Date:	Fri, 9 Apr 2010 10:45:56 +0900
From:	KAMEZAWA Hiroyuki <kamezawa.hiroyu@...fujitsu.com>
To:	Daisuke Nishimura <nishimura@....nes.nec.co.jp>
Cc:	"linux-mm@...ck.org" <linux-mm@...ck.org>,
	"akpm@...ux-foundation.org" <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	"balbir@...ux.vnet.ibm.com" <balbir@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>,
	randy.dunlap@...cle.com,
	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] memcg: update documentation v3

On Fri, 9 Apr 2010 10:26:26 +0900
Daisuke Nishimura <nishimura@....nes.nec.co.jp> wrote:
> > +Current Status: linux-2.6.34-mmotm(development version of 2010/April)
> > +
> > +Features:
> > + - accounting anonymous pages, file caches, swap caches usage and limit them.
> > + - private LRU and reclaim routine. (system's global LRU and private LRU
> > +   work independently from each other)
> > + - optionally, memory+swap usage can be accounted and limited.
> > + - hierarchical accounting
> > + - soft limit
> > + - moving(recharging) account at moving a task is selectable.
> > + - usage threshold notifier
> > + - oom-killer disable knob and oom-notifier
> > + - Root cgroup has no limit controls.
> > +
> > + Kernel memory and Hugepages are not under control yet. We just manage
> > + pages on LRU. To add more controls, we have to take care of performance.
> > +
> > +Brief summary of control files.
> > +
> > + tasks				 # attach a task(thread)
> > + cgroup.procs			 # attach a process(all threads under it)
> IIUC, writing to cgroup.procs isn't supported yet. So, I think we don't have to
> bother explaining cgroup.procs here.
> 

It's supported. See Documetaion/cgroup/cgroup.txt
IIRC, I use cgroup.procs file for migrating, sometimes.


> > + cgroup.event_control		 # an interface for event_fd()
> > + memory.usage_in_bytes		 # show current memory(RSS+Cache) usage.
> > + memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes	 # show current memory+Swap usage
> > + memory.limit_in_bytes		 # set/show limit of memory usage
> > + memory.memsw.limit_in_bytes	 # set/show limit of memory+Swap usage
> > + memory.failcnt			 # show the number of memory usage hit limits
> > + memory.memsw.failcnt		 # show the number of memory+Swap hit limits
> > + memory.max_usage_in_bytes	 # show max memory usage recorded
> > + memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes	 # show max memory+Swap usage recorded
> > + memory.soft_limit_in_bytes	 # set/show soft limit of memory usage
> > + memory.stat			 # show various statistics
> > + memory.use_hierarchy		 # set/show hierarchical account enabled
> > + memory.force_empty		 # trigger forced move charge to parent
> > + memory.swappiness		 # set/show swappiness parameter of vmscan
> > + 				  (See sysctl's vm.swappiness)
> > + memory.move_charge_at_immigrate # set/show controls of moving charges
> > + memory.oom_control		 # set/show oom controls.
> > +
> >  1. History
> >  
> >  The memory controller has a long history. A request for comments for the memory
> > @@ -106,14 +135,14 @@ the necessary data structures and check 
> >  is over its limit. If it is then reclaim is invoked on the cgroup.
> >  More details can be found in the reclaim section of this document.
> >  If everything goes well, a page meta-data-structure called page_cgroup is
> > -allocated and associated with the page.  This routine also adds the page to
> > -the per cgroup LRU.
> > +updated. page_cgroup has its own LRU on cgroup.
> > +(*) page_cgroup structure is allocated at boot/memory-hotplug time.
> >  
> >  2.2.1 Accounting details
> >  
> >  All mapped anon pages (RSS) and cache pages (Page Cache) are accounted.
> > -(some pages which never be reclaimable and will not be on global LRU
> > - are not accounted. we just accounts pages under usual vm management.)
> > +Some pages which are never reclaimable and will not be on the global LRU
> > +are not accounted. We just accounts pages under usual VM management.
> >  
> >  RSS pages are accounted at page_fault unless they've already been accounted
> >  for earlier. A file page will be accounted for as Page Cache when it's
> > @@ -121,12 +150,18 @@ inserted into inode (radix-tree). While 
> >  processes, duplicate accounting is carefully avoided.
> >  
> >  A RSS page is unaccounted when it's fully unmapped. A PageCache page is
> > -unaccounted when it's removed from radix-tree.
> > +unaccounted when it's removed from radix-tree. Even if RSS pages are fully
> > +unmapped (by kswapd), they may exist as SwapCache in the system until they
> > +are really freed. Such SwapCaches also also accounted.
> > +A swapped-in page is not accounted until it's mapped. It's bacause we can't
> > +know a page will be finaly mapped at swapin-readahead happens.
> > +
> > +A Cache pages is unaccounted when it's removed from inode (radix-tree).
> >  
> Is this line necessary ? We say the similar thing above("A PageCache page is
> unaccounted when it's removed from radix-tree.").
> 
ok, I'll drop.


> >  At page migration, accounting information is kept.
> >  
> >  Note: we just account pages-on-lru because our purpose is to control amount
> > -of used pages. not-on-lru pages are tend to be out-of-control from vm view.
> > +of used pages. not-on-lru pages are tend to be out-of-control from VM view.
> >  
> >  2.3 Shared Page Accounting
> >  
> > @@ -143,6 +178,7 @@ caller of swapoff rather than the users 
> >  
> >  
> >  2.4 Swap Extension (CONFIG_CGROUP_MEM_RES_CTLR_SWAP)
> > +
> >  Swap Extension allows you to record charge for swap. A swapped-in page is
> >  charged back to original page allocator if possible.
> >  
> > @@ -150,13 +186,20 @@ When swap is accounted, following files 
> >   - memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes.
> >   - memory.memsw.limit_in_bytes.
> >  
> > -usage of mem+swap is limited by memsw.limit_in_bytes.
> > +memsw means memory+swap. Usage of memory+swap is limited by
> > +memsw.limit_in_bytes.
> >  
> > -* why 'mem+swap' rather than swap.
> > +Example) Assume a system with 4G of swap. A task which allocates 6G of memory
> > +(by mistake) under 2G memory limitation will use all swap.
> > +In this case, setting memsw.limit_in_bytes=3G will prevent bad use of swap.
> > +(Bad process will cause OOM under the memory cgroup. By using memsw limit,
> > +you can avoid system OOM which can be caused by swap shortage.)
> > +
> > +* why 'memory+swap' rather than swap.
> >  The global LRU(kswapd) can swap out arbitrary pages. Swap-out means
> >  to move account from memory to swap...there is no change in usage of
> > -mem+swap. In other words, when we want to limit the usage of swap without
> > -affecting global LRU, mem+swap limit is better than just limiting swap from
> > +memory+swap. In other words, when we want to limit the usage of swap without
> > +affecting global LRU, memory+swap limit is better than just limiting swap from
> >  OS point of view.
> >  
> >  * What happens when a cgroup hits memory.memsw.limit_in_bytes
> > @@ -168,12 +211,12 @@ it by cgroup.
> >  
> >  2.5 Reclaim
> >  
> > -Each cgroup maintains a per cgroup LRU that consists of an active
> > -and inactive list. When a cgroup goes over its limit, we first try
> > +Each cgroup maintains a per cgroup LRU which has the same structure as
> > +global VM. When a cgroup goes over its limit, we first try
> >  to reclaim memory from the cgroup so as to make space for the new
> >  pages that the cgroup has touched. If the reclaim is unsuccessful,
> >  an OOM routine is invoked to select and kill the bulkiest task in the
> > -cgroup.
> > +cgroup. (See 10. OOM Control below.)
> >  
> >  The reclaim algorithm has not been modified for cgroups, except that
> >  pages that are selected for reclaiming come from the per cgroup LRU
> > @@ -189,11 +232,17 @@ When oom event notifier is registered, e
> >  
> >  2. Locking
> >  
> hmm, chapter 2 is used as "2. Memory Control" already :(
> "2.6 Locking" is better ?
> 

ok.


> > -The memory controller uses the following hierarchy
> > +   lock_page_cgroup()/unlock_page_cgroup() should not be called under
> > +   mapping->tree_lock.
> >  
> > -1. zone->lru_lock is used for selecting pages to be isolated
> > -2. mem->per_zone->lru_lock protects the per cgroup LRU (per zone)
> > -3. lock_page_cgroup() is used to protect page->page_cgroup
> > +   Other lock order is following:
> > +   PG_locked.
> > +   mm->page_table_lock
> > +       zone->lru_lock
> > +	  lock_page_cgroup.
> > +  In many cases, just lock_page_cgroup() is called.
> > +  per-zone-per-cgroup LRU (cgroup's private LRU) is just guarded by
> > +  zone->lru_lock, it has no lock of its own.
> >  
> >  3. User Interface
> >  
> > @@ -202,6 +251,7 @@ The memory controller uses the following
> >  a. Enable CONFIG_CGROUPS
> >  b. Enable CONFIG_RESOURCE_COUNTERS
> >  c. Enable CONFIG_CGROUP_MEM_RES_CTLR
> > +d. Enable CONFIG_CGROUP_MEM_RES_CTLR_SWAP (to use swap extension)
> >  
> >  1. Prepare the cgroups
> >  # mkdir -p /cgroups
> > @@ -216,16 +266,14 @@ We can alter the memory limit:
> >  # echo 4M > /cgroups/0/memory.limit_in_bytes
> >  
> >  NOTE: We can use a suffix (k, K, m, M, g or G) to indicate values in kilo,
> > -mega or gigabytes.
> > +mega or gigabytes. (Here, Kilo, Mega, Giga are Kibibytes, Mebibytes, Gibibytes.)
> > +
> >  NOTE: We can write "-1" to reset the *.limit_in_bytes(unlimited).
> >  NOTE: We cannot set limits on the root cgroup any more.
> >  
> >  # cat /cgroups/0/memory.limit_in_bytes
> >  4194304
> >  
> > -NOTE: The interface has now changed to display the usage in bytes
> > -instead of pages
> > -
> >  We can check the usage:
> >  # cat /cgroups/0/memory.usage_in_bytes
> >  1216512
> > @@ -248,15 +296,24 @@ caches, RSS and Active pages/Inactive pa
> >  
> >  4. Testing
> >  
> > -Balbir posted lmbench, AIM9, LTP and vmmstress results [10] and [11].
> > -Apart from that v6 has been tested with several applications and regular
> > -daily use. The controller has also been tested on the PPC64, x86_64 and
> > -UML platforms.
> > +For testing features and implementation, see memcg_test.txt.
> > +
> > +Performance test is also important. To see pure memory cgroup's overhead,
> > +testing on tmpfs will give you good numbers of small overheads.
> > +Example) do kernel make on tmpfs.
> > +
> > +Page-fault scalability is also important. At measuring parallel
> > +page fault test, multi-process test may be better than multi-thread
> > +test because it has noise of shared objects/status.
> > +
> > +But above 2 is testing extreme situation. Trying usual test under memory cgroup
> > +is always helpful.
> > +
> >  
> >  4.1 Troubleshooting
> >  
> >  Sometimes a user might find that the application under a cgroup is
> > -terminated. There are several causes for this:
> > +terminated by OOM killer. There are several causes for this:
> >  
> >  1. The cgroup limit is too low (just too low to do anything useful)
> >  2. The user is using anonymous memory and swap is turned off or too low
> > @@ -264,6 +321,9 @@ terminated. There are several causes for
> >  A sync followed by echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches will help get rid of
> >  some of the pages cached in the cgroup (page cache pages).
> >  
> > +To know what happens, disable OOM_Kill by 10. OOM Control(see below) and
> > +seeing what happens will be helpful.
> > +
> >  4.2 Task migration
> >  
> >  When a task migrates from one cgroup to another, it's charge is not
> > @@ -271,16 +331,19 @@ carried forward by default. The pages al
> >  remain charged to it, the charge is dropped when the page is freed or
> >  reclaimed.
> >  
> > -Note: You can move charges of a task along with task migration. See 8.
> > +You can move charges of a task along with task migration.
> > +See 8. "Move charges at task migration"
> >  
> >  4.3 Removing a cgroup
> >  
> >  A cgroup can be removed by rmdir, but as discussed in sections 4.1 and 4.2, a
> >  cgroup might have some charge associated with it, even though all
> > -tasks have migrated away from it.
> > -Such charges are freed(at default) or moved to its parent. When moved,
> > -both of RSS and CACHES are moved to parent.
> > -If both of them are busy, rmdir() returns -EBUSY. See 5.1 Also.
> > +tasks have migrated away from it. (because we charge against pages, not
> > +against tasks.)
> > +
> > +Such charges are freed or moved to their parent. At moving, both of RSS
> > +and CACHES are moved to parent.
> > +rmdir() may return -EBUSY if freeing/moving fails. See 5.1 also.
> >  
> >  Charges recorded in swap information is not updated at removal of cgroup.
> >  Recorded information is discarded and a cgroup which uses swap (swapcache)
> > @@ -296,10 +359,10 @@ will be charged as a new owner of it.
> >  
> >    # echo 0 > memory.force_empty
> >  
> > -  Almost all pages tracked by this memcg will be unmapped and freed. Some of
> > -  pages cannot be freed because it's locked or in-use. Such pages are moved
> > -  to parent and this cgroup will be empty. But this may return -EBUSY in
> > -  some too busy case.
> > +  Almost all pages tracked by this memory cgroup will be unmapped and freed.
> > +  Some of pages cannot be freed because it's locked or in-use. Such pages are
> > +  moved to parent and this cgroup will be empty. This may return -EBUSY if
> > +  VM is too busy to free/move all pages immediately.
> >  
> >    Typical use case of this interface is that calling this before rmdir().
> >    Because rmdir() moves all pages to parent, some out-of-use page caches can be
> > @@ -309,19 +372,41 @@ will be charged as a new owner of it.
> >  
> >  memory.stat file includes following statistics
> >  
> > +# per-memory cgroup local status
> >  cache		- # of bytes of page cache memory.
> >  rss		- # of bytes of anonymous and swap cache memory.
> > +mapped_file	- # of bytes of mapped file (includes tmpfs/shmem)
> >  pgpgin		- # of pages paged in (equivalent to # of charging events).
> >  pgpgout		- # of pages paged out (equivalent to # of uncharging events).
> > -active_anon	- # of bytes of anonymous and  swap cache memory on active
> > -		  lru list.
> > +swap		- # of bytes of swap usage
> >  inactive_anon	- # of bytes of anonymous memory and swap cache memory on
> > +		  lru list.
> > +active_anon	- # of bytes of anonymous and  swap cache memory on active
> >  		  inactive lru list.
> > -active_file	- # of bytes of file-backed memory on active lru list.
> >  inactive_file	- # of bytes of file-backed memory on inactive lru list.
> > +active_file	- # of bytes of file-backed memory on active lru list.
> >  unevictable	- # of bytes of memory that cannot be reclaimed (mlocked etc).
> >  
> > -The following additional stats are dependent on CONFIG_DEBUG_VM.
> > +# status considering hierarchy (see memory.use_hierarchy settings)
> > +
> > +hierarchical_memory_limit - # of bytes of memory limit with regard to hierarchy
> > +			under which the memory cgroup is
> > +hierarchical_memsw_limit - # of bytes of memory+swap limit with regard to
> > +			hierarchy under which memory cgroup is.
> > +
> > +total_cache		- sum of all children's "cache"
> > +total_rss		- sum of all children's "rss"
> > +total_mapped_file	- sum of all children's "cache"
> > +total_pgpgin		- sum of all children's "pgpgin"
> > +total_pgpgout		- sum of all children's "pgpgout"
> > +total_swap		- sum of all children's "swap"
> > +total_inactive_anon	- sum of all children's "inactive_anon"
> > +total_active_anon	- sum of all children's "active_anon"
> > +total_inactive_file	- sum of all children's "inactive_file"
> > +total_active_file	- sum of all children's "active_file"
> > +total_unevictable	- sum of all children's "unevictable"
> > +
> > +# The following additional stats are dependent on CONFIG_DEBUG_VM.
> >  
> >  inactive_ratio		- VM internal parameter. (see mm/page_alloc.c)
> >  recent_rotated_anon	- VM internal parameter. (see mm/vmscan.c)
> > @@ -337,17 +422,26 @@ Memo:
> >  Note:
> >  	Only anonymous and swap cache memory is listed as part of 'rss' stat.
> >  	This should not be confused with the true 'resident set size' or the
> > -	amount of physical memory used by the cgroup. Per-cgroup rss
> > -	accounting is not done yet.
> > +	amount of physical memory used by the cgroup.
> > +	'rss + file_mapped" will give you resident set size of cgroup.
> > +	(Note: file and shmem may be shared amoung other cgroups. In that case,
> > +	 file_mapped is accounted only when the memory cgroup is owner of page
> > +	 cache.)
> >  
> >  5.3 swappiness
> >    Similar to /proc/sys/vm/swappiness, but affecting a hierarchy of groups only.
> >  
> >    Following cgroups' swappiness can't be changed.
> >    - root cgroup (uses /proc/sys/vm/swappiness).
> > -  - a cgroup which uses hierarchy and it has child cgroup.
> > +  - a cgroup which uses hierarchy and it has other cgroup(s) below it.
> >    - a cgroup which uses hierarchy and not the root of hierarchy.
> >  
> > +5.4 failcnt
> > +
> > +The memory controller provides memory.failcnt and memory.memsw.failcnt files.
> > +This failcnt(== failure count) shows the number of times that a usage counter
> > +hit its limit. When a memory controller hit a limit, failcnt increases and
> > +memory under it will be reclaimed.
> >  
> I think it would be better to explain we can reset it by writing to the file.
> 
will add.



> >  6. Hierarchy support
> >  
> > @@ -395,7 +489,7 @@ is to allow control groups to use as muc
> >  a. There is no memory contention
> >  b. They do not exceed their hard limit
> >  
> > -When the system detects memory contention or low memory control groups
> > +When the system detects memory contention or low memory, control groups
> >  are pushed back to their soft limits. If the soft limit of each control
> >  group is very high, they are pushed back as much as possible to make
> >  sure that one control group does not starve the others of memory.
> > @@ -409,7 +503,7 @@ it gets invoked from balance_pgdat (kswa
> >  7.1 Interface
> >  
> >  Soft limits can be setup by using the following commands (in this example we
> > -assume a soft limit of 256 megabytes)
> > +assume a soft limit of 256 MiB)
> >  
> >  # echo 256M > memory.soft_limit_in_bytes
> >  
> > @@ -445,7 +539,7 @@ Note: Charges are moved only when you mo
> >  Note: If we cannot find enough space for the task in the destination cgroup, we
> >        try to make space by reclaiming memory. Task migration may fail if we
> >        cannot make enough space.
> > -Note: It can take several seconds if you move charges in giga bytes order.
> > +Note: It can take several seconds if you move charges much.
> >  
> >  And if you want disable it again:
> >  
> > @@ -513,9 +607,9 @@ As.
> >  
> >  This operation is only allowed to the top cgroup of subhierarchy.
> >  If oom-killer is disabled, tasks under cgroup will hang/sleep
> > -in memcg's oom-waitq when they request accountable memory.
> > +in memory cgroup's oom-waitq when they request accountable memory.
> >  
> > -For running them, you have to relax the memcg's oom sitaution by
> > +For running them, you have to relax the memory cgroup's oom sitaution by
> >  	* enlarge limit or reduce usage.
> >  To reduce usage,
> >  	* kill some tasks.
> > @@ -526,7 +620,7 @@ Then, stopped tasks will work again.
> >  
> >  At reading, current status of OOM is shown.
> >  	oom_kill_disable 0 or 1 (if 1, oom-killer is disabled)
> > -	under_oom	 0 or 1 (if 1, the memcg is under OOM,tasks may
> > +	under_oom	 0 or 1 (if 1, the memory cgroup is under OOM,tasks may
> >  				 be stopped.)
> >  
> >  11. TODO
> > 
> 
> Otherwise, it looks good to me.
> 

Thanks,
-Kame

> 
> Thanks,
> Daisuke Nishimura.
> 

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