Re: [PATCH v6 1/5] drivers/base/node: Optimize memory block registration to reduce boot time

[David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>]

On 26.05.25 16:50, Donet Tom wrote:
> During node device initialization, `memory blocks` are registered under
> each NUMA node. The `memory blocks` to be registered are identified using
> the node’s start and end PFNs, which are obtained from the node's pg_data
> 
> However, not all PFNs within this range necessarily belong to the same
> node—some may belong to other nodes. Additionally, due to the
> discontiguous nature of physical memory, certain sections within a
> `memory block` may be absent.
> 
> As a result, `memory blocks` that fall between a node’s start and end
> PFNs may span across multiple nodes, and some sections within those blocks
> may be missing. `Memory blocks` have a fixed size, which is architecture
> dependent.
> 
> Due to these considerations, the memory block registration is currently
> performed as follows:
> 
> for_each_online_node(nid):
>      start_pfn = pgdat->node_start_pfn;
>      end_pfn = pgdat->node_start_pfn + node_spanned_pages;
>      for_each_memory_block_between(PFN_PHYS(start_pfn), PFN_PHYS(end_pfn))
>          mem_blk = memory_block_id(pfn_to_section_nr(pfn));
>          pfn_mb_start=section_nr_to_pfn(mem_blk->start_section_nr)
>          pfn_mb_end = pfn_start + memory_block_pfns - 1
>          for (pfn = pfn_mb_start; pfn < pfn_mb_end; pfn++):
>              if (get_nid_for_pfn(pfn) != nid):
>                  continue;
>              else
>                  do_register_memory_block_under_node(nid, mem_blk,
>                                                          MEMINIT_EARLY);
> 
> Here, we derive the start and end PFNs from the node's pg_data, then
> determine the memory blocks that may belong to the node. For each
> `memory block` in this range, we inspect all PFNs it contains and check
> their associated NUMA node ID. If a PFN within the block matches the
> current node, the memory block is registered under that node.
> 
> If CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT is enabled, get_nid_for_pfn() performs
> a binary search in the `memblock regions` to determine the NUMA node ID
> for a given PFN. If it is not enabled, the node ID is retrieved directly
> from the struct page.
> 
> On large systems, this process can become time-consuming, especially since
> we iterate over each `memory block` and all PFNs within it until a match is
> found. When CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT is enabled, the additional
> overhead of the binary search increases the execution time significantly,
> potentially leading to soft lockups during boot.
> 
> In this patch, we iterate over `memblock region` to identify the
> `memory blocks` that belong to the current NUMA node. `memblock regions`
> are contiguous memory ranges, each associated with a single NUMA node, and
> they do not span across multiple nodes.
> 
> for_each_memory_region(r): // r => region
>    if (!node_online(r->nid)):
>      continue;
>    else
>      for_each_memory_block_between(r->base, r->base + r->size - 1):
>        do_register_memory_block_under_node(r->nid, mem_blk, MEMINIT_EARLY);
> 
> We iterate over all memblock regions, and if the node associated with the
> region is online, we calculate the start and end memory blocks based on the
> region's start and end PFNs. We then register all the memory blocks within
> that range under the region node.
> 
> Test Results on My system with 32TB RAM
> =======================================
> 1. Boot time with CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT enabled.
> 
> Without this patch
> ------------------
> Startup finished in 1min 16.528s (kernel)
> 
> With this patch
> ---------------
> Startup finished in 17.236s (kernel) - 78% Improvement
> 
> 2. Boot time with CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT disabled.
> 
> Without this patch
> ------------------
> Startup finished in 28.320s (kernel)
> 
> With this patch
> ---------------
> Startup finished in 15.621s (kernel) - 46% Improvement
> 
> Acked-by: Oscar Salvador <osalvador@suse.de>
> Acked-by: Mike Rapoport (Microsoft) <rppt@kernel.org>
> Acked-by: Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>
> Signed-off-by: Donet Tom <donettom@linux.ibm.com>
> 


Only a couple of nits:

> diff --git a/drivers/base/node.c b/drivers/base/node.c
> index cd13ef287011..20b6f4496e1b 100644
> --- a/drivers/base/node.c
> +++ b/drivers/base/node.c
> @@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
>   #include <linux/pm_runtime.h>
>   #include <linux/swap.h>
>   #include <linux/slab.h>
> +#include <linux/memblock.h>
>   
>   static const struct bus_type node_subsys = {
>   	.name = "node",
> @@ -850,6 +851,47 @@ void unregister_memory_block_under_nodes(struct memory_block *mem_blk)
>   			  kobject_name(&node_devices[mem_blk->nid]->dev.kobj));
>   }
>   
> +/*
> + * register_memory_blocks_under_nodes : Register the memory blocks
 > + *                 under the nodes.> + *
> + * This function registers all memory blocks to their corresponding nodes
> + * based on the associated memory regions. Each memory region is tied to
> + * a specific node and does not span multiple nodes. Therefore, all memory
> + * blocks within a given region are considered to belong to that node. The
> + * function iterates through each memory region and registers the memory
> + * blocks contained within that region to the respective node. Since memory
> + * blocks can span across multiple regions (and hence multiple nodes), a
> + * single memory block may be registered under more than one node if it
> + * overlaps with regions belonging to different nodes.

a) Do we need excessive doc for that?

b) It looks partially like kerneldoc, do we want to convert it to proper 
one?

/**
  * register_memory_blocks_under_nodes - register all memory blocks
  * 					under the corresponding nodes
  *
  ...

c) Maybe add a line break .. or two to make it a bit more readable.

 > + */> +static void register_memory_blocks_under_nodes(void)
> +{
> +	struct memblock_region *r;
> +
> +	for_each_mem_region(r) {
> +		const unsigned long start_block_id = phys_to_block_id(r->base);
> +		const unsigned long end_block_id = phys_to_block_id(r->base + r->size - 1);
> +		unsigned long block_id;
> +		int nid = memblock_get_region_node(r);

const int nid = memblock_get_region_node(r);
unsigned long block_id;

> +
> +		if (!node_online(nid))
> +			continue;
> +
> +		for (block_id = start_block_id; block_id <= end_block_id; block_id++) {
> +			struct memory_block *mem;
> +
> +			mem = find_memory_block_by_id(block_id);
> +			if (!mem)
> +				continue;
> +
> +			do_register_memory_block_under_node(nid, mem, MEMINIT_EARLY);
> +			put_device(&mem->dev);
> +		}
> +
> +	}
> +}
> +
>   void register_memory_blocks_under_node(int nid, unsigned long start_pfn,
>   				       unsigned long end_pfn,
>   				       enum meminit_context context)
> @@ -971,11 +1013,16 @@ void __init node_dev_init(void)
>   
>   	/*
>   	 * Create all node devices, which will properly link the node
> -	 * to applicable memory block devices and already created cpu devices.
> +	 * to already created cpu devices.
>   	 */
>   	for_each_online_node(i) {
> -		ret = register_one_node(i);
> +		ret =  __register_one_node(i);
>   		if (ret)
>   			panic("%s() failed to add node: %d\n", __func__, ret);
>   	}
> +
> +	/*
> +	 * Link the node to memory block devices
> +	 */


This comment is rather ... superfluous.  ... and it would fit into a 
single line.

> +	register_memory_blocks_under_nodes();
>   }
> diff --git a/include/linux/memory.h b/include/linux/memory.h
> index 12daa6ec7d09..2a61088e17ad 100644
> --- a/include/linux/memory.h
> +++ b/include/linux/memory.h
> @@ -171,12 +171,30 @@ struct memory_group *memory_group_find_by_id(int mgid);
>   typedef int (*walk_memory_groups_func_t)(struct memory_group *, void *);
>   int walk_dynamic_memory_groups(int nid, walk_memory_groups_func_t func,
>   			       struct memory_group *excluded, void *arg);
> +struct memory_block *find_memory_block_by_id(unsigned long block_id);
>   #define hotplug_memory_notifier(fn, pri) ({		\
>   	static __meminitdata struct notifier_block fn##_mem_nb =\
>   		{ .notifier_call = fn, .priority = pri };\
>   	register_memory_notifier(&fn##_mem_nb);			\
>   })
>   
> +extern int sections_per_block;
> +
> +static inline unsigned long memory_block_id(unsigned long section_nr)
> +{
> +	return section_nr / sections_per_block;
> +}
> +
> +static inline unsigned long pfn_to_block_id(unsigned long pfn)
> +{
> +	return memory_block_id(pfn_to_section_nr(pfn));
> +}
> +
> +static inline unsigned long phys_to_block_id(unsigned long phys)
> +{
> +	return pfn_to_block_id(PFN_DOWN(phys));
> +}
> +
>   #ifdef CONFIG_NUMA
>   void memory_block_add_nid(struct memory_block *mem, int nid,
>   			  enum meminit_context context);
> @@ -188,5 +206,4 @@ void memory_block_add_nid(struct memory_block *mem, int nid,
>    * can sleep.
>    */
>   extern struct mutex text_mutex;
> -

Unrelated change.


Thanks

Acked-by: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>

-- 
Cheers,

David / dhildenb