Re: [PATCH 7/11] hugetlb: update hugetlb documentation for mempolicy based management.

[Mel Gorman <mel@csn.ul.ie>]

On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 04:45:04PM -0400, Lee Schermerhorn wrote:
> [PATCH 7/11] hugetlb:  update hugetlb documentation for mempolicy based management.
> 
> Against:  2.6.31-mmotm-090914-0157
> 
> V2:  Add brief description of per node attributes.
> 
> V6:  address review comments
> 
> This patch updates the kernel huge tlb documentation to describe the
> numa memory policy based huge page management.  Additionaly, the patch
> includes a fair amount of rework to improve consistency, eliminate
> duplication and set the context for documenting the memory policy
> interaction.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Lee Schermerhorn <lee.schermerhorn@hp.com>
> Acked-by: David Rientjes <rientjes@google.com>
> 

Acked-by: Mel Gorman <mel@csn.ul.ie>

>  Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt |  263 +++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------
>  1 file changed, 175 insertions(+), 88 deletions(-)
> 
> Index: linux-2.6.31-mmotm-090914-0157/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt
> ===================================================================
> --- linux-2.6.31-mmotm-090914-0157.orig/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt	2009-09-15 13:22:53.000000000 -0400
> +++ linux-2.6.31-mmotm-090914-0157/Documentation/vm/hugetlbpage.txt	2009-09-15 13:43:32.000000000 -0400
> @@ -11,23 +11,21 @@ This optimization is more critical now a
>  (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).
> +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 kernel built with huge page support should show the number of configured
> -huge pages in the system by running the "cat /proc/meminfo" command.
> +The /proc/meminfo file provides information about the total number of
> +persistent hugetlb pages in the kernel's huge page pool.  It also displays
> +information about the number of free, reserved and surplus huge pages and the
> +default huge page 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.
>  
> -/proc/meminfo also provides information about the total number of hugetlb
> -pages configured in the kernel.  It also displays information about the
> -number of free hugetlb pages at any time.  It also displays information about
> -the configured huge page size - this is needed for generating the proper
> -alignment and size of the arguments to the above system calls.
> -
> -The output of "cat /proc/meminfo" will have lines like:
> +The output of "cat /proc/meminfo" will include lines like:
>  
>  .....
>  HugePages_Total: vvv
> @@ -53,59 +51,63 @@ HugePages_Surp  is short for "surplus,"
>  /proc/filesystems should also show a filesystem of type "hugetlbfs" configured
>  in the kernel.
>  
> -/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages indicates the current number of configured hugetlb
> -pages in the kernel.  Super user can dynamically request more (or free some
> -pre-configured) huge pages.
> -The allocation (or deallocation) of hugetlb pages is possible only if there are
> -enough physically contiguous free pages in system (freeing of huge pages is
> -possible only if there are enough hugetlb pages free that can be transferred
> -back to regular memory pool).
> -
> -Pages that are used as hugetlb pages are reserved inside the kernel and cannot
> -be used for other purposes.
> -
> -Once the kernel with Hugetlb page support is built and running, a user can
> -use either the mmap system call or shared memory system calls to start using
> -the huge pages.  It is required that the system administrator preallocate
> -enough memory for huge page purposes.
> -
> -The administrator can preallocate 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 for preallocating huge pages as
> -memory has not yet become fragmented.
> +/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 preallocate huge pages
> +Some platforms support multiple huge page sizes.  To allocate huge pages
>  of a specific size, one must preceed the huge pages boot command parameters
>  with a huge page size selection parameter "hugepagesz=<size>".  <size> must
>  be specified in bytes with optional scale suffix [kKmMgG].  The default huge
>  page size may be selected with the "default_hugepagesz=<size>" boot parameter.
>  
> -/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages indicates the current number of configured [default
> -size] hugetlb pages in the kernel.  Super user can dynamically request more
> -(or free some pre-configured) huge pages.
> -
> -Use the following command to dynamically allocate/deallocate default sized
> -huge pages:
> +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 configure 20 default sized huge pages in the system.
> +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 the all on-line nodes.  These huge pages, allocated when nr_hugepages
> -is increased, are called "persistent huge pages".
> +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.  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 preset in system at the time of the
> +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 request 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
> +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
> @@ -113,39 +115,40 @@ distribution of huge pages in a NUMA sys
>  /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 "surplus"
> -huge pages from the buddy allocator, when the normal pool is exhausted. As
> -these surplus huge pages go out of use, they are freed back to the buddy
> -allocator.
> +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 surplus
> +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 huge page pool size.
> +the new persistent huge page pool size.
>  
> -The administrator may shrink the pool of preallocated huge pages for
> +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 on-line nodes.  Any free huge pages on the selected nodes will
> -be freed back to the buddy allocator.
> -
> -Caveat: Shrinking the pool via nr_hugepages such that it becomes less
> -than the number of huge pages in use will convert the balance to surplus
> -huge pages even if it would exceed the overcommit value.  As long as
> -this condition holds, however, no more surplus huge pages will be
> -allowed on the system until one of the two sysctls are increased
> -sufficiently, or the surplus huge pages go out of use and are freed.
> +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 has been duplicated in sysfs. The above
> -information applies to the default huge page size which will be
> -controlled by the /proc interfaces for backwards compatibility. The root
> -huge page control directory in sysfs is:
> +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
> +will exist, of the form:
>  
>  	hugepages-${size}kB
>  
> @@ -159,6 +162,98 @@ Inside each of these directories, the sa
>  
>  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, 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 parameter.  [nr_overcommit_hugepages is a global limit.]
> +
> +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 <node-list> echo 20 >/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages
> +
> +or, more succinctly:
> +
> +    numactl -m <node-list> echo 20 >/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages
> +
> +This will allocate or free abs(20 - nr_hugepages) to or from the nodes
> +specified in <node-list>, depending on whether nr_hugepages 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 <node-list>.
> +
> +Any memory policy mode--bind, preferred, local or interleave--may be
> +used.  The effect on persistent huge page allocation is as follows:
> +
> +1) 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.
> +
> +2) 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.
> +
> +3) 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.
> +
> +4) 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.
> +
> +5) Any task mempolicy specifed--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.
> +
> +6) Boot-time huge page allocation attempts to distribute the requested number
> +   of huge pages over all on-lines nodes.
> +
> +Per Node Hugepages Attributes
> +
> +A subset of the contents of the root huge page control directory in sysfs,
> +described above, has been replicated under each "node" system device 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 will return 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:
> @@ -206,9 +301,11 @@ map_hugetlb.c.
>   * requesting huge pages.
>   *
>   * For the ia64 architecture, the Linux kernel reserves Region number 4 for
> - * huge pages.  That means the addresses starting with 0x800000... will need
> - * to be specified.  Specifying a fixed address is not required on ppc64,
> - * i386 or x86_64.
> + * huge pages.  That means that if one requires a fixed address, a huge page
> + * aligned address starting with 0x800000... will be required.  If a fixed
> + * address is not required, the kernel will select an address in the proper
> + * range.
> + * Other architectures, such as ppc64, i386 or x86_64 are not so constrained.
>   *
>   * Note: The default shared memory limit is quite low on many kernels,
>   * you may need to increase it via:
> @@ -237,14 +334,8 @@ map_hugetlb.c.
>  
>  #define dprintf(x)  printf(x)
>  
> -/* Only ia64 requires this */
> -#ifdef __ia64__
> -#define ADDR (void *)(0x8000000000000000UL)
> -#define SHMAT_FLAGS (SHM_RND)
> -#else
> -#define ADDR (void *)(0x0UL)
> +#define ADDR (void *)(0x0UL)	/* let kernel choose address */
>  #define SHMAT_FLAGS (0)
> -#endif
>  
>  int main(void)
>  {
> @@ -302,10 +393,12 @@ int main(void)
>   * example, the app is requesting memory of size 256MB that is backed by
>   * huge pages.
>   *
> - * For ia64 architecture, Linux kernel reserves Region number 4 for huge pages.
> - * That means the addresses starting with 0x800000... will need to be
> - * specified.  Specifying a fixed address is not required on ppc64, i386
> - * or x86_64.
> + * For the ia64 architecture, the Linux kernel reserves Region number 4 for
> + * huge pages.  That means that if one requires a fixed address, a huge page
> + * aligned address starting with 0x800000... will be required.  If a fixed
> + * address is not required, the kernel will select an address in the proper
> + * range.
> + * Other architectures, such as ppc64, i386 or x86_64 are not so constrained.
>   */
>  #include <stdlib.h>
>  #include <stdio.h>
> @@ -317,14 +410,8 @@ int main(void)
>  #define LENGTH (256UL*1024*1024)
>  #define PROTECTION (PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE)
>  
> -/* Only ia64 requires this */
> -#ifdef __ia64__
> -#define ADDR (void *)(0x8000000000000000UL)
> -#define FLAGS (MAP_SHARED | MAP_FIXED)
> -#else
> -#define ADDR (void *)(0x0UL)
> +#define ADDR (void *)(0x0UL)	/* let kernel choose address */
>  #define FLAGS (MAP_SHARED)
> -#endif
>  
>  void check_bytes(char *addr)
>  {
> 

-- 
Mel Gorman
Part-time Phd Student                          Linux Technology Center
University of Limerick                         IBM Dublin Software Lab

--
To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in
the body to majordomo@kvack.org.  For more info on Linux MM,
see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ .
Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@kvack.org"> email@kvack.org </a>