[PATCH v2 4/4] sched/numa: do not let VMA PID activity gate promotion

[Gregory Price]

From: "Gregory Price (Meta)" <gourry@xxxxxxxxxx>

Commit fc137c0ddab2 ("sched/numa: enhance vma scanning logic")
skips VMAs without recent PID activity. Since only NUMA hint faults record
that activity, the filter can suppress the fault needed to promote hot
slow-tier memory.

In tiering mode, scan PID-inactive VMAs using promotion-only scans.
Reevaluate this choice whenever the scanner visits a VMA and pass it with
each protection walk.

Record socket-placement scans in prev_placement_scan_seq. Promotion-only
scans still update prev_scan_seq, but no longer postpone the starvation
fallback for placement scans.

On a host with 768 GB of DRAM and 256 GB of CXL memory running two roughly
430 GB database workloads, a large shmem VMA occupied each scan while 2,537
other VMAs covering 84 GB were skipped as inactive. A hot 20 GB hash table
remained entirely on CXL before this change and was split evenly between
DRAM and CXL afterwards.

Fixes: fc137c0ddab2 ("sched/numa: enhance vma scanning logic")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Gregory Price (Meta) <gourry@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
 include/linux/mm_types.h |  7 ++++++
 kernel/sched/fair.c      | 48 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------
 2 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/mm_types.h b/include/linux/mm_types.h
index 5413bd10fff2..9f042d6ad465 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm_types.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm_types.h
@@ -803,6 +803,13 @@ struct vma_numab_state {
 	 * A VMA is not eligible for scanning if prev_scan_seq == numa_scan_seq
 	 */
 	int prev_scan_seq;
+
+	/*
+	 * MM scan sequence ID when the VMA was last scanned for placement.
+	 * The starvation horizon in vma_is_accessed() counts against this, so
+	 * promotion-only scans cannot postpone placement indefinitely.
+	 */
+	int prev_placement_scan_seq;
 };
 
 #ifdef __HAVE_PFNMAP_TRACKING
diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index e636e8de53f1..6d1da13a2ef5 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -4085,6 +4085,10 @@ static void reset_ptenuma_scan(struct task_struct *p)
 	p->mm->numa_scan_offset = 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Decide whether this VMA should be sampled for NUMA placement.  In addition
+ * to recent accesses, periodically allow a scan to avoid starvation.
+ */
 static bool vma_is_accessed(struct mm_struct *mm, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 {
 	unsigned long pids;
@@ -4101,22 +4105,13 @@ static bool vma_is_accessed(struct mm_struct *mm, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 	if (test_bit(hash_32(current->pid, ilog2(BITS_PER_LONG)), &pids))
 		return true;
 
-	/*
-	 * Complete a scan that has already started regardless of PID access, or
-	 * some VMAs may never be scanned in multi-threaded applications:
-	 */
-	if (mm->numa_scan_offset > vma->vm_start) {
-		trace_sched_skip_vma_numa(mm, vma, NUMAB_SKIP_IGNORE_PID);
-		return true;
-	}
-
 	/*
 	 * This vma has not been accessed for a while, and if the number
 	 * the threads in the same process is low, which means no other
 	 * threads can help scan this vma, force a vma scan.
 	 */
 	if (READ_ONCE(mm->numa_scan_seq) >
-	   (vma->numab_state->prev_scan_seq + get_nr_threads(current)))
+	   (vma->numab_state->prev_placement_scan_seq + get_nr_threads(current)))
 		return true;
 
 	return false;
@@ -4142,7 +4137,7 @@ static void task_numa_work(struct callback_head *work)
 	unsigned int numab_mode = READ_ONCE(sysctl_numa_balancing_mode);
 	bool vma_pids_skipped;
 	bool vma_pids_forced = false;
-	bool promo_only;
+	bool accessed, scan_started, promo_only;
 
 	WARN_ON_ONCE(p != container_of(work, struct task_struct, numa_work));
 
@@ -4278,6 +4273,7 @@ static void task_numa_work(struct callback_head *work)
 			 * first scan:
 			 */
 			 vma->numab_state->prev_scan_seq = mm->numa_scan_seq - 1;
+			 vma->numab_state->prev_placement_scan_seq = mm->numa_scan_seq - 1;
 		}
 
 		/*
@@ -4307,17 +4303,30 @@ static void task_numa_work(struct callback_head *work)
 		}
 
 		/*
-		 * Do not scan the VMA if task has not accessed it, unless no other
-		 * VMA candidate exists.
+		 * The PID filter must not gate promotion.  Scan PID-inactive
+		 * VMAs in tiering mode using promotion-only scans.
 		 */
-		if (!vma_pids_forced && !vma_is_accessed(mm, vma)) {
+		accessed = vma_is_accessed(mm, vma);
+		scan_started = mm->numa_scan_offset > vma->vm_start;
+
+		if (!vma_pids_forced && !accessed && !scan_started &&
+		    !(numab_mode & NUMA_BALANCING_MEMORY_TIERING)) {
 			vma_pids_skipped = true;
 			trace_sched_skip_vma_numa(mm, vma, NUMAB_SKIP_PID_INACTIVE);
 			continue;
 		}
+		if (!vma_pids_forced && !accessed &&
+		    !(numab_mode & NUMA_BALANCING_MEMORY_TIERING) &&
+		    scan_started)
+			trace_sched_skip_vma_numa(mm, vma, NUMAB_SKIP_IGNORE_PID);
 
+		/*
+		 * In combined mode, only VMAs the task uses need placement
+		 * samples. Without tiering, every VMA reaching here does.
+		 */
 		promo_only = !(numab_mode & NUMA_BALANCING_NORMAL) ||
-			     vma_is_ro_file(vma);
+			     ((numab_mode & NUMA_BALANCING_MEMORY_TIERING) &&
+			      !accessed) || vma_is_ro_file(vma);
 
 		do {
 			start = max(start, vma->vm_start);
@@ -4345,8 +4354,15 @@ static void task_numa_work(struct callback_head *work)
 			cond_resched();
 		} while (end != vma->vm_end);
 
-		/* VMA scan is complete, do not scan until next sequence. */
+		/*
+		 * VMA scan is complete, do not scan until next sequence.  A
+		 * promotion-only scan reached the end of the VMA but did not
+		 * sample placement, so it does not count towards the starvation
+		 * horizon in vma_is_accessed().
+		 */
 		vma->numab_state->prev_scan_seq = mm->numa_scan_seq;
+		if (!promo_only)
+			vma->numab_state->prev_placement_scan_seq = mm->numa_scan_seq;
 
 		/*
 		 * Only force scan within one VMA at a time, to limit the
-- 
2.55.0