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diff --git a/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt b/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 622b927816e7..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/vm/numa_memory_policy.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,452 +0,0 @@ - -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 "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: 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 of - the 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 [re: 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/<pid>/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/<pid>/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 <linux/syscalls.h>; the mode and flag - definitions are defined in <linux/mempolicy.h>. - -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. - - -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. |