* [PATCH v6 1/2] mm/memory_hotplug: optimize zone contiguous check when changing pfn range
2026-07-23 8:49 [PATCH v6 0/2] mm/memory_hotplug: optimize zone contiguous check when changing pfn range Yuan Liu
@ 2026-07-23 8:49 ` Yuan Liu
2026-07-23 8:49 ` [PATCH v6 2/2] mm/memory_hotplug: improve shrink_zone_span() subsection boundary checks Yuan Liu
1 sibling, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Yuan Liu @ 2026-07-23 8:49 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: David Hildenbrand, Oscar Salvador, Mike Rapoport, Wei Yang
Cc: linux-mm, Nanhai Zou, Yuan Liu, Pan Deng, Tianyou Li, Chen Zhang,
Jason Zeng, linux-kernel
When move_pfn_range_to_zone() or remove_pfn_range_from_zone() updates a
zone, set_zone_contiguous() rescans the entire zone
pageblock-by-pageblock to rebuild zone->contiguous. For large zones this
is a significant cost during memory hotplug and hot-unplug.
Add a new zone member pages_with_online_memmap that tracks the number of
pages within the zone span that have an online memory map (including
present pages and memory holes smaller than a subsection whose memory
map has been initialized). When spanned_pages == pages_with_online_memmap
the zone is contiguous and pfn_to_page() can be called on any PFN in the
zone span without further pfn_valid() checks.
For early boot memory, pages_with_online_memmap is calculated in
memmap_init_zone_range(). Since every PFN within a memblock region
satisfies pfn_to_online_page(), the calculation aligns both boundaries
of each memblock range to PAGES_PER_SUBSECTION and counts the aligned
pages that fall within the zone span. If two adjacent memblock regions
share a subsection (i.e. the hole between them is smaller than a
subsection), the overlapping subsection pages are counted only once.
For hotplugged memory, pages_with_online_memmap is updated through
adjust_present_page_count(), which is called during memory online and
offline.
Only pages that fall within the current zone span are accounted towards
pages_with_online_memmap. A "too small" value is safe, it merely
prevents detecting a contiguous zone.
The contiguity check using pages_with_online_memmap is stricter than the
old pageblock-by-pageblock scan. The old set_zone_contiguous() iterated
at pageblock granularity via pageblock_pfn_to_page(), so a zone could be
marked contiguous even if a subsection-sized hole existed within a
pageblock. The new check requires
spanned_pages == pages_with_online_memmap, meaning every PFN in the zone
span must satisfy pfn_to_online_page().
The following test cases of memory hotplug for a VM [1], tested in the
environment [2], show that this optimization can significantly reduce
the memory hotplug time [3].
+----------------+------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
| | Size | Time (before) | Time (after) | Time Reduction |
| +------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
| Plug Memory | 256G | 10s | 3s | 70% |
| +------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
| | 512G | 36s | 7s | 81% |
+----------------+------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
+----------------+------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
| | Size | Time (before) | Time (after) | Time Reduction |
| +------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
| Unplug Memory | 256G | 11s | 4s | 64% |
| +------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
| | 512G | 36s | 9s | 75% |
+----------------+------+---------------+--------------+----------------+
[1] Qemu commands to hotplug 256G/512G memory for a VM:
object_add memory-backend-ram,id=hotmem0,size=256G/512G,share=on
device_add virtio-mem-pci,id=vmem1,memdev=hotmem0,bus=port1
qom-set vmem1 requested-size 256G/512G (Plug Memory)
qom-set vmem1 requested-size 0G (Unplug Memory)
[2] Hardware : Intel Icelake server
Guest Kernel : v7.0-rc4
Qemu : v9.0.0
Launch VM :
qemu-system-x86_64 -accel kvm -cpu host \
-drive file=./Centos10_cloud.qcow2,format=qcow2,if=virtio \
-drive file=./seed.img,format=raw,if=virtio \
-smp 3,cores=3,threads=1,sockets=1,maxcpus=3 \
-m 2G,slots=10,maxmem=2052472M \
-device pcie-root-port,id=port1,bus=pcie.0,slot=1,multifunction=on \
-device pcie-root-port,id=port2,bus=pcie.0,slot=2 \
-nographic -machine q35 \
-nic user,hostfwd=tcp::3000-:22
Guest kernel auto-onlines newly added memory blocks:
echo online > /sys/devices/system/memory/auto_online_blocks
[3] The time from typing the QEMU commands in [1] to when the output of
'grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo' on Guest reflects that all hotplugged
memory is recognized.
Reported-by: Nanhai Zou <nanhai.zou@intel.com>
Reported-by: Chen Zhang <zhangchen.kidd@jd.com>
Reviewed-by: Pan Deng <pan.deng@intel.com>
Reviewed-by: Jason Zeng <jason.zeng@intel.com>
Co-developed-by: Tianyou Li <tianyou.li@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Tianyou Li <tianyou.li@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Yuan Liu <yuan1.liu@intel.com>
---
Documentation/mm/physical_memory.rst | 13 +++++++
drivers/base/memory.c | 6 +++
include/linux/mmzone.h | 47 ++++++++++++++++++++++
mm/internal.h | 8 +---
mm/memory_hotplug.c | 12 +-----
mm/mm_init.c | 58 +++++++++++++++++-----------
6 files changed, 105 insertions(+), 39 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/mm/physical_memory.rst b/Documentation/mm/physical_memory.rst
index b76183545e5b..0aa65e6b5499 100644
--- a/Documentation/mm/physical_memory.rst
+++ b/Documentation/mm/physical_memory.rst
@@ -483,6 +483,19 @@ General
``present_pages`` should use ``get_online_mems()`` to get a stable value. It
is initialized by ``calculate_node_totalpages()``.
+``pages_with_online_memmap``
+ Tracks pages within the zone that have an online memory map (present pages
+ and memory holes whose memory map has been initialized). When
+ ``spanned_pages`` == ``pages_with_online_memmap``, ``pfn_to_page()`` can be
+ performed without further checks on any PFN within the zone span.
+
+ Note: this counter may temporarily undercount when pages with an online
+ memory map exist outside the current zone span. This can only happen during
+ boot, when initializing the memory map of pages that do not fall into any
+ zone span. Growing the zone to cover such pages and later shrinking it back
+ may result in a "too small" value. This is safe: it merely prevents
+ detecting a contiguous zone.
+
``present_early_pages``
The present pages existing within the zone located on memory available since
early boot, excluding hotplugged memory. Defined only when
diff --git a/drivers/base/memory.c b/drivers/base/memory.c
index bcfe2d9f4adb..237ace435372 100644
--- a/drivers/base/memory.c
+++ b/drivers/base/memory.c
@@ -246,6 +246,7 @@ static int memory_block_online(struct memory_block *mem)
nr_vmemmap_pages = mem->altmap->free;
mem_hotplug_begin();
+ clear_zone_contiguous(zone);
if (nr_vmemmap_pages) {
ret = mhp_init_memmap_on_memory(start_pfn, nr_vmemmap_pages, zone);
if (ret)
@@ -270,6 +271,7 @@ static int memory_block_online(struct memory_block *mem)
mem->zone = zone;
out:
+ set_zone_contiguous(zone);
mem_hotplug_done();
return ret;
}
@@ -282,6 +284,7 @@ static int memory_block_offline(struct memory_block *mem)
unsigned long start_pfn = section_nr_to_pfn(mem->start_section_nr);
unsigned long nr_pages = PAGES_PER_SECTION * sections_per_block;
unsigned long nr_vmemmap_pages = 0;
+ struct zone *zone;
int ret;
if (!mem->zone)
@@ -294,7 +297,9 @@ static int memory_block_offline(struct memory_block *mem)
if (mem->altmap)
nr_vmemmap_pages = mem->altmap->free;
+ zone = mem->zone;
mem_hotplug_begin();
+ clear_zone_contiguous(zone);
if (nr_vmemmap_pages)
adjust_present_page_count(pfn_to_page(start_pfn), mem->group,
-nr_vmemmap_pages);
@@ -314,6 +319,7 @@ static int memory_block_offline(struct memory_block *mem)
mem->zone = NULL;
out:
+ set_zone_contiguous(zone);
mem_hotplug_done();
return ret;
}
diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
index ca2712187147..ac1467ac3336 100644
--- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
+++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
@@ -1032,6 +1032,20 @@ struct zone {
* cma pages is present pages that are assigned for CMA use
* (MIGRATE_CMA).
*
+ * pages_with_online_memmap tracks pages within the zone that have
+ * an online memory map (present pages and memory holes whose memory
+ * map has been initialized). When spanned_pages ==
+ * pages_with_online_memmap, pfn_to_page() can be performed without
+ * further checks on any PFN within the zone span.
+ *
+ * Note: this counter may temporarily undercount when pages with an
+ * online memory map exist outside the current zone span. This can
+ * only happen during boot, when initializing the memory map of
+ * pages that do not fall into any zone span. Growing the zone to
+ * cover such pages and later shrinking it back may result in a
+ * "too small" value. This is safe: it merely prevents detecting a
+ * contiguous zone.
+ *
* So present_pages may be used by memory hotplug or memory power
* management logic to figure out unmanaged pages by checking
* (present_pages - managed_pages). And managed_pages should be used
@@ -1056,6 +1070,7 @@ struct zone {
atomic_long_t managed_pages;
unsigned long spanned_pages;
unsigned long present_pages;
+ unsigned long pages_with_online_memmap;
#if defined(CONFIG_MEMORY_HOTPLUG)
unsigned long present_early_pages;
#endif
@@ -1681,6 +1696,38 @@ static inline bool zone_is_zone_device(const struct zone *zone)
}
#endif
+/**
+ * zone_is_contiguous - test whether a zone is contiguous
+ * @zone: the zone to test.
+ *
+ * In a contiguous zone, it is valid to call pfn_to_page() on any PFN in the
+ * spanned zone without requiring pfn_valid() or pfn_to_online_page() checks.
+ *
+ * Note that missing synchronization with memory offlining makes any PFN
+ * traversal prone to races.
+ *
+ * ZONE_DEVICE zones are always marked non-contiguous.
+ *
+ * Return: true if contiguous, otherwise false.
+ */
+static inline bool zone_is_contiguous(const struct zone *zone)
+{
+ return zone->contiguous;
+}
+
+static inline void set_zone_contiguous(struct zone *zone)
+{
+ if (zone_is_zone_device(zone))
+ return;
+ if (zone->spanned_pages == zone->pages_with_online_memmap)
+ zone->contiguous = true;
+}
+
+static inline void clear_zone_contiguous(struct zone *zone)
+{
+ zone->contiguous = false;
+}
+
/*
* Returns true if a zone has pages managed by the buddy allocator.
* All the reclaim decisions have to use this function rather than
diff --git a/mm/internal.h b/mm/internal.h
index 181e79f1d6a2..f932b7577c92 100644
--- a/mm/internal.h
+++ b/mm/internal.h
@@ -805,21 +805,15 @@ extern struct page *__pageblock_pfn_to_page(unsigned long start_pfn,
static inline struct page *pageblock_pfn_to_page(unsigned long start_pfn,
unsigned long end_pfn, struct zone *zone)
{
- if (zone->contiguous)
+ if (zone_is_contiguous(zone))
return pfn_to_page(start_pfn);
return __pageblock_pfn_to_page(start_pfn, end_pfn, zone);
}
-void set_zone_contiguous(struct zone *zone);
bool pfn_range_intersects_zones(int nid, unsigned long start_pfn,
unsigned long nr_pages);
-static inline void clear_zone_contiguous(struct zone *zone)
-{
- zone->contiguous = false;
-}
-
extern int __isolate_free_page(struct page *page, unsigned int order);
extern void __putback_isolated_page(struct page *page, unsigned int order,
int mt);
diff --git a/mm/memory_hotplug.c b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
index 7ac19fab2263..4c699fd9c479 100644
--- a/mm/memory_hotplug.c
+++ b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
@@ -557,18 +557,13 @@ void remove_pfn_range_from_zone(struct zone *zone,
/*
* Zone shrinking code cannot properly deal with ZONE_DEVICE. So
- * we will not try to shrink the zones - which is okay as
- * set_zone_contiguous() cannot deal with ZONE_DEVICE either way.
+ * we will not try to shrink it.
*/
if (zone_is_zone_device(zone))
return;
- clear_zone_contiguous(zone);
-
shrink_zone_span(zone, start_pfn, start_pfn + nr_pages);
update_pgdat_span(pgdat);
-
- set_zone_contiguous(zone);
}
/**
@@ -746,8 +741,6 @@ void move_pfn_range_to_zone(struct zone *zone, unsigned long start_pfn,
struct pglist_data *pgdat = zone->zone_pgdat;
int nid = pgdat->node_id;
- clear_zone_contiguous(zone);
-
if (zone_is_empty(zone))
init_currently_empty_zone(zone, start_pfn, nr_pages);
resize_zone_range(zone, start_pfn, nr_pages);
@@ -775,8 +768,6 @@ void move_pfn_range_to_zone(struct zone *zone, unsigned long start_pfn,
memmap_init_range(nr_pages, nid, zone_idx(zone), start_pfn, 0,
MEMINIT_HOTPLUG, altmap, migratetype,
isolate_pageblock);
-
- set_zone_contiguous(zone);
}
struct auto_movable_stats {
@@ -1072,6 +1063,7 @@ void adjust_present_page_count(struct page *page, struct memory_group *group,
if (early_section(__pfn_to_section(page_to_pfn(page))))
zone->present_early_pages += nr_pages;
zone->present_pages += nr_pages;
+ zone->pages_with_online_memmap += nr_pages;
zone->zone_pgdat->node_present_pages += nr_pages;
if (group && movable)
diff --git a/mm/mm_init.c b/mm/mm_init.c
index f1afe023e4e7..73d1fde17040 100644
--- a/mm/mm_init.c
+++ b/mm/mm_init.c
@@ -916,6 +916,40 @@ void __meminit memmap_init_range(unsigned long size, int nid, unsigned long zone
}
}
+static void __init update_zone_online_memmap_pages(struct zone *zone,
+ unsigned long start_pfn,
+ unsigned long end_pfn,
+ unsigned long *hole_pfn)
+{
+#ifdef CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_VMEMMAP
+ unsigned long zone_start_pfn = zone->zone_start_pfn;
+ unsigned long zone_end_pfn = zone_start_pfn + zone->spanned_pages;
+ unsigned long sub_start, sub_end;
+
+ sub_start = max(ALIGN_DOWN(start_pfn, PAGES_PER_SUBSECTION),
+ zone_start_pfn);
+ sub_end = min(ALIGN(end_pfn, PAGES_PER_SUBSECTION), zone_end_pfn);
+
+ /*
+ * For an in-zone hole smaller than a subsection, the adjacent
+ * memblock ranges share a subsection. Avoid counting the same
+ * subsection's pages twice.
+ */
+ if (*hole_pfn > zone_start_pfn) {
+ unsigned long prev_sub_end;
+
+ prev_sub_end = min(ALIGN(*hole_pfn, PAGES_PER_SUBSECTION),
+ zone_end_pfn);
+ sub_start = max(sub_start, prev_sub_end);
+ }
+
+ if (sub_start < sub_end)
+ zone->pages_with_online_memmap += sub_end - sub_start;
+#else
+ zone->pages_with_online_memmap += end_pfn - start_pfn;
+#endif
+}
+
static void __init memmap_init_zone_range(struct zone *zone,
unsigned long start_pfn,
unsigned long end_pfn,
@@ -932,6 +966,8 @@ static void __init memmap_init_zone_range(struct zone *zone,
if (start_pfn >= end_pfn)
return;
+ update_zone_online_memmap_pages(zone, start_pfn, end_pfn, hole_pfn);
+
memmap_init_range(end_pfn - start_pfn, nid, zone_id, start_pfn,
zone_end_pfn, MEMINIT_EARLY, NULL, mt, false);
@@ -2195,28 +2231,6 @@ void __init init_cma_pageblock(struct page *page)
}
#endif
-void set_zone_contiguous(struct zone *zone)
-{
- unsigned long block_start_pfn = zone->zone_start_pfn;
- unsigned long block_end_pfn;
-
- block_end_pfn = pageblock_end_pfn(block_start_pfn);
- for (; block_start_pfn < zone_end_pfn(zone);
- block_start_pfn = block_end_pfn,
- block_end_pfn += pageblock_nr_pages) {
-
- block_end_pfn = min(block_end_pfn, zone_end_pfn(zone));
-
- if (!__pageblock_pfn_to_page(block_start_pfn,
- block_end_pfn, zone))
- return;
- cond_resched();
- }
-
- /* We confirm that there is no hole */
- zone->contiguous = true;
-}
-
/*
* Check if a PFN range intersects multiple zones on one or more
* NUMA nodes. Specify the @nid argument if it is known that this
--
2.47.3
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