aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt80
1 files changed, 77 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
index b871f2552b45..f8bc802d70b9 100644
--- a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
@@ -182,6 +182,8 @@ list.
182NOTE: Reclaim does not work for the root cgroup, since we cannot set any 182NOTE: Reclaim does not work for the root cgroup, since we cannot set any
183limits on the root cgroup. 183limits on the root cgroup.
184 184
185Note2: When panic_on_oom is set to "2", the whole system will panic.
186
1852. Locking 1872. Locking
186 188
187The memory controller uses the following hierarchy 189The memory controller uses the following hierarchy
@@ -262,10 +264,12 @@ some of the pages cached in the cgroup (page cache pages).
2624.2 Task migration 2644.2 Task migration
263 265
264When a task migrates from one cgroup to another, it's charge is not 266When a task migrates from one cgroup to another, it's charge is not
265carried forward. The pages allocated from the original cgroup still 267carried forward by default. The pages allocated from the original cgroup still
266remain charged to it, the charge is dropped when the page is freed or 268remain charged to it, the charge is dropped when the page is freed or
267reclaimed. 269reclaimed.
268 270
271Note: You can move charges of a task along with task migration. See 8.
272
2694.3 Removing a cgroup 2734.3 Removing a cgroup
270 274
271A cgroup can be removed by rmdir, but as discussed in sections 4.1 and 4.2, a 275A cgroup can be removed by rmdir, but as discussed in sections 4.1 and 4.2, a
@@ -377,7 +381,8 @@ The feature can be disabled by
377NOTE1: Enabling/disabling will fail if the cgroup already has other 381NOTE1: Enabling/disabling will fail if the cgroup already has other
378cgroups created below it. 382cgroups created below it.
379 383
380NOTE2: This feature can be enabled/disabled per subtree. 384NOTE2: When panic_on_oom is set to "2", the whole system will panic in
385case of an oom event in any cgroup.
381 386
3827. Soft limits 3877. Soft limits
383 388
@@ -414,7 +419,76 @@ NOTE1: Soft limits take effect over a long period of time, since they involve
414NOTE2: It is recommended to set the soft limit always below the hard limit, 419NOTE2: It is recommended to set the soft limit always below the hard limit,
415 otherwise the hard limit will take precedence. 420 otherwise the hard limit will take precedence.
416 421
4178. TODO 4228. Move charges at task migration
423
424Users can move charges associated with a task along with task migration, that
425is, uncharge task's pages from the old cgroup and charge them to the new cgroup.
426This feature is not supported in !CONFIG_MMU environments because of lack of
427page tables.
428
4298.1 Interface
430
431This feature is disabled by default. It can be enabled(and disabled again) by
432writing to memory.move_charge_at_immigrate of the destination cgroup.
433
434If you want to enable it:
435
436# echo (some positive value) > memory.move_charge_at_immigrate
437
438Note: Each bits of move_charge_at_immigrate has its own meaning about what type
439 of charges should be moved. See 8.2 for details.
440Note: Charges are moved only when you move mm->owner, IOW, a leader of a thread
441 group.
442Note: If we cannot find enough space for the task in the destination cgroup, we
443 try to make space by reclaiming memory. Task migration may fail if we
444 cannot make enough space.
445Note: It can take several seconds if you move charges in giga bytes order.
446
447And if you want disable it again:
448
449# echo 0 > memory.move_charge_at_immigrate
450
4518.2 Type of charges which can be move
452
453Each bits of move_charge_at_immigrate has its own meaning about what type of
454charges should be moved.
455
456 bit | what type of charges would be moved ?
457 -----+------------------------------------------------------------------------
458 0 | A charge of an anonymous page(or swap of it) used by the target task.
459 | Those pages and swaps must be used only by the target task. You must
460 | enable Swap Extension(see 2.4) to enable move of swap charges.
461
462Note: Those pages and swaps must be charged to the old cgroup.
463Note: More type of pages(e.g. file cache, shmem,) will be supported by other
464 bits in future.
465
4668.3 TODO
467
468- Add support for other types of pages(e.g. file cache, shmem, etc.).
469- Implement madvise(2) to let users decide the vma to be moved or not to be
470 moved.
471- All of moving charge operations are done under cgroup_mutex. It's not good
472 behavior to hold the mutex too long, so we may need some trick.
473
4749. Memory thresholds
475
476Memory controler implements memory thresholds using cgroups notification
477API (see cgroups.txt). It allows to register multiple memory and memsw
478thresholds and gets notifications when it crosses.
479
480To register a threshold application need:
481 - create an eventfd using eventfd(2);
482 - open memory.usage_in_bytes or memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes;
483 - write string like "<event_fd> <memory.usage_in_bytes> <threshold>" to
484 cgroup.event_control.
485
486Application will be notified through eventfd when memory usage crosses
487threshold in any direction.
488
489It's applicable for root and non-root cgroup.
490
49110. TODO
418 492
4191. Add support for accounting huge pages (as a separate controller) 4931. Add support for accounting huge pages (as a separate controller)
4202. Make per-cgroup scanner reclaim not-shared pages first 4942. Make per-cgroup scanner reclaim not-shared pages first