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diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/multigen_lru.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/multigen_lru.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..33e068830497 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/multigen_lru.rst @@ -0,0 +1,162 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +============= +Multi-Gen LRU +============= +The multi-gen LRU is an alternative LRU implementation that optimizes +page reclaim and improves performance under memory pressure. Page +reclaim decides the kernel's caching policy and ability to overcommit +memory. It directly impacts the kswapd CPU usage and RAM efficiency. + +Quick start +=========== +Build the kernel with the following configurations. + +* ``CONFIG_LRU_GEN=y`` +* ``CONFIG_LRU_GEN_ENABLED=y`` + +All set! + +Runtime options +=============== +``/sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/`` contains stable ABIs described in the +following subsections. + +Kill switch +----------- +``enabled`` accepts different values to enable or disable the +following components. Its default value depends on +``CONFIG_LRU_GEN_ENABLED``. All the components should be enabled +unless some of them have unforeseen side effects. Writing to +``enabled`` has no effect when a component is not supported by the +hardware, and valid values will be accepted even when the main switch +is off. + +====== =============================================================== +Values Components +====== =============================================================== +0x0001 The main switch for the multi-gen LRU. +0x0002 Clearing the accessed bit in leaf page table entries in large + batches, when MMU sets it (e.g., on x86). This behavior can + theoretically worsen lock contention (mmap_lock). If it is + disabled, the multi-gen LRU will suffer a minor performance + degradation for workloads that contiguously map hot pages, + whose accessed bits can be otherwise cleared by fewer larger + batches. +0x0004 Clearing the accessed bit in non-leaf page table entries as + well, when MMU sets it (e.g., on x86). This behavior was not + verified on x86 varieties other than Intel and AMD. If it is + disabled, the multi-gen LRU will suffer a negligible + performance degradation. +[yYnN] Apply to all the components above. +====== =============================================================== + +E.g., +:: + + echo y >/sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled + cat /sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled + 0x0007 + echo 5 >/sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled + cat /sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled + 0x0005 + +Thrashing prevention +-------------------- +Personal computers are more sensitive to thrashing because it can +cause janks (lags when rendering UI) and negatively impact user +experience. The multi-gen LRU offers thrashing prevention to the +majority of laptop and desktop users who do not have ``oomd``. + +Users can write ``N`` to ``min_ttl_ms`` to prevent the working set of +``N`` milliseconds from getting evicted. The OOM killer is triggered +if this working set cannot be kept in memory. In other words, this +option works as an adjustable pressure relief valve, and when open, it +terminates applications that are hopefully not being used. + +Based on the average human detectable lag (~100ms), ``N=1000`` usually +eliminates intolerable janks due to thrashing. Larger values like +``N=3000`` make janks less noticeable at the risk of premature OOM +kills. + +The default value ``0`` means disabled. + +Experimental features +===================== +``/sys/kernel/debug/lru_gen`` accepts commands described in the +following subsections. Multiple command lines are supported, so does +concatenation with delimiters ``,`` and ``;``. + +``/sys/kernel/debug/lru_gen_full`` provides additional stats for +debugging. ``CONFIG_LRU_GEN_STATS=y`` keeps historical stats from +evicted generations in this file. + +Working set estimation +---------------------- +Working set estimation measures how much memory an application needs +in a given time interval, and it is usually done with little impact on +the performance of the application. E.g., data centers want to +optimize job scheduling (bin packing) to improve memory utilizations. +When a new job comes in, the job scheduler needs to find out whether +each server it manages can allocate a certain amount of memory for +this new job before it can pick a candidate. To do so, the job +scheduler needs to estimate the working sets of the existing jobs. + +When it is read, ``lru_gen`` returns a histogram of numbers of pages +accessed over different time intervals for each memcg and node. +``MAX_NR_GENS`` decides the number of bins for each histogram. The +histograms are noncumulative. +:: + + memcg memcg_id memcg_path + node node_id + min_gen_nr age_in_ms nr_anon_pages nr_file_pages + ... + max_gen_nr age_in_ms nr_anon_pages nr_file_pages + +Each bin contains an estimated number of pages that have been accessed +within ``age_in_ms``. E.g., ``min_gen_nr`` contains the coldest pages +and ``max_gen_nr`` contains the hottest pages, since ``age_in_ms`` of +the former is the largest and that of the latter is the smallest. + +Users can write the following command to ``lru_gen`` to create a new +generation ``max_gen_nr+1``: + + ``+ memcg_id node_id max_gen_nr [can_swap [force_scan]]`` + +``can_swap`` defaults to the swap setting and, if it is set to ``1``, +it forces the scan of anon pages when swap is off, and vice versa. +``force_scan`` defaults to ``1`` and, if it is set to ``0``, it +employs heuristics to reduce the overhead, which is likely to reduce +the coverage as well. + +A typical use case is that a job scheduler runs this command at a +certain time interval to create new generations, and it ranks the +servers it manages based on the sizes of their cold pages defined by +this time interval. + +Proactive reclaim +----------------- +Proactive reclaim induces page reclaim when there is no memory +pressure. It usually targets cold pages only. E.g., when a new job +comes in, the job scheduler wants to proactively reclaim cold pages on +the server it selected, to improve the chance of successfully landing +this new job. + +Users can write the following command to ``lru_gen`` to evict +generations less than or equal to ``min_gen_nr``. + + ``- memcg_id node_id min_gen_nr [swappiness [nr_to_reclaim]]`` + +``min_gen_nr`` should be less than ``max_gen_nr-1``, since +``max_gen_nr`` and ``max_gen_nr-1`` are not fully aged (equivalent to +the active list) and therefore cannot be evicted. ``swappiness`` +overrides the default value in ``/proc/sys/vm/swappiness``. +``nr_to_reclaim`` limits the number of pages to evict. + +A typical use case is that a job scheduler runs this command before it +tries to land a new job on a server. If it fails to materialize enough +cold pages because of the overestimation, it retries on the next +server according to the ranking result obtained from the working set +estimation step. This less forceful approach limits the impacts on the +existing jobs. |