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authorGlauber Costa <glommer@parallels.com>2011-12-11 21:47:01 +0000
committerDavid S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>2011-12-12 19:03:55 -0500
commite5671dfae59b165e2adfd4dfbdeab11ac8db5bda (patch)
treedaf5570e8da71934970daa4b2044c6f13ee98f9d /Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
parent08e34eb14fe4cfd934b5c169a7682a969457c4ea (diff)
Basic kernel memory functionality for the Memory Controller
This patch lays down the foundation for the kernel memory component of the Memory Controller. As of today, I am only laying down the following files: * memory.independent_kmem_limit * memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes (currently ignored) * memory.kmem.usage_in_bytes (always zero) Signed-off-by: Glauber Costa <glommer@parallels.com> CC: Kirill A. Shutemov <kirill@shutemov.name> CC: Paul Menage <paul@paulmenage.org> CC: Greg Thelen <gthelen@google.com> CC: Johannes Weiner <jweiner@redhat.com> CC: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.cz> Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt40
1 files changed, 38 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
index cc0ebc5241b3..f2453241142b 100644
--- a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
@@ -44,8 +44,9 @@ Features:
- oom-killer disable knob and oom-notifier
- Root cgroup has no limit controls.
- Kernel memory and Hugepages are not under control yet. We just manage
- pages on LRU. To add more controls, we have to take care of performance.
+ Hugepages is not under control yet. We just manage pages on LRU. To add more
+ controls, we have to take care of performance. Kernel memory support is work
+ in progress, and the current version provides basically functionality.
Brief summary of control files.
@@ -56,8 +57,11 @@ Brief summary of control files.
(See 5.5 for details)
memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes # show current res_counter usage for memory+Swap
(See 5.5 for details)
+ memory.kmem.usage_in_bytes # show current res_counter usage for kmem only.
+ (See 2.7 for details)
memory.limit_in_bytes # set/show limit of memory usage
memory.memsw.limit_in_bytes # set/show limit of memory+Swap usage
+ memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes # if allowed, set/show limit of kernel memory
memory.failcnt # show the number of memory usage hits limits
memory.memsw.failcnt # show the number of memory+Swap hits limits
memory.max_usage_in_bytes # show max memory usage recorded
@@ -72,6 +76,9 @@ Brief summary of control files.
memory.oom_control # set/show oom controls.
memory.numa_stat # show the number of memory usage per numa node
+ memory.independent_kmem_limit # select whether or not kernel memory limits are
+ independent of user limits
+
1. History
The memory controller has a long history. A request for comments for the memory
@@ -255,6 +262,35 @@ When oom event notifier is registered, event will be delivered.
per-zone-per-cgroup LRU (cgroup's private LRU) is just guarded by
zone->lru_lock, it has no lock of its own.
+2.7 Kernel Memory Extension (CONFIG_CGROUP_MEM_RES_CTLR_KMEM)
+
+With the Kernel memory extension, the Memory Controller is able to limit
+the amount of kernel memory used by the system. Kernel memory is fundamentally
+different than user memory, since it can't be swapped out, which makes it
+possible to DoS the system by consuming too much of this precious resource.
+
+Some kernel memory resources may be accounted and limited separately from the
+main "kmem" resource. For instance, a slab cache that is considered important
+enough to be limited separately may have its own knobs.
+
+Kernel memory limits are not imposed for the root cgroup. Usage for the root
+cgroup may or may not be accounted.
+
+Memory limits as specified by the standard Memory Controller may or may not
+take kernel memory into consideration. This is achieved through the file
+memory.independent_kmem_limit. A Value different than 0 will allow for kernel
+memory to be controlled separately.
+
+When kernel memory limits are not independent, the limit values set in
+memory.kmem files are ignored.
+
+Currently no soft limit is implemented for kernel memory. It is future work
+to trigger slab reclaim when those limits are reached.
+
+2.7.1 Current Kernel Memory resources accounted
+
+None
+
3. User Interface
0. Configuration