Re: [RFC 0/3] Slab Defrag / Slab Targeted Reclaim and general Slab API changes

[Eric Dumazet <dada1@cosmosbay.com>]

clameter@sgi.com a ecrit :
> I originally intended this for the 2.6.23 development cycle but since there
> is an aggressive push for SLUB I thought that we may want to introduce this earlier.
> Note that this covers new locking approaches that we may need to talk
> over before going any further.
> 
> This is an RFC for patches that do major changes to the way that slab
> allocations are handled in order to introduce some more advanced features
> and in order to get rid of some things that are no longer used or awkward.
> 
> A. Add Slab fragmentation
> 
> On kmem_cache_shrink SLUB will not only sort the partial slabs by object
> number but attempt to free objects out of partial slabs that have a low
> number of objects. Doing so increases the object density in the remaining
> partial slabs and frees up memory. Ideally kmem_cache_shrink would be
> able to completely defrag the partial list so that only one partial
> slab is left over. But it is advantageous to have slabs with a few free
> objects since that speeds up kfree. Also going to the extreme on this one
> would mean that the reclaimable slabs would have to be able to move objects
> in a reliable way. So we just free objects in slabs with a low population ratio
> and tolerate if a attempt to move an object fails.

nice idea

> 
> B. Targeted Reclaim
> 
> Mainly to support antifragmentation / defragmentation methods. The slab adds
> a new function kmem_cache_vacate(struct page *) which can be used to request
> that a page be cleared of all objects. This makes it possible to reduce the
> size of the RECLAIMABLE fragmentation area and move slabs into the MOVABLE
> area enhancing the capabilities of antifragmentation significantly.
> 
> C. Introduces a slab_ops structure that allows a slab user to provide
>    operations on slabs.

Could you please make it const ?

> 
> This replaces the current constructor / destructor scheme. It is necessary
> in order to support additional methods needed to support targeted reclaim
> and slab defragmentation. A slab supporting targeted reclaim and
> slab defragmentation must support the following additional methods:
> 
> 	1. get_reference(void *)
> 		Get a reference on a particular slab object.
> 
> 	2. kick_object(void *)
> 		Kick an object off a slab. The object is either reclaimed
> 		(easiest) or a new object is alloced using kmem_cache_alloc()
> 		and then the object is moved to the new location.
> 
> D. Slab creation is no longer done using kmem_cache_create
> 
> kmem_cache_create is not a clean API since it has only 2 call backs for
> constructor and destructor, does not allow the specification of a slab ops
> structure. Parameters are confusing.
> 
> F.e. It is possible to specify alignment information in the alignment
> field and in addition in the flags field (SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN). The semantics
> of SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN are fuzzy because it only aligns object if
> larger than 1/2 cache line.
> 
> All of this is really not necessary since the compiler knows how to align
> structures and we should use this information instead of having the user
> specify an alignment. I would like to get rid of SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN
> and kmem_cache_create. Instead one would use the following macros (that
> then result in a call to __kmem_cache_create).

Hum, the problem is the compiler sometimes doesnt know the target processor 
alignment.

Adding ____cacheline_aligned to 'struct ...' definitions might be overkill if 
you compile a generic kernel and happens to boot a Pentium III with it.


> 
> 	KMEM_CACHE(<struct-name>, flags)
> 
> The macro will determine the slab name from the struct name and use that for
> /sys/slab, will use the size of the struct for slab size and the alignment
> of the structure for alignment. This means one will be able to set slab
> object alignment by specifying the usual alignment options for static
> allocations when defining the structure.
> 
> Since the name is derived from the struct name it will much easier to
> find the source code for slabs listed in /sys/slab.
> 
> An additional macro is provided if the slab also supports slab operations.
> 
> 	KMEM_CACHE_OPS(<struct-name>, flags, slab_ops)
> 
> It is likely that this macro will be rarely used.
> 
> E. kmem_cache_create() SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN legacy interface
> 
> In order to avoid having to modify all slab creation calls throughout
> the kernel we will provide a kmem_cache_create emulation. That function
> is the only call that will still understand SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN. If that
> parameter is specified then it will set up the proper alignment (the slab
> allocators never see that flag).
> 
> If constructor or destructor are specified then we will allocate a slab_ops
> structure and populate it with the values specified. Note that this will
> cause a memory leak if the slab is disposed of later. If you need disposable
> slabs then the new API must be used.
> 
> F. Remove destructor support from all slab allocators?
> 
> I am only aware of two call sites left after all the changes that are
> scheduled to go into 2.6.22-rc1 have been merged. These are in FRV and sh
> arch code. The one in FRV will go away if they switch to quicklists like
> i386. Sh contains another use but a single user is no justification for keeping
> destructors around.
> 
> 
> 

G. Being able to track the number of pages in a kmem_cache


If you look at fs/buffer.c, you'll notice the bh_accounting, recalc_bh_state() 
that might be overkill for large SMP configurations, when the real concern is 
to be able to limit the bh's not to exceed 10% of LOWMEM.

Adding a callback in slab_ops to track total number of pages in use by a given 
kmem_cache would be good.

Same thing for fs/file_table.c : nr_file logic 
(percpu_counter_dec()/percpu_counter_inc() for each file open/close) could be 
simplified if we could just count the pages in use by filp_cachep kmem_cache. 
The get_nr_files() thing is not worth the pain.


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