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-rw-r--r--Documentation/cpusets.txt16
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diff --git a/Documentation/cpusets.txt b/Documentation/cpusets.txt
index 2f8f24eaefd9..ad944c060312 100644
--- a/Documentation/cpusets.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cpusets.txt
@@ -51,6 +51,14 @@ mems_allowed vector.
51 51
52If a cpuset is cpu or mem exclusive, no other cpuset, other than a direct 52If a cpuset is cpu or mem exclusive, no other cpuset, other than a direct
53ancestor or descendent, may share any of the same CPUs or Memory Nodes. 53ancestor or descendent, may share any of the same CPUs or Memory Nodes.
54A cpuset that is cpu exclusive has a sched domain associated with it.
55The sched domain consists of all cpus in the current cpuset that are not
56part of any exclusive child cpusets.
57This ensures that the scheduler load balacing code only balances
58against the cpus that are in the sched domain as defined above and not
59all of the cpus in the system. This removes any overhead due to
60load balancing code trying to pull tasks outside of the cpu exclusive
61cpuset only to be prevented by the tasks' cpus_allowed mask.
54 62
55User level code may create and destroy cpusets by name in the cpuset 63User level code may create and destroy cpusets by name in the cpuset
56virtual file system, manage the attributes and permissions of these 64virtual file system, manage the attributes and permissions of these
@@ -84,6 +92,9 @@ This can be especially valuable on:
84 and a database), or 92 and a database), or
85 * NUMA systems running large HPC applications with demanding 93 * NUMA systems running large HPC applications with demanding
86 performance characteristics. 94 performance characteristics.
95 * Also cpu_exclusive cpusets are useful for servers running orthogonal
96 workloads such as RT applications requiring low latency and HPC
97 applications that are throughput sensitive
87 98
88These subsets, or "soft partitions" must be able to be dynamically 99These subsets, or "soft partitions" must be able to be dynamically
89adjusted, as the job mix changes, without impacting other concurrently 100adjusted, as the job mix changes, without impacting other concurrently
@@ -125,6 +136,8 @@ Cpusets extends these two mechanisms as follows:
125 - A cpuset may be marked exclusive, which ensures that no other 136 - A cpuset may be marked exclusive, which ensures that no other
126 cpuset (except direct ancestors and descendents) may contain 137 cpuset (except direct ancestors and descendents) may contain
127 any overlapping CPUs or Memory Nodes. 138 any overlapping CPUs or Memory Nodes.
139 Also a cpu_exclusive cpuset would be associated with a sched
140 domain.
128 - You can list all the tasks (by pid) attached to any cpuset. 141 - You can list all the tasks (by pid) attached to any cpuset.
129 142
130The implementation of cpusets requires a few, simple hooks 143The implementation of cpusets requires a few, simple hooks
@@ -136,6 +149,9 @@ into the rest of the kernel, none in performance critical paths:
136 allowed in that tasks cpuset. 149 allowed in that tasks cpuset.
137 - in sched.c migrate_all_tasks(), to keep migrating tasks within 150 - in sched.c migrate_all_tasks(), to keep migrating tasks within
138 the CPUs allowed by their cpuset, if possible. 151 the CPUs allowed by their cpuset, if possible.
152 - in sched.c, a new API partition_sched_domains for handling
153 sched domain changes associated with cpu_exclusive cpusets
154 and related changes in both sched.c and arch/ia64/kernel/domain.c
139 - in the mbind and set_mempolicy system calls, to mask the requested 155 - in the mbind and set_mempolicy system calls, to mask the requested
140 Memory Nodes by what's allowed in that tasks cpuset. 156 Memory Nodes by what's allowed in that tasks cpuset.
141 - in page_alloc, to restrict memory to allowed nodes. 157 - in page_alloc, to restrict memory to allowed nodes.