2012/11/20 5:53, Andrew Morton wrote:
On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 22:27:21 +0800 Tang Chen <tangchen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:This patchset provide a boot option for user to specify ZONE_MOVABLE memory map for each node in the system. movablecore_map=nn[KMG]@ss[KMG] This option make sure memory range from ss to ss+nn is movable memory. 1) If the range is involved in a single node, then from ss to the end of the node will be ZONE_MOVABLE. 2) If the range covers two or more nodes, then from ss to the end of the node will be ZONE_MOVABLE, and all the other nodes will only have ZONE_MOVABLE. 3) If no range is in the node, then the node will have no ZONE_MOVABLE unless kernelcore or movablecore is specified. 4) This option could be specified at most MAX_NUMNODES times. 5) If kernelcore or movablecore is also specified, movablecore_map will have higher priority to be satisfied. 6) This option has no conflict with memmap option.This doesn't describe the problem which the patchset solves. I can kinda see where it's coming from, but it would be nice to have it all spelled out, please.
- What is wrong with the kernel as it stands?
If we hot remove a memroy, the memory cannot have kernel memory, because Linux cannot migrate kernel memory currently. Therefore, we have to guarantee that the hot removed memory has only movable memoroy. Linux has two boot options, kernelcore= and movablecore=, for creating movable memory. These boot options can specify the amount of memory use as kernel or movable memory. Using them, we can create ZONE_MOVABLE which has only movable memory. But it does not fulfill a requirement of memory hot remove, because even if we specify the boot options, movable memory is distributed in each node evenly. So when we want to hot remove memory which memory range is 0x80000000-0c0000000, we have no way to specify the memory as movable memory. So we proposed a new feature which specifies memory range to use as movable memory.
- What are the possible ways of solving this?
I thought 2 ways to specify movable memory. 1. use firmware information 2. use boot option 1. use firmware information According to ACPI spec 5.0, SRAT table has memory affinity structure and the structure has Hot Pluggable Filed. See "5.2.16.2 Memory Affinity Structure". If we use the information, we might be able to specify movable memory by firmware. For example, if Hot Pluggable Filed is enabled, Linux sets the memory as movable memory. 2. use boot option This is our proposal. New boot option can specify memory range to use as movable memory.
- Describe the chosen way, explain why it is superior to alternatives
We chose second way, because if we use first way, users cannot change memory range to use as movable memory easily. We think if we create movable memory, performance regression may occur by NUMA. In this case, user can turn off the feature easily if we prepare the boot option. And if we prepare the boot optino, the user can select which memory to use as movable memory easily. Thanks, Yasuaki Ishimatsu
The amount of manual system configuration in this proposal looks quite high. Adding kernel boot parameters really is a last resort. Why was it unavoidable here?
-- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-doc" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
