| Message ID | 20191030224930.3990755-20-jhubbard@nvidia.com (mailing list archive) |
|---|---|
| State | New, archived |
| Headers | show |
| Series | mm/gup: track dma-pinned pages: FOLL_PIN, FOLL_LONGTERM | expand |
On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 03:49:30PM -0700, John Hubbard wrote: > Document the new pin_user_pages() and related calls > and behavior. > > Thanks to Jan Kara and Vlastimil Babka for explaining the 4 cases > in this documentation. (I've reworded it and expanded on it slightly.) As I said before I think this may be better in a previous patch where you reference it. Ira > > Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> > Signed-off-by: John Hubbard <jhubbard@nvidia.com> > --- > Documentation/vm/index.rst | 1 + > Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst | 213 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > 2 files changed, 214 insertions(+) > create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst > > diff --git a/Documentation/vm/index.rst b/Documentation/vm/index.rst > index e8d943b21cf9..7194efa3554a 100644 > --- a/Documentation/vm/index.rst > +++ b/Documentation/vm/index.rst > @@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ descriptions of data structures and algorithms. > page_migration > page_frags > page_owner > + pin_user_pages > remap_file_pages > slub > split_page_table_lock > diff --git a/Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst b/Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst > new file mode 100644 > index 000000000000..7110bca3f188 > --- /dev/null > +++ b/Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst > @@ -0,0 +1,213 @@ > +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 > + > +==================================================== > +pin_user_pages() and related calls > +==================================================== > + > +.. contents:: :local: > + > +Overview > +======== > + > +This document describes the following functions: :: > + > + pin_user_pages > + pin_user_pages_fast > + pin_user_pages_remote > + > + pin_longterm_pages > + pin_longterm_pages_fast > + pin_longterm_pages_remote > + > +Basic description of FOLL_PIN > +============================= > + > +A new flag for get_user_pages ("gup") has been added: FOLL_PIN. FOLL_PIN has > +significant interactions and interdependencies with FOLL_LONGTERM, so both are > +covered here. > + > +Both FOLL_PIN and FOLL_LONGTERM are "internal" to gup, meaning that neither > +FOLL_PIN nor FOLL_LONGTERM should not appear at the gup call sites. This allows > +the associated wrapper functions (pin_user_pages and others) to set the correct > +combination of these flags, and to check for problems as well. > + > +FOLL_PIN and FOLL_GET are mutually exclusive for a given gup call. However, > +multiple threads and call sites are free to pin the same struct pages, via both > +FOLL_PIN and FOLL_GET. It's just the call site that needs to choose one or the > +other, not the struct page(s). > + > +The FOLL_PIN implementation is nearly the same as FOLL_GET, except that FOLL_PIN > +uses a different reference counting technique. > + > +FOLL_PIN is a prerequisite to FOLL_LONGTGERM. Another way of saying that is, > +FOLL_LONGTERM is a specific case, more restrictive case of FOLL_PIN. > + > +Which flags are set by each wrapper > +=================================== > + > +Only FOLL_PIN and FOLL_LONGTERM are covered here. These flags are added to > +whatever flags the caller provides:: > + > + Function gup flags (FOLL_PIN or FOLL_LONGTERM only) > + -------- ------------------------------------------ > + pin_user_pages FOLL_PIN > + pin_user_pages_fast FOLL_PIN > + pin_user_pages_remote FOLL_PIN > + > + pin_longterm_pages FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM > + pin_longterm_pages_fast FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM > + pin_longterm_pages_remote FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM > + > +Tracking dma-pinned pages > +========================= > + > +Some of the key design constraints, and solutions, for tracking dma-pinned > +pages: > + > +* An actual reference count, per struct page, is required. This is because > + multiple processes may pin and unpin a page. > + > +* False positives (reporting that a page is dma-pinned, when in fact it is not) > + are acceptable, but false negatives are not. > + > +* struct page may not be increased in size for this, and all fields are already > + used. > + > +* Given the above, we can overload the page->_refcount field by using, sort of, > + the upper bits in that field for a dma-pinned count. "Sort of", means that, > + rather than dividing page->_refcount into bit fields, we simple add a medium- > + large value (GUP_PIN_COUNTING_BIAS, initially chosen to be 1024: 10 bits) to > + page->_refcount. This provides fuzzy behavior: if a page has get_page() called > + on it 1024 times, then it will appear to have a single dma-pinned count. > + And again, that's acceptable. > + > +This also leads to limitations: there are only 32-10==22 bits available for a > +counter that increments 10 bits at a time. > + > +TODO: for 1GB and larger huge pages, this is cutting it close. That's because > +when pin_user_pages() follows such pages, it increments the head page by "1" > +(where "1" used to mean "+1" for get_user_pages(), but now means "+1024" for > +pin_user_pages()) for each tail page. So if you have a 1GB huge page: > + > +* There are 256K (18 bits) worth of 4 KB tail pages. > +* There are 22 bits available to count up via GUP_PIN_COUNTING_BIAS (that is, > + 10 bits at a time) > +* There are 22 - 18 == 4 bits available to count. Except that there aren't, > + because you need to allow for a few normal get_page() calls on the head page, > + as well. Fortunately, the approach of using addition, rather than "hard" > + bitfields, within page->_refcount, allows for sharing these bits gracefully. > + But we're still looking at about 16 references. > + > +This, however, is a missing feature more than anything else, because it's easily > +solved by addressing an obvious inefficiency in the original get_user_pages() > +approach of retrieving pages: stop treating all the pages as if they were > +PAGE_SIZE. Retrieve huge pages as huge pages. The callers need to be aware of > +this, so some work is required. Once that's in place, this limitation mostly > +disappears from view, because there will be ample refcounting range available. > + > +* Callers must specifically request "dma-pinned tracking of pages". In other > + words, just calling get_user_pages() will not suffice; a new set of functions, > + pin_user_page() and related, must be used. > + > +FOLL_PIN, FOLL_GET, FOLL_LONGTERM: when to use which flags > +========================================================== > + > +Thanks to Jan Kara, Vlastimil Babka and several other -mm people, for describing > +these categories: > + > +CASE 1: Direct IO (DIO) > +----------------------- > +There are GUP references to pages that are serving > +as DIO buffers. These buffers are needed for a relatively short time (so they > +are not "long term"). No special synchronization with page_mkclean() or > +munmap() is provided. Therefore, flags to set at the call site are: :: > + > + FOLL_PIN > + > +...but rather than setting FOLL_PIN directly, call sites should use one of > +the pin_user_pages*() routines that set FOLL_PIN. > + > +CASE 2: RDMA > +------------ > +There are GUP references to pages that are serving as DMA > +buffers. These buffers are needed for a long time ("long term"). No special > +synchronization with page_mkclean() or munmap() is provided. Therefore, flags > +to set at the call site are: :: > + > + FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM > + > +TODO: There is also a special case when the pages are DAX pages: in addition to > +the above flags, the caller needs something like a layout lease on the > +associated file. This is yet to be implemented. When it is implemented, it's > +expected that the lease will be a prerequisite to setting FOLL_LONGTERM. For now we probably want to leave this note out until we figure out how this is going to work. Best to say something like: Some pages, such as DAX pages, can't be pinned with longterm pins and will fail. Ira > + > +CASE 3: ODP > +----------- > +(Mellanox/Infiniband On Demand Paging: the hardware supports > +replayable page faulting). There are GUP references to pages serving as DMA > +buffers. For ODP, MMU notifiers are used to synchronize with page_mkclean() > +and munmap(). Therefore, normal GUP calls are sufficient, so neither flag > +needs to be set. > + > +CASE 4: Pinning for struct page manipulation only > +------------------------------------------------- > +Here, normal GUP calls are sufficient, so neither flag needs to be set. > + > +page_dma_pinned(): the whole point of pinning > +============================================= > + > +The whole point of marking pages as "DMA-pinned" or "gup-pinned" is to be able > +to query, "is this page DMA-pinned?" That allows code such as page_mkclean() > +(and file system writeback code in general) to make informed decisions about > +what to do when a page cannot be unmapped due to such pins. > + > +What to do in those cases is the subject of a years-long series of discussions > +and debates (see the References at the end of this document). It's a TODO item > +here: fill in the details once that's worked out. Meanwhile, it's safe to say > +that having this available: :: > + > + static inline bool page_dma_pinned(struct page *page) > + > +...is a prerequisite to solving the long-running gup+DMA problem. > + > +Another way of thinking about FOLL_GET, FOLL_PIN, and FOLL_LONGTERM > +=================================================================== > + > +Another way of thinking about these flags is as a progression of restrictions: > +FOLL_GET is for struct page manipulation, without affecting the data that the > +struct page refers to. FOLL_PIN is a *replacement* for FOLL_GET, and is for > +short term pins on pages whose data *will* get accessed. As such, FOLL_PIN is > +a "more severe" form of pinning. And finally, FOLL_LONGTERM is an even more > +restrictive case that has FOLL_PIN as a prerequisite: this is for pages that > +will be pinned longterm, and whose data will be accessed. > + > +Unit testing > +============ > +This file:: > + > + tools/testing/selftests/vm/gup_benchmark.c > + > +has the following new calls to exercise the new pin*() wrapper functions: > + > +* PIN_FAST_BENCHMARK (./gup_benchmark -a) > +* PIN_LONGTERM_BENCHMARK (./gup_benchmark -a) > +* PIN_BENCHMARK (./gup_benchmark -a) > + > +You can monitor how many total dma-pinned pages have been acquired and released > +since the system was booted, via two new /proc/vmstat entries: :: > + > + /proc/vmstat/nr_foll_pin_requested > + /proc/vmstat/nr_foll_pin_requested > + > +Those are both going to show zero, unless CONFIG_DEBUG_VM is set. This is > +because there is a noticeable performance drop in put_user_page(), when they > +are activated. > + > +References > +========== > + > +* `Some slow progress on get_user_pages() (Apr 2, 2019) <https://lwn.net/Articles/784574/>`_ > +* `DMA and get_user_pages() (LPC: Dec 12, 2018) <https://lwn.net/Articles/774411/>`_ > +* `The trouble with get_user_pages() (Apr 30, 2018) <https://lwn.net/Articles/753027/>`_ > + > +John Hubbard, October, 2019 > -- > 2.23.0 >
On 10/31/19 4:49 PM, Ira Weiny wrote: > On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 03:49:30PM -0700, John Hubbard wrote: >> Document the new pin_user_pages() and related calls >> and behavior. >> >> Thanks to Jan Kara and Vlastimil Babka for explaining the 4 cases >> in this documentation. (I've reworded it and expanded on it slightly.) > > As I said before I think this may be better in a previous patch where you > reference it. Yes, I'll merge this in with patch #5 ("mm/gup: introduce pin_user_pages*() and FOLL_PIN"). ... >> +TODO: There is also a special case when the pages are DAX pages: in addition to >> +the above flags, the caller needs something like a layout lease on the >> +associated file. This is yet to be implemented. When it is implemented, it's >> +expected that the lease will be a prerequisite to setting FOLL_LONGTERM. > > For now we probably want to leave this note out until we figure out how this is > going to work. Best to say something like: > > Some pages, such as DAX pages, can't be pinned with longterm pins and will > fail. > OK, that is better, I'll use that instead of the "TODO". thanks, John Hubbard NVIDIA
On 10/31/19 4:49 PM, Ira Weiny wrote: > On Wed, Oct 30, 2019 at 03:49:30PM -0700, John Hubbard wrote: ... >> +TODO: There is also a special case when the pages are DAX pages: in addition to >> +the above flags, the caller needs something like a layout lease on the >> +associated file. This is yet to be implemented. When it is implemented, it's >> +expected that the lease will be a prerequisite to setting FOLL_LONGTERM. > > For now we probably want to leave this note out until we figure out how this is > going to work. Best to say something like: > > Some pages, such as DAX pages, can't be pinned with longterm pins and will > fail. > OK, I have this wording queued up for the v2 patch: NOTE: Some pages, such as DAX pages, cannot be pinned with longterm pins. That's because DAX pages do not have a separate page cache, and so "pinning" implies locking down file system blocks, which is not (yet) supported in that way. thanks, John Hubbard NVIDIA
diff --git a/Documentation/vm/index.rst b/Documentation/vm/index.rst index e8d943b21cf9..7194efa3554a 100644 --- a/Documentation/vm/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/vm/index.rst @@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ descriptions of data structures and algorithms. page_migration page_frags page_owner + pin_user_pages remap_file_pages slub split_page_table_lock diff --git a/Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst b/Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..7110bca3f188 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst @@ -0,0 +1,213 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +==================================================== +pin_user_pages() and related calls +==================================================== + +.. contents:: :local: + +Overview +======== + +This document describes the following functions: :: + + pin_user_pages + pin_user_pages_fast + pin_user_pages_remote + + pin_longterm_pages + pin_longterm_pages_fast + pin_longterm_pages_remote + +Basic description of FOLL_PIN +============================= + +A new flag for get_user_pages ("gup") has been added: FOLL_PIN. FOLL_PIN has +significant interactions and interdependencies with FOLL_LONGTERM, so both are +covered here. + +Both FOLL_PIN and FOLL_LONGTERM are "internal" to gup, meaning that neither +FOLL_PIN nor FOLL_LONGTERM should not appear at the gup call sites. This allows +the associated wrapper functions (pin_user_pages and others) to set the correct +combination of these flags, and to check for problems as well. + +FOLL_PIN and FOLL_GET are mutually exclusive for a given gup call. However, +multiple threads and call sites are free to pin the same struct pages, via both +FOLL_PIN and FOLL_GET. It's just the call site that needs to choose one or the +other, not the struct page(s). + +The FOLL_PIN implementation is nearly the same as FOLL_GET, except that FOLL_PIN +uses a different reference counting technique. + +FOLL_PIN is a prerequisite to FOLL_LONGTGERM. Another way of saying that is, +FOLL_LONGTERM is a specific case, more restrictive case of FOLL_PIN. + +Which flags are set by each wrapper +=================================== + +Only FOLL_PIN and FOLL_LONGTERM are covered here. These flags are added to +whatever flags the caller provides:: + + Function gup flags (FOLL_PIN or FOLL_LONGTERM only) + -------- ------------------------------------------ + pin_user_pages FOLL_PIN + pin_user_pages_fast FOLL_PIN + pin_user_pages_remote FOLL_PIN + + pin_longterm_pages FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM + pin_longterm_pages_fast FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM + pin_longterm_pages_remote FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM + +Tracking dma-pinned pages +========================= + +Some of the key design constraints, and solutions, for tracking dma-pinned +pages: + +* An actual reference count, per struct page, is required. This is because + multiple processes may pin and unpin a page. + +* False positives (reporting that a page is dma-pinned, when in fact it is not) + are acceptable, but false negatives are not. + +* struct page may not be increased in size for this, and all fields are already + used. + +* Given the above, we can overload the page->_refcount field by using, sort of, + the upper bits in that field for a dma-pinned count. "Sort of", means that, + rather than dividing page->_refcount into bit fields, we simple add a medium- + large value (GUP_PIN_COUNTING_BIAS, initially chosen to be 1024: 10 bits) to + page->_refcount. This provides fuzzy behavior: if a page has get_page() called + on it 1024 times, then it will appear to have a single dma-pinned count. + And again, that's acceptable. + +This also leads to limitations: there are only 32-10==22 bits available for a +counter that increments 10 bits at a time. + +TODO: for 1GB and larger huge pages, this is cutting it close. That's because +when pin_user_pages() follows such pages, it increments the head page by "1" +(where "1" used to mean "+1" for get_user_pages(), but now means "+1024" for +pin_user_pages()) for each tail page. So if you have a 1GB huge page: + +* There are 256K (18 bits) worth of 4 KB tail pages. +* There are 22 bits available to count up via GUP_PIN_COUNTING_BIAS (that is, + 10 bits at a time) +* There are 22 - 18 == 4 bits available to count. Except that there aren't, + because you need to allow for a few normal get_page() calls on the head page, + as well. Fortunately, the approach of using addition, rather than "hard" + bitfields, within page->_refcount, allows for sharing these bits gracefully. + But we're still looking at about 16 references. + +This, however, is a missing feature more than anything else, because it's easily +solved by addressing an obvious inefficiency in the original get_user_pages() +approach of retrieving pages: stop treating all the pages as if they were +PAGE_SIZE. Retrieve huge pages as huge pages. The callers need to be aware of +this, so some work is required. Once that's in place, this limitation mostly +disappears from view, because there will be ample refcounting range available. + +* Callers must specifically request "dma-pinned tracking of pages". In other + words, just calling get_user_pages() will not suffice; a new set of functions, + pin_user_page() and related, must be used. + +FOLL_PIN, FOLL_GET, FOLL_LONGTERM: when to use which flags +========================================================== + +Thanks to Jan Kara, Vlastimil Babka and several other -mm people, for describing +these categories: + +CASE 1: Direct IO (DIO) +----------------------- +There are GUP references to pages that are serving +as DIO buffers. These buffers are needed for a relatively short time (so they +are not "long term"). No special synchronization with page_mkclean() or +munmap() is provided. Therefore, flags to set at the call site are: :: + + FOLL_PIN + +...but rather than setting FOLL_PIN directly, call sites should use one of +the pin_user_pages*() routines that set FOLL_PIN. + +CASE 2: RDMA +------------ +There are GUP references to pages that are serving as DMA +buffers. These buffers are needed for a long time ("long term"). No special +synchronization with page_mkclean() or munmap() is provided. Therefore, flags +to set at the call site are: :: + + FOLL_PIN | FOLL_LONGTERM + +TODO: There is also a special case when the pages are DAX pages: in addition to +the above flags, the caller needs something like a layout lease on the +associated file. This is yet to be implemented. When it is implemented, it's +expected that the lease will be a prerequisite to setting FOLL_LONGTERM. + +CASE 3: ODP +----------- +(Mellanox/Infiniband On Demand Paging: the hardware supports +replayable page faulting). There are GUP references to pages serving as DMA +buffers. For ODP, MMU notifiers are used to synchronize with page_mkclean() +and munmap(). Therefore, normal GUP calls are sufficient, so neither flag +needs to be set. + +CASE 4: Pinning for struct page manipulation only +------------------------------------------------- +Here, normal GUP calls are sufficient, so neither flag needs to be set. + +page_dma_pinned(): the whole point of pinning +============================================= + +The whole point of marking pages as "DMA-pinned" or "gup-pinned" is to be able +to query, "is this page DMA-pinned?" That allows code such as page_mkclean() +(and file system writeback code in general) to make informed decisions about +what to do when a page cannot be unmapped due to such pins. + +What to do in those cases is the subject of a years-long series of discussions +and debates (see the References at the end of this document). It's a TODO item +here: fill in the details once that's worked out. Meanwhile, it's safe to say +that having this available: :: + + static inline bool page_dma_pinned(struct page *page) + +...is a prerequisite to solving the long-running gup+DMA problem. + +Another way of thinking about FOLL_GET, FOLL_PIN, and FOLL_LONGTERM +=================================================================== + +Another way of thinking about these flags is as a progression of restrictions: +FOLL_GET is for struct page manipulation, without affecting the data that the +struct page refers to. FOLL_PIN is a *replacement* for FOLL_GET, and is for +short term pins on pages whose data *will* get accessed. As such, FOLL_PIN is +a "more severe" form of pinning. And finally, FOLL_LONGTERM is an even more +restrictive case that has FOLL_PIN as a prerequisite: this is for pages that +will be pinned longterm, and whose data will be accessed. + +Unit testing +============ +This file:: + + tools/testing/selftests/vm/gup_benchmark.c + +has the following new calls to exercise the new pin*() wrapper functions: + +* PIN_FAST_BENCHMARK (./gup_benchmark -a) +* PIN_LONGTERM_BENCHMARK (./gup_benchmark -a) +* PIN_BENCHMARK (./gup_benchmark -a) + +You can monitor how many total dma-pinned pages have been acquired and released +since the system was booted, via two new /proc/vmstat entries: :: + + /proc/vmstat/nr_foll_pin_requested + /proc/vmstat/nr_foll_pin_requested + +Those are both going to show zero, unless CONFIG_DEBUG_VM is set. This is +because there is a noticeable performance drop in put_user_page(), when they +are activated. + +References +========== + +* `Some slow progress on get_user_pages() (Apr 2, 2019) <https://lwn.net/Articles/784574/>`_ +* `DMA and get_user_pages() (LPC: Dec 12, 2018) <https://lwn.net/Articles/774411/>`_ +* `The trouble with get_user_pages() (Apr 30, 2018) <https://lwn.net/Articles/753027/>`_ + +John Hubbard, October, 2019
Document the new pin_user_pages() and related calls and behavior. Thanks to Jan Kara and Vlastimil Babka for explaining the 4 cases in this documentation. (I've reworded it and expanded on it slightly.) Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> Signed-off-by: John Hubbard <jhubbard@nvidia.com> --- Documentation/vm/index.rst | 1 + Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst | 213 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 214 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/vm/pin_user_pages.rst