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diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b187d6184 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst @@ -0,0 +1,784 @@ +============================ +Transparent Hugepage Support +============================ + +Objective +========= + +Performance critical computing applications dealing with large memory +working sets are already running on top of libhugetlbfs and in turn +hugetlbfs. Transparent HugePage Support (THP) is an alternative mean of +using huge pages for the backing of virtual memory with huge pages +that supports the automatic promotion and demotion of page sizes and +without the shortcomings of hugetlbfs. + +Currently THP only works for anonymous memory mappings and tmpfs/shmem. +But in the future it can expand to other filesystems. + +.. note:: + in the examples below we presume that the basic page size is 4K and + the huge page size is 2M, although the actual numbers may vary + depending on the CPU architecture. + +The reason applications are running faster is because of two +factors. The first factor is almost completely irrelevant and it's not +of significant interest because it'll also have the downside of +requiring larger clear-page copy-page in page faults which is a +potentially negative effect. The first factor consists in taking a +single page fault for each 2M virtual region touched by userland (so +reducing the enter/exit kernel frequency by a 512 times factor). This +only matters the first time the memory is accessed for the lifetime of +a memory mapping. The second long lasting and much more important +factor will affect all subsequent accesses to the memory for the whole +runtime of the application. The second factor consist of two +components: + +1) the TLB miss will run faster (especially with virtualization using + nested pagetables but almost always also on bare metal without + virtualization) + +2) a single TLB entry will be mapping a much larger amount of virtual + memory in turn reducing the number of TLB misses. With + virtualization and nested pagetables the TLB can be mapped of + larger size only if both KVM and the Linux guest are using + hugepages but a significant speedup already happens if only one of + the two is using hugepages just because of the fact the TLB miss is + going to run faster. + +Modern kernels support "multi-size THP" (mTHP), which introduces the +ability to allocate memory in blocks that are bigger than a base page +but smaller than traditional PMD-size (as described above), in +increments of a power-of-2 number of pages. mTHP can back anonymous +memory (for example 16K, 32K, 64K, etc). These THPs continue to be +PTE-mapped, but in many cases can still provide similar benefits to +those outlined above: Page faults are significantly reduced (by a +factor of e.g. 4, 8, 16, etc), but latency spikes are much less +prominent because the size of each page isn't as huge as the PMD-sized +variant and there is less memory to clear in each page fault. Some +architectures also employ TLB compression mechanisms to squeeze more +entries in when a set of PTEs are virtually and physically contiguous +and appropriately aligned. In this case, TLB misses will occur less +often. + +THP can be enabled system wide or restricted to certain tasks or even +memory ranges inside task's address space. Unless THP is completely +disabled, there is ``khugepaged`` daemon that scans memory and +collapses sequences of basic pages into huge pages of either PMD size +or mTHP sizes, if the system is configured to do so. + +The THP behaviour is controlled via :ref:`sysfs <thp_sysfs>` +interface and using madvise(2) and prctl(2) system calls. + +Transparent Hugepage Support maximizes the usefulness of free memory +if compared to the reservation approach of hugetlbfs by allowing all +unused memory to be used as cache or other movable (or even unmovable +entities). It doesn't require reservation to prevent hugepage +allocation failures to be noticeable from userland. It allows paging +and all other advanced VM features to be available on the +hugepages. It requires no modifications for applications to take +advantage of it. + +Applications however can be further optimized to take advantage of +this feature, like for example they've been optimized before to avoid +a flood of mmap system calls for every malloc(4k). Optimizing userland +is by far not mandatory and khugepaged already can take care of long +lived page allocations even for hugepage unaware applications that +deals with large amounts of memory. + +In certain cases when hugepages are enabled system wide, application +may end up allocating more memory resources. An application may mmap a +large region but only touch 1 byte of it, in that case a 2M page might +be allocated instead of a 4k page for no good. This is why it's +possible to disable hugepages system-wide and to only have them inside +MADV_HUGEPAGE madvise regions. + +Embedded systems should enable hugepages only inside madvise regions +to eliminate any risk of wasting any precious byte of memory and to +only run faster. + +Applications that gets a lot of benefit from hugepages and that don't +risk to lose memory by using hugepages, should use +madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE) on their critical mmapped regions. + +.. _thp_sysfs: + +sysfs +===== + +Global THP controls +------------------- + +Transparent Hugepage Support for anonymous memory can be disabled +(mostly for debugging purposes) or only enabled inside MADV_HUGEPAGE +regions (to avoid the risk of consuming more memory resources) or enabled +system wide. This can be achieved per-supported-THP-size with one of:: + + echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/enabled + echo madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/enabled + echo never >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/enabled + +where <size> is the hugepage size being addressed, the available sizes +for which vary by system. + +.. note:: Setting "never" in all sysfs THP controls does **not** disable + Transparent Huge Pages globally. This is because ``madvise(..., + MADV_COLLAPSE)`` ignores these settings and collapses ranges to + PMD-sized huge pages unconditionally. + +For example:: + + echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-2048kB/enabled + +Alternatively it is possible to specify that a given hugepage size +will inherit the top-level "enabled" value:: + + echo inherit >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/enabled + +For example:: + + echo inherit >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-2048kB/enabled + +The top-level setting (for use with "inherit") can be set by issuing +one of the following commands:: + + echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled + echo madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled + echo never >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled + +By default, PMD-sized hugepages have enabled="inherit" and all other +hugepage sizes have enabled="never". If enabling multiple hugepage +sizes, the kernel will select the most appropriate enabled size for a +given allocation. + +It's also possible to limit defrag efforts in the VM to generate +anonymous hugepages in case they're not immediately free to madvise +regions or to never try to defrag memory and simply fallback to regular +pages unless hugepages are immediately available. Clearly if we spend CPU +time to defrag memory, we would expect to gain even more by the fact we +use hugepages later instead of regular pages. This isn't always +guaranteed, but it may be more likely in case the allocation is for a +MADV_HUGEPAGE region. + +:: + + echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo defer >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo defer+madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo madvise >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + echo never >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/defrag + +always + means that an application requesting THP will stall on + allocation failure and directly reclaim pages and compact + memory in an effort to allocate a THP immediately. This may be + desirable for virtual machines that benefit heavily from THP + use and are willing to delay the VM start to utilise them. + +defer + means that an application will wake kswapd in the background + to reclaim pages and wake kcompactd to compact memory so that + THP is available in the near future. It's the responsibility + of khugepaged to then install the THP pages later. + +defer+madvise + will enter direct reclaim and compaction like ``always``, but + only for regions that have used madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE); all + other regions will wake kswapd in the background to reclaim + pages and wake kcompactd to compact memory so that THP is + available in the near future. + +madvise + will enter direct reclaim like ``always`` but only for regions + that are have used madvise(MADV_HUGEPAGE). This is the default + behaviour. + +never + should be self-explanatory. Note that ``madvise(..., + MADV_COLLAPSE)`` can still cause transparent huge pages to be + obtained even if this mode is specified everywhere. + +By default kernel tries to use huge, PMD-mappable zero page on read +page fault to anonymous mapping. It's possible to disable huge zero +page by writing 0 or enable it back by writing 1:: + + echo 0 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/use_zero_page + echo 1 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/use_zero_page + +Some userspace (such as a test program, or an optimized memory +allocation library) may want to know the size (in bytes) of a +PMD-mappable transparent hugepage:: + + cat /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hpage_pmd_size + +All THPs at fault and collapse time will be added to _deferred_list, +and will therefore be split under memory pressure if they are considered +"underused". A THP is underused if the number of zero-filled pages in +the THP is above max_ptes_none (see below). It is possible to disable +this behaviour by writing 0 to shrink_underused, and enable it by writing +1 to it:: + + echo 0 > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/shrink_underused + echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/shrink_underused + +khugepaged will be automatically started when any THP size is enabled +(either of the per-size anon control or the top-level control are set +to "always" or "madvise"), and it'll be automatically shutdown when +all THP sizes are disabled (when both the per-size anon control and the +top-level control are "never"). + +process THP controls +-------------------- + +A process can control its own THP behaviour using the ``PR_SET_THP_DISABLE`` +and ``PR_GET_THP_DISABLE`` pair of prctl(2) calls. The THP behaviour set using +``PR_SET_THP_DISABLE`` is inherited across fork(2) and execve(2). These calls +support the following arguments:: + + prctl(PR_SET_THP_DISABLE, 1, 0, 0, 0): + This will disable THPs completely for the process, irrespective + of global THP controls or madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE) being used. + + prctl(PR_SET_THP_DISABLE, 1, PR_THP_DISABLE_EXCEPT_ADVISED, 0, 0): + This will disable THPs for the process except when the usage of THPs is + advised. Consequently, THPs will only be used when: + - Global THP controls are set to "always" or "madvise" and + madvise(..., MADV_HUGEPAGE) or madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE) is used. + - Global THP controls are set to "never" and madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE) + is used. This is the same behavior as if THPs would not be disabled on + a process level. + Note that MADV_COLLAPSE is currently always rejected if + madvise(..., MADV_NOHUGEPAGE) is set on an area. + + prctl(PR_SET_THP_DISABLE, 0, 0, 0, 0): + This will re-enable THPs for the process, as if they were never disabled. + Whether THPs will actually be used depends on global THP controls and + madvise() calls. + + prctl(PR_GET_THP_DISABLE, 0, 0, 0, 0): + This returns a value whose bits indicate how THP-disable is configured: + Bits + 1 0 Value Description + |0|0| 0 No THP-disable behaviour specified. + |0|1| 1 THP is entirely disabled for this process. + |1|1| 3 THP-except-advised mode is set for this process. + +Khugepaged controls +------------------- + +.. note:: + khugepaged currently only searches for opportunities to collapse file/shmem + to PMD-sized THP. Only anonymous memory will attempt to collapse to other THP + sizes. + +khugepaged runs usually at low frequency so while one may not want to +invoke defrag algorithms synchronously during the page faults, it +should be worth invoking defrag at least in khugepaged. However it's +also possible to disable defrag in khugepaged by writing 0 or enable +defrag in khugepaged by writing 1:: + + echo 0 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/defrag + echo 1 >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/defrag + +You can also control how many pages khugepaged should scan at each +pass:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/pages_to_scan + +and how many milliseconds to wait in khugepaged between each pass (you +can set this to 0 to run khugepaged at 100% utilization of one core):: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/scan_sleep_millisecs + +and how many milliseconds to wait in khugepaged if there's an hugepage +allocation failure to throttle the next allocation attempt:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/alloc_sleep_millisecs + +The khugepaged progress can be seen in the number of pages collapsed (note +that this counter may not be an exact count of the number of pages +collapsed, since "collapsed" could mean multiple things: (1) A PTE mapping +being replaced by a PMD mapping, or (2) physical pages replaced by one +hugepage of various sizes (PMD-sized or mTHP). Each may happen independently, +or together, depending on the type of memory and the failures that occur. +As such, this value should be interpreted roughly as a sign of progress, +and counters in /proc/vmstat consulted for more accurate accounting. +Per-order mTHP collapse statistics are also available under +/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/stats/):: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/pages_collapsed + +for each pass:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/full_scans + +``max_ptes_none`` specifies how many empty (none/zero) pages are allowed +when collapsing a group of small pages into one large page:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_none + +For PMD-sized THP collapse, this directly limits the number of empty pages +allowed in the 2MB region. + +For mTHP collapse, only 0 or (HPAGE_PMD_NR - 1) are supported. At +HPAGE_PMD_NR - 1, we collapse to the highest possible order. Any intermediate +value will emit a warning and mTHP collapse will default to max_ptes_none=0. + +A higher value allows more empty pages, potentially leading to more memory +usage but better THP performance. A lower value is more conservative and +may result in fewer THP collapses. + +``max_ptes_swap`` specifies how many pages can be brought in from +swap when collapsing a group of pages into a transparent huge page:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_swap + +A higher value can cause excessive swap IO and waste +memory. A lower value can prevent THPs from being +collapsed, resulting fewer pages being collapsed into +THPs, and lower memory access performance. + +``max_ptes_shared`` specifies how many pages can be shared across multiple +processes. khugepaged might treat pages of THPs as shared if any page of +that THP is shared. Exceeding the number would block the collapse:: + + /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_shared + +A higher value may increase memory footprint for some workloads. + +.. note:: + For mTHP collapse, khugepaged does not support collapsing regions that + contain shared or swapped out pages, as this could lead to continuous + promotion to higher orders. The collapse will fail if any shared or + swapped PTEs are encountered during the scan. + + Currently, madvise_collapse only supports collapsing to PMD-sized THPs + and does not attempt mTHP collapses. + +Boot parameters +=============== + +You can change the sysfs boot time default for the top-level "enabled" +control by passing the parameter ``transparent_hugepage=always`` or +``transparent_hugepage=madvise`` or ``transparent_hugepage=never`` to the +kernel command line. + +Alternatively, each supported anonymous THP size can be controlled by +passing ``thp_anon=<size>[KMG],<size>[KMG]:<state>;<size>[KMG]-<size>[KMG]:<state>``, +where ``<size>`` is the THP size (must be a power of 2 of PAGE_SIZE and +supported anonymous THP) and ``<state>`` is one of ``always``, ``madvise``, +``never`` or ``inherit``. + +For example, the following will set 16K, 32K, 64K THP to ``always``, +set 128K, 512K to ``inherit``, set 256K to ``madvise`` and 1M, 2M +to ``never``:: + + thp_anon=16K-64K:always;128K,512K:inherit;256K:madvise;1M-2M:never + +``thp_anon=`` may be specified multiple times to configure all THP sizes as +required. If ``thp_anon=`` is specified at least once, any anon THP sizes +not explicitly configured on the command line are implicitly set to +``never``. + +``transparent_hugepage`` setting only affects the global toggle. If +``thp_anon`` is not specified, PMD_ORDER THP will default to ``inherit``. +However, if a valid ``thp_anon`` setting is provided by the user, the +PMD_ORDER THP policy will be overridden. If the policy for PMD_ORDER +is not defined within a valid ``thp_anon``, its policy will default to +``never``. + +Similarly to ``transparent_hugepage``, you can control the hugepage +allocation policy for the internal shmem mount by using the kernel parameter +``transparent_hugepage_shmem=<policy>``, where ``<policy>`` is one of the +seven valid policies for shmem (``always``, ``within_size``, ``advise``, +``never``, ``deny``, and ``force``). + +Similarly to ``transparent_hugepage_shmem``, you can control the default +hugepage allocation policy for the tmpfs mount by using the kernel parameter +``transparent_hugepage_tmpfs=<policy>``, where ``<policy>`` is one of the +four valid policies for tmpfs (``always``, ``within_size``, ``advise``, +``never``). The tmpfs mount default policy is ``never``. + +Additionally, Kconfig options are available to set the default hugepage +policies for shmem (``CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE_SHMEM_HUGE_*``) and tmpfs +(``CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE_TMPFS_HUGE_*``) at build time. Refer to the +Kconfig help for more details. + +In the same manner as ``thp_anon`` controls each supported anonymous THP +size, ``thp_shmem`` controls each supported shmem THP size. ``thp_shmem`` +has the same format as ``thp_anon``, but also supports the policy +``within_size``. + +``thp_shmem=`` may be specified multiple times to configure all THP sizes +as required. If ``thp_shmem=`` is specified at least once, any shmem THP +sizes not explicitly configured on the command line are implicitly set to +``never``. + +``transparent_hugepage_shmem`` setting only affects the global toggle. If +``thp_shmem`` is not specified, PMD_ORDER hugepage will default to +``inherit``. However, if a valid ``thp_shmem`` setting is provided by the +user, the PMD_ORDER hugepage policy will be overridden. If the policy for +PMD_ORDER is not defined within a valid ``thp_shmem``, its policy will +default to ``never``. + +Hugepages in tmpfs/shmem +======================== + +Traditionally, tmpfs only supported a single huge page size ("PMD"). Today, +it also supports smaller sizes just like anonymous memory, often referred +to as "multi-size THP" (mTHP). Huge pages of any size are commonly +represented in the kernel as "large folios". + +While there is fine control over the huge page sizes to use for the internal +shmem mount (see below), ordinary tmpfs mounts will make use of all available +huge page sizes without any control over the exact sizes, behaving more like +other file systems. + +tmpfs mounts +------------ + +The THP allocation policy for tmpfs mounts can be adjusted using the mount +option: ``huge=``. It can have following values: + +always + Attempt to allocate huge pages every time we need a new page; + Always try PMD-sized huge pages first, and fall back to smaller-sized + huge pages if the PMD-sized huge page allocation fails; + +never + Do not allocate huge pages. Note that ``madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE)`` + can still cause transparent huge pages to be obtained even if this mode + is specified everywhere; + +within_size + Only allocate huge page if it will be fully within i_size; + Always try PMD-sized huge pages first, and fall back to smaller-sized + huge pages if the PMD-sized huge page allocation fails; + Also respect madvise() hints; + +advise + Only allocate huge pages if requested with madvise(); + +Remember, that the kernel may use huge pages of all available sizes, and +that no fine control as for the internal tmpfs mount is available. + +The default policy in the past was ``never``, but it can now be adjusted +using the kernel parameter ``transparent_hugepage_tmpfs=<policy>``. + +``mount -o remount,huge= /mountpoint`` works fine after mount: remounting +``huge=never`` will not attempt to break up huge pages at all, just stop more +from being allocated. + +In addition to policies listed above, the sysfs knob +/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/shmem_enabled will affect the +allocation policy of tmpfs mounts, when set to the following values: + +deny + For use in emergencies, to force the huge option off from + all mounts; +force + Force the huge option on for all - very useful for testing; + +shmem / internal tmpfs +---------------------- +The mount internal tmpfs mount is used for SysV SHM, memfds, shared anonymous +mmaps (of /dev/zero or MAP_ANONYMOUS), GPU drivers' DRM objects, Ashmem. + +To control the THP allocation policy for this internal tmpfs mount, the +sysfs knob /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/shmem_enabled and the knobs +per THP size in +'/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/shmem_enabled' +can be used. + +The global knob has the same semantics as the ``huge=`` mount options +for tmpfs mounts, except that the different huge page sizes can be controlled +individually, and will only use the setting of the global knob when the +per-size knob is set to 'inherit'. + +The options 'force' and 'deny' are dropped for the individual sizes, which +are rather testing artifacts from the old ages. + +always + Attempt to allocate <size> huge pages every time we need a new page; + +inherit + Inherit the top-level "shmem_enabled" value. By default, PMD-sized hugepages + have enabled="inherit" and all other hugepage sizes have enabled="never"; + +never + Do not allocate <size> huge pages. Note that ``madvise(..., + MADV_COLLAPSE)`` can still cause transparent huge pages to be obtained + even if this mode is specified everywhere; + +within_size + Only allocate <size> huge page if it will be fully within i_size. + Also respect madvise() hints; + +advise + Only allocate <size> huge pages if requested with madvise(); + +Need of application restart +=========================== + +The transparent_hugepage/enabled and +transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/enabled values and tmpfs mount +option only affect future behavior. So to make them effective you need +to restart any application that could have been using hugepages. This +also applies to the regions registered in khugepaged. + +Monitoring usage +================ + +The number of PMD-sized anonymous transparent huge pages currently used by the +system is available by reading the AnonHugePages field in ``/proc/meminfo``. +To identify what applications are using PMD-sized anonymous transparent huge +pages, it is necessary to read ``/proc/PID/smaps`` and count the AnonHugePages +fields for each mapping. (Note that AnonHugePages only applies to traditional +PMD-sized THP for historical reasons and should have been called +AnonHugePmdMapped). + +The number of file transparent huge pages mapped to userspace is available +by reading ShmemPmdMapped and ShmemHugePages fields in ``/proc/meminfo``. +To identify what applications are mapping file transparent huge pages, it +is necessary to read ``/proc/PID/smaps`` and count the FilePmdMapped fields +for each mapping. + +Note that reading the smaps file is expensive and reading it +frequently will incur overhead. + +There are a number of counters in ``/proc/vmstat`` that may be used to +monitor how successfully the system is providing huge pages for use. + +thp_fault_alloc + is incremented every time a huge page is successfully + allocated and charged to handle a page fault. + +thp_collapse_alloc + is incremented by khugepaged when it has found + a range of pages to collapse into one huge page and has + successfully allocated a new huge page to store the data. + +thp_fault_fallback + is incremented if a page fault fails to allocate or charge + a huge page and instead falls back to using small pages. + +thp_fault_fallback_charge + is incremented if a page fault fails to charge a huge page and + instead falls back to using small pages even though the + allocation was successful. + +thp_collapse_alloc_failed + is incremented if khugepaged found a range + of pages that should be collapsed into one huge page but failed + the allocation. + +thp_file_alloc + is incremented every time a shmem huge page is successfully + allocated (Note that despite being named after "file", the counter + measures only shmem). + +thp_file_fallback + is incremented if a shmem huge page is attempted to be allocated + but fails and instead falls back to using small pages. (Note that + despite being named after "file", the counter measures only shmem). + +thp_file_fallback_charge + is incremented if a shmem huge page cannot be charged and instead + falls back to using small pages even though the allocation was + successful. (Note that despite being named after "file", the + counter measures only shmem). + +thp_file_mapped + is incremented every time a file or shmem huge page is mapped into + user address space. + +thp_split_page + is incremented every time a huge page is split into base + pages. This can happen for a variety of reasons but a common + reason is that a huge page is old and is being reclaimed. + This action implies splitting all PMD the page mapped with. + +thp_split_page_failed + is incremented if kernel fails to split huge + page. This can happen if the page was pinned by somebody. + +thp_deferred_split_page + is incremented when a huge page is put onto split + queue. This happens when a huge page is partially unmapped and + splitting it would free up some memory. Pages on split queue are + going to be split under memory pressure. + +thp_underused_split_page + is incremented when a huge page on the split queue was split + because it was underused. A THP is underused if the number of + zero pages in the THP is above a certain threshold + (/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/khugepaged/max_ptes_none). + +thp_split_pmd + is incremented every time a PMD split into table of PTEs. + This can happen, for instance, when application calls mprotect() or + munmap() on part of huge page. It doesn't split huge page, only + page table entry. + +thp_zero_page_alloc + is incremented every time a huge zero page used for thp is + successfully allocated. Note, it doesn't count every map of + the huge zero page, only its allocation. + +thp_zero_page_alloc_failed + is incremented if kernel fails to allocate + huge zero page and falls back to using small pages. + +thp_swpout + is incremented every time a huge page is swapout in one + piece without splitting. + +thp_swpout_fallback + is incremented if a huge page has to be split before swapout. + Usually because failed to allocate some continuous swap space + for the huge page. + +In /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-<size>kB/stats, There are +also individual counters for each huge page size, which can be utilized to +monitor the system's effectiveness in providing huge pages for usage. Each +counter has its own corresponding file. + +anon_fault_alloc + is incremented every time a huge page is successfully + allocated and charged to handle a page fault. + +anon_fault_fallback + is incremented if a page fault fails to allocate or charge + a huge page and instead falls back to using huge pages with + lower orders or small pages. + +anon_fault_fallback_charge + is incremented if a page fault fails to charge a huge page and + instead falls back to using huge pages with lower orders or + small pages even though the allocation was successful. + +collapse_alloc + is incremented every time a huge page is successfully allocated for a + khugepaged collapse. + +collapse_alloc_failed + is incremented every time a huge page allocation fails during a + khugepaged collapse. + +zswpout + is incremented every time a huge page is swapped out to zswap in one + piece without splitting. + +swpin + is incremented every time a huge page is swapped in from a non-zswap + swap device in one piece. + +swpin_fallback + is incremented if swapin fails to allocate or charge a huge page + and instead falls back to using huge pages with lower orders or + small pages. + +swpin_fallback_charge + is incremented if swapin fails to charge a huge page and instead + falls back to using huge pages with lower orders or small pages + even though the allocation was successful. + +swpout + is incremented every time a huge page is swapped out to a non-zswap + swap device in one piece without splitting. + +swpout_fallback + is incremented if a huge page has to be split before swapout. + Usually because failed to allocate some continuous swap space + for the huge page. + +shmem_alloc + is incremented every time a shmem huge page is successfully + allocated. + +shmem_fallback + is incremented if a shmem huge page is attempted to be allocated + but fails and instead falls back to using small pages. + +shmem_fallback_charge + is incremented if a shmem huge page cannot be charged and instead + falls back to using small pages even though the allocation was + successful. + +split + is incremented every time a huge page is successfully split into + smaller orders. This can happen for a variety of reasons but a + common reason is that a huge page is old and is being reclaimed. + +split_failed + is incremented if kernel fails to split huge + page. This can happen if the page was pinned by somebody. + +split_deferred + is incremented when a huge page is put onto split queue. + This happens when a huge page is partially unmapped and splitting + it would free up some memory. Pages on split queue are going to + be split under memory pressure, if splitting is possible. + +nr_anon + the number of anonymous THP we have in the whole system. These THPs + might be currently entirely mapped or have partially unmapped/unused + subpages. + +nr_anon_partially_mapped + the number of anonymous THP which are likely partially mapped, possibly + wasting memory, and have been queued for deferred memory reclamation. + Note that in corner some cases (e.g., failed migration), we might detect + an anonymous THP as "partially mapped" and count it here, even though it + is not actually partially mapped anymore. + +collapse_exceed_none_pte + The number of collapse attempts that failed due to exceeding the + max_ptes_none threshold. + +collapse_exceed_swap_pte + The number of collapse attempts that failed due to exceeding the + max_ptes_swap threshold. For non-PMD orders this occurs if a mTHP range + contains at least one swap PTE. + +collapse_exceed_shared_pte + The number of collapse attempts that failed due to exceeding the + max_ptes_shared threshold. For non-PMD orders this occurs if a mTHP range + contains at least one shared PTE. + +As the system ages, allocating huge pages may be expensive as the +system uses memory compaction to copy data around memory to free a +huge page for use. There are some counters in ``/proc/vmstat`` to help +monitor this overhead. + +compact_stall + is incremented every time a process stalls to run + memory compaction so that a huge page is free for use. + +compact_success + is incremented if the system compacted memory and + freed a huge page for use. + +compact_fail + is incremented if the system tries to compact memory + but failed. + +It is possible to establish how long the stalls were using the function +tracer to record how long was spent in the page allocator and +using the mm_page_alloc tracepoint to identify which allocations were +for huge pages. + +Optimizing the applications +=========================== + +To be guaranteed that the kernel will map a THP immediately in any +memory region, the mmap region has to be hugepage naturally +aligned. posix_memalign() can provide that guarantee. + +Hugetlbfs +========= + +You can use hugetlbfs on a kernel that has transparent hugepage +support enabled just fine as always. No difference can be noted in +hugetlbfs other than there will be less overall fragmentation. All +usual features belonging to hugetlbfs are preserved and +unaffected. libhugetlbfs will also work fine as usual. |