Re: [PATCH v3 1/3] driver/base: Optimize memory block registration to reduce boot time

[Zi Yan]

On 3 May 2025, at 1:40, Donet Tom wrote:

> During node device initialization, `memory blocks` are registered under
> each NUMA node. The `memory blocks` to be registered are identified using
> the node’s start and end PFNs, which are obtained from the node's pg_data
>
> However, not all PFNs within this range necessarily belong to the same
> node—some may belong to other nodes. Additionally, due to the
> discontiguous nature of physical memory, certain sections within a
> `memory block` may be absent.
>
> As a result, `memory blocks` that fall between a node’s start and end
> PFNs may span across multiple nodes, and some sections within those blocks
> may be missing. `Memory blocks` have a fixed size, which is architecture
> dependent.
>
> Due to these considerations, the memory block registration is currently
> performed as follows:
>
> for_each_online_node(nid):
>     start_pfn = pgdat->node_start_pfn;
>     end_pfn = pgdat->node_start_pfn + node_spanned_pages;
>     for_each_memory_block_between(PFN_PHYS(start_pfn), PFN_PHYS(end_pfn))
>         mem_blk = memory_block_id(pfn_to_section_nr(pfn));
>         pfn_mb_start=section_nr_to_pfn(mem_blk->start_section_nr)
>         pfn_mb_end = pfn_start + memory_block_pfns - 1
>         for (pfn = pfn_mb_start; pfn < pfn_mb_end; pfn++):
>             if (get_nid_for_pfn(pfn) != nid):
>                 continue;
>             else
>                 do_register_memory_block_under_node(nid, mem_blk,
>                                                         MEMINIT_EARLY);
>
> Here, we derive the start and end PFNs from the node's pg_data, then
> determine the memory blocks that may belong to the node. For each
> `memory block` in this range, we inspect all PFNs it contains and check
> their associated NUMA node ID. If a PFN within the block matches the
> current node, the memory block is registered under that node.
>
> If CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT is enabled, get_nid_for_pfn() performs
> a binary search in the `memblock regions` to determine the NUMA node ID
> for a given PFN. If it is not enabled, the node ID is retrieved directly
> from the struct page.
>
> On large systems, this process can become time-consuming, especially since
> we iterate over each `memory block` and all PFNs within it until a match is
> found. When CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT is enabled, the additional
> overhead of the binary search increases the execution time significantly,
> potentially leading to soft lockups during boot.
>
> In this patch, we iterate over `memblock region` to identify the
> `memory blocks` that belong to the current NUMA node. `memblock regions`
> are contiguous memory ranges, each associated with a single NUMA node, and
> they do not span across multiple nodes.
>
> for_each_online_node(nid):
>   for_each_memory_region(r): // r => region
>     if (r->nid != nid):
>       continue;
>     else
>       for_each_memory_block_between(r->base, r->base + r->size - 1):
>         do_register_memory_block_under_node(nid, mem_blk, MEMINIT_EARLY);
>
> We iterate over all `memblock regions` and identify those that belong to
> the current NUMA node. For each `memblock region` associated with the
> current node, we calculate the start and end `memory blocks` based on the
> region's start and end PFNs. We then register all `memory blocks` within
> that range under the current node.
>
> Test Results on My system with 32TB RAM
> =======================================
> 1. Boot time with CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT enabled.
>
> Without this patch
> ------------------
> Startup finished in 1min 16.528s (kernel)
>
> With this patch
> ---------------
> Startup finished in 17.236s (kernel) - 78% Improvement
>
> 2. Boot time with CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT disabled.
>
> Without this patch
> ------------------
> Startup finished in 28.320s (kernel)
>
> With this patch
> ---------------
> Startup finished in 15.621s (kernel) - 46% Improvement
>
> Acked-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Donet Tom <donettom@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> ---
> v2 -> v3
>
> Fixed indentation issues, made `start_block_id` and `end_block_id` constants,
> and moved variable declarations to the places where they are needed.
>
> v2 - https://lore.kernel.org/all/fbe1e0c7d91bf3fa9a64ff5d84b53ded1d0d5ac7.1745852397.git.donettom@xxxxxxxxxxxxx/
> v1 - https://lore.kernel.org/all/50142a29010463f436dc5c4feb540e5de3bb09df.1744175097.git.donettom@xxxxxxxxxxxxx/
> ---
>  drivers/base/memory.c  |  4 ++--
>  drivers/base/node.c    | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  include/linux/memory.h |  2 ++
>  include/linux/node.h   | 11 +++++------
>  4 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
>

Impressive improvement. Acked-by: Zi Yan <ziy@xxxxxxxxxx>
--
Best Regards,
Yan, Zi