| CPUSETS |
| ------- |
| |
| Copyright (C) 2004 BULL SA. |
| Written by Simon.Derr@bull.net |
| |
| Portions Copyright (c) 2004 Silicon Graphics, Inc. |
| Modified by Paul Jackson <pj@sgi.com> |
| |
| CONTENTS: |
| ========= |
| |
| 1. Cpusets |
| 1.1 What are cpusets ? |
| 1.2 Why are cpusets needed ? |
| 1.3 How are cpusets implemented ? |
| 1.4 How do I use cpusets ? |
| 2. Usage Examples and Syntax |
| 2.1 Basic Usage |
| 2.2 Adding/removing cpus |
| 2.3 Setting flags |
| 2.4 Attaching processes |
| 3. Questions |
| 4. Contact |
| |
| 1. Cpusets |
| ========== |
| |
| 1.1 What are cpusets ? |
| ---------------------- |
| |
| Cpusets provide a mechanism for assigning a set of CPUs and Memory |
| Nodes to a set of tasks. |
| |
| Cpusets constrain the CPU and Memory placement of tasks to only |
| the resources within a tasks current cpuset. They form a nested |
| hierarchy visible in a virtual file system. These are the essential |
| hooks, beyond what is already present, required to manage dynamic |
| job placement on large systems. |
| |
| Each task has a pointer to a cpuset. Multiple tasks may reference |
| the same cpuset. Requests by a task, using the sched_setaffinity(2) |
| system call to include CPUs in its CPU affinity mask, and using the |
| mbind(2) and set_mempolicy(2) system calls to include Memory Nodes |
| in its memory policy, are both filtered through that tasks cpuset, |
| filtering out any CPUs or Memory Nodes not in that cpuset. The |
| scheduler will not schedule a task on a CPU that is not allowed in |
| its cpus_allowed vector, and the kernel page allocator will not |
| allocate a page on a node that is not allowed in the requesting tasks |
| mems_allowed vector. |
| |
| If a cpuset is cpu or mem exclusive, no other cpuset, other than a direct |
| ancestor or descendent, may share any of the same CPUs or Memory Nodes. |
| A cpuset that is cpu exclusive has a sched domain associated with it. |
| The sched domain consists of all cpus in the current cpuset that are not |
| part of any exclusive child cpusets. |
| This ensures that the scheduler load balacing code only balances |
| against the cpus that are in the sched domain as defined above and not |
| all of the cpus in the system. This removes any overhead due to |
| load balancing code trying to pull tasks outside of the cpu exclusive |
| cpuset only to be prevented by the tasks' cpus_allowed mask. |
| |
| A cpuset that is mem_exclusive restricts kernel allocations for |
| page, buffer and other data commonly shared by the kernel across |
| multiple users. All cpusets, whether mem_exclusive or not, restrict |
| allocations of memory for user space. This enables configuring a |
| system so that several independent jobs can share common kernel |
| data, such as file system pages, while isolating each jobs user |
| allocation in its own cpuset. To do this, construct a large |
| mem_exclusive cpuset to hold all the jobs, and construct child, |
| non-mem_exclusive cpusets for each individual job. Only a small |
| amount of typical kernel memory, such as requests from interrupt |
| handlers, is allowed to be taken outside even a mem_exclusive cpuset. |
| |
| User level code may create and destroy cpusets by name in the cpuset |
| virtual file system, manage the attributes and permissions of these |
| cpusets and which CPUs and Memory Nodes are assigned to each cpuset, |
| specify and query to which cpuset a task is assigned, and list the |
| task pids assigned to a cpuset. |
| |
| |
| 1.2 Why are cpusets needed ? |
| ---------------------------- |
| |
| The management of large computer systems, with many processors (CPUs), |
| complex memory cache hierarchies and multiple Memory Nodes having |
| non-uniform access times (NUMA) presents additional challenges for |
| the efficient scheduling and memory placement of processes. |
| |
| Frequently more modest sized systems can be operated with adequate |
| efficiency just by letting the operating system automatically share |
| the available CPU and Memory resources amongst the requesting tasks. |
| |
| But larger systems, which benefit more from careful processor and |
| memory placement to reduce memory access times and contention, |
| and which typically represent a larger investment for the customer, |
| can benefit from explicitly placing jobs on properly sized subsets of |
| the system. |
| |
| This can be especially valuable on: |
| |
| * Web Servers running multiple instances of the same web application, |
| * Servers running different applications (for instance, a web server |
| and a database), or |
| * NUMA systems running large HPC applications with demanding |
| performance characteristics. |
| * Also cpu_exclusive cpusets are useful for servers running orthogonal |
| workloads such as RT applications requiring low latency and HPC |
| applications that are throughput sensitive |
| |
| These subsets, or "soft partitions" must be able to be dynamically |
| adjusted, as the job mix changes, without impacting other concurrently |
| executing jobs. |
| |
| The kernel cpuset patch provides the minimum essential kernel |
| mechanisms required to efficiently implement such subsets. It |
| leverages existing CPU and Memory Placement facilities in the Linux |
| kernel to avoid any additional impact on the critical scheduler or |
| memory allocator code. |
| |
| |
| 1.3 How are cpusets implemented ? |
| --------------------------------- |
| |
| Cpusets provide a Linux kernel (2.6.7 and above) mechanism to constrain |
| which CPUs and Memory Nodes are used by a process or set of processes. |
| |
| The Linux kernel already has a pair of mechanisms to specify on which |
| CPUs a task may be scheduled (sched_setaffinity) and on which Memory |
| Nodes it may obtain memory (mbind, set_mempolicy). |
| |
| Cpusets extends these two mechanisms as follows: |
| |
| - Cpusets are sets of allowed CPUs and Memory Nodes, known to the |
| kernel. |
| - Each task in the system is attached to a cpuset, via a pointer |
| in the task structure to a reference counted cpuset structure. |
| - Calls to sched_setaffinity are filtered to just those CPUs |
| allowed in that tasks cpuset. |
| - Calls to mbind and set_mempolicy are filtered to just |
| those Memory Nodes allowed in that tasks cpuset. |
| - The root cpuset contains all the systems CPUs and Memory |
| Nodes. |
| - For any cpuset, one can define child cpusets containing a subset |
| of the parents CPU and Memory Node resources. |
| - The hierarchy of cpusets can be mounted at /dev/cpuset, for |
| browsing and manipulation from user space. |
| - A cpuset may be marked exclusive, which ensures that no other |
| cpuset (except direct ancestors and descendents) may contain |
| any overlapping CPUs or Memory Nodes. |
| Also a cpu_exclusive cpuset would be associated with a sched |
| domain. |
| - You can list all the tasks (by pid) attached to any cpuset. |
| |
| The implementation of cpusets requires a few, simple hooks |
| into the rest of the kernel, none in performance critical paths: |
| |
| - in main/init.c, to initialize the root cpuset at system boot. |
| - in fork and exit, to attach and detach a task from its cpuset. |
| - in sched_setaffinity, to mask the requested CPUs by what's |
| allowed in that tasks cpuset. |
| - in sched.c migrate_all_tasks(), to keep migrating tasks within |
| the CPUs allowed by their cpuset, if possible. |
| - in sched.c, a new API partition_sched_domains for handling |
| sched domain changes associated with cpu_exclusive cpusets |
| and related changes in both sched.c and arch/ia64/kernel/domain.c |
| - in the mbind and set_mempolicy system calls, to mask the requested |
| Memory Nodes by what's allowed in that tasks cpuset. |
| - in page_alloc, to restrict memory to allowed nodes. |
| - in vmscan.c, to restrict page recovery to the current cpuset. |
| |
| In addition a new file system, of type "cpuset" may be mounted, |
| typically at /dev/cpuset, to enable browsing and modifying the cpusets |
| presently known to the kernel. No new system calls are added for |
| cpusets - all support for querying and modifying cpusets is via |
| this cpuset file system. |
| |
| Each task under /proc has an added file named 'cpuset', displaying |
| the cpuset name, as the path relative to the root of the cpuset file |
| system. |
| |
| The /proc/<pid>/status file for each task has two added lines, |
| displaying the tasks cpus_allowed (on which CPUs it may be scheduled) |
| and mems_allowed (on which Memory Nodes it may obtain memory), |
| in the format seen in the following example: |
| |
| Cpus_allowed: ffffffff,ffffffff,ffffffff,ffffffff |
| Mems_allowed: ffffffff,ffffffff |
| |
| Each cpuset is represented by a directory in the cpuset file system |
| containing the following files describing that cpuset: |
| |
| - cpus: list of CPUs in that cpuset |
| - mems: list of Memory Nodes in that cpuset |
| - memory_migrate flag: if set, move pages to cpusets nodes |
| - cpu_exclusive flag: is cpu placement exclusive? |
| - mem_exclusive flag: is memory placement exclusive? |
| - tasks: list of tasks (by pid) attached to that cpuset |
| |
| New cpusets are created using the mkdir system call or shell |
| command. The properties of a cpuset, such as its flags, allowed |
| CPUs and Memory Nodes, and attached tasks, are modified by writing |
| to the appropriate file in that cpusets directory, as listed above. |
| |
| The named hierarchical structure of nested cpusets allows partitioning |
| a large system into nested, dynamically changeable, "soft-partitions". |
| |
| The attachment of each task, automatically inherited at fork by any |
| children of that task, to a cpuset allows organizing the work load |
| on a system into related sets of tasks such that each set is constrained |
| to using the CPUs and Memory Nodes of a particular cpuset. A task |
| may be re-attached to any other cpuset, if allowed by the permissions |
| on the necessary cpuset file system directories. |
| |
| Such management of a system "in the large" integrates smoothly with |
| the detailed placement done on individual tasks and memory regions |
| using the sched_setaffinity, mbind and set_mempolicy system calls. |
| |
| The following rules apply to each cpuset: |
| |
| - Its CPUs and Memory Nodes must be a subset of its parents. |
| - It can only be marked exclusive if its parent is. |
| - If its cpu or memory is exclusive, they may not overlap any sibling. |
| |
| These rules, and the natural hierarchy of cpusets, enable efficient |
| enforcement of the exclusive guarantee, without having to scan all |
| cpusets every time any of them change to ensure nothing overlaps a |
| exclusive cpuset. Also, the use of a Linux virtual file system (vfs) |
| to represent the cpuset hierarchy provides for a familiar permission |
| and name space for cpusets, with a minimum of additional kernel code. |
| |
| 1.4 How do I use cpusets ? |
| -------------------------- |
| |
| In order to minimize the impact of cpusets on critical kernel |
| code, such as the scheduler, and due to the fact that the kernel |
| does not support one task updating the memory placement of another |
| task directly, the impact on a task of changing its cpuset CPU |
| or Memory Node placement, or of changing to which cpuset a task |
| is attached, is subtle. |
| |
| If a cpuset has its Memory Nodes modified, then for each task attached |
| to that cpuset, the next time that the kernel attempts to allocate |
| a page of memory for that task, the kernel will notice the change |
| in the tasks cpuset, and update its per-task memory placement to |
| remain within the new cpusets memory placement. If the task was using |
| mempolicy MPOL_BIND, and the nodes to which it was bound overlap with |
| its new cpuset, then the task will continue to use whatever subset |
| of MPOL_BIND nodes are still allowed in the new cpuset. If the task |
| was using MPOL_BIND and now none of its MPOL_BIND nodes are allowed |
| in the new cpuset, then the task will be essentially treated as if it |
| was MPOL_BIND bound to the new cpuset (even though its numa placement, |
| as queried by get_mempolicy(), doesn't change). If a task is moved |
| from one cpuset to another, then the kernel will adjust the tasks |
| memory placement, as above, the next time that the kernel attempts |
| to allocate a page of memory for that task. |
| |
| If a cpuset has its CPUs modified, then each task using that |
| cpuset does _not_ change its behavior automatically. In order to |
| minimize the impact on the critical scheduling code in the kernel, |
| tasks will continue to use their prior CPU placement until they |
| are rebound to their cpuset, by rewriting their pid to the 'tasks' |
| file of their cpuset. If a task had been bound to some subset of its |
| cpuset using the sched_setaffinity() call, and if any of that subset |
| is still allowed in its new cpuset settings, then the task will be |
| restricted to the intersection of the CPUs it was allowed on before, |
| and its new cpuset CPU placement. If, on the other hand, there is |
| no overlap between a tasks prior placement and its new cpuset CPU |
| placement, then the task will be allowed to run on any CPU allowed |
| in its new cpuset. If a task is moved from one cpuset to another, |
| its CPU placement is updated in the same way as if the tasks pid is |
| rewritten to the 'tasks' file of its current cpuset. |
| |
| In summary, the memory placement of a task whose cpuset is changed is |
| updated by the kernel, on the next allocation of a page for that task, |
| but the processor placement is not updated, until that tasks pid is |
| rewritten to the 'tasks' file of its cpuset. This is done to avoid |
| impacting the scheduler code in the kernel with a check for changes |
| in a tasks processor placement. |
| |
| Normally, once a page is allocated (given a physical page |
| of main memory) then that page stays on whatever node it |
| was allocated, so long as it remains allocated, even if the |
| cpusets memory placement policy 'mems' subsequently changes. |
| If the cpuset flag file 'memory_migrate' is set true, then when |
| tasks are attached to that cpuset, any pages that task had |
| allocated to it on nodes in its previous cpuset are migrated |
| to the tasks new cpuset. Depending on the implementation, |
| this migration may either be done by swapping the page out, |
| so that the next time the page is referenced, it will be paged |
| into the tasks new cpuset, usually on the node where it was |
| referenced, or this migration may be done by directly copying |
| the pages from the tasks previous cpuset to the new cpuset, |
| where possible to the same node, relative to the new cpuset, |
| as the node that held the page, relative to the old cpuset. |
| Also if 'memory_migrate' is set true, then if that cpusets |
| 'mems' file is modified, pages allocated to tasks in that |
| cpuset, that were on nodes in the previous setting of 'mems', |
| will be moved to nodes in the new setting of 'mems.' Again, |
| depending on the implementation, this might be done by swapping, |
| or by direct copying. In either case, pages that were not in |
| the tasks prior cpuset, or in the cpusets prior 'mems' setting, |
| will not be moved. |
| |
| There is an exception to the above. If hotplug functionality is used |
| to remove all the CPUs that are currently assigned to a cpuset, |
| then the kernel will automatically update the cpus_allowed of all |
| tasks attached to CPUs in that cpuset to allow all CPUs. When memory |
| hotplug functionality for removing Memory Nodes is available, a |
| similar exception is expected to apply there as well. In general, |
| the kernel prefers to violate cpuset placement, over starving a task |
| that has had all its allowed CPUs or Memory Nodes taken offline. User |
| code should reconfigure cpusets to only refer to online CPUs and Memory |
| Nodes when using hotplug to add or remove such resources. |
| |
| There is a second exception to the above. GFP_ATOMIC requests are |
| kernel internal allocations that must be satisfied, immediately. |
| The kernel may drop some request, in rare cases even panic, if a |
| GFP_ATOMIC alloc fails. If the request cannot be satisfied within |
| the current tasks cpuset, then we relax the cpuset, and look for |
| memory anywhere we can find it. It's better to violate the cpuset |
| than stress the kernel. |
| |
| To start a new job that is to be contained within a cpuset, the steps are: |
| |
| 1) mkdir /dev/cpuset |
| 2) mount -t cpuset none /dev/cpuset |
| 3) Create the new cpuset by doing mkdir's and write's (or echo's) in |
| the /dev/cpuset virtual file system. |
| 4) Start a task that will be the "founding father" of the new job. |
| 5) Attach that task to the new cpuset by writing its pid to the |
| /dev/cpuset tasks file for that cpuset. |
| 6) fork, exec or clone the job tasks from this founding father task. |
| |
| For example, the following sequence of commands will setup a cpuset |
| named "Charlie", containing just CPUs 2 and 3, and Memory Node 1, |
| and then start a subshell 'sh' in that cpuset: |
| |
| mount -t cpuset none /dev/cpuset |
| cd /dev/cpuset |
| mkdir Charlie |
| cd Charlie |
| /bin/echo 2-3 > cpus |
| /bin/echo 1 > mems |
| /bin/echo $$ > tasks |
| sh |
| # The subshell 'sh' is now running in cpuset Charlie |
| # The next line should display '/Charlie' |
| cat /proc/self/cpuset |
| |
| In the case that a change of cpuset includes wanting to move already |
| allocated memory pages, consider further the work of IWAMOTO |
| Toshihiro <iwamoto@valinux.co.jp> for page remapping and memory |
| hotremoval, which can be found at: |
| |
| http://people.valinux.co.jp/~iwamoto/mh.html |
| |
| The integration of cpusets with such memory migration is not yet |
| available. |
| |
| In the future, a C library interface to cpusets will likely be |
| available. For now, the only way to query or modify cpusets is |
| via the cpuset file system, using the various cd, mkdir, echo, cat, |
| rmdir commands from the shell, or their equivalent from C. |
| |
| The sched_setaffinity calls can also be done at the shell prompt using |
| SGI's runon or Robert Love's taskset. The mbind and set_mempolicy |
| calls can be done at the shell prompt using the numactl command |
| (part of Andi Kleen's numa package). |
| |
| 2. Usage Examples and Syntax |
| ============================ |
| |
| 2.1 Basic Usage |
| --------------- |
| |
| Creating, modifying, using the cpusets can be done through the cpuset |
| virtual filesystem. |
| |
| To mount it, type: |
| # mount -t cpuset none /dev/cpuset |
| |
| Then under /dev/cpuset you can find a tree that corresponds to the |
| tree of the cpusets in the system. For instance, /dev/cpuset |
| is the cpuset that holds the whole system. |
| |
| If you want to create a new cpuset under /dev/cpuset: |
| # cd /dev/cpuset |
| # mkdir my_cpuset |
| |
| Now you want to do something with this cpuset. |
| # cd my_cpuset |
| |
| In this directory you can find several files: |
| # ls |
| cpus cpu_exclusive mems mem_exclusive tasks |
| |
| Reading them will give you information about the state of this cpuset: |
| the CPUs and Memory Nodes it can use, the processes that are using |
| it, its properties. By writing to these files you can manipulate |
| the cpuset. |
| |
| Set some flags: |
| # /bin/echo 1 > cpu_exclusive |
| |
| Add some cpus: |
| # /bin/echo 0-7 > cpus |
| |
| Now attach your shell to this cpuset: |
| # /bin/echo $$ > tasks |
| |
| You can also create cpusets inside your cpuset by using mkdir in this |
| directory. |
| # mkdir my_sub_cs |
| |
| To remove a cpuset, just use rmdir: |
| # rmdir my_sub_cs |
| This will fail if the cpuset is in use (has cpusets inside, or has |
| processes attached). |
| |
| 2.2 Adding/removing cpus |
| ------------------------ |
| |
| This is the syntax to use when writing in the cpus or mems files |
| in cpuset directories: |
| |
| # /bin/echo 1-4 > cpus -> set cpus list to cpus 1,2,3,4 |
| # /bin/echo 1,2,3,4 > cpus -> set cpus list to cpus 1,2,3,4 |
| |
| 2.3 Setting flags |
| ----------------- |
| |
| The syntax is very simple: |
| |
| # /bin/echo 1 > cpu_exclusive -> set flag 'cpu_exclusive' |
| # /bin/echo 0 > cpu_exclusive -> unset flag 'cpu_exclusive' |
| |
| 2.4 Attaching processes |
| ----------------------- |
| |
| # /bin/echo PID > tasks |
| |
| Note that it is PID, not PIDs. You can only attach ONE task at a time. |
| If you have several tasks to attach, you have to do it one after another: |
| |
| # /bin/echo PID1 > tasks |
| # /bin/echo PID2 > tasks |
| ... |
| # /bin/echo PIDn > tasks |
| |
| |
| 3. Questions |
| ============ |
| |
| Q: what's up with this '/bin/echo' ? |
| A: bash's builtin 'echo' command does not check calls to write() against |
| errors. If you use it in the cpuset file system, you won't be |
| able to tell whether a command succeeded or failed. |
| |
| Q: When I attach processes, only the first of the line gets really attached ! |
| A: We can only return one error code per call to write(). So you should also |
| put only ONE pid. |
| |
| 4. Contact |
| ========== |
| |
| Web: http://www.bullopensource.org/cpuset |