 then -downwards now becomes starting from -2 then downwards and -1 is reserved -as the promoted value. So if multiple swap devices are attached to the same -node, they will all be promoted to priority -1 on that node's plist and will -be used round robin before any other swap devices. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/transhuge.rst b/Documentation/vm/transhuge.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..569d182cc973 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/transhuge.rst @@ -0,0 +1,573 @@ +.. _transhuge: + +============================ +Transparent Hugepage Support +============================ + +Objective +========= + +Performance critical computing applications dealing with large memory +working sets are already running on top of libhugetlbfs and in turn +hugetlbfs. Transparent Hugepage Support is an alternative means of +using huge pages for the backing of virtual memory with huge pages +that supports the automatic promotion and demotion of page sizes and +without the shortcomings of hugetlbfs. + +Currently it only works for anonymous memory mappings and tmpfs/shmem. +But in the future it can expand to other filesystems. + +The reason applications are running faster is because of two +factors. The first factor is almost completely irrelevant and it's not +of significant interest because it'll also have the downside of +requiring larger clear-page copy-page in page faults which is a +potentially negative effect. The first factor consists in taking a +single page fault for each 2M virtual region touched by userland (so +reducing the enter/exit kernel frequency by a 512 times factor). This +only matters the first time the memory is accessed for the lifetime of +a memory mapping. The second long lasting and much more important +factor will affect all subsequent accesses to the memory for the whole +runtime of the application. The second factor consist of two +components: 1) the TLB miss will run faster (especially with +virtualization using nested pagetables but almost always also on bare +metal without virtualization) and 2) a single TLB entry will be +mapping a much larger amount of virtual memory in turn reducing the +number of TLB misses. With virtualization and nested pagetables the +TLB can be mapped of larger size only if both KVM and the Linux guest +are using hugepages but a significant speedup already happens if only +one of the two is using hugepages just because of the fact the TLB +miss is going to run faster. + +Design +====== + +- "graceful fallback": mm components which don't have transparent hugepage + knowledge fall back to breaking huge pmd mapping into table of ptes and, + if necessary, split a transparent hugepage. Therefore these components + can continue working on the regular pages or regular pte mappings. + +- if a hugepage allocation fails because of memory fragmentation, + regular pages should be gracefully allocated instead and mixed in + the same vma without any failure or significant delay and without + userland noticing + +- if some task quits and more hugepages become available (either + immediately in the buddy or through the VM), guest physical memory + backed by regular pages should be relocated on hugepages + automatically (with khugepaged) + +- it doesn't require memory reservation and in turn it uses hugepages + whenever possible (the only possible reservation here is kernelcore= + to avoid unmovable pages to fragment all the memory but such a tweak + is not specific to transparent hugepage support and it's a generic + feature that applies to all dynamic high order allocations in the + kernel) + +Transparent Hugepage Support maximizes the usefulness of free memory +if compared to the reservation approach of hugetlbfs by allowing all +unused memory to be used as cache or other movable (or even unmovable +entities). It doesn't require reservation to prevent hugepage +allocation failures to be noticeable from userland. It allows paging +and all other advanced VM features to be available on the +hugepages. It requires no modifications for applications to take +advantage of it. + +Applications however can be further optimized to take advantage of +this feature, like for example they've been optimized before to avoid +a flood of mmap system calls for every malloc(4k). Optimizing userland +is by far not mandatory and khugepaged already can take care of long +lived page allocations even for hugepage unaware applications that +deals with large amounts of memory. + +In certain cases when hugepages are enabled system wide, application +may end up allocating more memory resources. An application may mmap a +large region but only touch 1 byte of it, in that case a 2M page might +be allocated instead of a 4k page for no good. This is why it's +possible to disable hugepages system-wide and to only have them inside +MADV_HUGEPAGE madvise regions. + +Embedded systems should enable hugepages only inside madvise regions +to eliminate any risk of wasting any precious byte of memory and to +only run faster. + +Applications that gets a lot of benefit from hugepages and that don't +risk to lose memory by using hugepages, should use +madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE) on their critical mmapped regions. + +sysfs +===== + +Transparent Hugepage Support for anonymous memory can be entirely disabled +(mostly for debugging purposes) or only enabled inside MADV_HUGEPAGE +regions (to avoid the risk of consuming more memory resources) or enabled +system wide. This can be achieved with one of:: + + echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled + echo madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled + echo never >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled + +It's also possible to limit defrag efforts in the VM to generate +anonymous hugepages in case they're not immediately free to madvise +regions or to never try to defrag memory and simply fallback to regular +pages unless hugepages are immediately available. Clearly if we spend CPU +time to defrag memory, we would expect to gain even more by the fact we +use hugepages later instead of regular pages. This isn't always +guaranteed, but it may be more likely in case the allocation is for a +MADV_HUGEPAGE region. + +:: + + echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo defer >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo defer+madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo never >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + +always + means that an application requesting THP will stall on + allocation failure and directly reclaim pages and compact + memory in an effort to allocate a THP immediately. This may be + desirable for virtual machines that benefit heavily from THP + use and are willing to delay the VM start to utilise them. + +defer + means that an application will wake kswapd in the background + to reclaim pages and wake kcompactd to compact memory so that + THP is available in the near future. It's the responsibility + of khugepaged to then install the THP pages later. + +defer+madvise + will enter direct reclaim and compaction like ``always``, but + only for regions that have used madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE); all + other regions will wake kswapd in the background to reclaim + pages and wake kcompactd to compact memory so that THP is + available in the near future. + +madvise + will enter direct reclaim like ``always`` but only for regions + that are have used madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE). This is the default + behaviour. + +never + should be self-explanatory. + +By default kernel tries to use huge zero page on read page fault to +anonymous mapping. It's possible to disable huge zero page by writing 0 +or enable it back by writing 1:: + + echo 0 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/use_zero_page + echo 1 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/use_zero_page + +Some userspace (such as a test program, or an optimized memory allocation +library) may want to know the size (in bytes) of a transparent hugepage:: + + cat /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hpage_pmd_size + +khugepaged will be automatically started when +transparent_hugepage/enabled is set to "always" or "madvise, and it'll +be automatically shutdown if it's set to "never". + +khugepaged runs usually at low frequency so while one may not want to +invoke defrag algorithms synchronously during the page faults, it +should be worth invoking defrag at least in khugepaged. However it's +also possible to disable defrag in khugepaged by writing 0 or enable +defrag in khugepaged by writing 1:: + + echo 0 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/defrag + echo 1 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/defrag + +You can also control how many pages khugepaged should scan at each +pass:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/pages_to_scan + +and how many milliseconds to wait in khugepaged between each pass (you +can set this to 0 to run khugepaged at 100% utilization of one core):: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/scan_sleep_millisecs + +and how many milliseconds to wait in khugepaged if there's an hugepage +allocation failure to throttle the next allocation attempt:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/alloc_sleep_millisecs + +The khugepaged progress can be seen in the number of pages collapsed:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/pages_collapsed + +for each pass:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/full_scans + +``max_ptes_none`` specifies how many extra small pages (that are +not already mapped) can be allocated when collapsing a group +of small pages into one large page:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_none + +A higher value leads to use additional memory for programs. +A lower value leads to gain less thp performance. Value of +max_ptes_none can waste cpu time very little, you can +ignore it. + +``max_ptes_swap`` specifies how many pages can be brought in from +swap when collapsing a group of pages into a transparent huge page:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_swap + +A higher value can cause excessive swap IO and waste +memory. A lower value can prevent THPs from being +collapsed, resulting fewer pages being collapsed into +THPs, and lower memory access performance. + +Boot parameter +============== + +You can change the sysfs boot time defaults of Transparent Hugepage +Support by passing the parameter ``transparent_hugepage=always`` or +``transparent_hugepage=madvise`` or ``transparent_hugepage=never`` +to the kernel command line. + +Hugepages in tmpfs/shmem +======================== + +You can control hugepage allocation policy in tmpfs with mount option +``huge=``. It can have following values: + +always + Attempt to allocate huge pages every time we need a new page; + +never + Do not allocate huge pages; + +within_size + Only allocate huge page if it will be fully within i_size. + Also respect fadvise()/madvise() hints; + +advise + Only allocate huge pages if requested with fadvise()/madvise(); + +The default policy is ``never``. + +``mount -o remount,huge= /mountpoint`` works fine after mount: remounting +``huge=never`` will not attempt to break up huge pages at all, just stop more +from being allocated. + +There's also sysfs knob to control hugepage allocation policy for internal +shmem mount: /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/shmem_enabled. The mount +is used for SysV SHM, memfds, shared anonymous mmaps (of /dev/zero or +MAP_ANONYMOUS), GPU drivers' DRM objects, Ashmem. + +In addition to policies listed above, shmem_enabled allows two further +values: + +deny + For use in emergencies, to force the huge option off from + all mounts; +force + Force the huge option on for all - very useful for testing; + +Need of application restart +=========================== + +The transparent_hugepage/enabled values and tmpfs mount option only affect +future behavior. So to make them effective you need to restart any +application that could have been using hugepages. This also applies to the +regions registered in khugepaged. + +Monitoring usage +================ + +The number of anonymous transparent huge pages currently used by the +system is available by reading the AnonHugePages field in ``/proc/meminfo``. +To identify what applications are using anonymous transparent huge pages, +it is necessary to read ``/proc/PID/smaps`` and count the AnonHugePages fields +for each mapping. + +The number of file transparent huge pages mapped to userspace is available +by reading ShmemPmdMapped and ShmemHugePages fields in ``/proc/meminfo``. +To identify what applications are mapping file transparent huge pages, it +is necessary to read ``/proc/PID/smaps`` and count the FileHugeMapped fields +for each mapping. + +Note that reading the smaps file is expensive and reading it +frequently will incur overhead. + +There are a number of counters in ``/proc/vmstat`` that may be used to +monitor how successfully the system is providing huge pages for use. + +thp_fault_alloc + is incremented every time a huge page is successfully + allocated to handle a page fault. This applies to both the + first time a page is faulted and for COW faults. + +thp_collapse_alloc + is incremented by khugepaged when it has found + a range of pages to collapse into one huge page and has + successfully allocated a new huge page to store the data. + +thp_fault_fallback + is incremented if a page fault fails to allocate + a huge page and instead falls back to using small pages. + +thp_collapse_alloc_failed + is incremented if khugepaged found a range + of pages that should be collapsed into one huge page but failed + the allocation. + +thp_file_alloc + is incremented every time a file huge page is successfully + allocated. + +thp_file_mapped + is incremented every time a file huge page is mapped into + user address space. + +thp_split_page + is incremented every time a huge page is split into base + pages. This can happen for a variety of reasons but a common + reason is that a huge page is old and is being reclaimed. + This action implies splitting all PMD the page mapped with. + +thp_split_page_failed + is incremented if kernel fails to split huge + page. This can happen if the page was pinned by somebody. + +thp_deferred_split_page + is incremented when a huge page is put onto split + queue. This happens when a huge page is partially unmapped and + splitting it would free up some memory. Pages on split queue are + going to be split under memory pressure. + +thp_split_pmd + is incremented every time a PMD split into table of PTEs. + This can happen, for instance, when application calls mprotect() or + munmap() on part of huge page. It doesn't split huge page, only + page table entry. + +thp_zero_page_alloc + is incremented every time a huge zero page is + successfully allocated. It includes allocations which where + dropped due race with other allocation. Note, it doesn't count + every map of the huge zero page, only its allocation. + +thp_zero_page_alloc_failed + is incremented if kernel fails to allocate + huge zero page and falls back to using small pages. + +As the system ages, allocating huge pages may be expensive as the +system uses memory compaction to copy data around memory to free a +huge page for use. There are some counters in ``/proc/vmstat`` to help +monitor this overhead. + +compact_stall + is incremented every time a process stalls to run + memory compaction so that a huge page is free for use. + +compact_success + is incremented if the system compacted memory and + freed a huge page for use. + +compact_fail + is incremented if the system tries to compact memory + but failed. + +compact_pages_moved + is incremented each time a page is moved. If + this value is increasing rapidly, it implies that the system + is copying a lot of data to satisfy the huge page allocation. + It is possible that the cost of copying exceeds any savings + from reduced TLB misses. + +compact_pagemigrate_failed + is incremented when the underlying mechanism + for moving a page failed. + +compact_blocks_moved + is incremented each time memory compaction examines + a huge page aligned range of pages. + +It is possible to establish how long the stalls were using the function +tracer to record how long was spent in __alloc_pages_nodemask and +using the mm_page_alloc tracepoint to identify which allocations were +for huge pages. + +get_user_pages and follow_page +============================== + +get_user_pages and follow_page if run on a hugepage, will return the +head or tail pages as usual (exactly as they would do on +hugetlbfs). Most gup users will only care about the actual physical +address of the page and its temporary pinning to release after the I/O +is complete, so they won't ever notice the fact the page is huge. But +if any driver is going to mangle over the page structure of the tail +page (like for checking page->mapping or other bits that are relevant +for the head page and not the tail page), it should be updated to jump +to check head page instead. Taking reference on any head/tail page would +prevent page from being split by anyone. + +.. note:: + these aren't new constraints to the GUP API, and they match the + same constrains that applies to hugetlbfs too, so any driver capable + of handling GUP on hugetlbfs will also work fine on transparent + hugepage backed mappings. + +In case you can't handle compound pages if they're returned by +follow_page, the FOLL_SPLIT bit can be specified as parameter to +follow_page, so that it will split the hugepages before returning +them. Migration for example passes FOLL_SPLIT as parameter to +follow_page because it's not hugepage aware and in fact it can't work +at all on hugetlbfs (but it instead works fine on transparent +hugepages thanks to FOLL_SPLIT). migration simply can't deal with +hugepages being returned (as it's not only checking the pfn of the +page and pinning it during the copy but it pretends to migrate the +memory in regular page sizes and with regular pte/pmd mappings). + +Optimizing the applications +=========================== + +To be guaranteed that the kernel will map a 2M page immediately in any +memory region, the mmap region has to be hugepage naturally +aligned. posix_memalign() can provide that guarantee. + +Hugetlbfs +========= + +You can use hugetlbfs on a kernel that has transparent hugepage +support enabled just fine as always. No difference can be noted in +hugetlbfs other than there will be less overall fragmentation. All +usual features belonging to hugetlbfs are preserved and +unaffected. libhugetlbfs will also work fine as usual. + +Graceful fallback +================= + +Code walking pagetables but unaware about huge pmds can simply call +split_huge_pmd(vma, pmd, addr) where the pmd is the one returned by +pmd_offset. It's trivial to make the code transparent hugepage aware +by just grepping for "pmd_offset" and adding split_huge_pmd where +missing after pmd_offset returns the pmd. Thanks to the graceful +fallback design, with a one liner change, you can avoid to write +hundred if not thousand of lines of complex code to make your code +hugepage aware. + +If you're not walking pagetables but you run into a physical hugepage +but you can't handle it natively in your code, you can split it by +calling split_huge_page(page). This is what the Linux VM does before +it tries to swapout the hugepage for example. split_huge_page() can fail +if the page is pinned and you must handle this correctly. + +Example to make mremap.c transparent hugepage aware with a one liner +change:: + + diff --git a/mm/mremap.c b/mm/mremap.c + --- a/mm/mremap.c + +++ b/mm/mremap.c + @@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ static pmd_t *get_old_pmd(struct mm_stru + return NULL; + + pmd = pmd_offset(pud, addr); + + split_huge_pmd(vma, pmd, addr); + if (pmd_none_or_clear_bad(pmd)) + return NULL; + +Locking in hugepage aware code +============================== + +We want as much code as possible hugepage aware, as calling +split_huge_page() or split_huge_pmd() has a cost. + +To make pagetable walks huge pmd aware, all you need to do is to call +pmd_trans_huge() on the pmd returned by pmd_offset. You must hold the +mmap_sem in read (or write) mode to be sure an huge pmd cannot be +created from under you by khugepaged (khugepaged collapse_huge_page +takes the mmap_sem in write mode in addition to the anon_vma lock). If +pmd_trans_huge returns false, you just fallback in the old code +paths. If instead pmd_trans_huge returns true, you have to take the +page table lock (pmd_lock()) and re-run pmd_trans_huge. Taking the +page table lock will prevent the huge pmd to be converted into a +regular pmd from under you (split_huge_pmd can run in parallel to the +pagetable walk). If the second pmd_trans_huge returns false, you +should just drop the page table lock and fallback to the old code as +before. Otherwise you can proceed to process the huge pmd and the +hugepage natively. Once finished you can drop the page table lock. + +Refcounts and transparent huge pages +==================================== + +Refcounting on THP is mostly consistent with refcounting on other compound +pages: + + - get_page()/put_page() and GUP operate in head page's ->_refcount. + + - ->_refcount in tail pages is always zero: get_page_unless_zero() never + succeed on tail pages. + + - map/unmap of the pages with PTE entry increment/decrement ->_mapcount + on relevant sub-page of the compound page. + + - map/unmap of the whole compound page accounted in compound_mapcount + (stored in first tail page). For file huge pages, we also increment + ->_mapcount of all sub-pages in order to have race-free detection of + last unmap of subpages. + +PageDoubleMap() indicates that the page is *possibly* mapped with PTEs. + +For anonymous pages PageDoubleMap() also indicates ->_mapcount in all +subpages is offset up by one. This additional reference is required to +get race-free detection of unmap of subpages when we have them mapped with +both PMDs and PTEs. + +This is optimization required to lower overhead of per-subpage mapcount +tracking. The alternative is alter ->_mapcount in all subpages on each +map/unmap of the whole compound page. + +For anonymous pages, we set PG_double_map when a PMD of the page got split +for the first time, but still have PMD mapping. The additional references +go away with last compound_mapcount. + +File pages get PG_double_map set on first map of the page with PTE and +goes away when the page gets evicted from page cache. + +split_huge_page internally has to distribute the refcounts in the head +page to the tail pages before clearing all PG_head/tail bits from the page +structures. It can be done easily for refcounts taken by page table +entries. But we don't have enough information on how to distribute any +additional pins (i.e. from get_user_pages). split_huge_page() fails any +requests to split pinned huge page: it expects page count to be equal to +sum of mapcount of all sub-pages plus one (split_huge_page caller must +have reference for head page). + +split_huge_page uses migration entries to stabilize page->_refcount and +page->_mapcount of anonymous pages. File pages just got unmapped. + +We safe against physical memory scanners too: the only legitimate way +scanner can get reference to a page is get_page_unless_zero(). + +All tail pages have zero ->_refcount until atomic_add(). This prevents the +scanner from getting a reference to the tail page up to that point. After the +atomic_add() we don't care about the ->_refcount value. We already known how +many references should be uncharged from the head page. + +For head page get_page_unless_zero() will succeed and we don't mind. It's +clear where reference should go after split: it will stay on head page. + +Note that split_huge_pmd() doesn't have any limitation on refcounting: +pmd can be split at any point and never fails. + +Partial unmap and deferred_split_huge_page() +============================================ + +Unmapping part of THP (with munmap() or other way) is not going to free +memory immediately. Instead, we detect that a subpage of THP is not in use +in page_remove_rmap() and queue the THP for splitting if memory pressure +comes. Splitting will free up unused subpages. + +Splitting the page right away is not an option due to locking context in +the place where we can detect partial unmap. It's also might be +counterproductive since in many cases partial unmap happens during exit(2) if +a THP crosses a VMA boundary. + +Function deferred_split_huge_page() is used to queue page for splitting. +The splitting itself will happen when we get memory pressure via shrinker +interface. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt b/Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 569d182cc973..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/transhuge.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,573 +0,0 @@ -.. _transhuge: - -============================ -Transparent Hugepage Support -============================ - -Objective -========= - -Performance critical computing applications dealing with large memory -working sets are already running on top of libhugetlbfs and in turn -hugetlbfs. Transparent Hugepage Support is an alternative means of -using huge pages for the backing of virtual memory with huge pages -that supports the automatic promotion and demotion of page sizes and -without the shortcomings of hugetlbfs. - -Currently it only works for anonymous memory mappings and tmpfs/shmem. -But in the future it can expand to other filesystems. - -The reason applications are running faster is because of two -factors. The first factor is almost completely irrelevant and it's not -of significant interest because it'll also have the downside of -requiring larger clear-page copy-page in page faults which is a -potentially negative effect. The first factor consists in taking a -single page fault for each 2M virtual region touched by userland (so -reducing the enter/exit kernel frequency by a 512 times factor). This -only matters the first time the memory is accessed for the lifetime of -a memory mapping. The second long lasting and much more important -factor will affect all subsequent accesses to the memory for the whole -runtime of the application. The second factor consist of two -components: 1) the TLB miss will run faster (especially with -virtualization using nested pagetables but almost always also on bare -metal without virtualization) and 2) a single TLB entry will be -mapping a much larger amount of virtual memory in turn reducing the -number of TLB misses. With virtualization and nested pagetables the -TLB can be mapped of larger size only if both KVM and the Linux guest -are using hugepages but a significant speedup already happens if only -one of the two is using hugepages just because of the fact the TLB -miss is going to run faster. - -Design -====== - -- "graceful fallback": mm components which don't have transparent hugepage - knowledge fall back to breaking huge pmd mapping into table of ptes and, - if necessary, split a transparent hugepage. Therefore these components - can continue working on the regular pages or regular pte mappings. - -- if a hugepage allocation fails because of memory fragmentation, - regular pages should be gracefully allocated instead and mixed in - the same vma without any failure or significant delay and without - userland noticing - -- if some task quits and more hugepages become available (either - immediately in the buddy or through the VM), guest physical memory - backed by regular pages should be relocated on hugepages - automatically (with khugepaged) - -- it doesn't require memory reservation and in turn it uses hugepages - whenever possible (the only possible reservation here is kernelcore= - to avoid unmovable pages to fragment all the memory but such a tweak - is not specific to transparent hugepage support and it's a generic - feature that applies to all dynamic high order allocations in the - kernel) - -Transparent Hugepage Support maximizes the usefulness of free memory -if compared to the reservation approach of hugetlbfs by allowing all -unused memory to be used as cache or other movable (or even unmovable -entities). It doesn't require reservation to prevent hugepage -allocation failures to be noticeable from userland. It allows paging -and all other advanced VM features to be available on the -hugepages. It requires no modifications for applications to take -advantage of it. - -Applications however can be further optimized to take advantage of -this feature, like for example they've been optimized before to avoid -a flood of mmap system calls for every malloc(4k). Optimizing userland -is by far not mandatory and khugepaged already can take care of long -lived page allocations even for hugepage unaware applications that -deals with large amounts of memory. - -In certain cases when hugepages are enabled system wide, application -may end up allocating more memory resources. An application may mmap a -large region but only touch 1 byte of it, in that case a 2M page might -be allocated instead of a 4k page for no good. This is why it's -possible to disable hugepages system-wide and to only have them inside -MADV_HUGEPAGE madvise regions. - -Embedded systems should enable hugepages only inside madvise regions -to eliminate any risk of wasting any precious byte of memory and to -only run faster. - -Applications that gets a lot of benefit from hugepages and that don't -risk to lose memory by using hugepages, should use -madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE) on their critical mmapped regions. - -sysfs -===== - -Transparent Hugepage Support for anonymous memory can be entirely disabled -(mostly for debugging purposes) or only enabled inside MADV_HUGEPAGE -regions (to avoid the risk of consuming more memory resources) or enabled -system wide. This can be achieved with one of:: - - echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled - echo madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled - echo never >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled - -It's also possible to limit defrag efforts in the VM to generate -anonymous hugepages in case they're not immediately free to madvise -regions or to never try to defrag memory and simply fallback to regular -pages unless hugepages are immediately available. Clearly if we spend CPU -time to defrag memory, we would expect to gain even more by the fact we -use hugepages later instead of regular pages. This isn't always -guaranteed, but it may be more likely in case the allocation is for a -MADV_HUGEPAGE region. - -:: - - echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag - echo defer >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag - echo defer+madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag - echo madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag - echo never >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag - -always - means that an application requesting THP will stall on - allocation failure and directly reclaim pages and compact - memory in an effort to allocate a THP immediately. This may be - desirable for virtual machines that benefit heavily from THP - use and are willing to delay the VM start to utilise them. - -defer - means that an application will wake kswapd in the background - to reclaim pages and wake kcompactd to compact memory so that - THP is available in the near future. It's the responsibility - of khugepaged to then install the THP pages later. - -defer+madvise - will enter direct reclaim and compaction like ``always``, but - only for regions that have used madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE); all - other regions will wake kswapd in the background to reclaim - pages and wake kcompactd to compact memory so that THP is - available in the near future. - -madvise - will enter direct reclaim like ``always`` but only for regions - that are have used madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE). This is the default - behaviour. - -never - should be self-explanatory. - -By default kernel tries to use huge zero page on read page fault to -anonymous mapping. It's possible to disable huge zero page by writing 0 -or enable it back by writing 1:: - - echo 0 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/use_zero_page - echo 1 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/use_zero_page - -Some userspace (such as a test program, or an optimized memory allocation -library) may want to know the size (in bytes) of a transparent hugepage:: - - cat /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hpage_pmd_size - -khugepaged will be automatically started when -transparent_hugepage/enabled is set to "always" or "madvise, and it'll -be automatically shutdown if it's set to "never". - -khugepaged runs usually at low frequency so while one may not want to -invoke defrag algorithms synchronously during the page faults, it -should be worth invoking defrag at least in khugepaged. However it's -also possible to disable defrag in khugepaged by writing 0 or enable -defrag in khugepaged by writing 1:: - - echo 0 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/defrag - echo 1 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/defrag - -You can also control how many pages khugepaged should scan at each -pass:: - - /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/pages_to_scan - -and how many milliseconds to wait in khugepaged between each pass (you -can set this to 0 to run khugepaged at 100% utilization of one core):: - - /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/scan_sleep_millisecs - -and how many milliseconds to wait in khugepaged if there's an hugepage -allocation failure to throttle the next allocation attempt:: - - /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/alloc_sleep_millisecs - -The khugepaged progress can be seen in the number of pages collapsed:: - - /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/pages_collapsed - -for each pass:: - - /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/full_scans - -``max_ptes_none`` specifies how many extra small pages (that are -not already mapped) can be allocated when collapsing a group -of small pages into one large page:: - - /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_none - -A higher value leads to use additional memory for programs. -A lower value leads to gain less thp performance. Value of -max_ptes_none can waste cpu time very little, you can -ignore it. - -``max_ptes_swap`` specifies how many pages can be brought in from -swap when collapsing a group of pages into a transparent huge page:: - - /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_swap - -A higher value can cause excessive swap IO and waste -memory. A lower value can prevent THPs from being -collapsed, resulting fewer pages being collapsed into -THPs, and lower memory access performance. - -Boot parameter -============== - -You can change the sysfs boot time defaults of Transparent Hugepage -Support by passing the parameter ``transparent_hugepage=always`` or -``transparent_hugepage=madvise`` or ``transparent_hugepage=never`` -to the kernel command line. - -Hugepages in tmpfs/shmem -======================== - -You can control hugepage allocation policy in tmpfs with mount option -``huge=``. It can have following values: - -always - Attempt to allocate huge pages every time we need a new page; - -never - Do not allocate huge pages; - -within_size - Only allocate huge page if it will be fully within i_size. - Also respect fadvise()/madvise() hints; - -advise - Only allocate huge pages if requested with fadvise()/madvise(); - -The default policy is ``never``. - -``mount -o remount,huge= /mountpoint`` works fine after mount: remounting -``huge=never`` will not attempt to break up huge pages at all, just stop more -from being allocated. - -There's also sysfs knob to control hugepage allocation policy for internal -shmem mount: /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/shmem_enabled. The mount -is used for SysV SHM, memfds, shared anonymous mmaps (of /dev/zero or -MAP_ANONYMOUS), GPU drivers' DRM objects, Ashmem. - -In addition to policies listed above, shmem_enabled allows two further -values: - -deny - For use in emergencies, to force the huge option off from - all mounts; -force - Force the huge option on for all - very useful for testing; - -Need of application restart -=========================== - -The transparent_hugepage/enabled values and tmpfs mount option only affect -future behavior. So to make them effective you need to restart any -application that could have been using hugepages. This also applies to the -regions registered in khugepaged. - -Monitoring usage -================ - -The number of anonymous transparent huge pages currently used by the -system is available by reading the AnonHugePages field in ``/proc/meminfo``. -To identify what applications are using anonymous transparent huge pages, -it is necessary to read ``/proc/PID/smaps`` and count the AnonHugePages fields -for each mapping. - -The number of file transparent huge pages mapped to userspace is available -by reading ShmemPmdMapped and ShmemHugePages fields in ``/proc/meminfo``. -To identify what applications are mapping file transparent huge pages, it -is necessary to read ``/proc/PID/smaps`` and count the FileHugeMapped fields -for each mapping. - -Note that reading the smaps file is expensive and reading it -frequently will incur overhead. - -There are a number of counters in ``/proc/vmstat`` that may be used to -monitor how successfully the system is providing huge pages for use. - -thp_fault_alloc - is incremented every time a huge page is successfully - allocated to handle a page fault. This applies to both the - first time a page is faulted and for COW faults. - -thp_collapse_alloc - is incremented by khugepaged when it has found - a range of pages to collapse into one huge page and has - successfully allocated a new huge page to store the data. - -thp_fault_fallback - is incremented if a page fault fails to allocate - a huge page and instead falls back to using small pages. - -thp_collapse_alloc_failed - is incremented if khugepaged found a range - of pages that should be collapsed into one huge page but failed - the allocation. - -thp_file_alloc - is incremented every time a file huge page is successfully - allocated. - -thp_file_mapped - is incremented every time a file huge page is mapped into - user address space. - -thp_split_page - is incremented every time a huge page is split into base - pages. This can happen for a variety of reasons but a common - reason is that a huge page is old and is being reclaimed. - This action implies splitting all PMD the page mapped with. - -thp_split_page_failed - is incremented if kernel fails to split huge - page. This can happen if the page was pinned by somebody. - -thp_deferred_split_page - is incremented when a huge page is put onto split - queue. This happens when a huge page is partially unmapped and - splitting it would free up some memory. Pages on split queue are - going to be split under memory pressure. - -thp_split_pmd - is incremented every time a PMD split into table of PTEs. - This can happen, for instance, when application calls mprotect() or - munmap() on part of huge page. It doesn't split huge page, only - page table entry. - -thp_zero_page_alloc - is incremented every time a huge zero page is - successfully allocated. It includes allocations which where - dropped due race with other allocation. Note, it doesn't count - every map of the huge zero page, only its allocation. - -thp_zero_page_alloc_failed - is incremented if kernel fails to allocate - huge zero page and falls back to using small pages. - -As the system ages, allocating huge pages may be expensive as the -system uses memory compaction to copy data around memory to free a -huge page for use. There are some counters in ``/proc/vmstat`` to help -monitor this overhead. - -compact_stall - is incremented every time a process stalls to run - memory compaction so that a huge page is free for use. - -compact_success - is incremented if the system compacted memory and - freed a huge page for use. - -compact_fail - is incremented if the system tries to compact memory - but failed. - -compact_pages_moved - is incremented each time a page is moved. If - this value is increasing rapidly, it implies that the system - is copying a lot of data to satisfy the huge page allocation. - It is possible that the cost of copying exceeds any savings - from reduced TLB misses. - -compact_pagemigrate_failed - is incremented when the underlying mechanism - for moving a page failed. - -compact_blocks_moved - is incremented each time memory compaction examines - a huge page aligned range of pages. - -It is possible to establish how long the stalls were using the function -tracer to record how long was spent in __alloc_pages_nodemask and -using the mm_page_alloc tracepoint to identify which allocations were -for huge pages. - -get_user_pages and follow_page -============================== - -get_user_pages and follow_page if run on a hugepage, will return the -head or tail pages as usual (exactly as they would do on -hugetlbfs). Most gup users will only care about the actual physical -address of the page and its temporary pinning to release after the I/O -is complete, so they won't ever notice the fact the page is huge. But -if any driver is going to mangle over the page structure of the tail -page (like for checking page->mapping or other bits that are relevant -for the head page and not the tail page), it should be updated to jump -to check head page instead. Taking reference on any head/tail page would -prevent page from being split by anyone. - -.. note:: - these aren't new constraints to the GUP API, and they match the - same constrains that applies to hugetlbfs too, so any driver capable - of handling GUP on hugetlbfs will also work fine on transparent - hugepage backed mappings. - -In case you can't handle compound pages if they're returned by -follow_page, the FOLL_SPLIT bit can be specified as parameter to -follow_page, so that it will split the hugepages before returning -them. Migration for example passes FOLL_SPLIT as parameter to -follow_page because it's not hugepage aware and in fact it can't work -at all on hugetlbfs (but it instead works fine on transparent -hugepages thanks to FOLL_SPLIT). migration simply can't deal with -hugepages being returned (as it's not only checking the pfn of the -page and pinning it during the copy but it pretends to migrate the -memory in regular page sizes and with regular pte/pmd mappings). - -Optimizing the applications -=========================== - -To be guaranteed that the kernel will map a 2M page immediately in any -memory region, the mmap region has to be hugepage naturally -aligned. posix_memalign() can provide that guarantee. - -Hugetlbfs -========= - -You can use hugetlbfs on a kernel that has transparent hugepage -support enabled just fine as always. No difference can be noted in -hugetlbfs other than there will be less overall fragmentation. All -usual features belonging to hugetlbfs are preserved and -unaffected. libhugetlbfs will also work fine as usual. - -Graceful fallback -================= - -Code walking pagetables but unaware about huge pmds can simply call -split_huge_pmd(vma, pmd, addr) where the pmd is the one returned by -pmd_offset. It's trivial to make the code transparent hugepage aware -by just grepping for "pmd_offset" and adding split_huge_pmd where -missing after pmd_offset returns the pmd. Thanks to the graceful -fallback design, with a one liner change, you can avoid to write -hundred if not thousand of lines of complex code to make your code -hugepage aware. - -If you're not walking pagetables but you run into a physical hugepage -but you can't handle it natively in your code, you can split it by -calling split_huge_page(page). This is what the Linux VM does before -it tries to swapout the hugepage for example. split_huge_page() can fail -if the page is pinned and you must handle this correctly. - -Example to make mremap.c transparent hugepage aware with a one liner -change:: - - diff --git a/mm/mremap.c b/mm/mremap.c - --- a/mm/mremap.c - +++ b/mm/mremap.c - @@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ static pmd_t *get_old_pmd(struct mm_stru - return NULL; - - pmd = pmd_offset(pud, addr); - + split_huge_pmd(vma, pmd, addr); - if (pmd_none_or_clear_bad(pmd)) - return NULL; - -Locking in hugepage aware code -============================== - -We want as much code as possible hugepage aware, as calling -split_huge_page() or split_huge_pmd() has a cost. - -To make pagetable walks huge pmd aware, all you need to do is to call -pmd_trans_huge() on the pmd returned by pmd_offset. You must hold the -mmap_sem in read (or write) mode to be sure an huge pmd cannot be -created from under you by khugepaged (khugepaged collapse_huge_page -takes the mmap_sem in write mode in addition to the anon_vma lock). If -pmd_trans_huge returns false, you just fallback in the old code -paths. If instead pmd_trans_huge returns true, you have to take the -page table lock (pmd_lock()) and re-run pmd_trans_huge. Taking the -page table lock will prevent the huge pmd to be converted into a -regular pmd from under you (split_huge_pmd can run in parallel to the -pagetable walk). If the second pmd_trans_huge returns false, you -should just drop the page table lock and fallback to the old code as -before. Otherwise you can proceed to process the huge pmd and the -hugepage natively. Once finished you can drop the page table lock. - -Refcounts and transparent huge pages -==================================== - -Refcounting on THP is mostly consistent with refcounting on other compound -pages: - - - get_page()/put_page() and GUP operate in head page's ->_refcount. - - - ->_refcount in tail pages is always zero: get_page_unless_zero() never - succeed on tail pages. - - - map/unmap of the pages with PTE entry increment/decrement ->_mapcount - on relevant sub-page of the compound page. - - - map/unmap of the whole compound page accounted in compound_mapcount - (stored in first tail page). For file huge pages, we also increment - ->_mapcount of all sub-pages in order to have race-free detection of - last unmap of subpages. - -PageDoubleMap() indicates that the page is *possibly* mapped with PTEs. - -For anonymous pages PageDoubleMap() also indicates ->_mapcount in all -subpages is offset up by one. This additional reference is required to -get race-free detection of unmap of subpages when we have them mapped with -both PMDs and PTEs. - -This is optimization required to lower overhead of per-subpage mapcount -tracking. The alternative is alter ->_mapcount in all subpages on each -map/unmap of the whole compound page. - -For anonymous pages, we set PG_double_map when a PMD of the page got split -for the first time, but still have PMD mapping. The additional references -go away with last compound_mapcount. - -File pages get PG_double_map set on first map of the page with PTE and -goes away when the page gets evicted from page cache. - -split_huge_page internally has to distribute the refcounts in the head -page to the tail pages before clearing all PG_head/tail bits from the page -structures. It can be done easily for refcounts taken by page table -entries. But we don't have enough information on how to distribute any -additional pins (i.e. from get_user_pages). split_huge_page() fails any -requests to split pinned huge page: it expects page count to be equal to -sum of mapcount of all sub-pages plus one (split_huge_page caller must -have reference for head page). - -split_huge_page uses migration entries to stabilize page->_refcount and -page->_mapcount of anonymous pages. File pages just got unmapped. - -We safe against physical memory scanners too: the only legitimate way -scanner can get reference to a page is get_page_unless_zero(). - -All tail pages have zero ->_refcount until atomic_add(). This prevents the -scanner from getting a reference to the tail page up to that point. After the -atomic_add() we don't care about the ->_refcount value. We already known how -many references should be uncharged from the head page. - -For head page get_page_unless_zero() will succeed and we don't mind. It's -clear where reference should go after split: it will stay on head page. - -Note that split_huge_pmd() doesn't have any limitation on refcounting: -pmd can be split at any point and never fails. - -Partial unmap and deferred_split_huge_page() -============================================ - -Unmapping part of THP (with munmap() or other way) is not going to free -memory immediately. Instead, we detect that a subpage of THP is not in use -in page_remove_rmap() and queue the THP for splitting if memory pressure -comes. Splitting will free up unused subpages. - -Splitting the page right away is not an option due to locking context in -the place where we can detect partial unmap. It's also might be -counterproductive since in many cases partial unmap happens during exit(2) if -a THP crosses a VMA boundary. - -Function deferred_split_huge_page() is used to queue page for splitting. -The splitting itself will happen when we get memory pressure via shrinker -interface. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.rst b/Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..fdd84cb8d511 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.rst @@ -0,0 +1,614 @@ +.. _unevictable_lru: + +============================== +Unevictable LRU Infrastructure +============================== + +.. contents:: :local: + + +Introduction +============ + +This document describes the Linux memory manager's "Unevictable LRU" +infrastructure and the use of this to manage several types of "unevictable" +pages. + +The document attempts to provide the overall rationale behind this mechanism +and the rationale for some of the design decisions that drove the +implementation. The latter design rationale is discussed in the context of an +implementation description. Admittedly, one can obtain the implementation +details - the "what does it do?" - by reading the code. One hopes that the +descriptions below add value by provide the answer to "why does it do that?". + + + +The Unevictable LRU +=================== + +The Unevictable LRU facility adds an additional LRU list to track unevictable +pages and to hide these pages from vmscan. This mechanism is based on a patch +by Larry Woodman of Red Hat to address several scalability problems with page +reclaim in Linux. The problems have been observed at customer sites on large +memory x86_64 systems. + +To illustrate this with an example, a non-NUMA x86_64 platform with 128GB of +main memory will have over 32 million 4k pages in a single zone. When a large +fraction of these pages are not evictable for any reason [see below], vmscan +will spend a lot of time scanning the LRU lists looking for the small fraction +of pages that are evictable. This can result in a situation where all CPUs are +spending 100% of their time in vmscan for hours or days on end, with the system +completely unresponsive. + +The unevictable list addresses the following classes of unevictable pages: + + * Those owned by ramfs. + + * Those mapped into SHM_LOCK'd shared memory regions. + + * Those mapped into VM_LOCKED [mlock()ed] VMAs. + +The infrastructure may also be able to handle other conditions that make pages +unevictable, either by definition or by circumstance, in the future. + + +The Unevictable Page List +------------------------- + +The Unevictable LRU infrastructure consists of an additional, per-zone, LRU list +called the "unevictable" list and an associated page flag, PG_unevictable, to +indicate that the page is being managed on the unevictable list. + +The PG_unevictable flag is analogous to, and mutually exclusive with, the +PG_active flag in that it indicates on which LRU list a page resides when +PG_lru is set. + +The Unevictable LRU infrastructure maintains unevictable pages on an additional +LRU list for a few reasons: + + (1) We get to "treat unevictable pages just like we treat other pages in the + system - which means we get to use the same code to manipulate them, the + same code to isolate them (for migrate, etc.), the same code to keep track + of the statistics, etc..." [Rik van Riel] + + (2) We want to be able to migrate unevictable pages between nodes for memory + defragmentation, workload management and memory hotplug. The linux kernel + can only migrate pages that it can successfully isolate from the LRU + lists. If we were to maintain pages elsewhere than on an LRU-like list, + where they can be found by isolate_lru_page(), we would prevent their + migration, unless we reworked migration code to find the unevictable pages + itself. + + +The unevictable list does not differentiate between file-backed and anonymous, +swap-backed pages. This differentiation is only important while the pages are, +in fact, evictable. + +The unevictable list benefits from the "arrayification" of the per-zone LRU +lists and statistics originally proposed and posted by Christoph Lameter. + +The unevictable list does not use the LRU pagevec mechanism. Rather, +unevictable pages are placed directly on the page's zone's unevictable list +under the zone lru_lock. This allows us to prevent the stranding of pages on +the unevictable list when one task has the page isolated from the LRU and other +tasks are changing the "evictability" state of the page. + + +Memory Control Group Interaction +-------------------------------- + +The unevictable LRU facility interacts with the memory control group [aka +memory controller; see Documentation/cgroup-v1/memory.txt] by extending the +lru_list enum. + +The memory controller data structure automatically gets a per-zone unevictable +list as a result of the "arrayification" of the per-zone LRU lists (one per +lru_list enum element). The memory controller tracks the movement of pages to +and from the unevictable list. + +When a memory control group comes under memory pressure, the controller will +not attempt to reclaim pages on the unevictable list. This has a couple of +effects: + + (1) Because the pages are "hidden" from reclaim on the unevictable list, the + reclaim process can be more efficient, dealing only with pages that have a + chance of being reclaimed. + + (2) On the other hand, if too many of the pages charged to the control group + are unevictable, the evictable portion of the working set of the tasks in + the control group may not fit into the available memory. This can cause + the control group to thrash or to OOM-kill tasks. + + +.. _mark_addr_space_unevict: + +Marking Address Spaces Unevictable +---------------------------------- + +For facilities such as ramfs none of the pages attached to the address space +may be evicted. To prevent eviction of any such pages, the AS_UNEVICTABLE +address space flag is provided, and this can be manipulated by a filesystem +using a number of wrapper functions: + + * ``void mapping_set_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);`` + + Mark the address space as being completely unevictable. + + * ``void mapping_clear_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);`` + + Mark the address space as being evictable. + + * ``int mapping_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);`` + + Query the address space, and return true if it is completely + unevictable. + +These are currently used in two places in the kernel: + + (1) By ramfs to mark the address spaces of its inodes when they are created, + and this mark remains for the life of the inode. + + (2) By SYSV SHM to mark SHM_LOCK'd address spaces until SHM_UNLOCK is called. + + Note that SHM_LOCK is not required to page in the locked pages if they're + swapped out; the application must touch the pages manually if it wants to + ensure they're in memory. + + +Detecting Unevictable Pages +--------------------------- + +The function page_evictable() in vmscan.c determines whether a page is +evictable or not using the query function outlined above [see section +:ref:`Marking address spaces unevictable `] +to check the AS_UNEVICTABLE flag. + +For address spaces that are so marked after being populated (as SHM regions +might be), the lock action (eg: SHM_LOCK) can be lazy, and need not populate +the page tables for the region as does, for example, mlock(), nor need it make +any special effort to push any pages in the SHM_LOCK'd area to the unevictable +list. Instead, vmscan will do this if and when it encounters the pages during +a reclamation scan. + +On an unlock action (such as SHM_UNLOCK), the unlocker (eg: shmctl()) must scan +the pages in the region and "rescue" them from the unevictable list if no other +condition is keeping them unevictable. If an unevictable region is destroyed, +the pages are also "rescued" from the unevictable list in the process of +freeing them. + +page_evictable() also checks for mlocked pages by testing an additional page +flag, PG_mlocked (as wrapped by PageMlocked()), which is set when a page is +faulted into a VM_LOCKED vma, or found in a vma being VM_LOCKED. + + +Vmscan's Handling of Unevictable Pages +-------------------------------------- + +If unevictable pages are culled in the fault path, or moved to the unevictable +list at mlock() or mmap() time, vmscan will not encounter the pages until they +have become evictable again (via munlock() for example) and have been "rescued" +from the unevictable list. However, there may be situations where we decide, +for the sake of expediency, to leave a unevictable page on one of the regular +active/inactive LRU lists for vmscan to deal with. vmscan checks for such +pages in all of the shrink_{active|inactive|page}_list() functions and will +"cull" such pages that it encounters: that is, it diverts those pages to the +unevictable list for the zone being scanned. + +There may be situations where a page is mapped into a VM_LOCKED VMA, but the +page is not marked as PG_mlocked. Such pages will make it all the way to +shrink_page_list() where they will be detected when vmscan walks the reverse +map in try_to_unmap(). If try_to_unmap() returns SWAP_MLOCK, +shrink_page_list() will cull the page at that point. + +To "cull" an unevictable page, vmscan simply puts the page back on the LRU list +using putback_lru_page() - the inverse operation to isolate_lru_page() - after +dropping the page lock. Because the condition which makes the page unevictable +may change once the page is unlocked, putback_lru_page() will recheck the +unevictable state of a page that it places on the unevictable list. If the +page has become unevictable, putback_lru_page() removes it from the list and +retries, including the page_unevictable() test. Because such a race is a rare +event and movement of pages onto the unevictable list should be rare, these +extra evictabilty checks should not occur in the majority of calls to +putback_lru_page(). + + +MLOCKED Pages +============= + +The unevictable page list is also useful for mlock(), in addition to ramfs and +SYSV SHM. Note that mlock() is only available in CONFIG_MMU=y situations; in +NOMMU situations, all mappings are effectively mlocked. + + +History +------- + +The "Unevictable mlocked Pages" infrastructure is based on work originally +posted by Nick Piggin in an RFC patch entitled "mm: mlocked pages off LRU". +Nick posted his patch as an alternative to a patch posted by Christoph Lameter +to achieve the same objective: hiding mlocked pages from vmscan. + +In Nick's patch, he used one of the struct page LRU list link fields as a count +of VM_LOCKED VMAs that map the page. This use of the link field for a count +prevented the management of the pages on an LRU list, and thus mlocked pages +were not migratable as isolate_lru_page() could not find them, and the LRU list +link field was not available to the migration subsystem. + +Nick resolved this by putting mlocked pages back on the lru list before +attempting to isolate them, thus abandoning the count of VM_LOCKED VMAs. When +Nick's patch was integrated with the Unevictable LRU work, the count was +replaced by walking the reverse map to determine whether any VM_LOCKED VMAs +mapped the page. More on this below. + + +Basic Management +---------------- + +mlocked pages - pages mapped into a VM_LOCKED VMA - are a class of unevictable +pages. When such a page has been "noticed" by the memory management subsystem, +the page is marked with the PG_mlocked flag. This can be manipulated using the +PageMlocked() functions. + +A PG_mlocked page will be placed on the unevictable list when it is added to +the LRU. Such pages can be "noticed" by memory management in several places: + + (1) in the mlock()/mlockall() system call handlers; + + (2) in the mmap() system call handler when mmapping a region with the + MAP_LOCKED flag; + + (3) mmapping a region in a task that has called mlockall() with the MCL_FUTURE + flag + + (4) in the fault path, if mlocked pages are "culled" in the fault path, + and when a VM_LOCKED stack segment is expanded; or + + (5) as mentioned above, in vmscan:shrink_page_list() when attempting to + reclaim a page in a VM_LOCKED VMA via try_to_unmap() + +all of which result in the VM_LOCKED flag being set for the VMA if it doesn't +already have it set. + +mlocked pages become unlocked and rescued from the unevictable list when: + + (1) mapped in a range unlocked via the munlock()/munlockall() system calls; + + (2) munmap()'d out of the last VM_LOCKED VMA that maps the page, including + unmapping at task exit; + + (3) when the page is truncated from the last VM_LOCKED VMA of an mmapped file; + or + + (4) before a page is COW'd in a VM_LOCKED VMA. + + +mlock()/mlockall() System Call Handling +--------------------------------------- + +Both [do\_]mlock() and [do\_]mlockall() system call handlers call mlock_fixup() +for each VMA in the range specified by the call. In the case of mlockall(), +this is the entire active address space of the task. Note that mlock_fixup() +is used for both mlocking and munlocking a range of memory. A call to mlock() +an already VM_LOCKED VMA, or to munlock() a VMA that is not VM_LOCKED is +treated as a no-op, and mlock_fixup() simply returns. + +If the VMA passes some filtering as described in "Filtering Special Vmas" +below, mlock_fixup() will attempt to merge the VMA with its neighbors or split +off a subset of the VMA if the range does not cover the entire VMA. Once the +VMA has been merged or split or neither, mlock_fixup() will call +populate_vma_page_range() to fault in the pages via get_user_pages() and to +mark the pages as mlocked via mlock_vma_page(). + +Note that the VMA being mlocked might be mapped with PROT_NONE. In this case, +get_user_pages() will be unable to fault in the pages. That's okay. If pages +do end up getting faulted into this VM_LOCKED VMA, we'll handle them in the +fault path or in vmscan. + +Also note that a page returned by get_user_pages() could be truncated or +migrated out from under us, while we're trying to mlock it. To detect this, +populate_vma_page_range() checks page_mapping() after acquiring the page lock. +If the page is still associated with its mapping, we'll go ahead and call +mlock_vma_page(). If the mapping is gone, we just unlock the page and move on. +In the worst case, this will result in a page mapped in a VM_LOCKED VMA +remaining on a normal LRU list without being PageMlocked(). Again, vmscan will +detect and cull such pages. + +mlock_vma_page() will call TestSetPageMlocked() for each page returned by +get_user_pages(). We use TestSetPageMlocked() because the page might already +be mlocked by another task/VMA and we don't want to do extra work. We +especially do not want to count an mlocked page more than once in the +statistics. If the page was already mlocked, mlock_vma_page() need do nothing +more. + +If the page was NOT already mlocked, mlock_vma_page() attempts to isolate the +page from the LRU, as it is likely on the appropriate active or inactive list +at that time. If the isolate_lru_page() succeeds, mlock_vma_page() will put +back the page - by calling putback_lru_page() - which will notice that the page +is now mlocked and divert the page to the zone's unevictable list. If +mlock_vma_page() is unable to isolate the page from the LRU, vmscan will handle +it later if and when it attempts to reclaim the page. + + +Filtering Special VMAs +---------------------- + +mlock_fixup() filters several classes of "special" VMAs: + +1) VMAs with VM_IO or VM_PFNMAP set are skipped entirely. The pages behind + these mappings are inherently pinned, so we don't need to mark them as + mlocked. In any case, most of the pages have no struct page in which to so + mark the page. Because of this, get_user_pages() will fail for these VMAs, + so there is no sense in attempting to visit them. + +2) VMAs mapping hugetlbfs page are already effectively pinned into memory. We + neither need nor want to mlock() these pages. However, to preserve the + prior behavior of mlock() - before the unevictable/mlock changes - + mlock_fixup() will call make_pages_present() in the hugetlbfs VMA range to + allocate the huge pages and populate the ptes. + +3) VMAs with VM_DONTEXPAND are generally userspace mappings of kernel pages, + such as the VDSO page, relay channel pages, etc. These pages + are inherently unevictable and are not managed on the LRU lists. + mlock_fixup() treats these VMAs the same as hugetlbfs VMAs. It calls + make_pages_present() to populate the ptes. + +Note that for all of these special VMAs, mlock_fixup() does not set the +VM_LOCKED flag. Therefore, we won't have to deal with them later during +munlock(), munmap() or task exit. Neither does mlock_fixup() account these +VMAs against the task's "locked_vm". + +.. _munlock_munlockall_handling: + +munlock()/munlockall() System Call Handling +------------------------------------------- + +The munlock() and munlockall() system calls are handled by the same functions - +do_mlock[all]() - as the mlock() and mlockall() system calls with the unlock vs +lock operation indicated by an argument. So, these system calls are also +handled by mlock_fixup(). Again, if called for an already munlocked VMA, +mlock_fixup() simply returns. Because of the VMA filtering discussed above, +VM_LOCKED will not be set in any "special" VMAs. So, these VMAs will be +ignored for munlock. + +If the VMA is VM_LOCKED, mlock_fixup() again attempts to merge or split off the +specified range. The range is then munlocked via the function +populate_vma_page_range() - the same function used to mlock a VMA range - +passing a flag to indicate that munlock() is being performed. + +Because the VMA access protections could have been changed to PROT_NONE after +faulting in and mlocking pages, get_user_pages() was unreliable for visiting +these pages for munlocking. Because we don't want to leave pages mlocked, +get_user_pages() was enhanced to accept a flag to ignore the permissions when +fetching the pages - all of which should be resident as a result of previous +mlocking. + +For munlock(), populate_vma_page_range() unlocks individual pages by calling +munlock_vma_page(). munlock_vma_page() unconditionally clears the PG_mlocked +flag using TestClearPageMlocked(). As with mlock_vma_page(), +munlock_vma_page() use the Test*PageMlocked() function to handle the case where +the page might have already been unlocked by another task. If the page was +mlocked, munlock_vma_page() updates that zone statistics for the number of +mlocked pages. Note, however, that at this point we haven't checked whether +the page is mapped by other VM_LOCKED VMAs. + +We can't call try_to_munlock(), the function that walks the reverse map to +check for other VM_LOCKED VMAs, without first isolating the page from the LRU. +try_to_munlock() is a variant of try_to_unmap() and thus requires that the page +not be on an LRU list [more on these below]. However, the call to +isolate_lru_page() could fail, in which case we couldn't try_to_munlock(). So, +we go ahead and clear PG_mlocked up front, as this might be the only chance we +have. If we can successfully isolate the page, we go ahead and +try_to_munlock(), which will restore the PG_mlocked flag and update the zone +page statistics if it finds another VMA holding the page mlocked. If we fail +to isolate the page, we'll have left a potentially mlocked page on the LRU. +This is fine, because we'll catch it later if and if vmscan tries to reclaim +the page. This should be relatively rare. + + +Migrating MLOCKED Pages +----------------------- + +A page that is being migrated has been isolated from the LRU lists and is held +locked across unmapping of the page, updating the page's address space entry +and copying the contents and state, until the page table entry has been +replaced with an entry that refers to the new page. Linux supports migration +of mlocked pages and other unevictable pages. This involves simply moving the +PG_mlocked and PG_unevictable states from the old page to the new page. + +Note that page migration can race with mlocking or munlocking of the same page. +This has been discussed from the mlock/munlock perspective in the respective +sections above. Both processes (migration and m[un]locking) hold the page +locked. This provides the first level of synchronization. Page migration +zeros out the page_mapping of the old page before unlocking it, so m[un]lock +can skip these pages by testing the page mapping under page lock. + +To complete page migration, we place the new and old pages back onto the LRU +after dropping the page lock. The "unneeded" page - old page on success, new +page on failure - will be freed when the reference count held by the migration +process is released. To ensure that we don't strand pages on the unevictable +list because of a race between munlock and migration, page migration uses the +putback_lru_page() function to add migrated pages back to the LRU. + + +Compacting MLOCKED Pages +------------------------ + +The unevictable LRU can be scanned for compactable regions and the default +behavior is to do so. /proc/sys/vm/compact_unevictable_allowed controls +this behavior (see Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt). Once scanning of the +unevictable LRU is enabled, the work of compaction is mostly handled by +the page migration code and the same work flow as described in MIGRATING +MLOCKED PAGES will apply. + +MLOCKING Transparent Huge Pages +------------------------------- + +A transparent huge page is represented by a single entry on an LRU list. +Therefore, we can only make unevictable an entire compound page, not +individual subpages. + +If a user tries to mlock() part of a huge page, we want the rest of the +page to be reclaimable. + +We cannot just split the page on partial mlock() as split_huge_page() can +fail and new intermittent failure mode for the syscall is undesirable. + +We handle this by keeping PTE-mapped huge pages on normal LRU lists: the +PMD on border of VM_LOCKED VMA will be split into PTE table. + +This way the huge page is accessible for vmscan. Under memory pressure the +page will be split, subpages which belong to VM_LOCKED VMAs will be moved +to unevictable LRU and the rest can be reclaimed. + +See also comment in follow_trans_huge_pmd(). + +mmap(MAP_LOCKED) System Call Handling +------------------------------------- + +In addition the mlock()/mlockall() system calls, an application can request +that a region of memory be mlocked supplying the MAP_LOCKED flag to the mmap() +call. There is one important and subtle difference here, though. mmap() + mlock() +will fail if the range cannot be faulted in (e.g. because mm_populate fails) +and returns with ENOMEM while mmap(MAP_LOCKED) will not fail. The mmaped +area will still have properties of the locked area - aka. pages will not get +swapped out - but major page faults to fault memory in might still happen. + +Furthermore, any mmap() call or brk() call that expands the heap by a +task that has previously called mlockall() with the MCL_FUTURE flag will result +in the newly mapped memory being mlocked. Before the unevictable/mlock +changes, the kernel simply called make_pages_present() to allocate pages and +populate the page table. + +To mlock a range of memory under the unevictable/mlock infrastructure, the +mmap() handler and task address space expansion functions call +populate_vma_page_range() specifying the vma and the address range to mlock. + +The callers of populate_vma_page_range() will have already added the memory range +to be mlocked to the task's "locked_vm". To account for filtered VMAs, +populate_vma_page_range() returns the number of pages NOT mlocked. All of the +callers then subtract a non-negative return value from the task's locked_vm. A +negative return value represent an error - for example, from get_user_pages() +attempting to fault in a VMA with PROT_NONE access. In this case, we leave the +memory range accounted as locked_vm, as the protections could be changed later +and pages allocated into that region. + + +munmap()/exit()/exec() System Call Handling +------------------------------------------- + +When unmapping an mlocked region of memory, whether by an explicit call to +munmap() or via an internal unmap from exit() or exec() processing, we must +munlock the pages if we're removing the last VM_LOCKED VMA that maps the pages. +Before the unevictable/mlock changes, mlocking did not mark the pages in any +way, so unmapping them required no processing. + +To munlock a range of memory under the unevictable/mlock infrastructure, the +munmap() handler and task address space call tear down function +munlock_vma_pages_all(). The name reflects the observation that one always +specifies the entire VMA range when munlock()ing during unmap of a region. +Because of the VMA filtering when mlocking() regions, only "normal" VMAs that +actually contain mlocked pages will be passed to munlock_vma_pages_all(). + +munlock_vma_pages_all() clears the VM_LOCKED VMA flag and, like mlock_fixup() +for the munlock case, calls __munlock_vma_pages_range() to walk the page table +for the VMA's memory range and munlock_vma_page() each resident page mapped by +the VMA. This effectively munlocks the page, only if this is the last +VM_LOCKED VMA that maps the page. + + +try_to_unmap() +-------------- + +Pages can, of course, be mapped into multiple VMAs. Some of these VMAs may +have VM_LOCKED flag set. It is possible for a page mapped into one or more +VM_LOCKED VMAs not to have the PG_mlocked flag set and therefore reside on one +of the active or inactive LRU lists. This could happen if, for example, a task +in the process of munlocking the page could not isolate the page from the LRU. +As a result, vmscan/shrink_page_list() might encounter such a page as described +in section "vmscan's handling of unevictable pages". To handle this situation, +try_to_unmap() checks for VM_LOCKED VMAs while it is walking a page's reverse +map. + +try_to_unmap() is always called, by either vmscan for reclaim or for page +migration, with the argument page locked and isolated from the LRU. Separate +functions handle anonymous and mapped file and KSM pages, as these types of +pages have different reverse map lookup mechanisms, with different locking. +In each case, whether rmap_walk_anon() or rmap_walk_file() or rmap_walk_ksm(), +it will call try_to_unmap_one() for every VMA which might contain the page. + +When trying to reclaim, if try_to_unmap_one() finds the page in a VM_LOCKED +VMA, it will then mlock the page via mlock_vma_page() instead of unmapping it, +and return SWAP_MLOCK to indicate that the page is unevictable: and the scan +stops there. + +mlock_vma_page() is called while holding the page table's lock (in addition +to the page lock, and the rmap lock): to serialize against concurrent mlock or +munlock or munmap system calls, mm teardown (munlock_vma_pages_all), reclaim, +holepunching, and truncation of file pages and their anonymous COWed pages. + + +try_to_munlock() Reverse Map Scan +--------------------------------- + +.. warning:: + [!] TODO/FIXME: a better name might be page_mlocked() - analogous to the + page_referenced() reverse map walker. + +When munlock_vma_page() [see section :ref:`munlock()/munlockall() System Call +Handling ` above] tries to munlock a +page, it needs to determine whether or not the page is mapped by any +VM_LOCKED VMA without actually attempting to unmap all PTEs from the +page. For this purpose, the unevictable/mlock infrastructure +introduced a variant of try_to_unmap() called try_to_munlock(). + +try_to_munlock() calls the same functions as try_to_unmap() for anonymous and +mapped file and KSM pages with a flag argument specifying unlock versus unmap +processing. Again, these functions walk the respective reverse maps looking +for VM_LOCKED VMAs. When such a VMA is found, as in the try_to_unmap() case, +the functions mlock the page via mlock_vma_page() and return SWAP_MLOCK. This +undoes the pre-clearing of the page's PG_mlocked done by munlock_vma_page. + +Note that try_to_munlock()'s reverse map walk must visit every VMA in a page's +reverse map to determine that a page is NOT mapped into any VM_LOCKED VMA. +However, the scan can terminate when it encounters a VM_LOCKED VMA. +Although try_to_munlock() might be called a great many times when munlocking a +large region or tearing down a large address space that has been mlocked via +mlockall(), overall this is a fairly rare event. + + +Page Reclaim in shrink_*_list() +------------------------------- + +shrink_active_list() culls any obviously unevictable pages - i.e. +!page_evictable(page) - diverting these to the unevictable list. +However, shrink_active_list() only sees unevictable pages that made it onto the +active/inactive lru lists. Note that these pages do not have PageUnevictable +set - otherwise they would be on the unevictable list and shrink_active_list +would never see them. + +Some examples of these unevictable pages on the LRU lists are: + + (1) ramfs pages that have been placed on the LRU lists when first allocated. + + (2) SHM_LOCK'd shared memory pages. shmctl(SHM_LOCK) does not attempt to + allocate or fault in the pages in the shared memory region. This happens + when an application accesses the page the first time after SHM_LOCK'ing + the segment. + + (3) mlocked pages that could not be isolated from the LRU and moved to the + unevictable list in mlock_vma_page(). + +shrink_inactive_list() also diverts any unevictable pages that it finds on the +inactive lists to the appropriate zone's unevictable list. + +shrink_inactive_list() should only see SHM_LOCK'd pages that became SHM_LOCK'd +after shrink_active_list() had moved them to the inactive list, or pages mapped +into VM_LOCKED VMAs that munlock_vma_page() couldn't isolate from the LRU to +recheck via try_to_munlock(). shrink_inactive_list() won't notice the latter, +but will pass on to shrink_page_list(). + +shrink_page_list() again culls obviously unevictable pages that it could +encounter for similar reason to shrink_inactive_list(). Pages mapped into +VM_LOCKED VMAs but without PG_mlocked set will make it all the way to +try_to_unmap(). shrink_page_list() will divert them to the unevictable list +when try_to_unmap() returns SWAP_MLOCK, as discussed above. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.txt b/Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fdd84cb8d511..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/unevictable-lru.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,614 +0,0 @@ -.. _unevictable_lru: - -============================== -Unevictable LRU Infrastructure -============================== - -.. contents:: :local: - - -Introduction -============ - -This document describes the Linux memory manager's "Unevictable LRU" -infrastructure and the use of this to manage several types of "unevictable" -pages. - -The document attempts to provide the overall rationale behind this mechanism -and the rationale for some of the design decisions that drove the -implementation. The latter design rationale is discussed in the context of an -implementation description. Admittedly, one can obtain the implementation -details - the "what does it do?" - by reading the code. One hopes that the -descriptions below add value by provide the answer to "why does it do that?". - - - -The Unevictable LRU -=================== - -The Unevictable LRU facility adds an additional LRU list to track unevictable -pages and to hide these pages from vmscan. This mechanism is based on a patch -by Larry Woodman of Red Hat to address several scalability problems with page -reclaim in Linux. The problems have been observed at customer sites on large -memory x86_64 systems. - -To illustrate this with an example, a non-NUMA x86_64 platform with 128GB of -main memory will have over 32 million 4k pages in a single zone. When a large -fraction of these pages are not evictable for any reason [see below], vmscan -will spend a lot of time scanning the LRU lists looking for the small fraction -of pages that are evictable. This can result in a situation where all CPUs are -spending 100% of their time in vmscan for hours or days on end, with the system -completely unresponsive. - -The unevictable list addresses the following classes of unevictable pages: - - * Those owned by ramfs. - - * Those mapped into SHM_LOCK'd shared memory regions. - - * Those mapped into VM_LOCKED [mlock()ed] VMAs. - -The infrastructure may also be able to handle other conditions that make pages -unevictable, either by definition or by circumstance, in the future. - - -The Unevictable Page List -------------------------- - -The Unevictable LRU infrastructure consists of an additional, per-zone, LRU list -called the "unevictable" list and an associated page flag, PG_unevictable, to -indicate that the page is being managed on the unevictable list. - -The PG_unevictable flag is analogous to, and mutually exclusive with, the -PG_active flag in that it indicates on which LRU list a page resides when -PG_lru is set. - -The Unevictable LRU infrastructure maintains unevictable pages on an additional -LRU list for a few reasons: - - (1) We get to "treat unevictable pages just like we treat other pages in the - system - which means we get to use the same code to manipulate them, the - same code to isolate them (for migrate, etc.), the same code to keep track - of the statistics, etc..." [Rik van Riel] - - (2) We want to be able to migrate unevictable pages between nodes for memory - defragmentation, workload management and memory hotplug. The linux kernel - can only migrate pages that it can successfully isolate from the LRU - lists. If we were to maintain pages elsewhere than on an LRU-like list, - where they can be found by isolate_lru_page(), we would prevent their - migration, unless we reworked migration code to find the unevictable pages - itself. - - -The unevictable list does not differentiate between file-backed and anonymous, -swap-backed pages. This differentiation is only important while the pages are, -in fact, evictable. - -The unevictable list benefits from the "arrayification" of the per-zone LRU -lists and statistics originally proposed and posted by Christoph Lameter. - -The unevictable list does not use the LRU pagevec mechanism. Rather, -unevictable pages are placed directly on the page's zone's unevictable list -under the zone lru_lock. This allows us to prevent the stranding of pages on -the unevictable list when one task has the page isolated from the LRU and other -tasks are changing the "evictability" state of the page. - - -Memory Control Group Interaction --------------------------------- - -The unevictable LRU facility interacts with the memory control group [aka -memory controller; see Documentation/cgroup-v1/memory.txt] by extending the -lru_list enum. - -The memory controller data structure automatically gets a per-zone unevictable -list as a result of the "arrayification" of the per-zone LRU lists (one per -lru_list enum element). The memory controller tracks the movement of pages to -and from the unevictable list. - -When a memory control group comes under memory pressure, the controller will -not attempt to reclaim pages on the unevictable list. This has a couple of -effects: - - (1) Because the pages are "hidden" from reclaim on the unevictable list, the - reclaim process can be more efficient, dealing only with pages that have a - chance of being reclaimed. - - (2) On the other hand, if too many of the pages charged to the control group - are unevictable, the evictable portion of the working set of the tasks in - the control group may not fit into the available memory. This can cause - the control group to thrash or to OOM-kill tasks. - - -.. _mark_addr_space_unevict: - -Marking Address Spaces Unevictable ----------------------------------- - -For facilities such as ramfs none of the pages attached to the address space -may be evicted. To prevent eviction of any such pages, the AS_UNEVICTABLE -address space flag is provided, and this can be manipulated by a filesystem -using a number of wrapper functions: - - * ``void mapping_set_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);`` - - Mark the address space as being completely unevictable. - - * ``void mapping_clear_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);`` - - Mark the address space as being evictable. - - * ``int mapping_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);`` - - Query the address space, and return true if it is completely - unevictable. - -These are currently used in two places in the kernel: - - (1) By ramfs to mark the address spaces of its inodes when they are created, - and this mark remains for the life of the inode. - - (2) By SYSV SHM to mark SHM_LOCK'd address spaces until SHM_UNLOCK is called. - - Note that SHM_LOCK is not required to page in the locked pages if they're - swapped out; the application must touch the pages manually if it wants to - ensure they're in memory. - - -Detecting Unevictable Pages ---------------------------- - -The function page_evictable() in vmscan.c determines whether a page is -evictable or not using the query function outlined above [see section -:ref:`Marking address spaces unevictable `] -to check the AS_UNEVICTABLE flag. - -For address spaces that are so marked after being populated (as SHM regions -might be), the lock action (eg: SHM_LOCK) can be lazy, and need not populate -the page tables for the region as does, for example, mlock(), nor need it make -any special effort to push any pages in the SHM_LOCK'd area to the unevictable -list. Instead, vmscan will do this if and when it encounters the pages during -a reclamation scan. - -On an unlock action (such as SHM_UNLOCK), the unlocker (eg: shmctl()) must scan -the pages in the region and "rescue" them from the unevictable list if no other -condition is keeping them unevictable. If an unevictable region is destroyed, -the pages are also "rescued" from the unevictable list in the process of -freeing them. - -page_evictable() also checks for mlocked pages by testing an additional page -flag, PG_mlocked (as wrapped by PageMlocked()), which is set when a page is -faulted into a VM_LOCKED vma, or found in a vma being VM_LOCKED. - - -Vmscan's Handling of Unevictable Pages --------------------------------------- - -If unevictable pages are culled in the fault path, or moved to the unevictable -list at mlock() or mmap() time, vmscan will not encounter the pages until they -have become evictable again (via munlock() for example) and have been "rescued" -from the unevictable list. However, there may be situations where we decide, -for the sake of expediency, to leave a unevictable page on one of the regular -active/inactive LRU lists for vmscan to deal with. vmscan checks for such -pages in all of the shrink_{active|inactive|page}_list() functions and will -"cull" such pages that it encounters: that is, it diverts those pages to the -unevictable list for the zone being scanned. - -There may be situations where a page is mapped into a VM_LOCKED VMA, but the -page is not marked as PG_mlocked. Such pages will make it all the way to -shrink_page_list() where they will be detected when vmscan walks the reverse -map in try_to_unmap(). If try_to_unmap() returns SWAP_MLOCK, -shrink_page_list() will cull the page at that point. - -To "cull" an unevictable page, vmscan simply puts the page back on the LRU list -using putback_lru_page() - the inverse operation to isolate_lru_page() - after -dropping the page lock. Because the condition which makes the page unevictable -may change once the page is unlocked, putback_lru_page() will recheck the -unevictable state of a page that it places on the unevictable list. If the -page has become unevictable, putback_lru_page() removes it from the list and -retries, including the page_unevictable() test. Because such a race is a rare -event and movement of pages onto the unevictable list should be rare, these -extra evictabilty checks should not occur in the majority of calls to -putback_lru_page(). - - -MLOCKED Pages -============= - -The unevictable page list is also useful for mlock(), in addition to ramfs and -SYSV SHM. Note that mlock() is only available in CONFIG_MMU=y situations; in -NOMMU situations, all mappings are effectively mlocked. - - -History -------- - -The "Unevictable mlocked Pages" infrastructure is based on work originally -posted by Nick Piggin in an RFC patch entitled "mm: mlocked pages off LRU". -Nick posted his patch as an alternative to a patch posted by Christoph Lameter -to achieve the same objective: hiding mlocked pages from vmscan. - -In Nick's patch, he used one of the struct page LRU list link fields as a count -of VM_LOCKED VMAs that map the page. This use of the link field for a count -prevented the management of the pages on an LRU list, and thus mlocked pages -were not migratable as isolate_lru_page() could not find them, and the LRU list -link field was not available to the migration subsystem. - -Nick resolved this by putting mlocked pages back on the lru list before -attempting to isolate them, thus abandoning the count of VM_LOCKED VMAs. When -Nick's patch was integrated with the Unevictable LRU work, the count was -replaced by walking the reverse map to determine whether any VM_LOCKED VMAs -mapped the page. More on this below. - - -Basic Management ----------------- - -mlocked pages - pages mapped into a VM_LOCKED VMA - are a class of unevictable -pages. When such a page has been "noticed" by the memory management subsystem, -the page is marked with the PG_mlocked flag. This can be manipulated using the -PageMlocked() functions. - -A PG_mlocked page will be placed on the unevictable list when it is added to -the LRU. Such pages can be "noticed" by memory management in several places: - - (1) in the mlock()/mlockall() system call handlers; - - (2) in the mmap() system call handler when mmapping a region with the - MAP_LOCKED flag; - - (3) mmapping a region in a task that has called mlockall() with the MCL_FUTURE - flag - - (4) in the fault path, if mlocked pages are "culled" in the fault path, - and when a VM_LOCKED stack segment is expanded; or - - (5) as mentioned above, in vmscan:shrink_page_list() when attempting to - reclaim a page in a VM_LOCKED VMA via try_to_unmap() - -all of which result in the VM_LOCKED flag being set for the VMA if it doesn't -already have it set. - -mlocked pages become unlocked and rescued from the unevictable list when: - - (1) mapped in a range unlocked via the munlock()/munlockall() system calls; - - (2) munmap()'d out of the last VM_LOCKED VMA that maps the page, including - unmapping at task exit; - - (3) when the page is truncated from the last VM_LOCKED VMA of an mmapped file; - or - - (4) before a page is COW'd in a VM_LOCKED VMA. - - -mlock()/mlockall() System Call Handling ---------------------------------------- - -Both [do\_]mlock() and [do\_]mlockall() system call handlers call mlock_fixup() -for each VMA in the range specified by the call. In the case of mlockall(), -this is the entire active address space of the task. Note that mlock_fixup() -is used for both mlocking and munlocking a range of memory. A call to mlock() -an already VM_LOCKED VMA, or to munlock() a VMA that is not VM_LOCKED is -treated as a no-op, and mlock_fixup() simply returns. - -If the VMA passes some filtering as described in "Filtering Special Vmas" -below, mlock_fixup() will attempt to merge the VMA with its neighbors or split -off a subset of the VMA if the range does not cover the entire VMA. Once the -VMA has been merged or split or neither, mlock_fixup() will call -populate_vma_page_range() to fault in the pages via get_user_pages() and to -mark the pages as mlocked via mlock_vma_page(). - -Note that the VMA being mlocked might be mapped with PROT_NONE. In this case, -get_user_pages() will be unable to fault in the pages. That's okay. If pages -do end up getting faulted into this VM_LOCKED VMA, we'll handle them in the -fault path or in vmscan. - -Also note that a page returned by get_user_pages() could be truncated or -migrated out from under us, while we're trying to mlock it. To detect this, -populate_vma_page_range() checks page_mapping() after acquiring the page lock. -If the page is still associated with its mapping, we'll go ahead and call -mlock_vma_page(). If the mapping is gone, we just unlock the page and move on. -In the worst case, this will result in a page mapped in a VM_LOCKED VMA -remaining on a normal LRU list without being PageMlocked(). Again, vmscan will -detect and cull such pages. - -mlock_vma_page() will call TestSetPageMlocked() for each page returned by -get_user_pages(). We use TestSetPageMlocked() because the page might already -be mlocked by another task/VMA and we don't want to do extra work. We -especially do not want to count an mlocked page more than once in the -statistics. If the page was already mlocked, mlock_vma_page() need do nothing -more. - -If the page was NOT already mlocked, mlock_vma_page() attempts to isolate the -page from the LRU, as it is likely on the appropriate active or inactive list -at that time. If the isolate_lru_page() succeeds, mlock_vma_page() will put -back the page - by calling putback_lru_page() - which will notice that the page -is now mlocked and divert the page to the zone's unevictable list. If -mlock_vma_page() is unable to isolate the page from the LRU, vmscan will handle -it later if and when it attempts to reclaim the page. - - -Filtering Special VMAs ----------------------- - -mlock_fixup() filters several classes of "special" VMAs: - -1) VMAs with VM_IO or VM_PFNMAP set are skipped entirely. The pages behind - these mappings are inherently pinned, so we don't need to mark them as - mlocked. In any case, most of the pages have no struct page in which to so - mark the page. Because of this, get_user_pages() will fail for these VMAs, - so there is no sense in attempting to visit them. - -2) VMAs mapping hugetlbfs page are already effectively pinned into memory. We - neither need nor want to mlock() these pages. However, to preserve the - prior behavior of mlock() - before the unevictable/mlock changes - - mlock_fixup() will call make_pages_present() in the hugetlbfs VMA range to - allocate the huge pages and populate the ptes. - -3) VMAs with VM_DONTEXPAND are generally userspace mappings of kernel pages, - such as the VDSO page, relay channel pages, etc. These pages - are inherently unevictable and are not managed on the LRU lists. - mlock_fixup() treats these VMAs the same as hugetlbfs VMAs. It calls - make_pages_present() to populate the ptes. - -Note that for all of these special VMAs, mlock_fixup() does not set the -VM_LOCKED flag. Therefore, we won't have to deal with them later during -munlock(), munmap() or task exit. Neither does mlock_fixup() account these -VMAs against the task's "locked_vm". - -.. _munlock_munlockall_handling: - -munlock()/munlockall() System Call Handling -------------------------------------------- - -The munlock() and munlockall() system calls are handled by the same functions - -do_mlock[all]() - as the mlock() and mlockall() system calls with the unlock vs -lock operation indicated by an argument. So, these system calls are also -handled by mlock_fixup(). Again, if called for an already munlocked VMA, -mlock_fixup() simply returns. Because of the VMA filtering discussed above, -VM_LOCKED will not be set in any "special" VMAs. So, these VMAs will be -ignored for munlock. - -If the VMA is VM_LOCKED, mlock_fixup() again attempts to merge or split off the -specified range. The range is then munlocked via the function -populate_vma_page_range() - the same function used to mlock a VMA range - -passing a flag to indicate that munlock() is being performed. - -Because the VMA access protections could have been changed to PROT_NONE after -faulting in and mlocking pages, get_user_pages() was unreliable for visiting -these pages for munlocking. Because we don't want to leave pages mlocked, -get_user_pages() was enhanced to accept a flag to ignore the permissions when -fetching the pages - all of which should be resident as a result of previous -mlocking. - -For munlock(), populate_vma_page_range() unlocks individual pages by calling -munlock_vma_page(). munlock_vma_page() unconditionally clears the PG_mlocked -flag using TestClearPageMlocked(). As with mlock_vma_page(), -munlock_vma_page() use the Test*PageMlocked() function to handle the case where -the page might have already been unlocked by another task. If the page was -mlocked, munlock_vma_page() updates that zone statistics for the number of -mlocked pages. Note, however, that at this point we haven't checked whether -the page is mapped by other VM_LOCKED VMAs. - -We can't call try_to_munlock(), the function that walks the reverse map to -check for other VM_LOCKED VMAs, without first isolating the page from the LRU. -try_to_munlock() is a variant of try_to_unmap() and thus requires that the page -not be on an LRU list [more on these below]. However, the call to -isolate_lru_page() could fail, in which case we couldn't try_to_munlock(). So, -we go ahead and clear PG_mlocked up front, as this might be the only chance we -have. If we can successfully isolate the page, we go ahead and -try_to_munlock(), which will restore the PG_mlocked flag and update the zone -page statistics if it finds another VMA holding the page mlocked. If we fail -to isolate the page, we'll have left a potentially mlocked page on the LRU. -This is fine, because we'll catch it later if and if vmscan tries to reclaim -the page. This should be relatively rare. - - -Migrating MLOCKED Pages ------------------------ - -A page that is being migrated has been isolated from the LRU lists and is held -locked across unmapping of the page, updating the page's address space entry -and copying the contents and state, until the page table entry has been -replaced with an entry that refers to the new page. Linux supports migration -of mlocked pages and other unevictable pages. This involves simply moving the -PG_mlocked and PG_unevictable states from the old page to the new page. - -Note that page migration can race with mlocking or munlocking of the same page. -This has been discussed from the mlock/munlock perspective in the respective -sections above. Both processes (migration and m[un]locking) hold the page -locked. This provides the first level of synchronization. Page migration -zeros out the page_mapping of the old page before unlocking it, so m[un]lock -can skip these pages by testing the page mapping under page lock. - -To complete page migration, we place the new and old pages back onto the LRU -after dropping the page lock. The "unneeded" page - old page on success, new -page on failure - will be freed when the reference count held by the migration -process is released. To ensure that we don't strand pages on the unevictable -list because of a race between munlock and migration, page migration uses the -putback_lru_page() function to add migrated pages back to the LRU. - - -Compacting MLOCKED Pages ------------------------- - -The unevictable LRU can be scanned for compactable regions and the default -behavior is to do so. /proc/sys/vm/compact_unevictable_allowed controls -this behavior (see Documentation/sysctl/vm.txt). Once scanning of the -unevictable LRU is enabled, the work of compaction is mostly handled by -the page migration code and the same work flow as described in MIGRATING -MLOCKED PAGES will apply. - -MLOCKING Transparent Huge Pages -------------------------------- - -A transparent huge page is represented by a single entry on an LRU list. -Therefore, we can only make unevictable an entire compound page, not -individual subpages. - -If a user tries to mlock() part of a huge page, we want the rest of the -page to be reclaimable. - -We cannot just split the page on partial mlock() as split_huge_page() can -fail and new intermittent failure mode for the syscall is undesirable. - -We handle this by keeping PTE-mapped huge pages on normal LRU lists: the -PMD on border of VM_LOCKED VMA will be split into PTE table. - -This way the huge page is accessible for vmscan. Under memory pressure the -page will be split, subpages which belong to VM_LOCKED VMAs will be moved -to unevictable LRU and the rest can be reclaimed. - -See also comment in follow_trans_huge_pmd(). - -mmap(MAP_LOCKED) System Call Handling -------------------------------------- - -In addition the mlock()/mlockall() system calls, an application can request -that a region of memory be mlocked supplying the MAP_LOCKED flag to the mmap() -call. There is one important and subtle difference here, though. mmap() + mlock() -will fail if the range cannot be faulted in (e.g. because mm_populate fails) -and returns with ENOMEM while mmap(MAP_LOCKED) will not fail. The mmaped -area will still have properties of the locked area - aka. pages will not get -swapped out - but major page faults to fault memory in might still happen. - -Furthermore, any mmap() call or brk() call that expands the heap by a -task that has previously called mlockall() with the MCL_FUTURE flag will result -in the newly mapped memory being mlocked. Before the unevictable/mlock -changes, the kernel simply called make_pages_present() to allocate pages and -populate the page table. - -To mlock a range of memory under the unevictable/mlock infrastructure, the -mmap() handler and task address space expansion functions call -populate_vma_page_range() specifying the vma and the address range to mlock. - -The callers of populate_vma_page_range() will have already added the memory range -to be mlocked to the task's "locked_vm". To account for filtered VMAs, -populate_vma_page_range() returns the number of pages NOT mlocked. All of the -callers then subtract a non-negative return value from the task's locked_vm. A -negative return value represent an error - for example, from get_user_pages() -attempting to fault in a VMA with PROT_NONE access. In this case, we leave the -memory range accounted as locked_vm, as the protections could be changed later -and pages allocated into that region. - - -munmap()/exit()/exec() System Call Handling -------------------------------------------- - -When unmapping an mlocked region of memory, whether by an explicit call to -munmap() or via an internal unmap from exit() or exec() processing, we must -munlock the pages if we're removing the last VM_LOCKED VMA that maps the pages. -Before the unevictable/mlock changes, mlocking did not mark the pages in any -way, so unmapping them required no processing. - -To munlock a range of memory under the unevictable/mlock infrastructure, the -munmap() handler and task address space call tear down function -munlock_vma_pages_all(). The name reflects the observation that one always -specifies the entire VMA range when munlock()ing during unmap of a region. -Because of the VMA filtering when mlocking() regions, only "normal" VMAs that -actually contain mlocked pages will be passed to munlock_vma_pages_all(). - -munlock_vma_pages_all() clears the VM_LOCKED VMA flag and, like mlock_fixup() -for the munlock case, calls __munlock_vma_pages_range() to walk the page table -for the VMA's memory range and munlock_vma_page() each resident page mapped by -the VMA. This effectively munlocks the page, only if this is the last -VM_LOCKED VMA that maps the page. - - -try_to_unmap() --------------- - -Pages can, of course, be mapped into multiple VMAs. Some of these VMAs may -have VM_LOCKED flag set. It is possible for a page mapped into one or more -VM_LOCKED VMAs not to have the PG_mlocked flag set and therefore reside on one -of the active or inactive LRU lists. This could happen if, for example, a task -in the process of munlocking the page could not isolate the page from the LRU. -As a result, vmscan/shrink_page_list() might encounter such a page as described -in section "vmscan's handling of unevictable pages". To handle this situation, -try_to_unmap() checks for VM_LOCKED VMAs while it is walking a page's reverse -map. - -try_to_unmap() is always called, by either vmscan for reclaim or for page -migration, with the argument page locked and isolated from the LRU. Separate -functions handle anonymous and mapped file and KSM pages, as these types of -pages have different reverse map lookup mechanisms, with different locking. -In each case, whether rmap_walk_anon() or rmap_walk_file() or rmap_walk_ksm(), -it will call try_to_unmap_one() for every VMA which might contain the page. - -When trying to reclaim, if try_to_unmap_one() finds the page in a VM_LOCKED -VMA, it will then mlock the page via mlock_vma_page() instead of unmapping it, -and return SWAP_MLOCK to indicate that the page is unevictable: and the scan -stops there. - -mlock_vma_page() is called while holding the page table's lock (in addition -to the page lock, and the rmap lock): to serialize against concurrent mlock or -munlock or munmap system calls, mm teardown (munlock_vma_pages_all), reclaim, -holepunching, and truncation of file pages and their anonymous COWed pages. - - -try_to_munlock() Reverse Map Scan ---------------------------------- - -.. warning:: - [!] TODO/FIXME: a better name might be page_mlocked() - analogous to the - page_referenced() reverse map walker. - -When munlock_vma_page() [see section :ref:`munlock()/munlockall() System Call -Handling ` above] tries to munlock a -page, it needs to determine whether or not the page is mapped by any -VM_LOCKED VMA without actually attempting to unmap all PTEs from the -page. For this purpose, the unevictable/mlock infrastructure -introduced a variant of try_to_unmap() called try_to_munlock(). - -try_to_munlock() calls the same functions as try_to_unmap() for anonymous and -mapped file and KSM pages with a flag argument specifying unlock versus unmap -processing. Again, these functions walk the respective reverse maps looking -for VM_LOCKED VMAs. When such a VMA is found, as in the try_to_unmap() case, -the functions mlock the page via mlock_vma_page() and return SWAP_MLOCK. This -undoes the pre-clearing of the page's PG_mlocked done by munlock_vma_page. - -Note that try_to_munlock()'s reverse map walk must visit every VMA in a page's -reverse map to determine that a page is NOT mapped into any VM_LOCKED VMA. -However, the scan can terminate when it encounters a VM_LOCKED VMA. -Although try_to_munlock() might be called a great many times when munlocking a -large region or tearing down a large address space that has been mlocked via -mlockall(), overall this is a fairly rare event. - - -Page Reclaim in shrink_*_list() -------------------------------- - -shrink_active_list() culls any obviously unevictable pages - i.e. -!page_evictable(page) - diverting these to the unevictable list. -However, shrink_active_list() only sees unevictable pages that made it onto the -active/inactive lru lists. Note that these pages do not have PageUnevictable -set - otherwise they would be on the unevictable list and shrink_active_list -would never see them. - -Some examples of these unevictable pages on the LRU lists are: - - (1) ramfs pages that have been placed on the LRU lists when first allocated. - - (2) SHM_LOCK'd shared memory pages. shmctl(SHM_LOCK) does not attempt to - allocate or fault in the pages in the shared memory region. This happens - when an application accesses the page the first time after SHM_LOCK'ing - the segment. - - (3) mlocked pages that could not be isolated from the LRU and moved to the - unevictable list in mlock_vma_page(). - -shrink_inactive_list() also diverts any unevictable pages that it finds on the -inactive lists to the appropriate zone's unevictable list. - -shrink_inactive_list() should only see SHM_LOCK'd pages that became SHM_LOCK'd -after shrink_active_list() had moved them to the inactive list, or pages mapped -into VM_LOCKED VMAs that munlock_vma_page() couldn't isolate from the LRU to -recheck via try_to_munlock(). shrink_inactive_list() won't notice the latter, -but will pass on to shrink_page_list(). - -shrink_page_list() again culls obviously unevictable pages that it could -encounter for similar reason to shrink_inactive_list(). Pages mapped into -VM_LOCKED VMAs but without PG_mlocked set will make it all the way to -try_to_unmap(). shrink_page_list() will divert them to the unevictable list -when try_to_unmap() returns SWAP_MLOCK, as discussed above. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.rst b/Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..5048cf661a8a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.rst @@ -0,0 +1,241 @@ +.. _userfaultfd: + +=========== +Userfaultfd +=========== + +Objective +========= + +Userfaults allow the implementation of on-demand paging from userland +and more generally they allow userland to take control of various +memory page faults, something otherwise only the kernel code could do. + +For example userfaults allows a proper and more optimal implementation +of the PROT_NONE+SIGSEGV trick. + +Design +====== + +Userfaults are delivered and resolved through the userfaultfd syscall. + +The userfaultfd (aside from registering and unregistering virtual +memory ranges) provides two primary functionalities: + +1) read/POLLIN protocol to notify a userland thread of the faults + happening + +2) various UFFDIO_* ioctls that can manage the virtual memory regions + registered in the userfaultfd that allows userland to efficiently + resolve the userfaults it receives via 1) or to manage the virtual + memory in the background + +The real advantage of userfaults if compared to regular virtual memory +management of mremap/mprotect is that the userfaults in all their +operations never involve heavyweight structures like vmas (in fact the +userfaultfd runtime load never takes the mmap_sem for writing). + +Vmas are not suitable for page- (or hugepage) granular fault tracking +when dealing with virtual address spaces that could span +Terabytes. Too many vmas would be needed for that. + +The userfaultfd once opened by invoking the syscall, can also be +passed using unix domain sockets to a manager process, so the same +manager process could handle the userfaults of a multitude of +different processes without them being aware about what is going on +(well of course unless they later try to use the userfaultfd +themselves on the same region the manager is already tracking, which +is a corner case that would currently return -EBUSY). + +API +=== + +When first opened the userfaultfd must be enabled invoking the +UFFDIO_API ioctl specifying a uffdio_api.api value set to UFFD_API (or +a later API version) which will specify the read/POLLIN protocol +userland intends to speak on the UFFD and the uffdio_api.features +userland requires. The UFFDIO_API ioctl if successful (i.e. if the +requested uffdio_api.api is spoken also by the running kernel and the +requested features are going to be enabled) will return into +uffdio_api.features and uffdio_api.ioctls two 64bit bitmasks of +respectively all the available features of the read(2) protocol and +the generic ioctl available. + +The uffdio_api.features bitmask returned by the UFFDIO_API ioctl +defines what memory types are supported by the userfaultfd and what +events, except page fault notifications, may be generated. + +If the kernel supports registering userfaultfd ranges on hugetlbfs +virtual memory areas, UFFD_FEATURE_MISSING_HUGETLBFS will be set in +uffdio_api.features. Similarly, UFFD_FEATURE_MISSING_SHMEM will be +set if the kernel supports registering userfaultfd ranges on shared +memory (covering all shmem APIs, i.e. tmpfs, IPCSHM, /dev/zero +MAP_SHARED, memfd_create, etc). + +The userland application that wants to use userfaultfd with hugetlbfs +or shared memory need to set the corresponding flag in +uffdio_api.features to enable those features. + +If the userland desires to receive notifications for events other than +page faults, it has to verify that uffdio_api.features has appropriate +UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_* bits set. These events are described in more +detail below in "Non-cooperative userfaultfd" section. + +Once the userfaultfd has been enabled the UFFDIO_REGISTER ioctl should +be invoked (if present in the returned uffdio_api.ioctls bitmask) to +register a memory range in the userfaultfd by setting the +uffdio_register structure accordingly. The uffdio_register.mode +bitmask will specify to the kernel which kind of faults to track for +the range (UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING would track missing +pages). The UFFDIO_REGISTER ioctl will return the +uffdio_register.ioctls bitmask of ioctls that are suitable to resolve +userfaults on the range registered. Not all ioctls will necessarily be +supported for all memory types depending on the underlying virtual +memory backend (anonymous memory vs tmpfs vs real filebacked +mappings). + +Userland can use the uffdio_register.ioctls to manage the virtual +address space in the background (to add or potentially also remove +memory from the userfaultfd registered range). This means a userfault +could be triggering just before userland maps in the background the +user-faulted page. + +The primary ioctl to resolve userfaults is UFFDIO_COPY. That +atomically copies a page into the userfault registered range and wakes +up the blocked userfaults (unless uffdio_copy.mode & +UFFDIO_COPY_MODE_DONTWAKE is set). Other ioctl works similarly to +UFFDIO_COPY. They're atomic as in guaranteeing that nothing can see an +half copied page since it'll keep userfaulting until the copy has +finished. + +QEMU/KVM +======== + +QEMU/KVM is using the userfaultfd syscall to implement postcopy live +migration. Postcopy live migration is one form of memory +externalization consisting of a virtual machine running with part or +all of its memory residing on a different node in the cloud. The +userfaultfd abstraction is generic enough that not a single line of +KVM kernel code had to be modified in order to add postcopy live +migration to QEMU. + +Guest async page faults, FOLL_NOWAIT and all other GUP features work +just fine in combination with userfaults. Userfaults trigger async +page faults in the guest scheduler so those guest processes that +aren't waiting for userfaults (i.e. network bound) can keep running in +the guest vcpus. + +It is generally beneficial to run one pass of precopy live migration +just before starting postcopy live migration, in order to avoid +generating userfaults for readonly guest regions. + +The implementation of postcopy live migration currently uses one +single bidirectional socket but in the future two different sockets +will be used (to reduce the latency of the userfaults to the minimum +possible without having to decrease /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem). + +The QEMU in the source node writes all pages that it knows are missing +in the destination node, into the socket, and the migration thread of +the QEMU running in the destination node runs UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE +ioctls on the userfaultfd in order to map the received pages into the +guest (UFFDIO_ZEROCOPY is used if the source page was a zero page). + +A different postcopy thread in the destination node listens with +poll() to the userfaultfd in parallel. When a POLLIN event is +generated after a userfault triggers, the postcopy thread read() from +the userfaultfd and receives the fault address (or -EAGAIN in case the +userfault was already resolved and waken by a UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE run +by the parallel QEMU migration thread). + +After the QEMU postcopy thread (running in the destination node) gets +the userfault address it writes the information about the missing page +into the socket. The QEMU source node receives the information and +roughly "seeks" to that page address and continues sending all +remaining missing pages from that new page offset. Soon after that +(just the time to flush the tcp_wmem queue through the network) the +migration thread in the QEMU running in the destination node will +receive the page that triggered the userfault and it'll map it as +usual with the UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE (without actually knowing if it +was spontaneously sent by the source or if it was an urgent page +requested through a userfault). + +By the time the userfaults start, the QEMU in the destination node +doesn't need to keep any per-page state bitmap relative to the live +migration around and a single per-page bitmap has to be maintained in +the QEMU running in the source node to know which pages are still +missing in the destination node. The bitmap in the source node is +checked to find which missing pages to send in round robin and we seek +over it when receiving incoming userfaults. After sending each page of +course the bitmap is updated accordingly. It's also useful to avoid +sending the same page twice (in case the userfault is read by the +postcopy thread just before UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE runs in the migration +thread). + +Non-cooperative userfaultfd +=========================== + +When the userfaultfd is monitored by an external manager, the manager +must be able to track changes in the process virtual memory +layout. Userfaultfd can notify the manager about such changes using +the same read(2) protocol as for the page fault notifications. The +manager has to explicitly enable these events by setting appropriate +bits in uffdio_api.features passed to UFFDIO_API ioctl: + +UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_FORK + enable userfaultfd hooks for fork(). When this feature is + enabled, the userfaultfd context of the parent process is + duplicated into the newly created process. The manager + receives UFFD_EVENT_FORK with file descriptor of the new + userfaultfd context in the uffd_msg.fork. + +UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMAP + enable notifications about mremap() calls. When the + non-cooperative process moves a virtual memory area to a + different location, the manager will receive + UFFD_EVENT_REMAP. The uffd_msg.remap will contain the old and + new addresses of the area and its original length. + +UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE + enable notifications about madvise(MADV_REMOVE) and + madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) calls. The event UFFD_EVENT_REMOVE will + be generated upon these calls to madvise. The uffd_msg.remove + will contain start and end addresses of the removed area. + +UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_UNMAP + enable notifications about memory unmapping. The manager will + get UFFD_EVENT_UNMAP with uffd_msg.remove containing start and + end addresses of the unmapped area. + +Although the UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE and UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_UNMAP +are pretty similar, they quite differ in the action expected from the +userfaultfd manager. In the former case, the virtual memory is +removed, but the area is not, the area remains monitored by the +userfaultfd, and if a page fault occurs in that area it will be +delivered to the manager. The proper resolution for such page fault is +to zeromap the faulting address. However, in the latter case, when an +area is unmapped, either explicitly (with munmap() system call), or +implicitly (e.g. during mremap()), the area is removed and in turn the +userfaultfd context for such area disappears too and the manager will +not get further userland page faults from the removed area. Still, the +notification is required in order to prevent manager from using +UFFDIO_COPY on the unmapped area. + +Unlike userland page faults which have to be synchronous and require +explicit or implicit wakeup, all the events are delivered +asynchronously and the non-cooperative process resumes execution as +soon as manager executes read(). The userfaultfd manager should +carefully synchronize calls to UFFDIO_COPY with the events +processing. To aid the synchronization, the UFFDIO_COPY ioctl will +return -ENOSPC when the monitored process exits at the time of +UFFDIO_COPY, and -ENOENT, when the non-cooperative process has changed +its virtual memory layout simultaneously with outstanding UFFDIO_COPY +operation. + +The current asynchronous model of the event delivery is optimal for +single threaded non-cooperative userfaultfd manager implementations. A +synchronous event delivery model can be added later as a new +userfaultfd feature to facilitate multithreading enhancements of the +non cooperative manager, for example to allow UFFDIO_COPY ioctls to +run in parallel to the event reception. Single threaded +implementations should continue to use the current async event +delivery model instead. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.txt b/Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5048cf661a8a..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/userfaultfd.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,241 +0,0 @@ -.. _userfaultfd: - -=========== -Userfaultfd -=========== - -Objective -========= - -Userfaults allow the implementation of on-demand paging from userland -and more generally they allow userland to take control of various -memory page faults, something otherwise only the kernel code could do. - -For example userfaults allows a proper and more optimal implementation -of the PROT_NONE+SIGSEGV trick. - -Design -====== - -Userfaults are delivered and resolved through the userfaultfd syscall. - -The userfaultfd (aside from registering and unregistering virtual -memory ranges) provides two primary functionalities: - -1) read/POLLIN protocol to notify a userland thread of the faults - happening - -2) various UFFDIO_* ioctls that can manage the virtual memory regions - registered in the userfaultfd that allows userland to efficiently - resolve the userfaults it receives via 1) or to manage the virtual - memory in the background - -The real advantage of userfaults if compared to regular virtual memory -management of mremap/mprotect is that the userfaults in all their -operations never involve heavyweight structures like vmas (in fact the -userfaultfd runtime load never takes the mmap_sem for writing). - -Vmas are not suitable for page- (or hugepage) granular fault tracking -when dealing with virtual address spaces that could span -Terabytes. Too many vmas would be needed for that. - -The userfaultfd once opened by invoking the syscall, can also be -passed using unix domain sockets to a manager process, so the same -manager process could handle the userfaults of a multitude of -different processes without them being aware about what is going on -(well of course unless they later try to use the userfaultfd -themselves on the same region the manager is already tracking, which -is a corner case that would currently return -EBUSY). - -API -=== - -When first opened the userfaultfd must be enabled invoking the -UFFDIO_API ioctl specifying a uffdio_api.api value set to UFFD_API (or -a later API version) which will specify the read/POLLIN protocol -userland intends to speak on the UFFD and the uffdio_api.features -userland requires. The UFFDIO_API ioctl if successful (i.e. if the -requested uffdio_api.api is spoken also by the running kernel and the -requested features are going to be enabled) will return into -uffdio_api.features and uffdio_api.ioctls two 64bit bitmasks of -respectively all the available features of the read(2) protocol and -the generic ioctl available. - -The uffdio_api.features bitmask returned by the UFFDIO_API ioctl -defines what memory types are supported by the userfaultfd and what -events, except page fault notifications, may be generated. - -If the kernel supports registering userfaultfd ranges on hugetlbfs -virtual memory areas, UFFD_FEATURE_MISSING_HUGETLBFS will be set in -uffdio_api.features. Similarly, UFFD_FEATURE_MISSING_SHMEM will be -set if the kernel supports registering userfaultfd ranges on shared -memory (covering all shmem APIs, i.e. tmpfs, IPCSHM, /dev/zero -MAP_SHARED, memfd_create, etc). - -The userland application that wants to use userfaultfd with hugetlbfs -or shared memory need to set the corresponding flag in -uffdio_api.features to enable those features. - -If the userland desires to receive notifications for events other than -page faults, it has to verify that uffdio_api.features has appropriate -UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_* bits set. These events are described in more -detail below in "Non-cooperative userfaultfd" section. - -Once the userfaultfd has been enabled the UFFDIO_REGISTER ioctl should -be invoked (if present in the returned uffdio_api.ioctls bitmask) to -register a memory range in the userfaultfd by setting the -uffdio_register structure accordingly. The uffdio_register.mode -bitmask will specify to the kernel which kind of faults to track for -the range (UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING would track missing -pages). The UFFDIO_REGISTER ioctl will return the -uffdio_register.ioctls bitmask of ioctls that are suitable to resolve -userfaults on the range registered. Not all ioctls will necessarily be -supported for all memory types depending on the underlying virtual -memory backend (anonymous memory vs tmpfs vs real filebacked -mappings). - -Userland can use the uffdio_register.ioctls to manage the virtual -address space in the background (to add or potentially also remove -memory from the userfaultfd registered range). This means a userfault -could be triggering just before userland maps in the background the -user-faulted page. - -The primary ioctl to resolve userfaults is UFFDIO_COPY. That -atomically copies a page into the userfault registered range and wakes -up the blocked userfaults (unless uffdio_copy.mode & -UFFDIO_COPY_MODE_DONTWAKE is set). Other ioctl works similarly to -UFFDIO_COPY. They're atomic as in guaranteeing that nothing can see an -half copied page since it'll keep userfaulting until the copy has -finished. - -QEMU/KVM -======== - -QEMU/KVM is using the userfaultfd syscall to implement postcopy live -migration. Postcopy live migration is one form of memory -externalization consisting of a virtual machine running with part or -all of its memory residing on a different node in the cloud. The -userfaultfd abstraction is generic enough that not a single line of -KVM kernel code had to be modified in order to add postcopy live -migration to QEMU. - -Guest async page faults, FOLL_NOWAIT and all other GUP features work -just fine in combination with userfaults. Userfaults trigger async -page faults in the guest scheduler so those guest processes that -aren't waiting for userfaults (i.e. network bound) can keep running in -the guest vcpus. - -It is generally beneficial to run one pass of precopy live migration -just before starting postcopy live migration, in order to avoid -generating userfaults for readonly guest regions. - -The implementation of postcopy live migration currently uses one -single bidirectional socket but in the future two different sockets -will be used (to reduce the latency of the userfaults to the minimum -possible without having to decrease /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem). - -The QEMU in the source node writes all pages that it knows are missing -in the destination node, into the socket, and the migration thread of -the QEMU running in the destination node runs UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE -ioctls on the userfaultfd in order to map the received pages into the -guest (UFFDIO_ZEROCOPY is used if the source page was a zero page). - -A different postcopy thread in the destination node listens with -poll() to the userfaultfd in parallel. When a POLLIN event is -generated after a userfault triggers, the postcopy thread read() from -the userfaultfd and receives the fault address (or -EAGAIN in case the -userfault was already resolved and waken by a UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE run -by the parallel QEMU migration thread). - -After the QEMU postcopy thread (running in the destination node) gets -the userfault address it writes the information about the missing page -into the socket. The QEMU source node receives the information and -roughly "seeks" to that page address and continues sending all -remaining missing pages from that new page offset. Soon after that -(just the time to flush the tcp_wmem queue through the network) the -migration thread in the QEMU running in the destination node will -receive the page that triggered the userfault and it'll map it as -usual with the UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE (without actually knowing if it -was spontaneously sent by the source or if it was an urgent page -requested through a userfault). - -By the time the userfaults start, the QEMU in the destination node -doesn't need to keep any per-page state bitmap relative to the live -migration around and a single per-page bitmap has to be maintained in -the QEMU running in the source node to know which pages are still -missing in the destination node. The bitmap in the source node is -checked to find which missing pages to send in round robin and we seek -over it when receiving incoming userfaults. After sending each page of -course the bitmap is updated accordingly. It's also useful to avoid -sending the same page twice (in case the userfault is read by the -postcopy thread just before UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE runs in the migration -thread). - -Non-cooperative userfaultfd -=========================== - -When the userfaultfd is monitored by an external manager, the manager -must be able to track changes in the process virtual memory -layout. Userfaultfd can notify the manager about such changes using -the same read(2) protocol as for the page fault notifications. The -manager has to explicitly enable these events by setting appropriate -bits in uffdio_api.features passed to UFFDIO_API ioctl: - -UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_FORK - enable userfaultfd hooks for fork(). When this feature is - enabled, the userfaultfd context of the parent process is - duplicated into the newly created process. The manager - receives UFFD_EVENT_FORK with file descriptor of the new - userfaultfd context in the uffd_msg.fork. - -UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMAP - enable notifications about mremap() calls. When the - non-cooperative process moves a virtual memory area to a - different location, the manager will receive - UFFD_EVENT_REMAP. The uffd_msg.remap will contain the old and - new addresses of the area and its original length. - -UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE - enable notifications about madvise(MADV_REMOVE) and - madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) calls. The event UFFD_EVENT_REMOVE will - be generated upon these calls to madvise. The uffd_msg.remove - will contain start and end addresses of the removed area. - -UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_UNMAP - enable notifications about memory unmapping. The manager will - get UFFD_EVENT_UNMAP with uffd_msg.remove containing start and - end addresses of the unmapped area. - -Although the UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE and UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_UNMAP -are pretty similar, they quite differ in the action expected from the -userfaultfd manager. In the former case, the virtual memory is -removed, but the area is not, the area remains monitored by the -userfaultfd, and if a page fault occurs in that area it will be -delivered to the manager. The proper resolution for such page fault is -to zeromap the faulting address. However, in the latter case, when an -area is unmapped, either explicitly (with munmap() system call), or -implicitly (e.g. during mremap()), the area is removed and in turn the -userfaultfd context for such area disappears too and the manager will -not get further userland page faults from the removed area. Still, the -notification is required in order to prevent manager from using -UFFDIO_COPY on the unmapped area. - -Unlike userland page faults which have to be synchronous and require -explicit or implicit wakeup, all the events are delivered -asynchronously and the non-cooperative process resumes execution as -soon as manager executes read(). The userfaultfd manager should -carefully synchronize calls to UFFDIO_COPY with the events -processing. To aid the synchronization, the UFFDIO_COPY ioctl will -return -ENOSPC when the monitored process exits at the time of -UFFDIO_COPY, and -ENOENT, when the non-cooperative process has changed -its virtual memory layout simultaneously with outstanding UFFDIO_COPY -operation. - -The current asynchronous model of the event delivery is optimal for -single threaded non-cooperative userfaultfd manager implementations. A -synchronous event delivery model can be added later as a new -userfaultfd feature to facilitate multithreading enhancements of the -non cooperative manager, for example to allow UFFDIO_COPY ioctls to -run in parallel to the event reception. Single threaded -implementations should continue to use the current async event -delivery model instead. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/z3fold.rst b/Documentation/vm/z3fold.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..224e3c61d686 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/z3fold.rst @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +.. _z3fold: + +====== +z3fold +====== + +z3fold is a special purpose allocator for storing compressed pages. +It is designed to store up to three compressed pages per physical page. +It is a zbud derivative which allows for higher compression +ratio keeping the simplicity and determinism of its predecessor. + +The main differences between z3fold and zbud are: + +* unlike zbud, z3fold allows for up to PAGE_SIZE allocations +* z3fold can hold up to 3 compressed pages in its page +* z3fold doesn't export any API itself and is thus intended to be used + via the zpool API. + +To keep the determinism and simplicity, z3fold, just like zbud, always +stores an integral number of compressed pages per page, but it can store +up to 3 pages unlike zbud which can store at most 2. Therefore the +compression ratio goes to around 2.7x while zbud's one is around 1.7x. + +Unlike zbud (but like zsmalloc for that matter) z3fold_alloc() does not +return a dereferenceable pointer. Instead, it returns an unsigned long +handle which encodes actual location of the allocated object. + +Keeping effective compression ratio close to zsmalloc's, z3fold doesn't +depend on MMU enabled and provides more predictable reclaim behavior +which makes it a better fit for small and response-critical systems. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/z3fold.txt b/Documentation/vm/z3fold.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 224e3c61d686..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/z3fold.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,30 +0,0 @@ -.. _z3fold: - -====== -z3fold -====== - -z3fold is a special purpose allocator for storing compressed pages. -It is designed to store up to three compressed pages per physical page. -It is a zbud derivative which allows for higher compression -ratio keeping the simplicity and determinism of its predecessor. - -The main differences between z3fold and zbud are: - -* unlike zbud, z3fold allows for up to PAGE_SIZE allocations -* z3fold can hold up to 3 compressed pages in its page -* z3fold doesn't export any API itself and is thus intended to be used - via the zpool API. - -To keep the determinism and simplicity, z3fold, just like zbud, always -stores an integral number of compressed pages per page, but it can store -up to 3 pages unlike zbud which can store at most 2. Therefore the -compression ratio goes to around 2.7x while zbud's one is around 1.7x. - -Unlike zbud (but like zsmalloc for that matter) z3fold_alloc() does not -return a dereferenceable pointer. Instead, it returns an unsigned long -handle which encodes actual location of the allocated object. - -Keeping effective compression ratio close to zsmalloc's, z3fold doesn't -depend on MMU enabled and provides more predictable reclaim behavior -which makes it a better fit for small and response-critical systems. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.rst b/Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..6e79893d6132 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.rst @@ -0,0 +1,82 @@ +.. _zsmalloc: + +======== +zsmalloc +======== + +This allocator is designed for use with zram. Thus, the allocator is +supposed to work well under low memory conditions. In particular, it +never attempts higher order page allocation which is very likely to +fail under memory pressure. On the other hand, if we just use single +(0-order) pages, it would suffer from very high fragmentation -- +any object of size PAGE_SIZE/2 or larger would occupy an entire page. +This was one of the major issues with its predecessor (xvmalloc). + +To overcome these issues, zsmalloc allocates a bunch of 0-order pages +and links them together using various 'struct page' fields. These linked +pages act as a single higher-order page i.e. an object can span 0-order +page boundaries. The code refers to these linked pages as a single entity +called zspage. + +For simplicity, zsmalloc can only allocate objects of size up to PAGE_SIZE +since this satisfies the requirements of all its current users (in the +worst case, page is incompressible and is thus stored "as-is" i.e. in +uncompressed form). For allocation requests larger than this size, failure +is returned (see zs_malloc). + +Additionally, zs_malloc() does not return a dereferenceable pointer. +Instead, it returns an opaque handle (unsigned long) which encodes actual +location of the allocated object. The reason for this indirection is that +zsmalloc does not keep zspages permanently mapped since that would cause +issues on 32-bit systems where the VA region for kernel space mappings +is very small. So, before using the allocating memory, the object has to +be mapped using zs_map_object() to get a usable pointer and subsequently +unmapped using zs_unmap_object(). + +stat +==== + +With CONFIG_ZSMALLOC_STAT, we could see zsmalloc internal information via +``/sys/kernel/debug/zsmalloc/``. Here is a sample of stat output:: + + # cat /sys/kernel/debug/zsmalloc/zram0/classes + + class size almost_full almost_empty obj_allocated obj_used pages_used pages_per_zspage + ... + ... + 9 176 0 1 186 129 8 4 + 10 192 1 0 2880 2872 135 3 + 11 208 0 1 819 795 42 2 + 12 224 0 1 219 159 12 4 + ... + ... + + +class + index +size + object size zspage stores +almost_empty + the number of ZS_ALMOST_EMPTY zspages(see below) +almost_full + the number of ZS_ALMOST_FULL zspages(see below) +obj_allocated + the number of objects allocated +obj_used + the number of objects allocated to the user +pages_used + the number of pages allocated for the class +pages_per_zspage + the number of 0-order pages to make a zspage + +We assign a zspage to ZS_ALMOST_EMPTY fullness group when n <= N / f, where + +* n = number of allocated objects +* N = total number of objects zspage can store +* f = fullness_threshold_frac(ie, 4 at the moment) + +Similarly, we assign zspage to: + +* ZS_ALMOST_FULL when n > N / f +* ZS_EMPTY when n == 0 +* ZS_FULL when n == N diff --git a/Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.txt b/Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6e79893d6132..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,82 +0,0 @@ -.. _zsmalloc: - -======== -zsmalloc -======== - -This allocator is designed for use with zram. Thus, the allocator is -supposed to work well under low memory conditions. In particular, it -never attempts higher order page allocation which is very likely to -fail under memory pressure. On the other hand, if we just use single -(0-order) pages, it would suffer from very high fragmentation -- -any object of size PAGE_SIZE/2 or larger would occupy an entire page. -This was one of the major issues with its predecessor (xvmalloc). - -To overcome these issues, zsmalloc allocates a bunch of 0-order pages -and links them together using various 'struct page' fields. These linked -pages act as a single higher-order page i.e. an object can span 0-order -page boundaries. The code refers to these linked pages as a single entity -called zspage. - -For simplicity, zsmalloc can only allocate objects of size up to PAGE_SIZE -since this satisfies the requirements of all its current users (in the -worst case, page is incompressible and is thus stored "as-is" i.e. in -uncompressed form). For allocation requests larger than this size, failure -is returned (see zs_malloc). - -Additionally, zs_malloc() does not return a dereferenceable pointer. -Instead, it returns an opaque handle (unsigned long) which encodes actual -location of the allocated object. The reason for this indirection is that -zsmalloc does not keep zspages permanently mapped since that would cause -issues on 32-bit systems where the VA region for kernel space mappings -is very small. So, before using the allocating memory, the object has to -be mapped using zs_map_object() to get a usable pointer and subsequently -unmapped using zs_unmap_object(). - -stat -==== - -With CONFIG_ZSMALLOC_STAT, we could see zsmalloc internal information via -``/sys/kernel/debug/zsmalloc/``. Here is a sample of stat output:: - - # cat /sys/kernel/debug/zsmalloc/zram0/classes - - class size almost_full almost_empty obj_allocated obj_used pages_used pages_per_zspage - ... - ... - 9 176 0 1 186 129 8 4 - 10 192 1 0 2880 2872 135 3 - 11 208 0 1 819 795 42 2 - 12 224 0 1 219 159 12 4 - ... - ... - - -class - index -size - object size zspage stores -almost_empty - the number of ZS_ALMOST_EMPTY zspages(see below) -almost_full - the number of ZS_ALMOST_FULL zspages(see below) -obj_allocated - the number of objects allocated -obj_used - the number of objects allocated to the user -pages_used - the number of pages allocated for the class -pages_per_zspage - the number of 0-order pages to make a zspage - -We assign a zspage to ZS_ALMOST_EMPTY fullness group when n <= N / f, where - -* n = number of allocated objects -* N = total number of objects zspage can store -* f = fullness_threshold_frac(ie, 4 at the moment) - -Similarly, we assign zspage to: - -* ZS_ALMOST_FULL when n > N / f -* ZS_EMPTY when n == 0 -* ZS_FULL when n == N diff --git a/Documentation/vm/zswap.rst b/Documentation/vm/zswap.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..1444ecd40911 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/zswap.rst @@ -0,0 +1,135 @@ +.. _zswap: + +===== +zswap +===== + +Overview +======== + +Zswap is a lightweight compressed cache for swap pages. It takes pages that are +in the process of being swapped out and attempts to compress them into a +dynamically allocated RAM-based memory pool. zswap basically trades CPU cycles +for potentially reduced swap I/O.  This trade-off can also result in a +significant performance improvement if reads from the compressed cache are +faster than reads from a swap device. + +.. note:: + Zswap is a new feature as of v3.11 and interacts heavily with memory + reclaim. This interaction has not been fully explored on the large set of + potential configurations and workloads that exist. For this reason, zswap + is a work in progress and should be considered experimental. + + Some potential benefits: + +* Desktop/laptop users with limited RAM capacities can mitigate the + performance impact of swapping. +* Overcommitted guests that share a common I/O resource can + dramatically reduce their swap I/O pressure, avoiding heavy handed I/O + throttling by the hypervisor. This allows more work to get done with less + impact to the guest workload and guests sharing the I/O subsystem +* Users with SSDs as swap devices can extend the life of the device by + drastically reducing life-shortening writes. + +Zswap evicts pages from compressed cache on an LRU basis to the backing swap +device when the compressed pool reaches its size limit. This requirement had +been identified in prior community discussions. + +Zswap is disabled by default but can be enabled at boot time by setting +the ``enabled`` attribute to 1 at boot time. ie: ``zswap.enabled=1``. Zswap +can also be enabled and disabled at runtime using the sysfs interface. +An example command to enable zswap at runtime, assuming sysfs is mounted +at ``/sys``, is:: + + echo 1 > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/enabled + +When zswap is disabled at runtime it will stop storing pages that are +being swapped out. However, it will _not_ immediately write out or fault +back into memory all of the pages stored in the compressed pool. The +pages stored in zswap will remain in the compressed pool until they are +either invalidated or faulted back into memory. In order to force all +pages out of the compressed pool, a swapoff on the swap device(s) will +fault back into memory all swapped out pages, including those in the +compressed pool. + +Design +====== + +Zswap receives pages for compression through the Frontswap API and is able to +evict pages from its own compressed pool on an LRU basis and write them back to +the backing swap device in the case that the compressed pool is full. + +Zswap makes use of zpool for the managing the compressed memory pool. Each +allocation in zpool is not directly accessible by address. Rather, a handle is +returned by the allocation routine and that handle must be mapped before being +accessed. The compressed memory pool grows on demand and shrinks as compressed +pages are freed. The pool is not preallocated. By default, a zpool +of type zbud is created, but it can be selected at boot time by +setting the ``zpool`` attribute, e.g. ``zswap.zpool=zbud``. It can +also be changed at runtime using the sysfs ``zpool`` attribute, e.g.:: + + echo zbud > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/zpool + +The zbud type zpool allocates exactly 1 page to store 2 compressed pages, which +means the compression ratio will always be 2:1 or worse (because of half-full +zbud pages). The zsmalloc type zpool has a more complex compressed page +storage method, and it can achieve greater storage densities. However, +zsmalloc does not implement compressed page eviction, so once zswap fills it +cannot evict the oldest page, it can only reject new pages. + +When a swap page is passed from frontswap to zswap, zswap maintains a mapping +of the swap entry, a combination of the swap type and swap offset, to the zpool +handle that references that compressed swap page. This mapping is achieved +with a red-black tree per swap type. The swap offset is the search key for the +tree nodes. + +During a page fault on a PTE that is a swap entry, frontswap calls the zswap +load function to decompress the page into the page allocated by the page fault +handler. + +Once there are no PTEs referencing a swap page stored in zswap (i.e. the count +in the swap_map goes to 0) the swap code calls the zswap invalidate function, +via frontswap, to free the compressed entry. + +Zswap seeks to be simple in its policies. Sysfs attributes allow for one user +controlled policy: + +* max_pool_percent - The maximum percentage of memory that the compressed + pool can occupy. + +The default compressor is lzo, but it can be selected at boot time by +setting the ``compressor`` attribute, e.g. ``zswap.compressor=lzo``. +It can also be changed at runtime using the sysfs "compressor" +attribute, e.g.:: + + echo lzo > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/compressor + +When the zpool and/or compressor parameter is changed at runtime, any existing +compressed pages are not modified; they are left in their own zpool. When a +request is made for a page in an old zpool, it is uncompressed using its +original compressor. Once all pages are removed from an old zpool, the zpool +and its compressor are freed. + +Some of the pages in zswap are same-value filled pages (i.e. contents of the +page have same value or repetitive pattern). These pages include zero-filled +pages and they are handled differently. During store operation, a page is +checked if it is a same-value filled page before compressing it. If true, the +compressed length of the page is set to zero and the pattern or same-filled +value is stored. + +Same-value filled pages identification feature is enabled by default and can be +disabled at boot time by setting the ``same_filled_pages_enabled`` attribute +to 0, e.g. ``zswap.same_filled_pages_enabled=0``. It can also be enabled and +disabled at runtime using the sysfs ``same_filled_pages_enabled`` +attribute, e.g.:: + + echo 1 > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/same_filled_pages_enabled + +When zswap same-filled page identification is disabled at runtime, it will stop +checking for the same-value filled pages during store operation. However, the +existing pages which are marked as same-value filled pages remain stored +unchanged in zswap until they are either loaded or invalidated. + +A debugfs interface is provided for various statistic about pool size, number +of pages stored, same-value filled pages and various counters for the reasons +pages are rejected. diff --git a/Documentation/vm/zswap.txt b/Documentation/vm/zswap.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1444ecd40911..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/zswap.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,135 +0,0 @@ -.. _zswap: - -===== -zswap -===== - -Overview -======== - -Zswap is a lightweight compressed cache for swap pages. It takes pages that are -in the process of being swapped out and attempts to compress them into a -dynamically allocated RAM-based memory pool. zswap basically trades CPU cycles -for potentially reduced swap I/O.  This trade-off can also result in a -significant performance improvement if reads from the compressed cache are -faster than reads from a swap device. - -.. note:: - Zswap is a new feature as of v3.11 and interacts heavily with memory - reclaim. This interaction has not been fully explored on the large set of - potential configurations and workloads that exist. For this reason, zswap - is a work in progress and should be considered experimental. - - Some potential benefits: - -* Desktop/laptop users with limited RAM capacities can mitigate the - performance impact of swapping. -* Overcommitted guests that share a common I/O resource can - dramatically reduce their swap I/O pressure, avoiding heavy handed I/O - throttling by the hypervisor. This allows more work to get done with less - impact to the guest workload and guests sharing the I/O subsystem -* Users with SSDs as swap devices can extend the life of the device by - drastically reducing life-shortening writes. - -Zswap evicts pages from compressed cache on an LRU basis to the backing swap -device when the compressed pool reaches its size limit. This requirement had -been identified in prior community discussions. - -Zswap is disabled by default but can be enabled at boot time by setting -the ``enabled`` attribute to 1 at boot time. ie: ``zswap.enabled=1``. Zswap -can also be enabled and disabled at runtime using the sysfs interface. -An example command to enable zswap at runtime, assuming sysfs is mounted -at ``/sys``, is:: - - echo 1 > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/enabled - -When zswap is disabled at runtime it will stop storing pages that are -being swapped out. However, it will _not_ immediately write out or fault -back into memory all of the pages stored in the compressed pool. The -pages stored in zswap will remain in the compressed pool until they are -either invalidated or faulted back into memory. In order to force all -pages out of the compressed pool, a swapoff on the swap device(s) will -fault back into memory all swapped out pages, including those in the -compressed pool. - -Design -====== - -Zswap receives pages for compression through the Frontswap API and is able to -evict pages from its own compressed pool on an LRU basis and write them back to -the backing swap device in the case that the compressed pool is full. - -Zswap makes use of zpool for the managing the compressed memory pool. Each -allocation in zpool is not directly accessible by address. Rather, a handle is -returned by the allocation routine and that handle must be mapped before being -accessed. The compressed memory pool grows on demand and shrinks as compressed -pages are freed. The pool is not preallocated. By default, a zpool -of type zbud is created, but it can be selected at boot time by -setting the ``zpool`` attribute, e.g. ``zswap.zpool=zbud``. It can -also be changed at runtime using the sysfs ``zpool`` attribute, e.g.:: - - echo zbud > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/zpool - -The zbud type zpool allocates exactly 1 page to store 2 compressed pages, which -means the compression ratio will always be 2:1 or worse (because of half-full -zbud pages). The zsmalloc type zpool has a more complex compressed page -storage method, and it can achieve greater storage densities. However, -zsmalloc does not implement compressed page eviction, so once zswap fills it -cannot evict the oldest page, it can only reject new pages. - -When a swap page is passed from frontswap to zswap, zswap maintains a mapping -of the swap entry, a combination of the swap type and swap offset, to the zpool -handle that references that compressed swap page. This mapping is achieved -with a red-black tree per swap type. The swap offset is the search key for the -tree nodes. - -During a page fault on a PTE that is a swap entry, frontswap calls the zswap -load function to decompress the page into the page allocated by the page fault -handler. - -Once there are no PTEs referencing a swap page stored in zswap (i.e. the count -in the swap_map goes to 0) the swap code calls the zswap invalidate function, -via frontswap, to free the compressed entry. - -Zswap seeks to be simple in its policies. Sysfs attributes allow for one user -controlled policy: - -* max_pool_percent - The maximum percentage of memory that the compressed - pool can occupy. - -The default compressor is lzo, but it can be selected at boot time by -setting the ``compressor`` attribute, e.g. ``zswap.compressor=lzo``. -It can also be changed at runtime using the sysfs "compressor" -attribute, e.g.:: - - echo lzo > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/compressor - -When the zpool and/or compressor parameter is changed at runtime, any existing -compressed pages are not modified; they are left in their own zpool. When a -request is made for a page in an old zpool, it is uncompressed using its -original compressor. Once all pages are removed from an old zpool, the zpool -and its compressor are freed. - -Some of the pages in zswap are same-value filled pages (i.e. contents of the -page have same value or repetitive pattern). These pages include zero-filled -pages and they are handled differently. During store operation, a page is -checked if it is a same-value filled page before compressing it. If true, the -compressed length of the page is set to zero and the pattern or same-filled -value is stored. - -Same-value filled pages identification feature is enabled by default and can be -disabled at boot time by setting the ``same_filled_pages_enabled`` attribute -to 0, e.g. ``zswap.same_filled_pages_enabled=0``. It can also be enabled and -disabled at runtime using the sysfs ``same_filled_pages_enabled`` -attribute, e.g.:: - - echo 1 > /sys/module/zswap/parameters/same_filled_pages_enabled - -When zswap same-filled page identification is disabled at runtime, it will stop -checking for the same-value filled pages during store operation. However, the -existing pages which are marked as same-value filled pages remain stored -unchanged in zswap until they are either loaded or invalidated. - -A debugfs interface is provided for various statistic about pool size, number -of pages stored, same-value filled pages and various counters for the reasons -pages are rejected. diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS index 3bdc260e36b7..575849a8343e 100644 --- a/MAINTAINERS +++ b/MAINTAINERS @@ -15406,7 +15406,7 @@ L: linux-mm@kvack.org S: Maintained F: mm/zsmalloc.c F: include/linux/zsmalloc.h -F: Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.txt +F: Documentation/vm/zsmalloc.rst ZSWAP COMPRESSED SWAP CACHING M: Seth Jennings diff --git a/arch/alpha/Kconfig b/arch/alpha/Kconfig index e96adcbcab41..f53e5060afe7 100644 --- a/arch/alpha/Kconfig +++ b/arch/alpha/Kconfig @@ -584,7 +584,7 @@ config ARCH_DISCONTIGMEM_ENABLE Say Y to support efficient handling of discontiguous physical memory, for architectures which are either NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) or have huge holes in the physical address space for other reasons. - See for more. + See for more. source "mm/Kconfig" diff --git a/arch/ia64/Kconfig b/arch/ia64/Kconfig index bbe12a038d21..3ac9bf4cc2a0 100644 --- a/arch/ia64/Kconfig +++ b/arch/ia64/Kconfig @@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ config ARCH_DISCONTIGMEM_ENABLE Say Y to support efficient handling of discontiguous physical memory, for architectures which are either NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) or have huge holes in the physical address space for other reasons. - See for more. + See for more. config ARCH_FLATMEM_ENABLE def_bool y diff --git a/arch/mips/Kconfig b/arch/mips/Kconfig index 8128c3b68d6b..4562810857eb 100644 --- a/arch/mips/Kconfig +++ b/arch/mips/Kconfig @@ -2551,7 +2551,7 @@ config ARCH_DISCONTIGMEM_ENABLE Say Y to support efficient handling of discontiguous physical memory, for architectures which are either NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) or have huge holes in the physical address space for other reasons. - See for more. + See for more. config ARCH_SPARSEMEM_ENABLE bool diff --git a/arch/powerpc/Kconfig b/arch/powerpc/Kconfig index 73ce5dd07642..f8c0f10949ea 100644 --- a/arch/powerpc/Kconfig +++ b/arch/powerpc/Kconfig @@ -880,7 +880,7 @@ config PPC_MEM_KEYS page-based protections, but without requiring modification of the page tables when an application changes protection domains. - For details, see Documentation/vm/protection-keys.txt + For details, see Documentation/vm/protection-keys.rst If unsure, say y. diff --git a/fs/Kconfig b/fs/Kconfig index bc821a86d965..ba53dc2a9691 100644 --- a/fs/Kconfig +++ b/fs/Kconfig @@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ config HUGETLBFS help hugetlbfs is a filesystem backing for HugeTLB pages, based on ramfs. For architectures that support it, say Y here and read - for details. + for details. If unsure, say N. diff --git a/fs/dax.c b/fs/dax.c index 0276df90e86c..0eb65c34d5a6 100644 --- a/fs/dax.c +++ b/fs/dax.c @@ -618,7 +618,7 @@ static void dax_mapping_entry_mkclean(struct address_space *mapping, * downgrading page table protection not changing it to point * to a new page. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ if (pmdp) { #ifdef CONFIG_FS_DAX_PMD diff --git a/fs/proc/task_mmu.c b/fs/proc/task_mmu.c index ec6d2983a5cb..91d14c4ac04a 100644 --- a/fs/proc/task_mmu.c +++ b/fs/proc/task_mmu.c @@ -956,7 +956,7 @@ static inline void clear_soft_dirty(struct vm_area_struct *vma, /* * The soft-dirty tracker uses #PF-s to catch writes * to pages, so write-protect the pte as well. See the - * Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt for full description + * Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst for full description * of how soft-dirty works. */ pte_t ptent = *pte; @@ -1436,7 +1436,7 @@ static int pagemap_hugetlb_range(pte_t *ptep, unsigned long hmask, * Bits 0-54 page frame number (PFN) if present * Bits 0-4 swap type if swapped * Bits 5-54 swap offset if swapped - * Bit 55 pte is soft-dirty (see Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt) + * Bit 55 pte is soft-dirty (see Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst) * Bit 56 page exclusively mapped * Bits 57-60 zero * Bit 61 page is file-page or shared-anon diff --git a/include/linux/hmm.h b/include/linux/hmm.h index 325017ad9311..77be87c095f2 100644 --- a/include/linux/hmm.h +++ b/include/linux/hmm.h @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ /* * Heterogeneous Memory Management (HMM) * - * See Documentation/vm/hmm.txt for reasons and overview of what HMM is and it + * See Documentation/vm/hmm.rst for reasons and overview of what HMM is and it * is for. Here we focus on the HMM API description, with some explanation of * the underlying implementation. * diff --git a/include/linux/memremap.h b/include/linux/memremap.h index 7b4899c06f49..74ea5e2310a8 100644 --- a/include/linux/memremap.h +++ b/include/linux/memremap.h @@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ struct vmem_altmap { * must be treated as an opaque object, rather than a "normal" struct page. * * A more complete discussion of unaddressable memory may be found in - * include/linux/hmm.h and Documentation/vm/hmm.txt. + * include/linux/hmm.h and Documentation/vm/hmm.rst. * * MEMORY_DEVICE_PUBLIC: * Device memory that is cache coherent from device and CPU point of view. This @@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ enum memory_type { * page_free() * * Additional notes about MEMORY_DEVICE_PRIVATE may be found in - * include/linux/hmm.h and Documentation/vm/hmm.txt. There is also a brief + * include/linux/hmm.h and Documentation/vm/hmm.rst. There is also a brief * explanation in include/linux/memory_hotplug.h. * * The page_fault() callback must migrate page back, from device memory to diff --git a/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h b/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h index 2d07a1ed5a31..392e6af82701 100644 --- a/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h +++ b/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h @@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ struct mmu_notifier_ops { * invalidate_range_start()/end() notifiers, as * invalidate_range() alread catches the points in time when an * external TLB range needs to be flushed. For more in depth - * discussion on this see Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * discussion on this see Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst * * Note that this function might be called with just a sub-range * of what was passed to invalidate_range_start()/end(), if diff --git a/include/linux/sched/mm.h b/include/linux/sched/mm.h index 1149533aa2fa..df2c7d11f496 100644 --- a/include/linux/sched/mm.h +++ b/include/linux/sched/mm.h @@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ extern struct mm_struct *mm_alloc(void); * * Use mmdrop() to release the reference acquired by mmgrab(). * - * See also for an in-depth explanation + * See also for an in-depth explanation * of &mm_struct.mm_count vs &mm_struct.mm_users. */ static inline void mmgrab(struct mm_struct *mm) @@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ extern void mmdrop(struct mm_struct *mm); * * Use mmput() to release the reference acquired by mmget(). * - * See also for an in-depth explanation + * See also for an in-depth explanation * of &mm_struct.mm_count vs &mm_struct.mm_users. */ static inline void mmget(struct mm_struct *mm) diff --git a/include/linux/swap.h b/include/linux/swap.h index 7b6a59f722a3..4003973deff4 100644 --- a/include/linux/swap.h +++ b/include/linux/swap.h @@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ static inline int current_is_kswapd(void) /* * Unaddressable device memory support. See include/linux/hmm.h and - * Documentation/vm/hmm.txt. Short description is we need struct pages for + * Documentation/vm/hmm.rst. Short description is we need struct pages for * device memory that is unaddressable (inaccessible) by CPU, so that we can * migrate part of a process memory to device memory. * diff --git a/mm/Kconfig b/mm/Kconfig index c782e8fb7235..b9f04213a353 100644 --- a/mm/Kconfig +++ b/mm/Kconfig @@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ config KSM the many instances by a single page with that content, so saving memory until one or another app needs to modify the content. Recommended for use with KVM, or with other duplicative applications. - See Documentation/vm/ksm.txt for more information: KSM is inactive + See Documentation/vm/ksm.rst for more information: KSM is inactive until a program has madvised that an area is MADV_MERGEABLE, and root has set /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run to 1 (if CONFIG_SYSFS is set). @@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ config MEM_SOFT_DIRTY into a page just as regular dirty bit, but unlike the latter it can be cleared by hands. - See Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.txt for more details. + See Documentation/vm/soft-dirty.rst for more details. config ZSWAP bool "Compressed cache for swap pages (EXPERIMENTAL)" @@ -664,7 +664,7 @@ config IDLE_PAGE_TRACKING be useful to tune memory cgroup limits and/or for job placement within a compute cluster. - See Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.txt for more details. + See Documentation/vm/idle_page_tracking.rst for more details. # arch_add_memory() comprehends device memory config ARCH_HAS_ZONE_DEVICE diff --git a/mm/cleancache.c b/mm/cleancache.c index f7b9fdc79d97..126548b5a292 100644 --- a/mm/cleancache.c +++ b/mm/cleancache.c @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ * * This code provides the generic "frontend" layer to call a matching * "backend" driver implementation of cleancache. See - * Documentation/vm/cleancache.txt for more information. + * Documentation/vm/cleancache.rst for more information. * * Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Oracle Corp. All rights reserved. * Author: Dan Magenheimer diff --git a/mm/frontswap.c b/mm/frontswap.c index fec8b5044040..4f5476a0f955 100644 --- a/mm/frontswap.c +++ b/mm/frontswap.c @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ * * This code provides the generic "frontend" layer to call a matching * "backend" driver implementation of frontswap. See - * Documentation/vm/frontswap.txt for more information. + * Documentation/vm/frontswap.rst for more information. * * Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Oracle Corp. All rights reserved. * Author: Dan Magenheimer diff --git a/mm/hmm.c b/mm/hmm.c index 320545b98ff5..af176c6820cf 100644 --- a/mm/hmm.c +++ b/mm/hmm.c @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ #if defined(CONFIG_DEVICE_PRIVATE) || defined(CONFIG_DEVICE_PUBLIC) /* - * Device private memory see HMM (Documentation/vm/hmm.txt) or hmm.h + * Device private memory see HMM (Documentation/vm/hmm.rst) or hmm.h */ DEFINE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(device_private_key); EXPORT_SYMBOL(device_private_key); diff --git a/mm/huge_memory.c b/mm/huge_memory.c index 87ab9b8f56b5..6d5911673450 100644 --- a/mm/huge_memory.c +++ b/mm/huge_memory.c @@ -1185,7 +1185,7 @@ static int do_huge_pmd_wp_page_fallback(struct vm_fault *vmf, pmd_t orig_pmd, * mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end() happens which can lead to a * device seeing memory write in different order than CPU. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ pmdp_huge_clear_flush_notify(vma, haddr, vmf->pmd); @@ -2037,7 +2037,7 @@ static void __split_huge_zero_page_pmd(struct vm_area_struct *vma, * replacing a zero pmd write protected page with a zero pte write * protected page. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ pmdp_huge_clear_flush(vma, haddr, pmd); diff --git a/mm/hugetlb.c b/mm/hugetlb.c index 7c204e3d132b..5af974abae46 100644 --- a/mm/hugetlb.c +++ b/mm/hugetlb.c @@ -3289,7 +3289,7 @@ int copy_hugetlb_page_range(struct mm_struct *dst, struct mm_struct *src, * table protection not changing it to point * to a new page. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ huge_ptep_set_wrprotect(src, addr, src_pte); } @@ -4355,7 +4355,7 @@ unsigned long hugetlb_change_protection(struct vm_area_struct *vma, * No need to call mmu_notifier_invalidate_range() we are downgrading * page table protection not changing it to point to a new page. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ i_mmap_unlock_write(vma->vm_file->f_mapping); mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end(mm, start, end); diff --git a/mm/ksm.c b/mm/ksm.c index 293721f5da70..0b88698a9014 100644 --- a/mm/ksm.c +++ b/mm/ksm.c @@ -1049,7 +1049,7 @@ static int write_protect_page(struct vm_area_struct *vma, struct page *page, * No need to notify as we are downgrading page table to read * only not changing it to point to a new page. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ entry = ptep_clear_flush(vma, pvmw.address, pvmw.pte); /* @@ -1138,7 +1138,7 @@ static int replace_page(struct vm_area_struct *vma, struct page *page, * No need to notify as we are replacing a read only page with another * read only page with the same content. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ ptep_clear_flush(vma, addr, ptep); set_pte_at_notify(mm, addr, ptep, newpte); diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c index 9efdc021ad22..39fc51d1639c 100644 --- a/mm/mmap.c +++ b/mm/mmap.c @@ -2769,7 +2769,7 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE5(remap_file_pages, unsigned long, start, unsigned long, size, unsigned long ret = -EINVAL; struct file *file; - pr_warn_once("%s (%d) uses deprecated remap_file_pages() syscall. See Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.txt.\n", + pr_warn_once("%s (%d) uses deprecated remap_file_pages() syscall. See Documentation/vm/remap_file_pages.rst.\n", current->comm, current->pid); if (prot) diff --git a/mm/rmap.c b/mm/rmap.c index 47db27f8049e..854b703fbe2a 100644 --- a/mm/rmap.c +++ b/mm/rmap.c @@ -942,7 +942,7 @@ static bool page_mkclean_one(struct page *page, struct vm_area_struct *vma, * downgrading page table protection not changing it to point * to a new page. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ if (ret) (*cleaned)++; @@ -1587,7 +1587,7 @@ static bool try_to_unmap_one(struct page *page, struct vm_area_struct *vma, * point at new page while a device still is using this * page. * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ dec_mm_counter(mm, mm_counter_file(page)); } @@ -1597,7 +1597,7 @@ discard: * done above for all cases requiring it to happen under page * table lock before mmu_notifier_invalidate_range_end() * - * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.txt + * See Documentation/vm/mmu_notifier.rst */ page_remove_rmap(subpage, PageHuge(page)); put_page(page); diff --git a/mm/util.c b/mm/util.c index c1250501364f..e857c80c6f4a 100644 --- a/mm/util.c +++ b/mm/util.c @@ -609,7 +609,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(vm_memory_committed); * succeed and -ENOMEM implies there is not. * * We currently support three overcommit policies, which are set via the - * vm.overcommit_memory sysctl. See Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting + * vm.overcommit_memory sysctl. See Documentation/vm/overcommit-accounting.rst * * Strict overcommit modes added 2002 Feb 26 by Alan Cox. * Additional code 2002 Jul 20 by Robert Love. -- cgit v1.2.3