1==================
2HugeTLB Controller
3==================
4
5HugeTLB controller can be created by first mounting the cgroup filesystem.
6
7# mount -t cgroup -o hugetlb none /sys/fs/cgroup
8
9With the above step, the initial or the parent HugeTLB group becomes
10visible at /sys/fs/cgroup. At bootup, this group includes all the tasks in
11the system. /sys/fs/cgroup/tasks lists the tasks in this cgroup.
12
13New groups can be created under the parent group /sys/fs/cgroup::
14
15  # cd /sys/fs/cgroup
16  # mkdir g1
17  # echo $$ > g1/tasks
18
19The above steps create a new group g1 and move the current shell
20process (bash) into it.
21
22Brief summary of control files::
23
24 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.limit_in_bytes            # set/show limit of "hugepagesize" hugetlb reservations
25 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.max_usage_in_bytes        # show max "hugepagesize" hugetlb reservations and no-reserve faults
26 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.usage_in_bytes            # show current reservations and no-reserve faults for "hugepagesize" hugetlb
27 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.failcnt                   # show the number of allocation failure due to HugeTLB reservation limit
28 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.limit_in_bytes                 # set/show limit of "hugepagesize" hugetlb faults
29 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.max_usage_in_bytes             # show max "hugepagesize" hugetlb  usage recorded
30 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.usage_in_bytes                 # show current usage for "hugepagesize" hugetlb
31 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.failcnt                        # show the number of allocation failure due to HugeTLB usage limit
32 hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.numa_stat                      # show the numa information of the hugetlb memory charged to this cgroup
33
34For a system supporting three hugepage sizes (64k, 32M and 1G), the control
35files include::
36
37  hugetlb.1GB.limit_in_bytes
38  hugetlb.1GB.max_usage_in_bytes
39  hugetlb.1GB.numa_stat
40  hugetlb.1GB.usage_in_bytes
41  hugetlb.1GB.failcnt
42  hugetlb.1GB.rsvd.limit_in_bytes
43  hugetlb.1GB.rsvd.max_usage_in_bytes
44  hugetlb.1GB.rsvd.usage_in_bytes
45  hugetlb.1GB.rsvd.failcnt
46  hugetlb.64KB.limit_in_bytes
47  hugetlb.64KB.max_usage_in_bytes
48  hugetlb.64KB.numa_stat
49  hugetlb.64KB.usage_in_bytes
50  hugetlb.64KB.failcnt
51  hugetlb.64KB.rsvd.limit_in_bytes
52  hugetlb.64KB.rsvd.max_usage_in_bytes
53  hugetlb.64KB.rsvd.usage_in_bytes
54  hugetlb.64KB.rsvd.failcnt
55  hugetlb.32MB.limit_in_bytes
56  hugetlb.32MB.max_usage_in_bytes
57  hugetlb.32MB.numa_stat
58  hugetlb.32MB.usage_in_bytes
59  hugetlb.32MB.failcnt
60  hugetlb.32MB.rsvd.limit_in_bytes
61  hugetlb.32MB.rsvd.max_usage_in_bytes
62  hugetlb.32MB.rsvd.usage_in_bytes
63  hugetlb.32MB.rsvd.failcnt
64
65
661. Page fault accounting
67
68::
69
70  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.limit_in_bytes
71  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.max_usage_in_bytes
72  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.usage_in_bytes
73  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.failcnt
74
75The HugeTLB controller allows users to limit the HugeTLB usage (page fault) per
76control group and enforces the limit during page fault. Since HugeTLB
77doesn't support page reclaim, enforcing the limit at page fault time implies
78that, the application will get SIGBUS signal if it tries to fault in HugeTLB
79pages beyond its limit. Therefore the application needs to know exactly how many
80HugeTLB pages it uses before hand, and the sysadmin needs to make sure that
81there are enough available on the machine for all the users to avoid processes
82getting SIGBUS.
83
84
852. Reservation accounting
86
87::
88
89  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.limit_in_bytes
90  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.max_usage_in_bytes
91  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.usage_in_bytes
92  hugetlb.<hugepagesize>.rsvd.failcnt
93
94The HugeTLB controller allows to limit the HugeTLB reservations per control
95group and enforces the controller limit at reservation time and at the fault of
96HugeTLB memory for which no reservation exists. Since reservation limits are
97enforced at reservation time (on mmap or shget), reservation limits never causes
98the application to get SIGBUS signal if the memory was reserved before hand. For
99MAP_NORESERVE allocations, the reservation limit behaves the same as the fault
100limit, enforcing memory usage at fault time and causing the application to
101receive a SIGBUS if it's crossing its limit.
102
103Reservation limits are superior to page fault limits described above, since
104reservation limits are enforced at reservation time (on mmap or shget), and
105never causes the application to get SIGBUS signal if the memory was reserved
106before hand. This allows for easier fallback to alternatives such as
107non-HugeTLB memory for example. In the case of page fault accounting, it's very
108hard to avoid processes getting SIGBUS since the sysadmin needs precisely know
109the HugeTLB usage of all the tasks in the system and make sure there is enough
110pages to satisfy all requests. Avoiding tasks getting SIGBUS on overcommited
111systems is practically impossible with page fault accounting.
112
113
1143. Caveats with shared memory
115
116For shared HugeTLB memory, both HugeTLB reservation and page faults are charged
117to the first task that causes the memory to be reserved or faulted, and all
118subsequent uses of this reserved or faulted memory is done without charging.
119
120Shared HugeTLB memory is only uncharged when it is unreserved or deallocated.
121This is usually when the HugeTLB file is deleted, and not when the task that
122caused the reservation or fault has exited.
123
124
1254. Caveats with HugeTLB cgroup offline.
126
127When a HugeTLB cgroup goes offline with some reservations or faults still
128charged to it, the behavior is as follows:
129
130- The fault charges are charged to the parent HugeTLB cgroup (reparented),
131- the reservation charges remain on the offline HugeTLB cgroup.
132
133This means that if a HugeTLB cgroup gets offlined while there is still HugeTLB
134reservations charged to it, that cgroup persists as a zombie until all HugeTLB
135reservations are uncharged. HugeTLB reservations behave in this manner to match
136the memory controller whose cgroups also persist as zombie until all charged
137memory is uncharged. Also, the tracking of HugeTLB reservations is a bit more
138complex compared to the tracking of HugeTLB faults, so it is significantly
139harder to reparent reservations at offline time.
140