2 files changed, 81 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
index 9d4c1d18ad44..4273b2d71a27 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
@@ -355,6 +355,82 @@ utilize.
 
 ==============================================================
 
+numa_balancing
+
+Enables/disables automatic page fault based NUMA memory
+balancing. Memory is moved automatically to nodes
+that access it often.
+
+Enables/disables automatic NUMA memory balancing. On NUMA machines, there
+is a performance penalty if remote memory is accessed by a CPU. When this
+feature is enabled the kernel samples what task thread is accessing memory
+by periodically unmapping pages and later trapping a page fault. At the
+time of the page fault, it is determined if the data being accessed should
+be migrated to a local memory node.
+
+The unmapping of pages and trapping faults incur additional overhead that
+ideally is offset by improved memory locality but there is no universal
+guarantee. If the target workload is already bound to NUMA nodes then this
+feature should be disabled. Otherwise, if the system overhead from the
+feature is too high then the rate the kernel samples for NUMA hinting
+faults may be controlled by the numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms,
+numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms, numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms,
+numa_balancing_scan_size_mb, numa_balancing_settle_count sysctls and
+numa_balancing_migrate_deferred.
+
+==============================================================
+
+numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms, numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms,
+numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms, numa_balancing_scan_size_mb
+
+Automatic NUMA balancing scans tasks address space and unmaps pages to
+detect if pages are properly placed or if the data should be migrated to a
+memory node local to where the task is running.  Every "scan delay" the task
+scans the next "scan size" number of pages in its address space. When the
+end of the address space is reached the scanner restarts from the beginning.
+
+In combination, the "scan delay" and "scan size" determine the scan rate.
+When "scan delay" decreases, the scan rate increases.  The scan delay and
+hence the scan rate of every task is adaptive and depends on historical
+behaviour. If pages are properly placed then the scan delay increases,
+otherwise the scan delay decreases.  The "scan size" is not adaptive but
+the higher the "scan size", the higher the scan rate.
+
+Higher scan rates incur higher system overhead as page faults must be
+trapped and potentially data must be migrated. However, the higher the scan
+rate, the more quickly a tasks memory is migrated to a local node if the
+workload pattern changes and minimises performance impact due to remote
+memory accesses. These sysctls control the thresholds for scan delays and
+the number of pages scanned.
+
+numa_balancing_scan_period_min_ms is the minimum time in milliseconds to
+scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the maximum scanning
+rate for each task.
+
+numa_balancing_scan_delay_ms is the starting "scan delay" used for a task
+when it initially forks.
+
+numa_balancing_scan_period_max_ms is the maximum time in milliseconds to
+scan a tasks virtual memory. It effectively controls the minimum scanning
+rate for each task.
+
+numa_balancing_scan_size_mb is how many megabytes worth of pages are
+scanned for a given scan.
+
+numa_balancing_settle_count is how many scan periods must complete before
+the schedule balancer stops pushing the task towards a preferred node. This
+gives the scheduler a chance to place the task on an alternative node if the
+preferred node is overloaded.
+
+numa_balancing_migrate_deferred is how many page migrations get skipped
+unconditionally, after a page migration is skipped because a page is shared
+with other tasks. This reduces page migration overhead, and determines
+how much stronger the "move task near its memory" policy scheduler becomes,
+versus the "move memory near its task" memory management policy, for workloads
+with shared memory.
+
+==============================================================
+
 osrelease, ostype & version:
 
 # cat osrelease
diff --git a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
index ea2d35d64d26..bd365988e8d8 100644
--- a/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
+++ b/Documentation/trace/ftrace.txt
@@ -655,7 +655,11 @@ explains which is which.
                   read the irq flags variable, an 'X' will always
                   be printed here.
 
-  need-resched: 'N' task need_resched is set, '.' otherwise.
+  need-resched:
+        'N' both TIF_NEED_RESCHED and PREEMPT_NEED_RESCHED is set,
+        'n' only TIF_NEED_RESCHED is set,
+        'p' only PREEMPT_NEED_RESCHED is set,
+        '.' otherwise.
 
   hardirq/softirq:
         'H' - hard irq occurred inside a softirq.