mem-hotplug: introduce movable_node boot option

The hot-Pluggable field in SRAT specifies which memory is hotpluggable.
As we mentioned before, if hotpluggable memory is used by the kernel, it
cannot be hot-removed.  So memory hotplug users may want to set all
hotpluggable memory in ZONE_MOVABLE so that the kernel won't use it.

Memory hotplug users may also set a node as movable node, which has
ZONE_MOVABLE only, so that the whole node can be hot-removed.

But the kernel cannot use memory in ZONE_MOVABLE.  By doing this, the
kernel cannot use memory in movable nodes.  This will cause NUMA
performance down.  And other users may be unhappy.

So we need a way to allow users to enable and disable this functionality.
In this patch, we introduce movable_node boot option to allow users to
choose to not to consume hotpluggable memory at early boot time and later
we can set it as ZONE_MOVABLE.

To achieve this, the movable_node boot option will control the memblock
allocation direction.  That said, after memblock is ready, before SRAT is
parsed, we should allocate memory near the kernel image as we explained in
the previous patches.  So if movable_node boot option is set, the kernel
does the following:

1. After memblock is ready, make memblock allocate memory bottom up.
2. After SRAT is parsed, make memblock behave as default, allocate memory
   top down.

Users can specify "movable_node" in kernel commandline to enable this
functionality.  For those who don't use memory hotplug or who don't want
to lose their NUMA performance, just don't specify anything.  The kernel
will work as before.

Signed-off-by: Tang Chen <tangchen@cn.fujitsu.com>
Signed-off-by: Zhang Yanfei <zhangyanfei@cn.fujitsu.com>
Suggested-by: Kamezawa Hiroyuki <kamezawa.hiroyu@jp.fujitsu.com>
Suggested-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@hp.com>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: Wanpeng Li <liwanp@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: Thomas Renninger <trenn@suse.de>
Cc: Yinghai Lu <yinghai@kernel.org>
Cc: Jiang Liu <jiang.liu@huawei.com>
Cc: Wen Congyang <wency@cn.fujitsu.com>
Cc: Lai Jiangshan <laijs@cn.fujitsu.com>
Cc: Yasuaki Ishimatsu <isimatu.yasuaki@jp.fujitsu.com>
Cc: Taku Izumi <izumi.taku@jp.fujitsu.com>
Cc: Mel Gorman <mgorman@suse.de>
Cc: Michal Nazarewicz <mina86@mina86.com>
Cc: Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>
Cc: Rik van Riel <riel@redhat.com>
Cc: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

1 files changed, 12 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/mm/Kconfig b/mm/Kconfig
index 394838f489e..3f4ffda152b 100644
--- a/mm/Kconfig
+++ b/mm/Kconfig
@@ -153,11 +153,18 @@ config MOVABLE_NODE
 	help
 	  Allow a node to have only movable memory.  Pages used by the kernel,
 	  such as direct mapping pages cannot be migrated.  So the corresponding
-	  memory device cannot be hotplugged.  This option allows users to
-	  online all the memory of a node as movable memory so that the whole
-	  node can be hotplugged.  Users who don't use the memory hotplug
-	  feature are fine with this option on since they don't online memory
-	  as movable.
+	  memory device cannot be hotplugged.  This option allows the following
+	  two things:
+	  - When the system is booting, node full of hotpluggable memory can
+	  be arranged to have only movable memory so that the whole node can
+	  be hot-removed. (need movable_node boot option specified).
+	  - After the system is up, the option allows users to online all the
+	  memory of a node as movable memory so that the whole node can be
+	  hot-removed.
+
+	  Users who don't use the memory hotplug feature are fine with this
+	  option on since they don't specify movable_node boot option or they
+	  don't online memory as movable.
 
 	  Say Y here if you want to hotplug a whole node.
 	  Say N here if you want kernel to use memory on all nodes evenly.