sched: Add documentation for bandwidth control

Basic description of usage and effect for CFS Bandwidth Control.

Signed-off-by: Bharata B Rao <bharata@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul Turner <pjt@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20110721184758.498036116@google.com
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>

1 files changed, 122 insertions, 0 deletions

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+CFS Bandwidth Control
+=====================
+
+[ This document only discusses CPU bandwidth control for SCHED_NORMAL.
+  The SCHED_RT case is covered in Documentation/scheduler/sched-rt-group.txt ]
+
+CFS bandwidth control is a CONFIG_FAIR_GROUP_SCHED extension which allows the
+specification of the maximum CPU bandwidth available to a group or hierarchy.
+
+The bandwidth allowed for a group is specified using a quota and period. Within
+each given "period" (microseconds), a group is allowed to consume only up to
+"quota" microseconds of CPU time.  When the CPU bandwidth consumption of a
+group exceeds this limit (for that period), the tasks belonging to its
+hierarchy will be throttled and are not allowed to run again until the next
+period.
+
+A group's unused runtime is globally tracked, being refreshed with quota units
+above at each period boundary.  As threads consume this bandwidth it is
+transferred to cpu-local "silos" on a demand basis.  The amount transferred
+within each of these updates is tunable and described as the "slice".
+
+Management
+----------
+Quota and period are managed within the cpu subsystem via cgroupfs.
+
+cpu.cfs_quota_us: the total available run-time within a period (in microseconds)
+cpu.cfs_period_us: the length of a period (in microseconds)
+cpu.stat: exports throttling statistics [explained further below]
+
+The default values are:
+        cpu.cfs_period_us=100ms
+        cpu.cfs_quota=-1
+
+A value of -1 for cpu.cfs_quota_us indicates that the group does not have any
+bandwidth restriction in place, such a group is described as an unconstrained
+bandwidth group.  This represents the traditional work-conserving behavior for
+CFS.
+
+Writing any (valid) positive value(s) will enact the specified bandwidth limit.
+The minimum quota allowed for the quota or period is 1ms.  There is also an
+upper bound on the period length of 1s.  Additional restrictions exist when
+bandwidth limits are used in a hierarchical fashion, these are explained in
+more detail below.
+
+Writing any negative value to cpu.cfs_quota_us will remove the bandwidth limit
+and return the group to an unconstrained state once more.
+
+Any updates to a group's bandwidth specification will result in it becoming
+unthrottled if it is in a constrained state.
+
+System wide settings
+--------------------
+For efficiency run-time is transferred between the global pool and CPU local
+"silos" in a batch fashion.  This greatly reduces global accounting pressure
+on large systems.  The amount transferred each time such an update is required
+is described as the "slice".
+
+This is tunable via procfs:
+        /proc/sys/kernel/sched_cfs_bandwidth_slice_us (default=5ms)
+
+Larger slice values will reduce transfer overheads, while smaller values allow
+for more fine-grained consumption.
+
+Statistics
+----------
+A group's bandwidth statistics are exported via 3 fields in cpu.stat.
+
+cpu.stat:
+- nr_periods: Number of enforcement intervals that have elapsed.
+- nr_throttled: Number of times the group has been throttled/limited.
+- throttled_time: The total time duration (in nanoseconds) for which entities
+  of the group have been throttled.
+
+This interface is read-only.
+
+Hierarchical considerations
+---------------------------
+The interface enforces that an individual entity's bandwidth is always
+attainable, that is: max(c_i) <= C. However, over-subscription in the
+aggregate case is explicitly allowed to enable work-conserving semantics
+within a hierarchy.
+  e.g. \Sum (c_i) may exceed C
+[ Where C is the parent's bandwidth, and c_i its children ]
+
+
+There are two ways in which a group may become throttled:
+        a. it fully consumes its own quota within a period
+        b. a parent's quota is fully consumed within its period
+
+In case b) above, even though the child may have runtime remaining it will not
+be allowed to until the parent's runtime is refreshed.
+
+Examples
+--------
+1. Limit a group to 1 CPU worth of runtime.
+
+        If period is 250ms and quota is also 250ms, the group will get
+        1 CPU worth of runtime every 250ms.
+
+        # echo 250000 > cpu.cfs_quota_us /* quota = 250ms */
+        # echo 250000 > cpu.cfs_period_us /* period = 250ms */
+
+2. Limit a group to 2 CPUs worth of runtime on a multi-CPU machine.
+
+        With 500ms period and 1000ms quota, the group can get 2 CPUs worth of
+        runtime every 500ms.
+
+        # echo 1000000 > cpu.cfs_quota_us /* quota = 1000ms */
+        # echo 500000 > cpu.cfs_period_us /* period = 500ms */
+
+        The larger period here allows for increased burst capacity.
+
+3. Limit a group to 20% of 1 CPU.
+
+        With 50ms period, 10ms quota will be equivalent to 20% of 1 CPU.
+
+        # echo 10000 > cpu.cfs_quota_us /* quota = 10ms */
+        # echo 50000 > cpu.cfs_period_us /* period = 50ms */
+
+        By using a small period here we are ensuring a consistent latency
+        response at the expense of burst capacity.
+