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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/cpusets.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/cpusets.txt | 141 |
1 files changed, 139 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/cpusets.txt b/Documentation/cpusets.txt index 85eeab5e7e3..141bef1c859 100644 --- a/Documentation/cpusets.txt +++ b/Documentation/cpusets.txt @@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ CONTENTS: 1.4 What are exclusive cpusets ? 1.5 What is memory_pressure ? 1.6 What is memory spread ? - 1.7 How do I use cpusets ? + 1.7 What is sched_load_balance ? + 1.8 How do I use cpusets ? 2. Usage Examples and Syntax 2.1 Basic Usage 2.2 Adding/removing cpus @@ -359,8 +360,144 @@ policy, especially for jobs that might have one thread reading in the data set, the memory allocation across the nodes in the jobs cpuset can become very uneven. +1.7 What is sched_load_balance ? +-------------------------------- -1.7 How do I use cpusets ? +The kernel scheduler (kernel/sched.c) automatically load balances +tasks. If one CPU is underutilized, kernel code running on that +CPU will look for tasks on other more overloaded CPUs and move those +tasks to itself, within the constraints of such placement mechanisms +as cpusets and sched_setaffinity. + +The algorithmic cost of load balancing and its impact on key shared +kernel data structures such as the task list increases more than +linearly with the number of CPUs being balanced. So the scheduler +has support to partition the systems CPUs into a number of sched +domains such that it only load balances within each sched domain. +Each sched domain covers some subset of the CPUs in the system; +no two sched domains overlap; some CPUs might not be in any sched +domain and hence won't be load balanced. + +Put simply, it costs less to balance between two smaller sched domains +than one big one, but doing so means that overloads in one of the +two domains won't be load balanced to the other one. + +By default, there is one sched domain covering all CPUs, except those +marked isolated using the kernel boot time "isolcpus=" argument. + +This default load balancing across all CPUs is not well suited for +the following two situations: + 1) On large systems, load balancing across many CPUs is expensive. + If the system is managed using cpusets to place independent jobs + on separate sets of CPUs, full load balancing is unnecessary. + 2) Systems supporting realtime on some CPUs need to minimize + system overhead on those CPUs, including avoiding task load + balancing if that is not needed. + +When the per-cpuset flag "sched_load_balance" is enabled (the default +setting), it requests that all the CPUs in that cpusets allowed 'cpus' +be contained in a single sched domain, ensuring that load balancing +can move a task (not otherwised pinned, as by sched_setaffinity) +from any CPU in that cpuset to any other. + +When the per-cpuset flag "sched_load_balance" is disabled, then the +scheduler will avoid load balancing across the CPUs in that cpuset, +--except-- in so far as is necessary because some overlapping cpuset +has "sched_load_balance" enabled. + +So, for example, if the top cpuset has the flag "sched_load_balance" +enabled, then the scheduler will have one sched domain covering all +CPUs, and the setting of the "sched_load_balance" flag in any other +cpusets won't matter, as we're already fully load balancing. + +Therefore in the above two situations, the top cpuset flag +"sched_load_balance" should be disabled, and only some of the smaller, +child cpusets have this flag enabled. + +When doing this, you don't usually want to leave any unpinned tasks in +the top cpuset that might use non-trivial amounts of CPU, as such tasks +may be artificially constrained to some subset of CPUs, depending on +the particulars of this flag setting in descendent cpusets. Even if +such a task could use spare CPU cycles in some other CPUs, the kernel +scheduler might not consider the possibility of load balancing that +task to that underused CPU. + +Of course, tasks pinned to a particular CPU can be left in a cpuset +that disables "sched_load_balance" as those tasks aren't going anywhere +else anyway. + +There is an impedance mismatch here, between cpusets and sched domains. +Cpusets are hierarchical and nest. Sched domains are flat; they don't +overlap and each CPU is in at most one sched domain. + +It is necessary for sched domains to be flat because load balancing +across partially overlapping sets of CPUs would risk unstable dynamics +that would be beyond our understanding. So if each of two partially +overlapping cpusets enables the flag 'sched_load_balance', then we +form a single sched domain that is a superset of both. We won't move +a task to a CPU outside it cpuset, but the scheduler load balancing +code might waste some compute cycles considering that possibility. + +This mismatch is why there is not a simple one-to-one relation +between which cpusets have the flag "sched_load_balance" enabled, +and the sched domain configuration. If a cpuset enables the flag, it +will get balancing across all its CPUs, but if it disables the flag, +it will only be assured of no load balancing if no other overlapping +cpuset enables the flag. + +If two cpusets have partially overlapping 'cpus' allowed, and only +one of them has this flag enabled, then the other may find its +tasks only partially load balanced, just on the overlapping CPUs. +This is just the general case of the top_cpuset example given a few +paragraphs above. In the general case, as in the top cpuset case, +don't leave tasks that might use non-trivial amounts of CPU in +such partially load balanced cpusets, as they may be artificially +constrained to some subset of the CPUs allowed to them, for lack of +load balancing to the other CPUs. + +1.7.1 sched_load_balance implementation details. +------------------------------------------------ + +The per-cpuset flag 'sched_load_balance' defaults to enabled (contrary +to most cpuset flags.) When enabled for a cpuset, the kernel will +ensure that it can load balance across all the CPUs in that cpuset +(makes sure that all the CPUs in the cpus_allowed of that cpuset are +in the same sched domain.) + +If two overlapping cpusets both have 'sched_load_balance' enabled, +then they will be (must be) both in the same sched domain. + +If, as is the default, the top cpuset has 'sched_load_balance' enabled, +then by the above that means there is a single sched domain covering +the whole system, regardless of any other cpuset settings. + +The kernel commits to user space that it will avoid load balancing +where it can. It will pick as fine a granularity partition of sched +domains as it can while still providing load balancing for any set +of CPUs allowed to a cpuset having 'sched_load_balance' enabled. + +The internal kernel cpuset to scheduler interface passes from the +cpuset code to the scheduler code a partition of the load balanced +CPUs in the system. This partition is a set of subsets (represented +as an array of cpumask_t) of CPUs, pairwise disjoint, that cover all +the CPUs that must be load balanced. + +Whenever the 'sched_load_balance' flag changes, or CPUs come or go +from a cpuset with this flag enabled, or a cpuset with this flag +enabled is removed, the cpuset code builds a new such partition and +passes it to the scheduler sched domain setup code, to have the sched +domains rebuilt as necessary. + +This partition exactly defines what sched domains the scheduler should +setup - one sched domain for each element (cpumask_t) in the partition. + +The scheduler remembers the currently active sched domain partitions. +When the scheduler routine partition_sched_domains() is invoked from +the cpuset code to update these sched domains, it compares the new +partition requested with the current, and updates its sched domains, +removing the old and adding the new, for each change. + +1.8 How do I use cpusets ? -------------------------- In order to minimize the impact of cpusets on critical kernel |