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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/vm/ksm.txt | 215 |
1 files changed, 110 insertions, 105 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/vm/ksm.txt b/Documentation/vm/ksm.txt index 6686bd267dc9..87e7eef5ea9c 100644 --- a/Documentation/vm/ksm.txt +++ b/Documentation/vm/ksm.txt @@ -1,8 +1,11 @@ -How to use the Kernel Samepage Merging feature ----------------------------------------------- +.. _ksm: + +======================= +Kernel Samepage Merging +======================= KSM is a memory-saving de-duplication feature, enabled by CONFIG_KSM=y, -added to the Linux kernel in 2.6.32. See mm/ksm.c for its implementation, +added to the Linux kernel in 2.6.32. See ``mm/ksm.c`` for its implementation, and http://lwn.net/Articles/306704/ and http://lwn.net/Articles/330589/ The KSM daemon ksmd periodically scans those areas of user memory which @@ -51,110 +54,112 @@ Applications should be considerate in their use of MADV_MERGEABLE, restricting its use to areas likely to benefit. KSM's scans may use a lot of processing power: some installations will disable KSM for that reason. -The KSM daemon is controlled by sysfs files in /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/, +The KSM daemon is controlled by sysfs files in ``/sys/kernel/mm/ksm/``, readable by all but writable only by root: -pages_to_scan - how many present pages to scan before ksmd goes to sleep - e.g. "echo 100 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/pages_to_scan" - Default: 100 (chosen for demonstration purposes) - -sleep_millisecs - how many milliseconds ksmd should sleep before next scan - e.g. "echo 20 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/sleep_millisecs" - Default: 20 (chosen for demonstration purposes) - -merge_across_nodes - specifies if pages from different numa nodes can be merged. - When set to 0, ksm merges only pages which physically - reside in the memory area of same NUMA node. That brings - lower latency to access of shared pages. Systems with more - nodes, at significant NUMA distances, are likely to benefit - from the lower latency of setting 0. Smaller systems, which - need to minimize memory usage, are likely to benefit from - the greater sharing of setting 1 (default). You may wish to - compare how your system performs under each setting, before - deciding on which to use. merge_across_nodes setting can be - changed only when there are no ksm shared pages in system: - set run 2 to unmerge pages first, then to 1 after changing - merge_across_nodes, to remerge according to the new setting. - Default: 1 (merging across nodes as in earlier releases) - -run - set 0 to stop ksmd from running but keep merged pages, - set 1 to run ksmd e.g. "echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run", - set 2 to stop ksmd and unmerge all pages currently merged, - but leave mergeable areas registered for next run - Default: 0 (must be changed to 1 to activate KSM, - except if CONFIG_SYSFS is disabled) - -use_zero_pages - specifies whether empty pages (i.e. allocated pages - that only contain zeroes) should be treated specially. - When set to 1, empty pages are merged with the kernel - zero page(s) instead of with each other as it would - happen normally. This can improve the performance on - architectures with coloured zero pages, depending on - the workload. Care should be taken when enabling this - setting, as it can potentially degrade the performance - of KSM for some workloads, for example if the checksums - of pages candidate for merging match the checksum of - an empty page. This setting can be changed at any time, - it is only effective for pages merged after the change. - Default: 0 (normal KSM behaviour as in earlier releases) - -max_page_sharing - Maximum sharing allowed for each KSM page. This - enforces a deduplication limit to avoid the virtual - memory rmap lists to grow too large. The minimum - value is 2 as a newly created KSM page will have at - least two sharers. The rmap walk has O(N) - complexity where N is the number of rmap_items - (i.e. virtual mappings) that are sharing the page, - which is in turn capped by max_page_sharing. So - this effectively spread the the linear O(N) - computational complexity from rmap walk context - over different KSM pages. The ksmd walk over the - stable_node "chains" is also O(N), but N is the - number of stable_node "dups", not the number of - rmap_items, so it has not a significant impact on - ksmd performance. In practice the best stable_node - "dup" candidate will be kept and found at the head - of the "dups" list. The higher this value the - faster KSM will merge the memory (because there - will be fewer stable_node dups queued into the - stable_node chain->hlist to check for pruning) and - the higher the deduplication factor will be, but - the slowest the worst case rmap walk could be for - any given KSM page. Slowing down the rmap_walk - means there will be higher latency for certain - virtual memory operations happening during - swapping, compaction, NUMA balancing and page - migration, in turn decreasing responsiveness for - the caller of those virtual memory operations. The - scheduler latency of other tasks not involved with - the VM operations doing the rmap walk is not - affected by this parameter as the rmap walks are - always schedule friendly themselves. - -stable_node_chains_prune_millisecs - How frequently to walk the whole - list of stable_node "dups" linked in the - stable_node "chains" in order to prune stale - stable_nodes. Smaller milllisecs values will free - up the KSM metadata with lower latency, but they - will make ksmd use more CPU during the scan. This - only applies to the stable_node chains so it's a - noop if not a single KSM page hit the - max_page_sharing yet (there would be no stable_node - chains in such case). - -The effectiveness of KSM and MADV_MERGEABLE is shown in /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/: - -pages_shared - how many shared pages are being used -pages_sharing - how many more sites are sharing them i.e. how much saved -pages_unshared - how many pages unique but repeatedly checked for merging -pages_volatile - how many pages changing too fast to be placed in a tree -full_scans - how many times all mergeable areas have been scanned - -stable_node_chains - number of stable node chains allocated, this is - effectively the number of KSM pages that hit the - max_page_sharing limit -stable_node_dups - number of stable node dups queued into the - stable_node chains +pages_to_scan + how many present pages to scan before ksmd goes to sleep + e.g. ``echo 100 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/pages_to_scan`` Default: 100 + (chosen for demonstration purposes) + +sleep_millisecs + how many milliseconds ksmd should sleep before next scan + e.g. ``echo 20 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/sleep_millisecs`` Default: 20 + (chosen for demonstration purposes) + +merge_across_nodes + specifies if pages from different numa nodes can be merged. + When set to 0, ksm merges only pages which physically reside + in the memory area of same NUMA node. That brings lower + latency to access of shared pages. Systems with more nodes, at + significant NUMA distances, are likely to benefit from the + lower latency of setting 0. Smaller systems, which need to + minimize memory usage, are likely to benefit from the greater + sharing of setting 1 (default). You may wish to compare how + your system performs under each setting, before deciding on + which to use. merge_across_nodes setting can be changed only + when there are no ksm shared pages in system: set run 2 to + unmerge pages first, then to 1 after changing + merge_across_nodes, to remerge according to the new setting. + Default: 1 (merging across nodes as in earlier releases) + +run + set 0 to stop ksmd from running but keep merged pages, + set 1 to run ksmd e.g. ``echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run``, + set 2 to stop ksmd and unmerge all pages currently merged, but + leave mergeable areas registered for next run Default: 0 (must + be changed to 1 to activate KSM, except if CONFIG_SYSFS is + disabled) + +use_zero_pages + specifies whether empty pages (i.e. allocated pages that only + contain zeroes) should be treated specially. When set to 1, + empty pages are merged with the kernel zero page(s) instead of + with each other as it would happen normally. This can improve + the performance on architectures with coloured zero pages, + depending on the workload. Care should be taken when enabling + this setting, as it can potentially degrade the performance of + KSM for some workloads, for example if the checksums of pages + candidate for merging match the checksum of an empty + page. This setting can be changed at any time, it is only + effective for pages merged after the change. Default: 0 + (normal KSM behaviour as in earlier releases) + +max_page_sharing + Maximum sharing allowed for each KSM page. This enforces a + deduplication limit to avoid the virtual memory rmap lists to + grow too large. The minimum value is 2 as a newly created KSM + page will have at least two sharers. The rmap walk has O(N) + complexity where N is the number of rmap_items (i.e. virtual + mappings) that are sharing the page, which is in turn capped + by max_page_sharing. So this effectively spread the the linear + O(N) computational complexity from rmap walk context over + different KSM pages. The ksmd walk over the stable_node + "chains" is also O(N), but N is the number of stable_node + "dups", not the number of rmap_items, so it has not a + significant impact on ksmd performance. In practice the best + stable_node "dup" candidate will be kept and found at the head + of the "dups" list. The higher this value the faster KSM will + merge the memory (because there will be fewer stable_node dups + queued into the stable_node chain->hlist to check for pruning) + and the higher the deduplication factor will be, but the + slowest the worst case rmap walk could be for any given KSM + page. Slowing down the rmap_walk means there will be higher + latency for certain virtual memory operations happening during + swapping, compaction, NUMA balancing and page migration, in + turn decreasing responsiveness for the caller of those virtual + memory operations. The scheduler latency of other tasks not + involved with the VM operations doing the rmap walk is not + affected by this parameter as the rmap walks are always + schedule friendly themselves. + +stable_node_chains_prune_millisecs + How frequently to walk the whole list of stable_node "dups" + linked in the stable_node "chains" in order to prune stale + stable_nodes. Smaller milllisecs values will free up the KSM + metadata with lower latency, but they will make ksmd use more + CPU during the scan. This only applies to the stable_node + chains so it's a noop if not a single KSM page hit the + max_page_sharing yet (there would be no stable_node chains in + such case). + +The effectiveness of KSM and MADV_MERGEABLE is shown in ``/sys/kernel/mm/ksm/``: + +pages_shared + how many shared pages are being used +pages_sharing + how many more sites are sharing them i.e. how much saved +pages_unshared + how many pages unique but repeatedly checked for merging +pages_volatile + how many pages changing too fast to be placed in a tree +full_scans + how many times all mergeable areas have been scanned +stable_node_chains + number of stable node chains allocated, this is effectively + the number of KSM pages that hit the max_page_sharing limit +stable_node_dups + number of stable node dups queued into the stable_node chains A high ratio of pages_sharing to pages_shared indicates good sharing, but a high ratio of pages_unshared to pages_sharing indicates wasted effort. |