Re: [PATCH v3 2/2] mm: memcg/slab: Create a new set of kmalloc-cg-<n> caches

[Roman Gushchin]

On Wed, May 05, 2021 at 02:11:52PM -0400, Waiman Long wrote:
> On 5/5/21 1:30 PM, Roman Gushchin wrote:
> > On Wed, May 05, 2021 at 11:46:13AM -0400, Waiman Long wrote:
> > > There are currently two problems in the way the objcg pointer array
> > > (memcg_data) in the page structure is being allocated and freed.
> > > 
> > > On its allocation, it is possible that the allocated objcg pointer
> > > array comes from the same slab that requires memory accounting. If this
> > > happens, the slab will never become empty again as there is at least
> > > one object left (the obj_cgroup array) in the slab.
> > > 
> > > When it is freed, the objcg pointer array object may be the last one
> > > in its slab and hence causes kfree() to be called again. With the
> > > right workload, the slab cache may be set up in a way that allows the
> > > recursive kfree() calling loop to nest deep enough to cause a kernel
> > > stack overflow and panic the system.
> > > 
> > > One way to solve this problem is to split the kmalloc-<n> caches
> > > (KMALLOC_NORMAL) into two separate sets - a new set of kmalloc-<n>
> > > (KMALLOC_NORMAL) caches for non-accounted objects only and a new set of
> > > kmalloc-cg-<n> (KMALLOC_CGROUP) caches for accounted objects only. All
> > > the other caches can still allow a mix of accounted and non-accounted
> > > objects.
> > I agree that it's likely the best approach here. Thanks for discovering
> > and fixing the problem!
> > 
> > > With this change, all the objcg pointer array objects will come from
> > > KMALLOC_NORMAL caches which won't have their objcg pointer arrays. So
> > > both the recursive kfree() problem and non-freeable slab problem are
> > > gone. Since both the KMALLOC_NORMAL and KMALLOC_CGROUP caches no longer
> > > have mixed accounted and unaccounted objects, this will slightly reduce
> > > the number of objcg pointer arrays that need to be allocated and save
> > > a bit of memory.
> > Unfortunately the positive effect of this change will be likely
> > reversed by a lower utilization due to a larger number of caches.
> 
> That is also true, will mention that.

Thanks!

> 
> > 
> > Btw, I wonder if we also need a change in the slab caches merging procedure?
> > KMALLOC_NORMAL caches should not be merged with caches which can potentially
> > include accounted objects.
> 
> Thank for catching this omission.
> 
> I will take a look and modify the merging procedure in a new patch.
> Accounting is usually specified at kmem_cache_create() time. Though, I did
> find one instance of setting ACCOUNT flag in kmem_cache_alloc(), I will
> ignore this case and merge accounted, but unreclaimable caches to
> KMALLOC_CGROUP.

Vlastimil pointed out that it's not an actual problem, because kmalloc
caches are exempt from the merging. Please, add a comment about it into
the commit log/code. We might wanna relax this rule for kmalloc-cg-*, but
we can do it later.

> 
> > 
> > > The new KMALLOC_CGROUP is added between KMALLOC_NORMAL and
> > > KMALLOC_RECLAIM so that the first for loop in create_kmalloc_caches()
> > > will include the newly added caches without change.
> > > 
> > > Suggested-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxx>
> > > Signed-off-by: Waiman Long <longman@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > > ---
> > >   include/linux/slab.h | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
> > >   mm/slab_common.c     | 23 +++++++++++++++--------
> > >   2 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/include/linux/slab.h b/include/linux/slab.h
> > > index 0c97d788762c..f2d9ebc34f5c 100644
> > > --- a/include/linux/slab.h
> > > +++ b/include/linux/slab.h
> > > @@ -305,9 +305,16 @@ static inline void __check_heap_object(const void *ptr, unsigned long n,
> > >   /*
> > >    * Whenever changing this, take care of that kmalloc_type() and
> > >    * create_kmalloc_caches() still work as intended.
> > > + *
> > > + * KMALLOC_NORMAL is for non-accounted objects only whereas KMALLOC_CGROUP
> > > + * is for accounted objects only. All the other kmem caches can have both
> > > + * accounted and non-accounted objects.
> > >    */
> > >   enum kmalloc_cache_type {
> > >   	KMALLOC_NORMAL = 0,
> > > +#ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG_KMEM
> > > +	KMALLOC_CGROUP,
> > > +#endif
> > >   	KMALLOC_RECLAIM,
> > >   #ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA
> > >   	KMALLOC_DMA,
> > > @@ -315,28 +322,47 @@ enum kmalloc_cache_type {
> > >   	NR_KMALLOC_TYPES
> > >   };
> > > +#ifndef CONFIG_MEMCG_KMEM
> > > +#define KMALLOC_CGROUP	KMALLOC_NORMAL
> > > +#endif
> > > +#ifndef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA
> > > +#define KMALLOC_DMA	KMALLOC_NORMAL
> > > +#endif
> > > +
> > >   #ifndef CONFIG_SLOB
> > >   extern struct kmem_cache *
> > >   kmalloc_caches[NR_KMALLOC_TYPES][KMALLOC_SHIFT_HIGH + 1];
> > > +/*
> > > + * Define gfp bits that should not be set for KMALLOC_NORMAL.
> > > + */
> > > +#define KMALLOC_NOT_NORMAL_BITS					\
> > > +	(__GFP_RECLAIMABLE |					\
> > > +	(IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ZONE_DMA)   ? __GFP_DMA : 0) |	\
> > > +	(IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_MEMCG_KMEM) ? __GFP_ACCOUNT : 0))
> > > +
> > >   static __always_inline enum kmalloc_cache_type kmalloc_type(gfp_t flags)
> > >   {
> > > -#ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA
> > >   	/*
> > >   	 * The most common case is KMALLOC_NORMAL, so test for it
> > >   	 * with a single branch for both flags.
> > >   	 */
> > > -	if (likely((flags & (__GFP_DMA | __GFP_RECLAIMABLE)) == 0))
> > > +	if (likely((flags & KMALLOC_NOT_NORMAL_BITS) == 0))
> > >   		return KMALLOC_NORMAL;
> > Likely KMALLOC_CGROUP is also very popular, so maybe we want to change the
> > optimization here a bit.
> 
> I doubt this optimization is really noticeable and whether KMALLOC_CGROUP is
> really popular will depend on the workloads. I am not planning to spend
> additional time to micro-optimize this part of the code.

Ok.

Thanks!