1 User Interface for Resource Allocation in Intel Resource Director Technology
3 Copyright (C) 2016 Intel Corporation
5 Fenghua Yu <fenghua.yu@intel.com>
6 Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
7 Vikas Shivappa <vikas.shivappa@intel.com>
9 This feature is enabled by the CONFIG_INTEL_RDT Kconfig and the
10 X86 /proc/cpuinfo flag bits:
11 RDT (Resource Director Technology) Allocation - "rdt_a"
12 CAT (Cache Allocation Technology) - "cat_l3", "cat_l2"
13 CDP (Code and Data Prioritization ) - "cdp_l3", "cdp_l2"
14 CQM (Cache QoS Monitoring) - "cqm_llc", "cqm_occup_llc"
15 MBM (Memory Bandwidth Monitoring) - "cqm_mbm_total", "cqm_mbm_local"
16 MBA (Memory Bandwidth Allocation) - "mba"
18 To use the feature mount the file system:
20 # mount -t resctrl resctrl [-o cdp[,cdpl2][,mba_MBps]] /sys/fs/resctrl
24 "cdp": Enable code/data prioritization in L3 cache allocations.
25 "cdpl2": Enable code/data prioritization in L2 cache allocations.
26 "mba_MBps": Enable the MBA Software Controller(mba_sc) to specify MBA
29 L2 and L3 CDP are controlled seperately.
31 RDT features are orthogonal. A particular system may support only
32 monitoring, only control, or both monitoring and control. Cache
33 pseudo-locking is a unique way of using cache control to "pin" or
34 "lock" data in the cache. Details can be found in
35 "Cache Pseudo-Locking".
38 The mount succeeds if either of allocation or monitoring is present, but
39 only those files and directories supported by the system will be created.
40 For more details on the behavior of the interface during monitoring
41 and allocation, see the "Resource alloc and monitor groups" section.
46 The 'info' directory contains information about the enabled
47 resources. Each resource has its own subdirectory. The subdirectory
48 names reflect the resource names.
50 Each subdirectory contains the following files with respect to
53 Cache resource(L3/L2) subdirectory contains the following files
54 related to allocation:
56 "num_closids": The number of CLOSIDs which are valid for this
57 resource. The kernel uses the smallest number of
58 CLOSIDs of all enabled resources as limit.
60 "cbm_mask": The bitmask which is valid for this resource.
61 This mask is equivalent to 100%.
63 "min_cbm_bits": The minimum number of consecutive bits which
64 must be set when writing a mask.
66 "shareable_bits": Bitmask of shareable resource with other executing
67 entities (e.g. I/O). User can use this when
68 setting up exclusive cache partitions. Note that
69 some platforms support devices that have their
70 own settings for cache use which can over-ride
72 "bit_usage": Annotated capacity bitmasks showing how all
73 instances of the resource are used. The legend is:
74 "0" - Corresponding region is unused. When the system's
75 resources have been allocated and a "0" is found
76 in "bit_usage" it is a sign that resources are
78 "H" - Corresponding region is used by hardware only
79 but available for software use. If a resource
80 has bits set in "shareable_bits" but not all
81 of these bits appear in the resource groups'
82 schematas then the bits appearing in
83 "shareable_bits" but no resource group will
85 "X" - Corresponding region is available for sharing and
86 used by hardware and software. These are the
87 bits that appear in "shareable_bits" as
88 well as a resource group's allocation.
89 "S" - Corresponding region is used by software
90 and available for sharing.
91 "E" - Corresponding region is used exclusively by
92 one resource group. No sharing allowed.
93 "P" - Corresponding region is pseudo-locked. No
96 Memory bandwitdh(MB) subdirectory contains the following files
97 with respect to allocation:
99 "min_bandwidth": The minimum memory bandwidth percentage which
102 "bandwidth_gran": The granularity in which the memory bandwidth
103 percentage is allocated. The allocated
104 b/w percentage is rounded off to the next
105 control step available on the hardware. The
106 available bandwidth control steps are:
107 min_bandwidth + N * bandwidth_gran.
109 "delay_linear": Indicates if the delay scale is linear or
110 non-linear. This field is purely informational
113 If RDT monitoring is available there will be an "L3_MON" directory
114 with the following files:
116 "num_rmids": The number of RMIDs available. This is the
117 upper bound for how many "CTRL_MON" + "MON"
118 groups can be created.
120 "mon_features": Lists the monitoring events if
121 monitoring is enabled for the resource.
123 "max_threshold_occupancy":
124 Read/write file provides the largest value (in
125 bytes) at which a previously used LLC_occupancy
126 counter can be considered for re-use.
128 Finally, in the top level of the "info" directory there is a file
129 named "last_cmd_status". This is reset with every "command" issued
130 via the file system (making new directories or writing to any of the
131 control files). If the command was successful, it will read as "ok".
132 If the command failed, it will provide more information that can be
133 conveyed in the error returns from file operations. E.g.
135 # echo L3:0=f7 > schemata
136 bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
137 # cat info/last_cmd_status
138 mask f7 has non-consecutive 1-bits
140 Resource alloc and monitor groups
141 ---------------------------------
143 Resource groups are represented as directories in the resctrl file
144 system. The default group is the root directory which, immediately
145 after mounting, owns all the tasks and cpus in the system and can make
146 full use of all resources.
148 On a system with RDT control features additional directories can be
149 created in the root directory that specify different amounts of each
150 resource (see "schemata" below). The root and these additional top level
151 directories are referred to as "CTRL_MON" groups below.
153 On a system with RDT monitoring the root directory and other top level
154 directories contain a directory named "mon_groups" in which additional
155 directories can be created to monitor subsets of tasks in the CTRL_MON
156 group that is their ancestor. These are called "MON" groups in the rest
159 Removing a directory will move all tasks and cpus owned by the group it
160 represents to the parent. Removing one of the created CTRL_MON groups
161 will automatically remove all MON groups below it.
163 All groups contain the following files:
166 Reading this file shows the list of all tasks that belong to
167 this group. Writing a task id to the file will add a task to the
168 group. If the group is a CTRL_MON group the task is removed from
169 whichever previous CTRL_MON group owned the task and also from
170 any MON group that owned the task. If the group is a MON group,
171 then the task must already belong to the CTRL_MON parent of this
172 group. The task is removed from any previous MON group.
176 Reading this file shows a bitmask of the logical CPUs owned by
177 this group. Writing a mask to this file will add and remove
178 CPUs to/from this group. As with the tasks file a hierarchy is
179 maintained where MON groups may only include CPUs owned by the
180 parent CTRL_MON group.
181 When the resouce group is in pseudo-locked mode this file will
182 only be readable, reflecting the CPUs associated with the
183 pseudo-locked region.
187 Just like "cpus", only using ranges of CPUs instead of bitmasks.
190 When control is enabled all CTRL_MON groups will also contain:
193 A list of all the resources available to this group.
194 Each resource has its own line and format - see below for details.
197 Mirrors the display of the "schemata" file to display the size in
198 bytes of each allocation instead of the bits representing the
202 The "mode" of the resource group dictates the sharing of its
203 allocations. A "shareable" resource group allows sharing of its
204 allocations while an "exclusive" resource group does not. A
205 cache pseudo-locked region is created by first writing
206 "pseudo-locksetup" to the "mode" file before writing the cache
207 pseudo-locked region's schemata to the resource group's "schemata"
208 file. On successful pseudo-locked region creation the mode will
209 automatically change to "pseudo-locked".
211 When monitoring is enabled all MON groups will also contain:
214 This contains a set of files organized by L3 domain and by
215 RDT event. E.g. on a system with two L3 domains there will
216 be subdirectories "mon_L3_00" and "mon_L3_01". Each of these
217 directories have one file per event (e.g. "llc_occupancy",
218 "mbm_total_bytes", and "mbm_local_bytes"). In a MON group these
219 files provide a read out of the current value of the event for
220 all tasks in the group. In CTRL_MON groups these files provide
221 the sum for all tasks in the CTRL_MON group and all tasks in
222 MON groups. Please see example section for more details on usage.
224 Resource allocation rules
225 -------------------------
226 When a task is running the following rules define which resources are
229 1) If the task is a member of a non-default group, then the schemata
230 for that group is used.
232 2) Else if the task belongs to the default group, but is running on a
233 CPU that is assigned to some specific group, then the schemata for the
236 3) Otherwise the schemata for the default group is used.
238 Resource monitoring rules
239 -------------------------
240 1) If a task is a member of a MON group, or non-default CTRL_MON group
241 then RDT events for the task will be reported in that group.
243 2) If a task is a member of the default CTRL_MON group, but is running
244 on a CPU that is assigned to some specific group, then the RDT events
245 for the task will be reported in that group.
247 3) Otherwise RDT events for the task will be reported in the root level
251 Notes on cache occupancy monitoring and control
252 -----------------------------------------------
253 When moving a task from one group to another you should remember that
254 this only affects *new* cache allocations by the task. E.g. you may have
255 a task in a monitor group showing 3 MB of cache occupancy. If you move
256 to a new group and immediately check the occupancy of the old and new
257 groups you will likely see that the old group is still showing 3 MB and
258 the new group zero. When the task accesses locations still in cache from
259 before the move, the h/w does not update any counters. On a busy system
260 you will likely see the occupancy in the old group go down as cache lines
261 are evicted and re-used while the occupancy in the new group rises as
262 the task accesses memory and loads into the cache are counted based on
263 membership in the new group.
265 The same applies to cache allocation control. Moving a task to a group
266 with a smaller cache partition will not evict any cache lines. The
267 process may continue to use them from the old partition.
269 Hardware uses CLOSid(Class of service ID) and an RMID(Resource monitoring ID)
270 to identify a control group and a monitoring group respectively. Each of
271 the resource groups are mapped to these IDs based on the kind of group. The
272 number of CLOSid and RMID are limited by the hardware and hence the creation of
273 a "CTRL_MON" directory may fail if we run out of either CLOSID or RMID
274 and creation of "MON" group may fail if we run out of RMIDs.
276 max_threshold_occupancy - generic concepts
277 ------------------------------------------
279 Note that an RMID once freed may not be immediately available for use as
280 the RMID is still tagged the cache lines of the previous user of RMID.
281 Hence such RMIDs are placed on limbo list and checked back if the cache
282 occupancy has gone down. If there is a time when system has a lot of
283 limbo RMIDs but which are not ready to be used, user may see an -EBUSY
286 max_threshold_occupancy is a user configurable value to determine the
287 occupancy at which an RMID can be freed.
289 Schemata files - general concepts
290 ---------------------------------
291 Each line in the file describes one resource. The line starts with
292 the name of the resource, followed by specific values to be applied
293 in each of the instances of that resource on the system.
297 On current generation systems there is one L3 cache per socket and L2
298 caches are generally just shared by the hyperthreads on a core, but this
299 isn't an architectural requirement. We could have multiple separate L3
300 caches on a socket, multiple cores could share an L2 cache. So instead
301 of using "socket" or "core" to define the set of logical cpus sharing
302 a resource we use a "Cache ID". At a given cache level this will be a
303 unique number across the whole system (but it isn't guaranteed to be a
304 contiguous sequence, there may be gaps). To find the ID for each logical
305 CPU look in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cache/index*/id
307 Cache Bit Masks (CBM)
308 ---------------------
309 For cache resources we describe the portion of the cache that is available
310 for allocation using a bitmask. The maximum value of the mask is defined
311 by each cpu model (and may be different for different cache levels). It
312 is found using CPUID, but is also provided in the "info" directory of
313 the resctrl file system in "info/{resource}/cbm_mask". X86 hardware
314 requires that these masks have all the '1' bits in a contiguous block. So
315 0x3, 0x6 and 0xC are legal 4-bit masks with two bits set, but 0x5, 0x9
316 and 0xA are not. On a system with a 20-bit mask each bit represents 5%
317 of the capacity of the cache. You could partition the cache into four
318 equal parts with masks: 0x1f, 0x3e0, 0x7c00, 0xf8000.
320 Memory bandwidth Allocation and monitoring
321 ------------------------------------------
323 For Memory bandwidth resource, by default the user controls the resource
324 by indicating the percentage of total memory bandwidth.
326 The minimum bandwidth percentage value for each cpu model is predefined
327 and can be looked up through "info/MB/min_bandwidth". The bandwidth
328 granularity that is allocated is also dependent on the cpu model and can
329 be looked up at "info/MB/bandwidth_gran". The available bandwidth
330 control steps are: min_bw + N * bw_gran. Intermediate values are rounded
331 to the next control step available on the hardware.
333 The bandwidth throttling is a core specific mechanism on some of Intel
334 SKUs. Using a high bandwidth and a low bandwidth setting on two threads
335 sharing a core will result in both threads being throttled to use the
336 low bandwidth. The fact that Memory bandwidth allocation(MBA) is a core
337 specific mechanism where as memory bandwidth monitoring(MBM) is done at
338 the package level may lead to confusion when users try to apply control
339 via the MBA and then monitor the bandwidth to see if the controls are
340 effective. Below are such scenarios:
342 1. User may *not* see increase in actual bandwidth when percentage
343 values are increased:
345 This can occur when aggregate L2 external bandwidth is more than L3
346 external bandwidth. Consider an SKL SKU with 24 cores on a package and
347 where L2 external is 10GBps (hence aggregate L2 external bandwidth is
348 240GBps) and L3 external bandwidth is 100GBps. Now a workload with '20
349 threads, having 50% bandwidth, each consuming 5GBps' consumes the max L3
350 bandwidth of 100GBps although the percentage value specified is only 50%
351 << 100%. Hence increasing the bandwidth percentage will not yeild any
352 more bandwidth. This is because although the L2 external bandwidth still
353 has capacity, the L3 external bandwidth is fully used. Also note that
354 this would be dependent on number of cores the benchmark is run on.
356 2. Same bandwidth percentage may mean different actual bandwidth
357 depending on # of threads:
359 For the same SKU in #1, a 'single thread, with 10% bandwidth' and '4
360 thread, with 10% bandwidth' can consume upto 10GBps and 40GBps although
361 they have same percentage bandwidth of 10%. This is simply because as
362 threads start using more cores in an rdtgroup, the actual bandwidth may
363 increase or vary although user specified bandwidth percentage is same.
365 In order to mitigate this and make the interface more user friendly,
366 resctrl added support for specifying the bandwidth in MBps as well. The
367 kernel underneath would use a software feedback mechanism or a "Software
368 Controller(mba_sc)" which reads the actual bandwidth using MBM counters
369 and adjust the memowy bandwidth percentages to ensure
371 "actual bandwidth < user specified bandwidth".
373 By default, the schemata would take the bandwidth percentage values
374 where as user can switch to the "MBA software controller" mode using
375 a mount option 'mba_MBps'. The schemata format is specified in the below
378 L3 schemata file details (code and data prioritization disabled)
379 ----------------------------------------------------------------
380 With CDP disabled the L3 schemata format is:
382 L3:<cache_id0>=<cbm>;<cache_id1>=<cbm>;...
384 L3 schemata file details (CDP enabled via mount option to resctrl)
385 ------------------------------------------------------------------
386 When CDP is enabled L3 control is split into two separate resources
387 so you can specify independent masks for code and data like this:
389 L3data:<cache_id0>=<cbm>;<cache_id1>=<cbm>;...
390 L3code:<cache_id0>=<cbm>;<cache_id1>=<cbm>;...
392 L2 schemata file details
393 ------------------------
394 L2 cache does not support code and data prioritization, so the
395 schemata format is always:
397 L2:<cache_id0>=<cbm>;<cache_id1>=<cbm>;...
399 Memory bandwidth Allocation (default mode)
400 ------------------------------------------
402 Memory b/w domain is L3 cache.
404 MB:<cache_id0>=bandwidth0;<cache_id1>=bandwidth1;...
406 Memory bandwidth Allocation specified in MBps
407 ---------------------------------------------
409 Memory bandwidth domain is L3 cache.
411 MB:<cache_id0>=bw_MBps0;<cache_id1>=bw_MBps1;...
413 Reading/writing the schemata file
414 ---------------------------------
415 Reading the schemata file will show the state of all resources
416 on all domains. When writing you only need to specify those values
417 which you wish to change. E.g.
420 L3DATA:0=fffff;1=fffff;2=fffff;3=fffff
421 L3CODE:0=fffff;1=fffff;2=fffff;3=fffff
422 # echo "L3DATA:2=3c0;" > schemata
424 L3DATA:0=fffff;1=fffff;2=3c0;3=fffff
425 L3CODE:0=fffff;1=fffff;2=fffff;3=fffff
429 CAT enables a user to specify the amount of cache space that an
430 application can fill. Cache pseudo-locking builds on the fact that a
431 CPU can still read and write data pre-allocated outside its current
432 allocated area on a cache hit. With cache pseudo-locking, data can be
433 preloaded into a reserved portion of cache that no application can
434 fill, and from that point on will only serve cache hits. The cache
435 pseudo-locked memory is made accessible to user space where an
436 application can map it into its virtual address space and thus have
437 a region of memory with reduced average read latency.
439 The creation of a cache pseudo-locked region is triggered by a request
440 from the user to do so that is accompanied by a schemata of the region
441 to be pseudo-locked. The cache pseudo-locked region is created as follows:
442 - Create a CAT allocation CLOSNEW with a CBM matching the schemata
443 from the user of the cache region that will contain the pseudo-locked
444 memory. This region must not overlap with any current CAT allocation/CLOS
445 on the system and no future overlap with this cache region is allowed
446 while the pseudo-locked region exists.
447 - Create a contiguous region of memory of the same size as the cache
449 - Flush the cache, disable hardware prefetchers, disable preemption.
450 - Make CLOSNEW the active CLOS and touch the allocated memory to load
452 - Set the previous CLOS as active.
453 - At this point the closid CLOSNEW can be released - the cache
454 pseudo-locked region is protected as long as its CBM does not appear in
455 any CAT allocation. Even though the cache pseudo-locked region will from
456 this point on not appear in any CBM of any CLOS an application running with
457 any CLOS will be able to access the memory in the pseudo-locked region since
458 the region continues to serve cache hits.
459 - The contiguous region of memory loaded into the cache is exposed to
460 user-space as a character device.
462 Cache pseudo-locking increases the probability that data will remain
463 in the cache via carefully configuring the CAT feature and controlling
464 application behavior. There is no guarantee that data is placed in
465 cache. Instructions like INVD, WBINVD, CLFLUSH, etc. can still evict
466 “locked” data from cache. Power management C-states may shrink or
467 power off cache. Deeper C-states will automatically be restricted on
468 pseudo-locked region creation.
470 It is required that an application using a pseudo-locked region runs
471 with affinity to the cores (or a subset of the cores) associated
472 with the cache on which the pseudo-locked region resides. A sanity check
473 within the code will not allow an application to map pseudo-locked memory
474 unless it runs with affinity to cores associated with the cache on which the
475 pseudo-locked region resides. The sanity check is only done during the
476 initial mmap() handling, there is no enforcement afterwards and the
477 application self needs to ensure it remains affine to the correct cores.
479 Pseudo-locking is accomplished in two stages:
480 1) During the first stage the system administrator allocates a portion
481 of cache that should be dedicated to pseudo-locking. At this time an
482 equivalent portion of memory is allocated, loaded into allocated
483 cache portion, and exposed as a character device.
484 2) During the second stage a user-space application maps (mmap()) the
485 pseudo-locked memory into its address space.
487 Cache Pseudo-Locking Interface
488 ------------------------------
489 A pseudo-locked region is created using the resctrl interface as follows:
491 1) Create a new resource group by creating a new directory in /sys/fs/resctrl.
492 2) Change the new resource group's mode to "pseudo-locksetup" by writing
493 "pseudo-locksetup" to the "mode" file.
494 3) Write the schemata of the pseudo-locked region to the "schemata" file. All
495 bits within the schemata should be "unused" according to the "bit_usage"
498 On successful pseudo-locked region creation the "mode" file will contain
499 "pseudo-locked" and a new character device with the same name as the resource
500 group will exist in /dev/pseudo_lock. This character device can be mmap()'ed
501 by user space in order to obtain access to the pseudo-locked memory region.
503 An example of cache pseudo-locked region creation and usage can be found below.
505 Cache Pseudo-Locking Debugging Interface
506 ---------------------------------------
507 The pseudo-locking debugging interface is enabled by default (if
508 CONFIG_DEBUG_FS is enabled) and can be found in /sys/kernel/debug/resctrl.
510 There is no explicit way for the kernel to test if a provided memory
511 location is present in the cache. The pseudo-locking debugging interface uses
512 the tracing infrastructure to provide two ways to measure cache residency of
513 the pseudo-locked region:
514 1) Memory access latency using the pseudo_lock_mem_latency tracepoint. Data
515 from these measurements are best visualized using a hist trigger (see
516 example below). In this test the pseudo-locked region is traversed at
517 a stride of 32 bytes while hardware prefetchers and preemption
518 are disabled. This also provides a substitute visualization of cache
520 2) Cache hit and miss measurements using model specific precision counters if
521 available. Depending on the levels of cache on the system the pseudo_lock_l2
522 and pseudo_lock_l3 tracepoints are available.
524 When a pseudo-locked region is created a new debugfs directory is created for
525 it in debugfs as /sys/kernel/debug/resctrl/<newdir>. A single
526 write-only file, pseudo_lock_measure, is present in this directory. The
527 measurement of the pseudo-locked region depends on the number written to this
529 1 - writing "1" to the pseudo_lock_measure file will trigger the latency
530 measurement captured in the pseudo_lock_mem_latency tracepoint. See
532 2 - writing "2" to the pseudo_lock_measure file will trigger the L2 cache
533 residency (cache hits and misses) measurement captured in the
534 pseudo_lock_l2 tracepoint. See example below.
535 3 - writing "3" to the pseudo_lock_measure file will trigger the L3 cache
536 residency (cache hits and misses) measurement captured in the
537 pseudo_lock_l3 tracepoint.
539 All measurements are recorded with the tracing infrastructure. This requires
540 the relevant tracepoints to be enabled before the measurement is triggered.
542 Example of latency debugging interface:
543 In this example a pseudo-locked region named "newlock" was created. Here is
544 how we can measure the latency in cycles of reading from this region and
545 visualize this data with a histogram that is available if CONFIG_HIST_TRIGGERS
547 # :> /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace
548 # echo 'hist:keys=latency' > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/resctrl/pseudo_lock_mem_latency/trigger
549 # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/resctrl/pseudo_lock_mem_latency/enable
550 # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/resctrl/newlock/pseudo_lock_measure
551 # echo 0 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/resctrl/pseudo_lock_mem_latency/enable
552 # cat /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/resctrl/pseudo_lock_mem_latency/hist
556 # trigger info: hist:keys=latency:vals=hitcount:sort=hitcount:size=2048 [active]
559 { latency: 456 } hitcount: 1
560 { latency: 50 } hitcount: 83
561 { latency: 36 } hitcount: 96
562 { latency: 44 } hitcount: 174
563 { latency: 48 } hitcount: 195
564 { latency: 46 } hitcount: 262
565 { latency: 42 } hitcount: 693
566 { latency: 40 } hitcount: 3204
567 { latency: 38 } hitcount: 3484
574 Example of cache hits/misses debugging:
575 In this example a pseudo-locked region named "newlock" was created on the L2
576 cache of a platform. Here is how we can obtain details of the cache hits
577 and misses using the platform's precision counters.
579 # :> /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace
580 # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/resctrl/pseudo_lock_l2/enable
581 # echo 2 > /sys/kernel/debug/resctrl/newlock/pseudo_lock_measure
582 # echo 0 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/resctrl/pseudo_lock_l2/enable
583 # cat /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace
588 # / _----=> need-resched
589 # | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
590 # || / _--=> preempt-depth
592 # TASK-PID CPU# |||| TIMESTAMP FUNCTION
594 pseudo_lock_mea-1672 [002] .... 3132.860500: pseudo_lock_l2: hits=4097 miss=0
597 Examples for RDT allocation usage:
601 On a two socket machine (one L3 cache per socket) with just four bits
602 for cache bit masks, minimum b/w of 10% with a memory bandwidth
605 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl
608 # echo "L3:0=3;1=c\nMB:0=50;1=50" > /sys/fs/resctrl/p0/schemata
609 # echo "L3:0=3;1=3\nMB:0=50;1=50" > /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/schemata
611 The default resource group is unmodified, so we have access to all parts
612 of all caches (its schemata file reads "L3:0=f;1=f").
614 Tasks that are under the control of group "p0" may only allocate from the
615 "lower" 50% on cache ID 0, and the "upper" 50% of cache ID 1.
616 Tasks in group "p1" use the "lower" 50% of cache on both sockets.
618 Similarly, tasks that are under the control of group "p0" may use a
619 maximum memory b/w of 50% on socket0 and 50% on socket 1.
620 Tasks in group "p1" may also use 50% memory b/w on both sockets.
621 Note that unlike cache masks, memory b/w cannot specify whether these
622 allocations can overlap or not. The allocations specifies the maximum
623 b/w that the group may be able to use and the system admin can configure
626 If the MBA is specified in MB(megabytes) then user can enter the max b/w in MB
627 rather than the percentage values.
629 # echo "L3:0=3;1=c\nMB:0=1024;1=500" > /sys/fs/resctrl/p0/schemata
630 # echo "L3:0=3;1=3\nMB:0=1024;1=500" > /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/schemata
632 In the above example the tasks in "p1" and "p0" on socket 0 would use a max b/w
633 of 1024MB where as on socket 1 they would use 500MB.
637 Again two sockets, but this time with a more realistic 20-bit mask.
639 Two real time tasks pid=1234 running on processor 0 and pid=5678 running on
640 processor 1 on socket 0 on a 2-socket and dual core machine. To avoid noisy
641 neighbors, each of the two real-time tasks exclusively occupies one quarter
642 of L3 cache on socket 0.
644 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl
647 First we reset the schemata for the default group so that the "upper"
648 50% of the L3 cache on socket 0 and 50% of memory b/w cannot be used by
651 # echo "L3:0=3ff;1=fffff\nMB:0=50;1=100" > schemata
653 Next we make a resource group for our first real time task and give
654 it access to the "top" 25% of the cache on socket 0.
657 # echo "L3:0=f8000;1=fffff" > p0/schemata
659 Finally we move our first real time task into this resource group. We
660 also use taskset(1) to ensure the task always runs on a dedicated CPU
661 on socket 0. Most uses of resource groups will also constrain which
662 processors tasks run on.
664 # echo 1234 > p0/tasks
667 Ditto for the second real time task (with the remaining 25% of cache):
670 # echo "L3:0=7c00;1=fffff" > p1/schemata
671 # echo 5678 > p1/tasks
674 For the same 2 socket system with memory b/w resource and CAT L3 the
675 schemata would look like(Assume min_bandwidth 10 and bandwidth_gran is
678 For our first real time task this would request 20% memory b/w on socket
681 # echo -e "L3:0=f8000;1=fffff\nMB:0=20;1=100" > p0/schemata
683 For our second real time task this would request an other 20% memory b/w
686 # echo -e "L3:0=f8000;1=fffff\nMB:0=20;1=100" > p0/schemata
691 A single socket system which has real-time tasks running on core 4-7 and
692 non real-time workload assigned to core 0-3. The real-time tasks share text
693 and data, so a per task association is not required and due to interaction
694 with the kernel it's desired that the kernel on these cores shares L3 with
697 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl
700 First we reset the schemata for the default group so that the "upper"
701 50% of the L3 cache on socket 0, and 50% of memory bandwidth on socket 0
702 cannot be used by ordinary tasks:
704 # echo "L3:0=3ff\nMB:0=50" > schemata
706 Next we make a resource group for our real time cores and give it access
707 to the "top" 50% of the cache on socket 0 and 50% of memory bandwidth on
711 # echo "L3:0=ffc00\nMB:0=50" > p0/schemata
713 Finally we move core 4-7 over to the new group and make sure that the
714 kernel and the tasks running there get 50% of the cache. They should
715 also get 50% of memory bandwidth assuming that the cores 4-7 are SMT
716 siblings and only the real time threads are scheduled on the cores 4-7.
723 The resource groups in previous examples were all in the default "shareable"
724 mode allowing sharing of their cache allocations. If one resource group
725 configures a cache allocation then nothing prevents another resource group
726 to overlap with that allocation.
728 In this example a new exclusive resource group will be created on a L2 CAT
729 system with two L2 cache instances that can be configured with an 8-bit
730 capacity bitmask. The new exclusive resource group will be configured to use
731 25% of each cache instance.
733 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl/
736 First, we observe that the default group is configured to allocate to all L2
742 We could attempt to create the new resource group at this point, but it will
743 fail because of the overlap with the schemata of the default group:
745 # echo 'L2:0=0x3;1=0x3' > p0/schemata
748 # echo exclusive > p0/mode
749 -sh: echo: write error: Invalid argument
750 # cat info/last_cmd_status
753 To ensure that there is no overlap with another resource group the default
754 resource group's schemata has to change, making it possible for the new
755 resource group to become exclusive.
756 # echo 'L2:0=0xfc;1=0xfc' > schemata
757 # echo exclusive > p0/mode
761 p0/schemata:L2:0=03;1=03
762 p0/size:L2:0=262144;1=262144
764 A new resource group will on creation not overlap with an exclusive resource
770 p1/schemata:L2:0=fc;1=fc
771 p1/size:L2:0=786432;1=786432
773 The bit_usage will reflect how the cache is used:
774 # cat info/L2/bit_usage
775 0=SSSSSSEE;1=SSSSSSEE
777 A resource group cannot be forced to overlap with an exclusive resource group:
778 # echo 'L2:0=0x1;1=0x1' > p1/schemata
779 -sh: echo: write error: Invalid argument
780 # cat info/last_cmd_status
781 overlaps with exclusive group
783 Example of Cache Pseudo-Locking
784 -------------------------------
785 Lock portion of L2 cache from cache id 1 using CBM 0x3. Pseudo-locked
786 region is exposed at /dev/pseudo_lock/newlock that can be provided to
787 application for argument to mmap().
789 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl/
792 Ensure that there are bits available that can be pseudo-locked, since only
793 unused bits can be pseudo-locked the bits to be pseudo-locked needs to be
794 removed from the default resource group's schemata:
795 # cat info/L2/bit_usage
796 0=SSSSSSSS;1=SSSSSSSS
797 # echo 'L2:1=0xfc' > schemata
798 # cat info/L2/bit_usage
799 0=SSSSSSSS;1=SSSSSS00
801 Create a new resource group that will be associated with the pseudo-locked
802 region, indicate that it will be used for a pseudo-locked region, and
803 configure the requested pseudo-locked region capacity bitmask:
806 # echo pseudo-locksetup > newlock/mode
807 # echo 'L2:1=0x3' > newlock/schemata
809 On success the resource group's mode will change to pseudo-locked, the
810 bit_usage will reflect the pseudo-locked region, and the character device
811 exposing the pseudo-locked region will exist:
815 # cat info/L2/bit_usage
816 0=SSSSSSSS;1=SSSSSSPP
817 # ls -l /dev/pseudo_lock/newlock
818 crw------- 1 root root 243, 0 Apr 3 05:01 /dev/pseudo_lock/newlock
821 * Example code to access one page of pseudo-locked cache region
830 #include <sys/mman.h>
833 * It is required that the application runs with affinity to only
834 * cores associated with the pseudo-locked region. Here the cpu
835 * is hardcoded for convenience of example.
837 static int cpuid = 2;
839 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
847 page_size = sysconf(_SC_PAGESIZE);
850 CPU_SET(cpuid, &cpuset);
851 ret = sched_setaffinity(0, sizeof(cpuset), &cpuset);
853 perror("sched_setaffinity");
857 dev_fd = open("/dev/pseudo_lock/newlock", O_RDWR);
863 mapping = mmap(0, page_size, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED,
865 if (mapping == MAP_FAILED) {
871 /* Application interacts with pseudo-locked memory @mapping */
873 ret = munmap(mapping, page_size);
884 Locking between applications
885 ----------------------------
887 Certain operations on the resctrl filesystem, composed of read/writes
888 to/from multiple files, must be atomic.
890 As an example, the allocation of an exclusive reservation of L3 cache
893 1. Read the cbmmasks from each directory or the per-resource "bit_usage"
894 2. Find a contiguous set of bits in the global CBM bitmask that is clear
895 in any of the directory cbmmasks
896 3. Create a new directory
897 4. Set the bits found in step 2 to the new directory "schemata" file
899 If two applications attempt to allocate space concurrently then they can
900 end up allocating the same bits so the reservations are shared instead of
903 To coordinate atomic operations on the resctrlfs and to avoid the problem
904 above, the following locking procedure is recommended:
906 Locking is based on flock, which is available in libc and also as a shell
911 A) Take flock(LOCK_EX) on /sys/fs/resctrl
912 B) Read/write the directory structure.
917 A) Take flock(LOCK_SH) on /sys/fs/resctrl
918 B) If success read the directory structure.
923 # Atomically read directory structure
924 $ flock -s /sys/fs/resctrl/ find /sys/fs/resctrl
926 # Read directory contents and create new subdirectory
929 find /sys/fs/resctrl/ > output.txt
930 mask = function-of(output.txt)
931 mkdir /sys/fs/resctrl/newres/
932 echo mask > /sys/fs/resctrl/newres/schemata
934 $ flock /sys/fs/resctrl/ ./create-dir.sh
939 * Example code do take advisory locks
940 * before accessing resctrl filesystem
942 #include <sys/file.h>
945 void resctrl_take_shared_lock(int fd)
949 /* take shared lock on resctrl filesystem */
950 ret = flock(fd, LOCK_SH);
957 void resctrl_take_exclusive_lock(int fd)
961 /* release lock on resctrl filesystem */
962 ret = flock(fd, LOCK_EX);
969 void resctrl_release_lock(int fd)
973 /* take shared lock on resctrl filesystem */
974 ret = flock(fd, LOCK_UN);
985 fd = open("/sys/fs/resctrl", O_DIRECTORY);
990 resctrl_take_shared_lock(fd);
991 /* code to read directory contents */
992 resctrl_release_lock(fd);
994 resctrl_take_exclusive_lock(fd);
995 /* code to read and write directory contents */
996 resctrl_release_lock(fd);
999 Examples for RDT Monitoring along with allocation usage:
1001 Reading monitored data
1002 ----------------------
1003 Reading an event file (for ex: mon_data/mon_L3_00/llc_occupancy) would
1004 show the current snapshot of LLC occupancy of the corresponding MON
1005 group or CTRL_MON group.
1008 Example 1 (Monitor CTRL_MON group and subset of tasks in CTRL_MON group)
1010 On a two socket machine (one L3 cache per socket) with just four bits
1013 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl
1014 # cd /sys/fs/resctrl
1016 # echo "L3:0=3;1=c" > /sys/fs/resctrl/p0/schemata
1017 # echo "L3:0=3;1=3" > /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/schemata
1018 # echo 5678 > p1/tasks
1019 # echo 5679 > p1/tasks
1021 The default resource group is unmodified, so we have access to all parts
1022 of all caches (its schemata file reads "L3:0=f;1=f").
1024 Tasks that are under the control of group "p0" may only allocate from the
1025 "lower" 50% on cache ID 0, and the "upper" 50% of cache ID 1.
1026 Tasks in group "p1" use the "lower" 50% of cache on both sockets.
1028 Create monitor groups and assign a subset of tasks to each monitor group.
1030 # cd /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/mon_groups
1032 # echo 5678 > m11/tasks
1033 # echo 5679 > m12/tasks
1035 fetch data (data shown in bytes)
1037 # cat m11/mon_data/mon_L3_00/llc_occupancy
1039 # cat m11/mon_data/mon_L3_01/llc_occupancy
1041 # cat m12/mon_data/mon_L3_00/llc_occupancy
1044 The parent ctrl_mon group shows the aggregated data.
1046 # cat /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/mon_data/mon_l3_00/llc_occupancy
1049 Example 2 (Monitor a task from its creation)
1051 On a two socket machine (one L3 cache per socket)
1053 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl
1054 # cd /sys/fs/resctrl
1057 An RMID is allocated to the group once its created and hence the <cmd>
1058 below is monitored from its creation.
1060 # echo $$ > /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/tasks
1065 # cat /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/mon_data/mon_l3_00/llc_occupancy
1068 Example 3 (Monitor without CAT support or before creating CAT groups)
1071 Assume a system like HSW has only CQM and no CAT support. In this case
1072 the resctrl will still mount but cannot create CTRL_MON directories.
1073 But user can create different MON groups within the root group thereby
1074 able to monitor all tasks including kernel threads.
1076 This can also be used to profile jobs cache size footprint before being
1077 able to allocate them to different allocation groups.
1079 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl
1080 # cd /sys/fs/resctrl
1081 # mkdir mon_groups/m01
1082 # mkdir mon_groups/m02
1084 # echo 3478 > /sys/fs/resctrl/mon_groups/m01/tasks
1085 # echo 2467 > /sys/fs/resctrl/mon_groups/m02/tasks
1087 Monitor the groups separately and also get per domain data. From the
1088 below its apparent that the tasks are mostly doing work on
1091 # cat /sys/fs/resctrl/mon_groups/m01/mon_L3_00/llc_occupancy
1093 # cat /sys/fs/resctrl/mon_groups/m01/mon_L3_01/llc_occupancy
1095 # cat /sys/fs/resctrl/mon_groups/m02/mon_L3_00/llc_occupancy
1097 # cat /sys/fs/resctrl/mon_groups/m02/mon_L3_01/llc_occupancy
1101 Example 4 (Monitor real time tasks)
1102 -----------------------------------
1104 A single socket system which has real time tasks running on cores 4-7
1105 and non real time tasks on other cpus. We want to monitor the cache
1106 occupancy of the real time threads on these cores.
1108 # mount -t resctrl resctrl /sys/fs/resctrl
1109 # cd /sys/fs/resctrl
1112 Move the cpus 4-7 over to p1
1115 View the llc occupancy snapshot
1117 # cat /sys/fs/resctrl/p1/mon_data/mon_L3_00/llc_occupancy