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444 lines
17 KiB
.. _admin_guide_memory_hotplug: |
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============== |
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Memory Hotplug |
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============== |
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:Created: Jul 28 2007 |
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:Updated: Add some details about locking internals: Aug 20 2018 |
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This document is about memory hotplug including how-to-use and current status. |
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Because Memory Hotplug is still under development, contents of this text will |
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be changed often. |
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.. contents:: :local: |
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.. note:: |
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(1) x86_64's has special implementation for memory hotplug. |
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This text does not describe it. |
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(2) This text assumes that sysfs is mounted at ``/sys``. |
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Introduction |
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============ |
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Purpose of memory hotplug |
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------------------------- |
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Memory Hotplug allows users to increase/decrease the amount of memory. |
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Generally, there are two purposes. |
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(A) For changing the amount of memory. |
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This is to allow a feature like capacity on demand. |
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(B) For installing/removing DIMMs or NUMA-nodes physically. |
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This is to exchange DIMMs/NUMA-nodes, reduce power consumption, etc. |
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(A) is required by highly virtualized environments and (B) is required by |
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hardware which supports memory power management. |
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Linux memory hotplug is designed for both purpose. |
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Phases of memory hotplug |
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------------------------ |
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There are 2 phases in Memory Hotplug: |
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1) Physical Memory Hotplug phase |
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2) Logical Memory Hotplug phase. |
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The First phase is to communicate hardware/firmware and make/erase |
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environment for hotplugged memory. Basically, this phase is necessary |
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for the purpose (B), but this is good phase for communication between |
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highly virtualized environments too. |
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When memory is hotplugged, the kernel recognizes new memory, makes new memory |
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management tables, and makes sysfs files for new memory's operation. |
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If firmware supports notification of connection of new memory to OS, |
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this phase is triggered automatically. ACPI can notify this event. If not, |
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"probe" operation by system administration is used instead. |
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(see :ref:`memory_hotplug_physical_mem`). |
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Logical Memory Hotplug phase is to change memory state into |
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available/unavailable for users. Amount of memory from user's view is |
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changed by this phase. The kernel makes all memory in it as free pages |
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when a memory range is available. |
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In this document, this phase is described as online/offline. |
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Logical Memory Hotplug phase is triggered by write of sysfs file by system |
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administrator. For the hot-add case, it must be executed after Physical Hotplug |
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phase by hand. |
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(However, if you writes udev's hotplug scripts for memory hotplug, these |
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phases can be execute in seamless way.) |
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Unit of Memory online/offline operation |
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--------------------------------------- |
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Memory hotplug uses SPARSEMEM memory model which allows memory to be divided |
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into chunks of the same size. These chunks are called "sections". The size of |
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a memory section is architecture dependent. For example, power uses 16MiB, ia64 |
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uses 1GiB. |
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Memory sections are combined into chunks referred to as "memory blocks". The |
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size of a memory block is architecture dependent and represents the logical |
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unit upon which memory online/offline operations are to be performed. The |
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default size of a memory block is the same as memory section size unless an |
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architecture specifies otherwise. (see :ref:`memory_hotplug_sysfs_files`.) |
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To determine the size (in bytes) of a memory block please read this file:: |
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/sys/devices/system/memory/block_size_bytes |
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Kernel Configuration |
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==================== |
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To use memory hotplug feature, kernel must be compiled with following |
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config options. |
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- For all memory hotplug: |
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- Memory model -> Sparse Memory (``CONFIG_SPARSEMEM``) |
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- Allow for memory hot-add (``CONFIG_MEMORY_HOTPLUG``) |
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- To enable memory removal, the following are also necessary: |
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- Allow for memory hot remove (``CONFIG_MEMORY_HOTREMOVE``) |
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- Page Migration (``CONFIG_MIGRATION``) |
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- For ACPI memory hotplug, the following are also necessary: |
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- Memory hotplug (under ACPI Support menu) (``CONFIG_ACPI_HOTPLUG_MEMORY``) |
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- This option can be kernel module. |
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- As a related configuration, if your box has a feature of NUMA-node hotplug |
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via ACPI, then this option is necessary too. |
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- ACPI0004,PNP0A05 and PNP0A06 Container Driver (under ACPI Support menu) |
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(``CONFIG_ACPI_CONTAINER``). |
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This option can be kernel module too. |
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.. _memory_hotplug_sysfs_files: |
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sysfs files for memory hotplug |
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============================== |
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All memory blocks have their device information in sysfs. Each memory block |
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is described under ``/sys/devices/system/memory`` as:: |
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/sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX |
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where XXX is the memory block id. |
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For the memory block covered by the sysfs directory. It is expected that all |
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memory sections in this range are present and no memory holes exist in the |
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range. Currently there is no way to determine if there is a memory hole, but |
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the existence of one should not affect the hotplug capabilities of the memory |
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block. |
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For example, assume 1GiB memory block size. A device for a memory starting at |
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0x100000000 is ``/sys/device/system/memory/memory4``:: |
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(0x100000000 / 1Gib = 4) |
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This device covers address range [0x100000000 ... 0x140000000) |
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Under each memory block, you can see 5 files: |
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- ``/sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/phys_index`` |
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- ``/sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/phys_device`` |
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- ``/sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/state`` |
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- ``/sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/removable`` |
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- ``/sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/valid_zones`` |
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=================== ============================================================ |
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``phys_index`` read-only and contains memory block id, same as XXX. |
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``state`` read-write |
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- at read: contains online/offline state of memory. |
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- at write: user can specify "online_kernel", |
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"online_movable", "online", "offline" command |
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which will be performed on all sections in the block. |
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``phys_device`` read-only: legacy interface only ever used on s390x to |
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expose the covered storage increment. |
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``removable`` read-only: legacy interface that indicated whether a memory |
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block was likely to be offlineable or not. Newer kernel |
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versions return "1" if and only if the kernel supports |
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memory offlining. |
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``valid_zones`` read-only: designed to show by which zone memory provided by |
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a memory block is managed, and to show by which zone memory |
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provided by an offline memory block could be managed when |
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onlining. |
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The first column shows it`s default zone. |
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"memory6/valid_zones: Normal Movable" shows this memoryblock |
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can be onlined to ZONE_NORMAL by default and to ZONE_MOVABLE |
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by online_movable. |
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"memory7/valid_zones: Movable Normal" shows this memoryblock |
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can be onlined to ZONE_MOVABLE by default and to ZONE_NORMAL |
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by online_kernel. |
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=================== ============================================================ |
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.. note:: |
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These directories/files appear after physical memory hotplug phase. |
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If CONFIG_NUMA is enabled the memoryXXX/ directories can also be accessed |
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via symbolic links located in the ``/sys/devices/system/node/node*`` directories. |
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For example:: |
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/sys/devices/system/node/node0/memory9 -> ../../memory/memory9 |
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A backlink will also be created:: |
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/sys/devices/system/memory/memory9/node0 -> ../../node/node0 |
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.. _memory_hotplug_physical_mem: |
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Physical memory hot-add phase |
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============================= |
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Hardware(Firmware) Support |
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-------------------------- |
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On x86_64/ia64 platform, memory hotplug by ACPI is supported. |
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In general, the firmware (ACPI) which supports memory hotplug defines |
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memory class object of _HID "PNP0C80". When a notify is asserted to PNP0C80, |
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Linux's ACPI handler does hot-add memory to the system and calls a hotplug udev |
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script. This will be done automatically. |
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But scripts for memory hotplug are not contained in generic udev package(now). |
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You may have to write it by yourself or online/offline memory by hand. |
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Please see :ref:`memory_hotplug_how_to_online_memory` and |
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:ref:`memory_hotplug_how_to_offline_memory`. |
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If firmware supports NUMA-node hotplug, and defines an object _HID "ACPI0004", |
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"PNP0A05", or "PNP0A06", notification is asserted to it, and ACPI handler |
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calls hotplug code for all of objects which are defined in it. |
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If memory device is found, memory hotplug code will be called. |
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Notify memory hot-add event by hand |
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----------------------------------- |
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On some architectures, the firmware may not notify the kernel of a memory |
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hotplug event. Therefore, the memory "probe" interface is supported to |
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explicitly notify the kernel. This interface depends on |
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CONFIG_ARCH_MEMORY_PROBE and can be configured on powerpc, sh, and x86 |
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if hotplug is supported, although for x86 this should be handled by ACPI |
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notification. |
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Probe interface is located at:: |
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/sys/devices/system/memory/probe |
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You can tell the physical address of new memory to the kernel by:: |
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% echo start_address_of_new_memory > /sys/devices/system/memory/probe |
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Then, [start_address_of_new_memory, start_address_of_new_memory + |
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memory_block_size] memory range is hot-added. In this case, hotplug script is |
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not called (in current implementation). You'll have to online memory by |
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yourself. Please see :ref:`memory_hotplug_how_to_online_memory`. |
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Logical Memory hot-add phase |
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============================ |
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State of memory |
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--------------- |
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To see (online/offline) state of a memory block, read 'state' file:: |
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% cat /sys/device/system/memory/memoryXXX/state |
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- If the memory block is online, you'll read "online". |
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- If the memory block is offline, you'll read "offline". |
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.. _memory_hotplug_how_to_online_memory: |
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How to online memory |
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-------------------- |
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When the memory is hot-added, the kernel decides whether or not to "online" |
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it according to the policy which can be read from "auto_online_blocks" file:: |
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% cat /sys/devices/system/memory/auto_online_blocks |
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The default depends on the CONFIG_MEMORY_HOTPLUG_DEFAULT_ONLINE kernel config |
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option. If it is disabled the default is "offline" which means the newly added |
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memory is not in a ready-to-use state and you have to "online" the newly added |
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memory blocks manually. Automatic onlining can be requested by writing "online" |
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to "auto_online_blocks" file:: |
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% echo online > /sys/devices/system/memory/auto_online_blocks |
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This sets a global policy and impacts all memory blocks that will subsequently |
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be hotplugged. Currently offline blocks keep their state. It is possible, under |
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certain circumstances, that some memory blocks will be added but will fail to |
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online. User space tools can check their "state" files |
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(``/sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/state``) and try to online them manually. |
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If the automatic onlining wasn't requested, failed, or some memory block was |
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offlined it is possible to change the individual block's state by writing to the |
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"state" file:: |
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% echo online > /sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/state |
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This onlining will not change the ZONE type of the target memory block, |
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If the memory block doesn't belong to any zone an appropriate kernel zone |
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(usually ZONE_NORMAL) will be used unless movable_node kernel command line |
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option is specified when ZONE_MOVABLE will be used. |
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You can explicitly request to associate it with ZONE_MOVABLE by:: |
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% echo online_movable > /sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/state |
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.. note:: current limit: this memory block must be adjacent to ZONE_MOVABLE |
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Or you can explicitly request a kernel zone (usually ZONE_NORMAL) by:: |
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% echo online_kernel > /sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/state |
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.. note:: current limit: this memory block must be adjacent to ZONE_NORMAL |
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An explicit zone onlining can fail (e.g. when the range is already within |
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and existing and incompatible zone already). |
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After this, memory block XXX's state will be 'online' and the amount of |
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available memory will be increased. |
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This may be changed in future. |
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Logical memory remove |
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===================== |
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Memory offline and ZONE_MOVABLE |
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------------------------------- |
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Memory offlining is more complicated than memory online. Because memory offline |
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has to make the whole memory block be unused, memory offline can fail if |
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the memory block includes memory which cannot be freed. |
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In general, memory offline can use 2 techniques. |
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(1) reclaim and free all memory in the memory block. |
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(2) migrate all pages in the memory block. |
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In the current implementation, Linux's memory offline uses method (2), freeing |
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all pages in the memory block by page migration. But not all pages are |
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migratable. Under current Linux, migratable pages are anonymous pages and |
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page caches. For offlining a memory block by migration, the kernel has to |
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guarantee that the memory block contains only migratable pages. |
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Now, a boot option for making a memory block which consists of migratable pages |
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is supported. By specifying "kernelcore=" or "movablecore=" boot option, you can |
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create ZONE_MOVABLE...a zone which is just used for movable pages. |
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(See also Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst) |
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Assume the system has "TOTAL" amount of memory at boot time, this boot option |
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creates ZONE_MOVABLE as following. |
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1) When kernelcore=YYYY boot option is used, |
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Size of memory not for movable pages (not for offline) is YYYY. |
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Size of memory for movable pages (for offline) is TOTAL-YYYY. |
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2) When movablecore=ZZZZ boot option is used, |
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Size of memory not for movable pages (not for offline) is TOTAL - ZZZZ. |
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Size of memory for movable pages (for offline) is ZZZZ. |
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.. note:: |
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Unfortunately, there is no information to show which memory block belongs |
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to ZONE_MOVABLE. This is TBD. |
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.. _memory_hotplug_how_to_offline_memory: |
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How to offline memory |
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--------------------- |
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You can offline a memory block by using the same sysfs interface that was used |
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in memory onlining:: |
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% echo offline > /sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/state |
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If offline succeeds, the state of the memory block is changed to be "offline". |
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If it fails, some error core (like -EBUSY) will be returned by the kernel. |
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Even if a memory block does not belong to ZONE_MOVABLE, you can try to offline |
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it. If it doesn't contain 'unmovable' memory, you'll get success. |
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A memory block under ZONE_MOVABLE is considered to be able to be offlined |
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easily. But under some busy state, it may return -EBUSY. Even if a memory |
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block cannot be offlined due to -EBUSY, you can retry offlining it and may be |
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able to offline it (or not). (For example, a page is referred to by some kernel |
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internal call and released soon.) |
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Consideration: |
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Memory hotplug's design direction is to make the possibility of memory |
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offlining higher and to guarantee unplugging memory under any situation. But |
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it needs more work. Returning -EBUSY under some situation may be good because |
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the user can decide to retry more or not by himself. Currently, memory |
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offlining code does some amount of retry with 120 seconds timeout. |
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Physical memory remove |
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====================== |
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Need more implementation yet.... |
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- Notification completion of remove works by OS to firmware. |
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- Guard from remove if not yet. |
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Locking Internals |
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================= |
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When adding/removing memory that uses memory block devices (i.e. ordinary RAM), |
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the device_hotplug_lock should be held to: |
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- synchronize against online/offline requests (e.g. via sysfs). This way, memory |
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block devices can only be accessed (.online/.state attributes) by user |
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space once memory has been fully added. And when removing memory, we |
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know nobody is in critical sections. |
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- synchronize against CPU hotplug and similar (e.g. relevant for ACPI and PPC) |
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Especially, there is a possible lock inversion that is avoided using |
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device_hotplug_lock when adding memory and user space tries to online that |
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memory faster than expected: |
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- device_online() will first take the device_lock(), followed by |
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mem_hotplug_lock |
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- add_memory_resource() will first take the mem_hotplug_lock, followed by |
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the device_lock() (while creating the devices, during bus_add_device()). |
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As the device is visible to user space before taking the device_lock(), this |
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can result in a lock inversion. |
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onlining/offlining of memory should be done via device_online()/ |
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device_offline() - to make sure it is properly synchronized to actions |
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via sysfs. Holding device_hotplug_lock is advised (to e.g. protect online_type) |
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When adding/removing/onlining/offlining memory or adding/removing |
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heterogeneous/device memory, we should always hold the mem_hotplug_lock in |
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write mode to serialise memory hotplug (e.g. access to global/zone |
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variables). |
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In addition, mem_hotplug_lock (in contrast to device_hotplug_lock) in read |
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mode allows for a quite efficient get_online_mems/put_online_mems |
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implementation, so code accessing memory can protect from that memory |
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vanishing. |
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Future Work |
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=========== |
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- allowing memory hot-add to ZONE_MOVABLE. maybe we need some switch like |
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sysctl or new control file. |
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- showing memory block and physical device relationship. |
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- test and make it better memory offlining. |
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- support HugeTLB page migration and offlining. |
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- memmap removing at memory offline. |
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- physical remove memory.
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