Re: [PATCH v4] zsmalloc: merge size_class to reduce fragmentation

[Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>]

Hey Joonsoo,

On Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 04:45:27PM +0900, Joonsoo Kim wrote:
> zsmalloc has many size_classes to reduce fragmentation and they are
> in 16 bytes unit, for example, 16, 32, 48, etc., if PAGE_SIZE is 4096.
> And, zsmalloc has constraint that each zspage has 4 pages at maximum.
> 
> In this situation, we can see interesting aspect.
> Let's think about size_class for 1488, 1472, ..., 1376.
> To prevent external fragmentation, they uses 4 pages per zspage and
> so all they can contain 11 objects at maximum.
> 
> 16384 (4096 * 4) = 1488 * 11 + remains
> 16384 (4096 * 4) = 1472 * 11 + remains
> 16384 (4096 * 4) = ...
> 16384 (4096 * 4) = 1376 * 11 + remains
> 
> It means that they have same characteristics and classification between
> them isn't needed. If we use one size_class for them, we can reduce
> fragementation and save some memory since both the 1488 and 1472 sized
> classes can only fit 11 objects into 4 pages, and an object that's
> 1472 bytes can fit into an object that's 1488 bytes, merging these
> classes to always use objects that are 1488 bytes will reduce the total
> number of size classes. And reducing the total number of size classes
> reduces overall fragmentation, because a wider range of compressed pages
> can fit into a single size class, leaving less unused objects in each
> size class.
> 
> For this purpose, this patch implement size_class merging. If there is
> size_class that have same pages_per_zspage and same number of objects
> per zspage with previous size_class, we don't create new size_class.
> Instead, we use previous, same characteristic size_class. With this way,
> above example sizes (1488, 1472, ..., 1376) use just one size_class
> so we can get much more memory utilization.
> 
> Below is result of my simple test.
> 
> TEST ENV: EXT4 on zram, mount with discard option
> WORKLOAD: untar kernel source code, remove directory in descending order
> in size. (drivers arch fs sound include net Documentation firmware
> kernel tools)
> 
> Each line represents orig_data_size, compr_data_size, mem_used_total,
> fragmentation overhead (mem_used - compr_data_size) and overhead ratio
> (overhead to compr_data_size), respectively, after untar and remove
> operation is executed.
> 
> * untar-nomerge.out
> 
> orig_size compr_size used_size overhead overhead_ratio
> 525.88MB 199.16MB 210.23MB  11.08MB 5.56%
> 288.32MB  97.43MB 105.63MB   8.20MB 8.41%
> 177.32MB  61.12MB  69.40MB   8.28MB 13.55%
> 146.47MB  47.32MB  56.10MB   8.78MB 18.55%
> 124.16MB  38.85MB  48.41MB   9.55MB 24.58%
> 103.93MB  31.68MB  40.93MB   9.25MB 29.21%
>  84.34MB  22.86MB  32.72MB   9.86MB 43.13%
>  66.87MB  14.83MB  23.83MB   9.00MB 60.70%
>  60.67MB  11.11MB  18.60MB   7.49MB 67.48%
>  55.86MB   8.83MB  16.61MB   7.77MB 88.03%
>  53.32MB   8.01MB  15.32MB   7.31MB 91.24%
> 
> * untar-merge.out
> 
> orig_size compr_size used_size overhead overhead_ratio
> 526.23MB 199.18MB 209.81MB  10.64MB 5.34%
> 288.68MB  97.45MB 104.08MB   6.63MB 6.80%
> 177.68MB  61.14MB  66.93MB   5.79MB 9.47%
> 146.83MB  47.34MB  52.79MB   5.45MB 11.51%
> 124.52MB  38.87MB  44.30MB   5.43MB 13.96%
> 104.29MB  31.70MB  36.83MB   5.13MB 16.19%
>  84.70MB  22.88MB  27.92MB   5.04MB 22.04%
>  67.11MB  14.83MB  19.26MB   4.43MB 29.86%
>  60.82MB  11.10MB  14.90MB   3.79MB 34.17%
>  55.90MB   8.82MB  12.61MB   3.79MB 42.97%
>  53.32MB   8.01MB  11.73MB   3.73MB 46.53%
> 
> As you can see above result, merged one has better utilization (overhead
> ratio, 5th column) and uses less memory (mem_used_total, 3rd column).
> 
> Changes from v1:
> - More commit description about what to do in this patch.
> - Remove nr_obj in size_class, because it isn't need after initialization.
> - Rename __size_class to size_class, size_class to merged_size_class.
> - Add code comment for merged_size_class of struct zs_pool.
> - Add code comment how merging works in zs_create_pool().
> 
> Changes from v2:
> - Add more commit description (Dan)
> - dynamically allocate size_class structure (Dan)
> - rename objs_per_zspage to get_maxobj_per_zspage (Minchan)
> 
> Changes from v3:
> - Add error handling logic in zs_create_pool (Dan)
> 
> Signed-off-by: Joonsoo Kim <iamjoonsoo.kim@lge.com>
> ---
>  mm/zsmalloc.c |   84 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
>  1 file changed, 70 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/zsmalloc.c b/mm/zsmalloc.c
> index c4a9157..11556ae 100644
> --- a/mm/zsmalloc.c
> +++ b/mm/zsmalloc.c
> @@ -187,6 +187,7 @@ enum fullness_group {
>  static const int fullness_threshold_frac = 4;
>  
>  struct size_class {
> +	int ref;

Couldn't we remove the ref from size_class by making zs_destroy_pool
aware of merged size class like zs_create_pool?

-- 
Kind regards,
Minchan Kim

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