Re: [PATCH v9 1/9] Basic kernel memory functionality for the MemoryController

[Michal Hocko]

[Now with the current patch version, I hope]

On Mon 12-12-11 11:47:01, Glauber Costa wrote:
> This patch lays down the foundation for the kernel memory component
> of the Memory Controller.
> 
> As of today, I am only laying down the following files:
> 
>  * memory.independent_kmem_limit

Maybe has been already discussed but the name is rather awkward and it
would deserve more clarification. It is independent in the way that it
doesn't add up to the standard (user) allocations or it enables/disables
accounting?

>  * memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes (currently ignored)

What happens if we reach the limit? Are all kernel allocations
considered or only selected caches? How do I find out which are those?

AFAIU you have implemented it for network buffers at this stage but I
guess that dentries will follow...

>  * memory.kmem.usage_in_bytes (always zero)
> 
> Signed-off-by: Glauber Costa <glommer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> CC: Kirill A. Shutemov <kirill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> CC: Paul Menage <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> CC: Greg Thelen <gthelen@xxxxxxxxxx>
> CC: Johannes Weiner <jweiner@xxxxxxxxxx>
> CC: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxx>
> ---
>  Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt |   40 ++++++++++++++-
>  init/Kconfig                     |   11 ++++
>  mm/memcontrol.c                  |  105 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  3 files changed, 149 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
> index cc0ebc5..f245324 100644
> --- a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
> @@ -44,8 +44,9 @@ Features:
>   - 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.
> + Hugepages is not under control yet. We just manage pages on LRU. To add more

Hugepages are not
Anyway this sounds outdated as we track both THP and hugetlb, right?

> + controls, we have to take care of performance. Kernel memory support is work
> + in progress, and the current version provides basically functionality.

s/basically/basic/

>  
>  Brief summary of control files.
>  
> @@ -56,8 +57,11 @@ Brief summary of control files.
>  				 (See 5.5 for details)
>   memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes	 # show current res_counter usage for memory+Swap
>  				 (See 5.5 for details)
> + memory.kmem.usage_in_bytes	 # show current res_counter usage for kmem only.
> +				 (See 2.7 for details)
>   memory.limit_in_bytes		 # set/show limit of memory usage
>   memory.memsw.limit_in_bytes	 # set/show limit of memory+Swap usage
> + memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes	 # if allowed, set/show limit of kernel memory
>   memory.failcnt			 # show the number of memory usage hits limits
>   memory.memsw.failcnt		 # show the number of memory+Swap hits limits
>   memory.max_usage_in_bytes	 # show max memory usage recorded
> @@ -72,6 +76,9 @@ Brief summary of control files.
>   memory.oom_control		 # set/show oom controls.
>   memory.numa_stat		 # show the number of memory usage per numa node
>  
> + memory.independent_kmem_limit	 # select whether or not kernel memory limits are
> +				   independent of user limits
> +

It is not clear what happens in enabled/disabled cases. Let's say they
are not independent. Does it form a single limit with user charges or it
toggles kmem charging on/off.

>  1. History
>  
>  The memory controller has a long history. A request for comments for the memory
> @@ -255,6 +262,35 @@ When oom event notifier is registered, event will be delivered.
>    per-zone-per-cgroup LRU (cgroup's private LRU) is just guarded by
>    zone->lru_lock, it has no lock of its own.
>  
> +2.7 Kernel Memory Extension (CONFIG_CGROUP_MEM_RES_CTLR_KMEM)
> +
> +With the Kernel memory extension, the Memory Controller is able to limit
> +the amount of kernel memory used by the system. Kernel memory is fundamentally
> +different than user memory, since it can't be swapped out, which makes it
> +possible to DoS the system by consuming too much of this precious resource.
> +
> +Some kernel memory resources may be accounted and limited separately from the
> +main "kmem" resource. For instance, a slab cache that is considered important
> +enough to be limited separately may have its own knobs.

How do you tell which are those that are accounted to the "main kmem"?

> +
> +Kernel memory limits are not imposed for the root cgroup. Usage for the root
> +cgroup may or may not be accounted.
> +
> +Memory limits as specified by the standard Memory Controller may or may not
> +take kernel memory into consideration. This is achieved through the file
> +memory.independent_kmem_limit. A Value different than 0 will allow for kernel
> +memory to be controlled separately.

Separately from user space allocations, right?
What happens if we reach the limit in both cases?

> @@ -344,9 +353,14 @@ enum charge_type {
>  };
>  
>  /* for encoding cft->private value on file */
> -#define _MEM			(0)
> -#define _MEMSWAP		(1)
> -#define _OOM_TYPE		(2)
> +
> +enum mem_type {
> +	_MEM = 0,
> +	_MEMSWAP,
> +	_OOM_TYPE,
> +	_KMEM,
> +};
> +

Probably in a separate (cleanup) patch?

>  #define MEMFILE_PRIVATE(x, val)	(((x) << 16) | (val))
>  #define MEMFILE_TYPE(val)	(((val) >> 16) & 0xffff)
>  #define MEMFILE_ATTR(val)	((val) & 0xffff)
> @@ -3848,10 +3862,17 @@ static inline u64 mem_cgroup_usage(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, bool swap)
>  	u64 val;
>  
>  	if (!mem_cgroup_is_root(memcg)) {
> +		val = 0;
> +#ifdef CONFIG_CGROUP_MEM_RES_CTLR_KMEM
> +		if (!memcg->kmem_independent_accounting)
> +			val = res_counter_read_u64(&memcg->kmem, RES_USAGE);
> +#endif
>  		if (!swap)
> -			return res_counter_read_u64(&memcg->res, RES_USAGE);
> +			val += res_counter_read_u64(&memcg->res, RES_USAGE);
>  		else
> -			return res_counter_read_u64(&memcg->memsw, RES_USAGE);
> +			val += res_counter_read_u64(&memcg->memsw, RES_USAGE);
> +
> +		return val;
>  	}

So you report kmem+user but we do not consider kmem during charge so one
can easily end up with usage_in_bytes over limit but no reclaim is going
on. Not good, I would say.

OK, so to sum it up. The biggest problem I see is the (non)independent
accounting. We simply cannot mix user+kernel limits otherwise we would
see issues (like kernel resource hog would force memcg-oom and innocent
members would die because their rss is much bigger).
It is also not clear to me what should happen when we hit the kmem
limit. I guess it will be kmem cache dependent.
-- 
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs
SUSE LINUX s.r.o.
Lihovarska 1060/12
190 00 Praha 9    
Czech Republic
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