diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/cgroups/cgroups.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/cgroups/cgroups.txt | 548 |
1 files changed, 548 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/cgroups/cgroups.txt b/Documentation/cgroups/cgroups.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..d9014aa0eb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/cgroups/cgroups.txt @@ -0,0 +1,548 @@ + CGROUPS + ------- + +Written by Paul Menage <menage@google.com> based on Documentation/cpusets.txt + +Original copyright statements from cpusets.txt: +Portions Copyright (C) 2004 BULL SA. +Portions Copyright (c) 2004-2006 Silicon Graphics, Inc. +Modified by Paul Jackson <pj@sgi.com> +Modified by Christoph Lameter <clameter@sgi.com> + +CONTENTS: +========= + +1. Control Groups + 1.1 What are cgroups ? + 1.2 Why are cgroups needed ? + 1.3 How are cgroups implemented ? + 1.4 What does notify_on_release do ? + 1.5 How do I use cgroups ? +2. Usage Examples and Syntax + 2.1 Basic Usage + 2.2 Attaching processes +3. Kernel API + 3.1 Overview + 3.2 Synchronization + 3.3 Subsystem API +4. Questions + +1. Control Groups +================= + +1.1 What are cgroups ? +---------------------- + +Control Groups provide a mechanism for aggregating/partitioning sets of +tasks, and all their future children, into hierarchical groups with +specialized behaviour. + +Definitions: + +A *cgroup* associates a set of tasks with a set of parameters for one +or more subsystems. + +A *subsystem* is a module that makes use of the task grouping +facilities provided by cgroups to treat groups of tasks in +particular ways. A subsystem is typically a "resource controller" that +schedules a resource or applies per-cgroup limits, but it may be +anything that wants to act on a group of processes, e.g. a +virtualization subsystem. + +A *hierarchy* is a set of cgroups arranged in a tree, such that +every task in the system is in exactly one of the cgroups in the +hierarchy, and a set of subsystems; each subsystem has system-specific +state attached to each cgroup in the hierarchy. Each hierarchy has +an instance of the cgroup virtual filesystem associated with it. + +At any one time there may be multiple active hierachies of task +cgroups. Each hierarchy is a partition of all tasks in the system. + +User level code may create and destroy cgroups by name in an +instance of the cgroup virtual file system, specify and query to +which cgroup a task is assigned, and list the task pids assigned to +a cgroup. Those creations and assignments only affect the hierarchy +associated with that instance of the cgroup file system. + +On their own, the only use for cgroups is for simple job +tracking. The intention is that other subsystems hook into the generic +cgroup support to provide new attributes for cgroups, such as +accounting/limiting the resources which processes in a cgroup can +access. For example, cpusets (see Documentation/cpusets.txt) allows +you to associate a set of CPUs and a set of memory nodes with the +tasks in each cgroup. + +1.2 Why are cgroups needed ? +---------------------------- + +There are multiple efforts to provide process aggregations in the +Linux kernel, mainly for resource tracking purposes. Such efforts +include cpusets, CKRM/ResGroups, UserBeanCounters, and virtual server +namespaces. These all require the basic notion of a +grouping/partitioning of processes, with newly forked processes ending +in the same group (cgroup) as their parent process. + +The kernel cgroup patch provides the minimum essential kernel +mechanisms required to efficiently implement such groups. It has +minimal impact on the system fast paths, and provides hooks for +specific subsystems such as cpusets to provide additional behaviour as +desired. + +Multiple hierarchy support is provided to allow for situations where +the division of tasks into cgroups is distinctly different for +different subsystems - having parallel hierarchies allows each +hierarchy to be a natural division of tasks, without having to handle +complex combinations of tasks that would be present if several +unrelated subsystems needed to be forced into the same tree of +cgroups. + +At one extreme, each resource controller or subsystem could be in a +separate hierarchy; at the other extreme, all subsystems +would be attached to the same hierarchy. + +As an example of a scenario (originally proposed by vatsa@in.ibm.com) +that can benefit from multiple hierarchies, consider a large +university server with various users - students, professors, system +tasks etc. The resource planning for this server could be along the +following lines: + + CPU : Top cpuset + / \ + CPUSet1 CPUSet2 + | | + (Profs) (Students) + + In addition (system tasks) are attached to topcpuset (so + that they can run anywhere) with a limit of 20% + + Memory : Professors (50%), students (30%), system (20%) + + Disk : Prof (50%), students (30%), system (20%) + + Network : WWW browsing (20%), Network File System (60%), others (20%) + / \ + Prof (15%) students (5%) + +Browsers like firefox/lynx go into the WWW network class, while (k)nfsd go +into NFS network class. + +At the same time firefox/lynx will share an appropriate CPU/Memory class +depending on who launched it (prof/student). + +With the ability to classify tasks differently for different resources +(by putting those resource subsystems in different hierarchies) then +the admin can easily set up a script which receives exec notifications +and depending on who is launching the browser he can + + # echo browser_pid > /mnt/<restype>/<userclass>/tasks + +With only a single hierarchy, he now would potentially have to create +a separate cgroup for every browser launched and associate it with +approp network and other resource class. This may lead to +proliferation of such cgroups. + +Also lets say that the administrator would like to give enhanced network +access temporarily to a student's browser (since it is night and the user +wants to do online gaming :)) OR give one of the students simulation +apps enhanced CPU power, + +With ability to write pids directly to resource classes, it's just a +matter of : + + # echo pid > /mnt/network/<new_class>/tasks + (after some time) + # echo pid > /mnt/network/<orig_class>/tasks + +Without this ability, he would have to split the cgroup into +multiple separate ones and then associate the new cgroups with the +new resource classes. + + + +1.3 How are cgroups implemented ? +--------------------------------- + +Control Groups extends the kernel as follows: + + - Each task in the system has a reference-counted pointer to a + css_set. + + - A css_set contains a set of reference-counted pointers to + cgroup_subsys_state objects, one for each cgroup subsystem + registered in the system. There is no direct link from a task to + the cgroup of which it's a member in each hierarchy, but this + can be determined by following pointers through the + cgroup_subsys_state objects. This is because accessing the + subsystem state is something that's expected to happen frequently + and in performance-critical code, whereas operations that require a + task's actual cgroup assignments (in particular, moving between + cgroups) are less common. A linked list runs through the cg_list + field of each task_struct using the css_set, anchored at + css_set->tasks. + + - A cgroup hierarchy filesystem can be mounted for browsing and + manipulation from user space. + + - You can list all the tasks (by pid) attached to any cgroup. + +The implementation of cgroups requires a few, simple hooks +into the rest of the kernel, none in performance critical paths: + + - in init/main.c, to initialize the root cgroups and initial + css_set at system boot. + + - in fork and exit, to attach and detach a task from its css_set. + +In addition a new file system, of type "cgroup" may be mounted, to +enable browsing and modifying the cgroups presently known to the +kernel. When mounting a cgroup hierarchy, you may specify a +comma-separated list of subsystems to mount as the filesystem mount +options. By default, mounting the cgroup filesystem attempts to +mount a hierarchy containing all registered subsystems. + +If an active hierarchy with exactly the same set of subsystems already +exists, it will be reused for the new mount. If no existing hierarchy +matches, and any of the requested subsystems are in use in an existing +hierarchy, the mount will fail with -EBUSY. Otherwise, a new hierarchy +is activated, associated with the requested subsystems. + +It's not currently possible to bind a new subsystem to an active +cgroup hierarchy, or to unbind a subsystem from an active cgroup +hierarchy. This may be possible in future, but is fraught with nasty +error-recovery issues. + +When a cgroup filesystem is unmounted, if there are any +child cgroups created below the top-level cgroup, that hierarchy +will remain active even though unmounted; if there are no +child cgroups then the hierarchy will be deactivated. + +No new system calls are added for cgroups - all support for +querying and modifying cgroups is via this cgroup file system. + +Each task under /proc has an added file named 'cgroup' displaying, +for each active hierarchy, the subsystem names and the cgroup name +as the path relative to the root of the cgroup file system. + +Each cgroup is represented by a directory in the cgroup file system +containing the following files describing that cgroup: + + - tasks: list of tasks (by pid) attached to that cgroup + - releasable flag: cgroup currently removeable? + - notify_on_release flag: run the release agent on exit? + - release_agent: the path to use for release notifications (this file + exists in the top cgroup only) + +Other subsystems such as cpusets may add additional files in each +cgroup dir. + +New cgroups are created using the mkdir system call or shell +command. The properties of a cgroup, such as its flags, are +modified by writing to the appropriate file in that cgroups +directory, as listed above. + +The named hierarchical structure of nested cgroups allows partitioning +a large system into nested, dynamically changeable, "soft-partitions". + +The attachment of each task, automatically inherited at fork by any +children of that task, to a cgroup allows organizing the work load +on a system into related sets of tasks. A task may be re-attached to +any other cgroup, if allowed by the permissions on the necessary +cgroup file system directories. + +When a task is moved from one cgroup to another, it gets a new +css_set pointer - if there's an already existing css_set with the +desired collection of cgroups then that group is reused, else a new +css_set is allocated. Note that the current implementation uses a +linear search to locate an appropriate existing css_set, so isn't +very efficient. A future version will use a hash table for better +performance. + +To allow access from a cgroup to the css_sets (and hence tasks) +that comprise it, a set of cg_cgroup_link objects form a lattice; +each cg_cgroup_link is linked into a list of cg_cgroup_links for +a single cgroup on its cgrp_link_list field, and a list of +cg_cgroup_links for a single css_set on its cg_link_list. + +Thus the set of tasks in a cgroup can be listed by iterating over +each css_set that references the cgroup, and sub-iterating over +each css_set's task set. + +The use of a Linux virtual file system (vfs) to represent the +cgroup hierarchy provides for a familiar permission and name space +for cgroups, with a minimum of additional kernel code. + +1.4 What does notify_on_release do ? +------------------------------------ + +If the notify_on_release flag is enabled (1) in a cgroup, then +whenever the last task in the cgroup leaves (exits or attaches to +some other cgroup) and the last child cgroup of that cgroup +is removed, then the kernel runs the command specified by the contents +of the "release_agent" file in that hierarchy's root directory, +supplying the pathname (relative to the mount point of the cgroup +file system) of the abandoned cgroup. This enables automatic +removal of abandoned cgroups. The default value of +notify_on_release in the root cgroup at system boot is disabled +(0). The default value of other cgroups at creation is the current +value of their parents notify_on_release setting. The default value of +a cgroup hierarchy's release_agent path is empty. + +1.5 How do I use cgroups ? +-------------------------- + +To start a new job that is to be contained within a cgroup, using +the "cpuset" cgroup subsystem, the steps are something like: + + 1) mkdir /dev/cgroup + 2) mount -t cgroup -ocpuset cpuset /dev/cgroup + 3) Create the new cgroup by doing mkdir's and write's (or echo's) in + the /dev/cgroup virtual file system. + 4) Start a task that will be the "founding father" of the new job. + 5) Attach that task to the new cgroup by writing its pid to the + /dev/cgroup tasks file for that cgroup. + 6) fork, exec or clone the job tasks from this founding father task. + +For example, the following sequence of commands will setup a cgroup +named "Charlie", containing just CPUs 2 and 3, and Memory Node 1, +and then start a subshell 'sh' in that cgroup: + + mount -t cgroup cpuset -ocpuset /dev/cgroup + cd /dev/cgroup + mkdir Charlie + cd Charlie + /bin/echo 2-3 > cpuset.cpus + /bin/echo 1 > cpuset.mems + /bin/echo $$ > tasks + sh + # The subshell 'sh' is now running in cgroup Charlie + # The next line should display '/Charlie' + cat /proc/self/cgroup + +2. Usage Examples and Syntax +============================ + +2.1 Basic Usage +--------------- + +Creating, modifying, using the cgroups can be done through the cgroup +virtual filesystem. + +To mount a cgroup hierarchy will all available subsystems, type: +# mount -t cgroup xxx /dev/cgroup + +The "xxx" is not interpreted by the cgroup code, but will appear in +/proc/mounts so may be any useful identifying string that you like. + +To mount a cgroup hierarchy with just the cpuset and numtasks +subsystems, type: +# mount -t cgroup -o cpuset,numtasks hier1 /dev/cgroup + +To change the set of subsystems bound to a mounted hierarchy, just +remount with different options: + +# mount -o remount,cpuset,ns /dev/cgroup + +Note that changing the set of subsystems is currently only supported +when the hierarchy consists of a single (root) cgroup. Supporting +the ability to arbitrarily bind/unbind subsystems from an existing +cgroup hierarchy is intended to be implemented in the future. + +Then under /dev/cgroup you can find a tree that corresponds to the +tree of the cgroups in the system. For instance, /dev/cgroup +is the cgroup that holds the whole system. + +If you want to create a new cgroup under /dev/cgroup: +# cd /dev/cgroup +# mkdir my_cgroup + +Now you want to do something with this cgroup. +# cd my_cgroup + +In this directory you can find several files: +# ls +notify_on_release releasable tasks +(plus whatever files added by the attached subsystems) + +Now attach your shell to this cgroup: +# /bin/echo $$ > tasks + +You can also create cgroups inside your cgroup by using mkdir in this +directory. +# mkdir my_sub_cs + +To remove a cgroup, just use rmdir: +# rmdir my_sub_cs + +This will fail if the cgroup is in use (has cgroups inside, or +has processes attached, or is held alive by other subsystem-specific +reference). + +2.2 Attaching processes +----------------------- + +# /bin/echo PID > tasks + +Note that it is PID, not PIDs. You can only attach ONE task at a time. +If you have several tasks to attach, you have to do it one after another: + +# /bin/echo PID1 > tasks +# /bin/echo PID2 > tasks + ... +# /bin/echo PIDn > tasks + +You can attach the current shell task by echoing 0: + +# echo 0 > tasks + +3. Kernel API +============= + +3.1 Overview +------------ + +Each kernel subsystem that wants to hook into the generic cgroup +system needs to create a cgroup_subsys object. This contains +various methods, which are callbacks from the cgroup system, along +with a subsystem id which will be assigned by the cgroup system. + +Other fields in the cgroup_subsys object include: + +- subsys_id: a unique array index for the subsystem, indicating which + entry in cgroup->subsys[] this subsystem should be managing. + +- name: should be initialized to a unique subsystem name. Should be + no longer than MAX_CGROUP_TYPE_NAMELEN. + +- early_init: indicate if the subsystem needs early initialization + at system boot. + +Each cgroup object created by the system has an array of pointers, +indexed by subsystem id; this pointer is entirely managed by the +subsystem; the generic cgroup code will never touch this pointer. + +3.2 Synchronization +------------------- + +There is a global mutex, cgroup_mutex, used by the cgroup +system. This should be taken by anything that wants to modify a +cgroup. It may also be taken to prevent cgroups from being +modified, but more specific locks may be more appropriate in that +situation. + +See kernel/cgroup.c for more details. + +Subsystems can take/release the cgroup_mutex via the functions +cgroup_lock()/cgroup_unlock(). + +Accessing a task's cgroup pointer may be done in the following ways: +- while holding cgroup_mutex +- while holding the task's alloc_lock (via task_lock()) +- inside an rcu_read_lock() section via rcu_dereference() + +3.3 Subsystem API +----------------- + +Each subsystem should: + +- add an entry in linux/cgroup_subsys.h +- define a cgroup_subsys object called <name>_subsys + +Each subsystem may export the following methods. The only mandatory +methods are create/destroy. Any others that are null are presumed to +be successful no-ops. + +struct cgroup_subsys_state *create(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, + struct cgroup *cgrp) +(cgroup_mutex held by caller) + +Called to create a subsystem state object for a cgroup. The +subsystem should allocate its subsystem state object for the passed +cgroup, returning a pointer to the new object on success or a +negative error code. On success, the subsystem pointer should point to +a structure of type cgroup_subsys_state (typically embedded in a +larger subsystem-specific object), which will be initialized by the +cgroup system. Note that this will be called at initialization to +create the root subsystem state for this subsystem; this case can be +identified by the passed cgroup object having a NULL parent (since +it's the root of the hierarchy) and may be an appropriate place for +initialization code. + +void destroy(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cgroup *cgrp) +(cgroup_mutex held by caller) + +The cgroup system is about to destroy the passed cgroup; the subsystem +should do any necessary cleanup and free its subsystem state +object. By the time this method is called, the cgroup has already been +unlinked from the file system and from the child list of its parent; +cgroup->parent is still valid. (Note - can also be called for a +newly-created cgroup if an error occurs after this subsystem's +create() method has been called for the new cgroup). + +void pre_destroy(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cgroup *cgrp); +(cgroup_mutex held by caller) + +Called before checking the reference count on each subsystem. This may +be useful for subsystems which have some extra references even if +there are not tasks in the cgroup. + +int can_attach(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cgroup *cgrp, + struct task_struct *task) +(cgroup_mutex held by caller) + +Called prior to moving a task into a cgroup; if the subsystem +returns an error, this will abort the attach operation. If a NULL +task is passed, then a successful result indicates that *any* +unspecified task can be moved into the cgroup. Note that this isn't +called on a fork. If this method returns 0 (success) then this should +remain valid while the caller holds cgroup_mutex. + +void attach(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cgroup *cgrp, + struct cgroup *old_cgrp, struct task_struct *task) + +Called after the task has been attached to the cgroup, to allow any +post-attachment activity that requires memory allocations or blocking. + +void fork(struct cgroup_subsy *ss, struct task_struct *task) + +Called when a task is forked into a cgroup. + +void exit(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct task_struct *task) + +Called during task exit. + +int populate(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cgroup *cgrp) + +Called after creation of a cgroup to allow a subsystem to populate +the cgroup directory with file entries. The subsystem should make +calls to cgroup_add_file() with objects of type cftype (see +include/linux/cgroup.h for details). Note that although this +method can return an error code, the error code is currently not +always handled well. + +void post_clone(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cgroup *cgrp) + +Called at the end of cgroup_clone() to do any paramater +initialization which might be required before a task could attach. For +example in cpusets, no task may attach before 'cpus' and 'mems' are set +up. + +void bind(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cgroup *root) +(cgroup_mutex held by caller) + +Called when a cgroup subsystem is rebound to a different hierarchy +and root cgroup. Currently this will only involve movement between +the default hierarchy (which never has sub-cgroups) and a hierarchy +that is being created/destroyed (and hence has no sub-cgroups). + +4. Questions +============ + +Q: what's up with this '/bin/echo' ? +A: bash's builtin 'echo' command does not check calls to write() against + errors. If you use it in the cgroup file system, you won't be + able to tell whether a command succeeded or failed. + +Q: When I attach processes, only the first of the line gets really attached ! +A: We can only return one error code per call to write(). So you should also + put only ONE pid. + |