CPUSETS ------- Copyright (C) 2004 BULL SA. Written by Simon.Derr@bull.net Portions Copyright (c) 2004-2006 Silicon Graphics, Inc. Modified by Paul Jackson Modified by Christoph Lameter CONTENTS: ========= 1. Cpusets 1.1 What are cpusets ? 1.2 Why are cpusets needed ? 1.3 How are cpusets implemented ? 1.4 What are exclusive cpusets ? 1.5 What does notify_on_release do ? 1.6 What is memory_pressure ? 1.7 What is memory spread ? 1.8 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. 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 location of the running jobs pages may also be moved when the memory locations are changed. 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 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 init/main.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.c, 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//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 - notify_on_release flag: run /sbin/cpuset_release_agent on exit? - memory_pressure: measure of how much paging pressure in cpuset In addition, the root cpuset only has the following file: - memory_pressure_enabled flag: compute memory_pressure? 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. The cpus and mems files in the root (top_cpuset) cpuset are read-only. The cpus file automatically tracks the value of cpu_online_map using a CPU hotplug notifier, and the mems file automatically tracks the value of node_online_map using the cpuset_track_online_nodes() hook. 1.4 What are exclusive cpusets ? -------------------------------- 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 scheduler (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 balancing 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. 1.5 What does notify_on_release do ? ------------------------------------ If the notify_on_release flag is enabled (1) in a cpuset, then whenever the last task in the cpuset leaves (exits or attaches to some other cpuset) and the last child cpuset of that cpuset is removed, then the kernel runs the command /sbin/cpuset_release_agent, supplying the pathname (relative to the mount point of the cpuset file system) of the abandoned cpuset. This enables automatic removal of abandoned cpusets. The default value of notify_on_release in the root cpuset at system boot is disabled (0). The default value of other cpusets at creation is the current value of their parents notify_on_release setting. 1.6 What is memory_pressure ? ----------------------------- The memory_pressure of a cpuset provides a simple per-cpuset metric of the rate that the tasks in a cpuset are attempting to free up in use memory on the nodes of the cpuset to satisfy additional memory requests. This enables batch managers monitoring jobs running in dedicated cpusets to efficiently detect what level of memory pressure that job is causing. This is useful both on tightly managed systems running a wide mix of submitted jobs, which may choose to terminate or re-prioritize jobs that are trying to use more memory than allowed on the nodes assigned them, and with tightly coupled, long running, massively parallel scientific computing jobs that will dramatically fail to meet required performance goals if they start to use more memory than allowed to them. This mechanism provides a very economical way for the batch manager to monitor a cpuset for signs of memory pressure. It's up to the batch manager or other user code to decide what to do about it and take action. ==> Unless this feature is enabled by writing "1" to the special file /dev/cpuset/memory_pressure_enabled, the hook in the rebalance code of __alloc_pages() for this metric reduces to simply noticing that the cpuset_memory_pressure_enabled flag is zero. So only systems that enable this feature will compute the metric. Why a per-cpuset, running average: Because this meter is per-cpuset, rather than per-task or mm, the system load imposed by a batch scheduler monitoring this metric is sharply reduced on large systems, because a scan of the tasklist can be avoided on each set of queries. Because this meter is a running average, instead of an accumulating counter, a batch scheduler can detect memory pressure with a single read, instead of having to read and accumulate results for a period of time. Because this meter is per-cpuset rather than per-task or mm, the batch scheduler can obtain the key information, memory pressure in a cpuset, with a single read, rather than having to query and accumulate results over all the (dynamically changing) set of tasks in the cpuset. A per-cpuset simple digital filter (requires a spinlock and 3 words of data per-cpuset) is kept, and updated by any task attached to that cpuset, if it enters the synchronous (direct) page reclaim code. A per-cpuset file provides an integer number representing the recent (half-life of 10 seconds) rate of direct page reclaims caused by the tasks in the cpuset, in units of reclaims attempted per second, times 1000. 1.7 What is memory spread ? --------------------------- There are two boolean flag files per cpuset that control where the kernel allocates pages for the file system buffers and related in kernel data structures. They are called 'memory_spread_page' and 'memory_spread_slab'. If the per-cpuset boolean flag file 'memory_spread_page' is set, then the kernel will spread the file system buffers (page cache) evenly over all the nodes that the faulting task is allowed to use, instead of preferring to put those pages on the node where the task is running. If the per-cpuset boolean flag file 'memory_spread_slab' is set, then the kernel will spread some file system related slab caches, such as for inodes and dentries evenly over all the nodes that the faulting task is allowed to use, instead of preferring to put those pages on the node where the task is running. The setting of these flags does not affect anonymous data segment or stack segment pages of a task. By default, both kinds of memory spreading are off, and memory pages are allocated on the node local to where the task is running, except perhaps as modified by the tasks NUMA mempolicy or cpuset configuration, so long as sufficient free memory pages are available. When new cpusets are created, they inherit the memory spread settings of their parent. Setting memory spreading causes allocations for the affected page or slab caches to ignore the tasks NUMA mempolicy and be spread instead. Tasks using mbind() or set_mempolicy() calls to set NUMA mempolicies will not notice any change in these calls as a result of their containing tasks memory spread settings. If memory spreading is turned off, then the currently specified NUMA mempolicy once again applies to memory page allocations. Both 'memory_spread_page' and 'memory_spread_slab' are boolean flag files. By default they contain "0", meaning that the feature is off for that cpuset. If a "1" is written to that file, then that turns the named feature on. The implementation is simple. Setting the flag 'memory_spread_page' turns on a per-process flag PF_SPREAD_PAGE for each task that is in that cpuset or subsequently joins that cpuset. The page allocation calls for the page cache is modified to perform an inline check for this PF_SPREAD_PAGE task flag, and if set, a call to a new routine cpuset_mem_spread_node() returns the node to prefer for the allocation. Similarly, setting 'memory_spread_cache' turns on the flag PF_SPREAD_SLAB, and appropriately marked slab caches will allocate pages from the node returned by cpuset_mem_spread_node(). The cpuset_mem_spread_node() routine is also simple. It uses the value of a per-task rotor cpuset_mem_spread_rotor to select the next node in the current tasks mems_allowed to prefer for the allocation. This memory placement policy is also known (in other contexts) as round-robin or interleave. This policy can provide substantial improvements for jobs that need to place thread local data on the corresponding node, but that need to access large file system data sets that need to be spread across the several nodes in the jobs cpuset in order to fit. Without this policy, especially for jobs that might have one thread reading in the data set, the memory allocation across the nodes in the jobs cpuset can become very uneven. 1.8 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. The relative placement of the page within the cpuset is preserved during these migration operations if possible. For example if the page was on the second valid node of the prior cpuset then the page will be placed on the second valid node of the new 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.' 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 $$ > tasks sh # The subshell 'sh' is now running in cpuset Charlie # The next line should display '/Charlie' cat /proc/self/cpuset In the future, a C library interface to cpusets will likely be available. For now, the only way to query or modify cpusets is via the cpuset file system, using the various cd, mkdir, echo, cat, rmdir commands from the shell, or their equivalent from C. The sched_setaffinity calls can also be done at the shell prompt using SGI's runon or Robert Love's taskset. The mbind and set_mempolicy calls can be done at the shell prompt using the numactl command (part of Andi Kleen's numa package). 2. Usage Examples and Syntax ============================ 2.1 Basic Usage --------------- Creating, modifying, using the cpusets can be done through the cpuset virtual filesystem. To mount it, type: # mount -t cpuset none /dev/cpuset Then under /dev/cpuset you can find a tree that corresponds to the tree of the cpusets in the system. For instance, /dev/cpuset is the cpuset that holds the whole system. If you want to create a new cpuset under /dev/cpuset: # cd /dev/cpuset # mkdir my_cpuset Now you want to do something with this cpuset. # cd my_cpuset In this directory you can find several files: # ls cpus cpu_exclusive mems mem_exclusive tasks Reading them will give you information about the state of this cpuset: the CPUs and Memory Nodes it can use, the processes that are using it, its properties. By writing to these files you can manipulate the cpuset. Set some flags: # /bin/echo 1 > cpu_exclusive Add some cpus: # /bin/echo 0-7 > cpus Now attach your shell to this cpuset: # /bin/echo $$ > 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