Below is tracing results of mkdir /sys/fs/cgroup/vvs.test on 4cpu VM with Fedora and self-complied upstream kernel. The calculations are not precise, it depends on kernel config options, number of cpus, enabled controllers, ignores possible page allocations etc. However this is enough to clarify the general situation: - Total sum of accounted memory is ~60Kb. - Accounted only 2 huge percpu allocation marked '=', ~18Kb. (and can be 0 without memory controller) - kernfs nodes and iattrs are among the main memory consumers. they are marked '+' to be accounted. - cgroup_mkdir always allocates 4Kb, so I think it should be accounted first too. - mem_cgroup_css_alloc allocations consumes 10K, it's enough to be accounted, especially for VMs with 1-2 CPUs - Almost all other allocations are quite small and can be ignored. Exceptions are percpu allocations in alloc_fair_sched_group(), this can consume a significant amount of memory on nodes with multiple processors. - kernfs nodes consumes ~6Kb memory inside simple_xattr_set() and simple_xattr_alloc(). This is quite high numbers, but is not critical, and I think we can ignore it at the moment. - If all proposed memory will be accounted it gives us ~47Kb, or ~75% of all allocated memory. number bytes $1*$2 sum note call_site of alloc allocs ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 14448 14448 14448 = percpu_alloc_percpu: 1 8192 8192 22640 + (mem_cgroup_css_alloc+0x54) 49 128 6272 28912 + (__kernfs_new_node+0x4e) 49 96 4704 33616 ? (simple_xattr_alloc+0x2c) 49 88 4312 37928 + (__kernfs_iattrs+0x56) 1 4096 4096 42024 + (cgroup_mkdir+0xc7) 1 3840 3840 45864 = percpu_alloc_percpu: 4 512 2048 47912 + (alloc_fair_sched_group+0x166) 4 512 2048 49960 + (alloc_fair_sched_group+0x139) 1 2048 2048 52008 + (mem_cgroup_css_alloc+0x109) 49 32 1568 53576 ? (simple_xattr_set+0x5b) 2 584 1168 54744 (radix_tree_node_alloc.constprop.0+0x8d) 1 1024 1024 55768 (cpuset_css_alloc+0x30) 1 1024 1024 56792 (alloc_shrinker_info+0x79) 1 768 768 57560 percpu_alloc_percpu: 1 640 640 58200 (sched_create_group+0x1c) 33 16 528 58728 (__kernfs_new_node+0x31) 1 512 512 59240 (pids_css_alloc+0x1b) 1 512 512 59752 (blkcg_css_alloc+0x39) 9 48 432 60184 percpu_alloc_percpu: 13 32 416 60600 (__kernfs_new_node+0x31) 1 384 384 60984 percpu_alloc_percpu: 1 256 256 61240 (perf_cgroup_css_alloc+0x1c) 1 192 192 61432 percpu_alloc_percpu: 1 64 64 61496 (mem_cgroup_css_alloc+0x363) 1 32 32 61528 (ioprio_alloc_cpd+0x39) 1 32 32 61560 (ioc_cpd_alloc+0x39) 1 32 32 61592 (blkcg_css_alloc+0x6b) 1 32 32 61624 (alloc_fair_sched_group+0x52) 1 32 32 61656 (alloc_fair_sched_group+0x2e) 3 8 24 61680 (__kernfs_new_node+0x31) 3 8 24 61704 (alloc_cpumask_var_node+0x1b) 1 24 24 61728 percpu_alloc_percpu: This patch-set enables accounting for required resources. I would like to discuss the patches with cgroup developers and maintainers, then I'm going re-send approved patches to subsystem maintainers. Vasily Averin (4): memcg: enable accounting for large allocations in mem_cgroup_css_alloc memcg: enable accounting for kernfs nodes and iattrs memcg: enable accounting for struct cgroup memcg: enable accounting for allocations in alloc_fair_sched_group fs/kernfs/mount.c | 6 ++++-- kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c | 2 +- kernel/sched/fair.c | 4 ++-- mm/memcontrol.c | 4 ++-- 4 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) -- 2.31.1