From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-9.0 required=3.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, INCLUDES_PATCH,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SIGNED_OFF_BY,SPF_PASS,USER_AGENT_GIT autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 25CB1C10F11 for ; Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:28:47 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [209.132.180.67]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D8D382148D for ; Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:28:46 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1728811AbfDXK2p (ORCPT ); Wed, 24 Apr 2019 06:28:45 -0400 Received: from mx0a-001b2d01.pphosted.com ([148.163.156.1]:58018 "EHLO mx0a-001b2d01.pphosted.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1726135AbfDXK2o (ORCPT ); Wed, 24 Apr 2019 06:28:44 -0400 Received: from pps.filterd (m0098396.ppops.net [127.0.0.1]) by mx0a-001b2d01.pphosted.com (8.16.0.27/8.16.0.27) with SMTP id x3OAO7Ak076096 for ; Wed, 24 Apr 2019 06:28:43 -0400 Received: from e06smtp07.uk.ibm.com (e06smtp07.uk.ibm.com [195.75.94.103]) by mx0a-001b2d01.pphosted.com with ESMTP id 2s2np199ep-1 (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT) for ; Wed, 24 Apr 2019 06:28:43 -0400 Received: from localhost by e06smtp07.uk.ibm.com with IBM ESMTP SMTP Gateway: Authorized Use Only! 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Violators will be prosecuted; (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256/256) Wed, 24 Apr 2019 11:28:39 +0100 Received: from d06av22.portsmouth.uk.ibm.com (d06av22.portsmouth.uk.ibm.com [9.149.105.58]) by b06cxnps4075.portsmouth.uk.ibm.com (8.14.9/8.14.9/NCO v10.0) with ESMTP id x3OAScpI38469700 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=OK); Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:28:38 GMT Received: from d06av22.portsmouth.uk.ibm.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by IMSVA (Postfix) with ESMTP id 33E4A4C046; Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:28:38 +0000 (GMT) Received: from d06av22.portsmouth.uk.ibm.com (unknown [127.0.0.1]) by IMSVA (Postfix) with ESMTP id C33904C040; Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:28:36 +0000 (GMT) Received: from rapoport-lnx (unknown [9.148.8.112]) by d06av22.portsmouth.uk.ibm.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS; Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:28:36 +0000 (GMT) Received: by rapoport-lnx (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Wed, 24 Apr 2019 13:28:36 +0300 From: Mike Rapoport To: Jonathan Corbet Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Mike Rapoport Subject: [PATCH] docs/vm: add documentation of memory models Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2019 13:28:35 +0300 X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.7.4 X-TM-AS-GCONF: 00 x-cbid: 19042410-0028-0000-0000-00000364F203 X-IBM-AV-DETECTION: SAVI=unused REMOTE=unused XFE=unused x-cbparentid: 19042410-0029-0000-0000-00002424439E Message-Id: <1556101715-31966-1-git-send-email-rppt@linux.ibm.com> X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=fsecure engine=2.50.10434:,, definitions=2019-04-24_07:,, signatures=0 X-Proofpoint-Spam-Details: rule=outbound_notspam policy=outbound score=0 priorityscore=1501 malwarescore=0 suspectscore=2 phishscore=0 bulkscore=0 spamscore=0 clxscore=1015 lowpriorityscore=0 mlxscore=0 impostorscore=0 mlxlogscore=999 adultscore=0 classifier=spam adjust=0 reason=mlx scancount=1 engine=8.0.1-1810050000 definitions=main-1904240086 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Describe what {FLAT,DISCONTIG,SPARSE}MEM are and how they manage to maintain pfn <-> struct page correspondence. Signed-off-by: Mike Rapoport --- Documentation/vm/index.rst | 1 + Documentation/vm/memory-model.rst | 171 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 172 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/memory-model.rst diff --git a/Documentation/vm/index.rst b/Documentation/vm/index.rst index b58cc3b..e8d943b 100644 --- a/Documentation/vm/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/vm/index.rst @@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ descriptions of data structures and algorithms. hwpoison hugetlbfs_reserv ksm + memory-model mmu_notifier numa overcommit-accounting diff --git a/Documentation/vm/memory-model.rst b/Documentation/vm/memory-model.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..914c52a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/memory-model.rst @@ -0,0 +1,171 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +.. _physical_memory_model: + +===================== +Physical Memory Model +===================== + +Physical memory in a system may be addressed in different ways. The +simplest case is when the physical memory starts at address 0 and +spans a contiguous range up to the maximal address. It could be, +however, that this range contains small holes that are not accessible +for the CPU. Then there could be several contiguous ranges at +completely distinct addresses. And, don't forget about NUMA, where +different memory banks are attached to different CPUs. + +Linux abstracts this diversity using one of the three memory models: +FLATMEM, DISCONTIGMEM and SPARSEMEM. Each architecture defines what +memory models it supports, what is the default memory model and +whether it possible to manually override that default. + +All the memory models track the status of physical page frames using +:c:type:`struct page` arranged in one or more arrays. + +Regardless of the selected memory model, there exists one-to-one +mapping between the physical page frame number (PFN) and the +corresponding `struct page`. + +Each memory model defines :c:func:`pfn_to_page` and :c:func:`page_to_pfn` +helpers that allow the conversion from PFN to `struct page` and vise +versa. + +FLATMEM +======= + +The simplest memory model is FLATMEM. This model is suitable for +non-NUMA systems with contiguous, or mostly contiguous, physical +memory. + +In the FLATMEM memory model, there is a global `mem_map` array that +maps the entire physical memory. For most architectures, the holes +have entries in the `mem_map` array. The `struct page` objects +corresponding to the holes are never fully initialized. + +To allocate the `mem_map` array, architecture specific setup code +should call :c:func:`free_area_init_node` function or its convenience +wrapper :c:func:`free_area_init`. Yet, the mappings array is not +usable until the call to :c:func:`memblock_free_all` that hands all +the memory to the page allocator. + +If an architecture enables `CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_HOLES_MEMORYMODEL` option, +it may free parts of the `mem_map` array that do not cover the +actual physical pages. In such case, the architecture specific +:c:func:`pfn_valid` implementation should take the holes in the +`mem_map` into account. + +With FLATMEM, the conversion between a PFN and the `struct page` is +straightforward: `PFN - ARCH_PFN_OFFSET` is an index to the +`mem_map` array. + +The `ARCH_PFN_OFFSET` defines the first page frame number for +systems that their physical memory does not start at 0. + +DISCONTIGMEM +============ + +The DISCONTIGMEM model treats the physical memory as a collection of +`nodes` similarly to how Linux NUMA support does. For each node Linux +constructs an independent memory management subsystem represented by +`struct pglist_data` (or `pg_data_t` for short). Among other +things, `pg_data_t` holds the `node_mem_map` array that maps +physical pages belonging to that node. The `node_start_pfn` field of +`pg_data_t` is the number of the first page frame belonging to that +node. + +The architecture setup code should call :c:func:`free_area_init_node` for +each node in the system to initialize the `pg_data_t` object and its +`node_mem_map`. + +Every `node_mem_map` behaves exactly as FLATMEM's `mem_map` - +every physical page frame in a node has a `struct page` entry in the +`node_mem_map` array. When DISCONTIGMEM is enabled, a portion of the +`flags` field of the `struct page` encodes the node number of the +node hosting that page. + +The conversion between a PFN and the `struct page` in the +DISCONTIGMEM model became slightly more complex as it has to determine +which node hosts the physical page and which `pg_data_t` object +holds the `struct page`. + +Architectures that support DISCONTIGMEM provide :c:func:`pfn_to_nid` +to convert PFN to the node number. The opposite conversion helper +:c:func:`page_to_nid` is generic as it uses the node number encoded in +page->flags. + +Once the node number is known, the PFN can be used to index +appropriate `node_mem_map` array to access the `struct page` and +the offset of the `struct page` from the `node_mem_map` plus +`node_start_pfn` is the PFN of that page. + +SPARSEMEM +========= + +SPARSEMEM is the most versatile memory model available in Linux and it +is the only memory model that supports several advanced features such +as hot-plug and hot-remove of the physical memory, alternative memory +maps for non-volatile memory devices and deferred initialization of +the memory map for larger systems. + +The SPARSEMEM model presents the physical memory as a collection of +sections. A section is represented with :c:type:`struct mem_section` +that contains `section_mem_map` that is, logically, a pointer to an +array of struct pages. However, it is stored with some other magic +that aids the sections management. The section size and maximal number +of section is specified using `SECTION_SIZE_BITS` and +`MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS` constants defined by each architecture that +supports SPARSEMEM. While `MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS` is an actual width of a +physical address that an architecture supports, the +`SECTION_SIZE_BITS` is an arbitrary value. + +The maximal number of sections is denoted `NR_MEM_SECTIONS` and +defined as + +.. math:: + + NR\_MEM\_SECTIONS = 2 ^ {(MAX\_PHYSMEM\_BITS - SECTION\_SIZE\_BITS)} + +The `mem_section` objects are arranged in a two dimensional array +called `mem_sections`. The size and placement of this array depend +on `CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_EXTREME` and the maximal possible number of +sections: + +* When `CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_EXTREME` is disabled, the `mem_sections` + array is static and has `NR_MEM_SECTIONS` rows. Each row holds a + single `mem_section` object. +* When `CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_EXTREME` is enabled, the `mem_sections` + array is dynamically allocated. Each row contains PAGE_SIZE worth of + `mem_section` objects and the number of rows is calculated to fit + all the memory sections. + +The architecture setup code should call :c:func:`memory_present` for +each active memory range or use :c:func:`memblocks_present` or +:c:func:`sparse_memory_present_with_active_regions` wrappers to +initialize the memory sections. Next, the actual memory maps should be +set up using :c:func:`sparse_init`. + +With SPARSEMEM there are two possible ways to convert a PFN to the +corresponding `struct page` - a "classic sparse" and "sparse +vmemmap". The selection is made at build time and it is determined by +the value of `CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_VMEMMAP`. + +The classic sparse encodes the section number of a page in page->flags +and uses high bits of a PFN to access the section that maps that page +frame. Inside a section, the PFN is the index to the array of pages. + +The sparse vmemmap uses a virtually mapped memory map to optimize +pfn_to_page and page_to_pfn operations. There is a global `struct +page *vmemmap` pointer that points to a virtually contiguous array of +`struct page` objects. A PFN is an index to that array and the the +offset of the `struct page` from `vmemmap` is the PFN of that +page. + +To use vmemmap, an architecture has to reserve a range of virtual +addresses that will map the physical pages containing the memory +map. and make sure that `vmemmap` points to that range. In addition, +the architecture should implement :c:func:`vmemmap_populate` method +that will allocate the physical memory and create page tables for the +virtual memory map. If an architecture does not have any special +requirements for the vmemmap mappings, it can use default +:c:func:`vmemmap_populate_basepages` provided by the generic memory +management. -- 2.7.4