Re: [RFC PATCH v2 0/3] Memory Controller eBPF support

[hui.zhu@linux.dev]

2025年12月30日 17:49, "Michal Koutný" <mkoutny@suse.com mailto:mkoutny@suse.com?to=%22Michal%20Koutn%C3%BD%22%20%3Cmkoutny%40suse.com%3E > 写到:


Hi Michal and Ridong,

> 
> Hi Hui.
> 
> On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 11:01:58AM +0800, Hui Zhu <hui.zhu@linux.dev> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > This allows administrators to suppress low-priority cgroups' memory
> >  usage based on custom policies implemented in BPF programs.
> > 
> BTW memory.low was conceived as a work-conserving mechanism for
> prioritization of different workloads. Have you tried that? No need to
> go directly to (high) limits. (<- Main question, below are some
> secondary implementation questions/remarks.)
> 
> ...
> 

memory.low is a helpful feature, but it can struggle to effectively
throttle low-priority processes that continuously access their memory.

For instance, consider the following example I ran:
root@ubuntu:~# echo $((4 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024)) > /sys/fs/cgroup/high/memory.low
root@ubuntu:~# cgexec -g memory:low stress-ng --vm 4 --vm-keep --vm-bytes 80% --vm-method all --seed 2025 --metrics -t 60 & cgexec -g memory:high stress-ng --vm 4 --vm-keep --vm-bytes 80% --vm-method all --seed 2025 --metrics -t 60
[1] 2011
stress-ng: info:  [2011] setting to a 1 min, 0 secs run per stressor
stress-ng: info:  [2012] setting to a 1 min, 0 secs run per stressor
stress-ng: info:  [2011] dispatching hogs: 4 vm
stress-ng: info:  [2012] dispatching hogs: 4 vm
stress-ng: metrc: [2012] stressor       bogo ops real time  usr time  sys time   bogo ops/s     bogo ops/s CPU used per       RSS Max
stress-ng: metrc: [2012]                           (secs)    (secs)    (secs)   (real time) (usr+sys time) instance (%)          (KB)
stress-ng: metrc: [2012] vm                23584     60.21      2.75     15.94       391.73        1262.07         7.76        649988
stress-ng: info:  [2012] skipped: 0
stress-ng: info:  [2012] passed: 4: vm (4)
stress-ng: info:  [2012] failed: 0
stress-ng: info:  [2012] metrics untrustworthy: 0
stress-ng: info:  [2012] successful run completed in 1 min, 0.22 secs
stress-ng: metrc: [2011] stressor       bogo ops real time  usr time  sys time   bogo ops/s     bogo ops/s CPU used per       RSS Max
stress-ng: metrc: [2011]                           (secs)    (secs)    (secs)   (real time) (usr+sys time) instance (%)          (KB)
stress-ng: metrc: [2011] vm                23584     60.22      3.06     16.19       391.63        1224.97         7.99        688836
stress-ng: info:  [2011] skipped: 0
stress-ng: info:  [2011] passed: 4: vm (4)
stress-ng: info:  [2011] failed: 0
stress-ng: info:  [2011] metrics untrustworthy: 0
stress-ng: info:  [2011] successful run completed in 1 min, 0.23 secs

As the results show, setting memory.low on the cgroup with the
high-priority workload did not improve its memory performance.

However, memory.low is beneficial in many other scenarios.
Perhaps extending it with eBPF support could help address a wider
range of issues.

> > 
> > This series introduces a BPF hook that allows reporting
> >  additional "pages over high" for specific cgroups, effectively
> >  increasing memory pressure and throttling for lower-priority
> >  workloads when higher-priority cgroups need resources.
> > 
> Have you considered hooking into calculate_high_delay() instead? (That
> function has undergone some evolution so it'd seem like the candidate
> for BPFication.)
> 

It seems that try_charge_memcg will not reach
__mem_cgroup_handle_over_high if it only hook calculate_high_delay
without setting memory.high.

What do you think about hooking try_charge_memcg as well,
so that it ensures __mem_cgroup_handle_over_high is called?


> ...
> 
> > 
> > 3. Cgroup hierarchy management (inheritance during online/offline)
> > 
> I see you're copying the program upon memcg creation.
> Configuration copies aren't such a good way to properly handle
> hierarchical behavior.
> I wonder if this could follow the more generic pattern of how BPF progs
> are evaluated in hierarchies, see BPF_F_ALLOW_OVERRIDE and
> BPF_F_ALLOW_MULTI.

I will support them in the next version.

> 
> > 
> > Example Results
> > 
> ...
> 
> > 
> > Results show the low-priority cgroup (/sys/fs/cgroup/low) was
> >  significantly throttled:
> >  - High-priority cgroup: 21,033,377 bogo ops at 347,825 ops/s
> >  - Low-priority cgroup: 11,568 bogo ops at 177 ops/s
> >  
> >  The stress-ng process in the low-priority cgroup experienced a
> >  ~99.9% slowdown in memory operations compared to the
> >  high-priority cgroup, demonstrating effective priority
> >  enforcement through BPF-controlled memory pressure.
> > 
> As a demonstrator, it'd be good to compare this with a baseline without
> any extra progs, e.g. show that high-prio performed better and low-prio
> wasn't throttled for nothing.

Thanks for your remind.
This is a test log in the test environment without any extra progs:

root@ubuntu:~# cgexec -g memory:low stress-ng --vm 4 --vm-keep --vm-bytes 80% \
--vm-method all --seed 2025 --metrics -t 60 \
& cgexec -g memory:high stress-ng --vm 4 --vm-keep --vm-bytes 80% \
--vm-method all --seed 2025 --metrics -t 60
[1] 982
stress-ng: info:  [982] setting to a 1 min, 0 secs run per stressor
stress-ng: info:  [983] setting to a 1 min, 0 secs run per stressor
stress-ng: info:  [982] dispatching hogs: 4 vm
stress-ng: info:  [983] dispatching hogs: 4 vm

stress-ng: metrc: [982] stressor       bogo ops real time  usr time  sys time   bogo ops/s     bogo ops/s CPU used per       RSS Max
stress-ng: metrc: [982]                           (secs)    (secs)    (secs)   (real time) (usr+sys time) instance (%)          (KB)
stress-ng: metrc: [982] vm                23544     60.08      2.90     15.74       391.85        1263.43         7.75        524708
stress-ng: info:  [982] skipped: 0
stress-ng: info:  [982] passed: 4: vm (4)
stress-ng: info:  [982] failed: 0
stress-ng: info:  [982] metrics untrustworthy: 0
stress-ng: info:  [982] successful run completed in 1 min, 0.09 secs
stress-ng: metrc: [983] stressor       bogo ops real time  usr time  sys time   bogo ops/s     bogo ops/s CPU used per       RSS Max
stress-ng: metrc: [983]                           (secs)    (secs)    (secs)   (real time) (usr+sys time) instance (%)          (KB)
stress-ng: metrc: [983] vm                23544     60.09      3.12     15.91       391.81        1237.10         7.92        705076
stress-ng: info:  [983] skipped: 0
stress-ng: info:  [983] passed: 4: vm (4)
stress-ng: info:  [983] failed: 0
stress-ng: info:  [983] metrics untrustworthy: 0
stress-ng: info:  [983] successful run completed in 1 min, 0.09 secs

Best,
Hui


> 
> Thanks,
> Michal
>