public inbox for linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Zhen Ni <zhen.ni@easystack.cn>
To: akpm@linux-foundation.org, vbabka@kernel.org
Cc: surenb@google.com, mhocko@suse.com, jackmanb@google.com,
	hannes@cmpxchg.org, ziy@nvidia.com, linux-mm@kvack.org,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Zhen Ni <zhen.ni@easystack.cn>
Subject: [PATCH v4 0/3] mm/page_owner: add filter infrastructure for print_mode and NUMA filtering
Date: Fri,  1 May 2026 00:32:44 +0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260430163247.13628-1-zhen.ni@easystack.cn> (raw)

This patch series introduces filtering capabilities to the page_owner
feature to address storage and performance challenges in production
environments.

Changes from v3:
- Change print_mode from numeric (0/1) to string-based interface
  * Use "full_stack"/"stack_handle" strings instead of numbers
  * Display current mode with bracket notation: "[full_stack] stack_handle"
- Remove "-1" support from NUMA filter
  * Use empty string to clear filter (echo > nid)
- Use strncpy_from_user() instead of copy_from_user()
- Rename nid_filter_fops to page_owner_nid_filter_fops for consistency
- Merge patch 1 (infrastructure) and patch 2 (print_mode) from v3
- Update documentation to match new interface
  * String-based examples
  * Tab indentation in code blocks

Changes from v2:
- Remove READ_ONCE/WRITE_ONCE for nodemask_t (fixes compilation errors)
  * nodemask_t is a large structure (128 bytes) that triggers compile-time asserts
  * Direct assignment is safe for this use case
- Add comment explaining input length calculation formula
  * 6 bytes = ",NNNNN" (comma + 5-digit node number)
- Simplify "-1" check using kstrtoint() instead of dual strcmp()
- Move nodemask_t mask read outside PFN iteration loop for performance
  * Avoids 128-byte structure copy on each iteration
- Add documentation for filter features (patch 3/3)

Changes from v1:
- Renamed 'compact' to 'print_mode' with enum type for better clarity
  * PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_FULL_STACK (0): print full stack traces
  * PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_STACK_HANDLE (1): print only stack handles
- Changed NUMA filter from single node to nodelist with bitmask support
  * Uses nodelist_parse() to support "0", "0,2", "0-3", "0,2-4,7" formats
  * Uses nodemask_t internally for efficient multi-node filtering
  * Output uses %*pbl format (e.g., "0-2", "0,2-4,7")
- Improved memory handling in nid_filter_write using dynamic allocation
  * Limit: (100 + 6 * MAX_NUMNODES) to handle worst-case input


Problem Statement
=================

In production environments with large memory configurations (e.g., 250GB+),
collecting page_owner information often results in files ranging from
several gigabytes to over 10GB. This creates significant challenges:

1. Storage pressure on production systems
2. Difficulty transferring large files from production environments
3. Post-processing overhead with tools/mm/page_owner_sort.c

The primary contributor to file size is redundant stack trace
information. While the kernel already deduplicates stacks via
stackdepot, page_owner retrieves and stores full stack traces for
each page, only to deduplicate them again during post-processing.

Additionally, in NUMA-aware environments (e.g., DPDK-based cloud
deployments where QEMU processes are bound to specific NUMA nodes),
OOM events are often node-specific rather than system-wide.
Currently, page_owner cannot filter by NUMA node, forcing users to
collect and analyze data for all nodes.

Solution
========

This patch series introduces a flexible filter infrastructure with
two initial filters:

1. **Print Mode Filter**: Outputs only stack handles instead of
   full stack traces. The handle-to-stack mapping can be retrieved
   from the existing show_stacks_handles interface. This dramatically
   reduces output size while preserving all allocation metadata.

2. **NUMA Node Filter**: Allows filtering pages by specific NUMA node(s)
   using flexible nodelist format, enabling targeted analysis of memory
   issues in NUMA-aware deployments.

Implementation
==============

The series is structured as follows:

- Patch 1: Implement print_mode filter with string-based interface
  (merges infrastructure + print_mode from v3)
- Patch 2: Implement NUMA node filter with nodelist support
- Patch 3: Document filter features

Usage Example
=============

Enable print_mode and filter for NUMA nodes 0,2-3:

    # cd /sys/kernel/debug/page_owner_filter/
    # echo stack_handle > print_mode
    # echo "0,2-3" > nid
    # cat /sys/kernel/debug/page_owner > page_owner.txt

Sample print_mode output (showing handles only):

    Page allocated via order 0, mask 0x0(), pid 0, tgid 0 (swapper),
    ts 0 ns PFN 0x40000 type Unmovable Block 512 type Unmovable
    Flags 0x3fffe0000000000(node=0|zone=0|lastcpupid=0x1ffff)
    handle: 1048577

    Page allocated via order 0, mask 0x252000(__GFP_NOWARN|
    __GFP_NORETRY|__GFP_COMP|__GFP_THISNODE), pid 0, tgid 0 (swapper),
    ts 0 ns PFN 0x40002 type Unmovable Block 512 type Unmovable
    Flags 0x23fffe0000000200(workingset|node=0|zone=0|lastcpupid=0x1ffff)
    handle: 1048577

Testing
=======

Tested on a system with multiple NUMA nodes. Verified that:
- Filters work independently and in combination
- Print_mode output correlates correctly with show_stacks_handles
- Default behavior (filters disabled) remains unchanged
- NUMA filter works with single node, multiple nodes, and ranges
- String-based interface works correctly ("full_stack"/"stack_handle")
- Empty string clears NUMA filter
- Code compiles without warnings or errors (allmodconfig tested)

Example test session:
    # cat print_mode
    [full_stack] stack_handle
    # echo stack_handle > print_mode
    # cat print_mode
    full_stack [stack_handle]
    # echo "0,1-2" > nid
    # cat nid
    0-2
    # echo "0,2-3" > nid
    # cat nid
    0,2-3
    # echo > nid
    # cat nid

    (empty - filter cleared)

Future Enhancements
===================

The filter infrastructure is designed to be extensible. Potential
future filters could include:
- PID/TGID filtering
- Time range filtering (allocation timestamp windows)
- GFP flag filtering
- Migration type filtering

Signed-off-by: Zhen Ni <zhen.ni@easystack.cn>
---

Zhen Ni (3):
  mm/page_owner: add print_mode filter
  mm/page_owner: add NUMA node filter with nodelist support
  mm/page_owner: document page_owner filter features

 Documentation/mm/page_owner.rst |  61 ++++++++++-
 mm/page_owner.c                 | 180 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 238 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

--
2.20.1

             reply	other threads:[~2026-04-30 16:38 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-04-30 16:32 Zhen Ni [this message]
2026-04-30 16:32 ` [PATCH v4 1/3] mm/page_owner: add print_mode filter Zhen Ni
2026-04-30 16:32 ` [PATCH v4 2/3] mm/page_owner: add NUMA node filter with nodelist support Zhen Ni
2026-04-30 16:32 ` [PATCH v4 3/3] mm/page_owner: document page_owner filter features Zhen Ni
2026-04-30 18:22 ` [PATCH v4 0/3] mm/page_owner: add filter infrastructure for print_mode and NUMA filtering Andrew Morton
2026-05-01  0:12   ` SeongJae Park

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260430163247.13628-1-zhen.ni@easystack.cn \
    --to=zhen.ni@easystack.cn \
    --cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
    --cc=hannes@cmpxchg.org \
    --cc=jackmanb@google.com \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-mm@kvack.org \
    --cc=mhocko@suse.com \
    --cc=surenb@google.com \
    --cc=vbabka@kernel.org \
    --cc=ziy@nvidia.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox