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Allocating%20Memory

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memset(dptr- data[s_pos], 0, scullc_quantum); To release memory. for (i = 0; i qset; i ) ... memset(dptr- data[s_pos], 0, PAGE_SIZE dptr- order); A scull ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Allocating%20Memory


1
Allocating Memory
  • Ted Baker ? Andy Wang
  • CIS 4930 / COP 5641

2
Topics
  • kmalloc and friends
  • get_free_page and friends
  • vmalloc and friends
  • Memory usage pitfalls

3
Linux Memory Manager (1)
  • Page allocator maintains individual pages

Page allocator
4
Linux Memory Manager (2)
  • Zone allocator allocates memory in power-of-two
    sizes

Page allocator
5
Linux Memory Manager (3)
  • Slab allocator groups allocations by sizes to
    reduce internal memory fragmentation

Zone allocator
Page allocator
6
kmalloc
  • Does not clear the memory
  • Allocates consecutive virtual/physical memory
    pages
  • Offset by PAGE_OFFSET
  • No changes to page tables
  • Tries its best to fulfill allocation requests
  • Large memory allocations can degrade the system
    performance significantly

7
The Flags Argument
  • kmalloc prototype
  • include ltlinux/slab_def.hgt
  • void kmalloc(size_t size, int flags)
  • GFP_KERNEL is the most commonly used flag
  • Eventually calls __get_free_pages (the origin of
    the GFP prefix)
  • Can put the current process to sleep while
    waiting for a page in low-memory situations
  • Cannot be used in atomic context

8
The Flags Argument
  • To obtain more memory
  • Flush dirty buffers to disk
  • Swapping out memory from user processes
  • GFP_ATOMIC is called in atomic context
  • Interrupt handlers, tasklets, and kernel timers
  • Does not sleep
  • If the memory is used up, the allocation fails
  • No flushing and swapping
  • Other flags are available
  • Defined in ltlinux/gfp.hgt

9
The Flags Argument
  • GFP_USER is used to allocate user pages it may
    sleep
  • GFP_HIGHUSER allocates high memory user pages
  • GFP_NOIO disallows I/O
  • GFP_NOFS does not allow making file system calls
  • Used in file system and virtual memory code
  • Disallow kmalloc to make recursive calls to file
    system and virtual memory code

10
The Flags Argument
  • Allocation priority flags
  • Prefixed with __
  • Used in combination with GFP flags (via ORs)
  • __GFP_DMA requests allocation to happen in the
    DMA-capable memory zone
  • __GFP_HIGHMEM indicates that the allocation may
    be allocated in high memory
  • __GFP_COLD requests for a page not used for some
    time (to avoid DMA contention)
  • __GFP_NOWARN disables printk warnings when an
    allocation cannot be satisfied

11
The Flags Argument
  • __GFP_HIGH marks a high priority request
  • Not for kmalloc
  • __GFP_REPEAT
  • Try harder
  • __GFP_NOFAIL
  • Failure is not an option (strongly discouraged)
  • __GFP_NORETRY
  • Give up immediately if the requested memory is
    not available

12
Memory Zones
  • DMA-capable memory
  • Platform dependent
  • First 16MB of RAM on the x86 for ISA devices
  • PCI devices have no such limit
  • Normal memory
  • High memory
  • Platform dependent
  • gt 32-bit addressable range

13
Memory Zones
  • If __GFP_DMA is specified
  • Allocation will only search for the DMA zone
  • If nothing is specified
  • Allocation will search both normal and DMA zones
  • If __GFP_HIGHMEM is specified
  • Allocation will search all three zones

14
The Size Argument
  • Kernel manages physical memory in pages
  • Needs special management to allocate small memory
    chunks
  • Linux creates pools of memory objects in
    predefined fixed sizes (32-byte, 64-byte,
    128-byte memory objects)
  • Smallest allocation unit for kmalloc is 32 or 64
    bytes
  • Largest portable allocation unit is 128KB

15
Lookaside Caches (Slab Allocator)
  • Nothing to do with TLB or hardware caching
  • Useful for USB and SCSI drivers
  • Improved performance
  • To create a cache for a tailored size
  • include ltlinux/slab.hgt
  • kmem_cache_t
  • kmem_cache_create(const char name, size_t size,
  • size_t offset, unsigned long
    flags,
  • void (constructor) (void ,
    kmem_cache_t ,
  • unsigned
    long flags),
  • void (destructor) (void ,
    kmem_cache_t ,
  • unsigned
    long flags))

16
Lookaside Caches (Slab Allocator)
  • name memory cache identifier
  • Allocated string without blanks
  • size allocation unit
  • offset starting offset in a page to align memory
  • Most likely 0

17
Lookaside Caches (Slab Allocator)
  • flags control how the allocation is done
  • SLAB_NO_REAP
  • Prevents the system from reducing this memory
    cache (normally a bad idea)
  • Obsolete
  • SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN
  • Requires each data object to be aligned to a
    cache line
  • Good option for frequently accessed objects on
    SMP machines
  • Potential fragmentation problems

18
Lookaside Caches (Slab Allocator)
  • SLAB_CACHE_DMA
  • Requires each object to be allocated in the DMA
    zone
  • See mm/slab.h for other flags
  • constructor initialize newly allocated objects
  • destructor clean up objects before an object is
    released
  • Constructor/destructor may not sleep due to
    atomic context

19
Lookaside Caches (Slab Allocator)
  • To allocate an memory object from the memory
    cache, call
  • void kmem_cache_alloc(kmem_cache_t cache, int
    flags)
  • cache the cache created previously
  • flags same flags for kmalloc
  • Failure rate is rather high
  • Must check the return value
  • To free an memory object, call
  • void kmem_cache_free(kmem_cache_t cache,
  • const void obj)

20
Lookaside Caches (Slab Allocator)
  • To free a memory cache, call
  • int kmem_cache_destroy(kmem_cache_t cache)
  • Need to check the return value
  • Failure indicates memory leak
  • Slab statistics are kept in /proc/slabinfo

21
A scull Based on the Slab Caches scullc
  • Declare slab cache
  • kmem_cache_t scullc_cache
  • Create a slab cache in the init function
  • / no constructor/destructor /
  • scullc_cache
  • kmem_cache_create("scullc", scullc_quantum,
    0,
  • SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN, NULL,
    NULL)
  • if (!scullc_cache)
  • scullc_cleanup()
  • return -ENOMEM

22
A scull Based on the Slab Caches scullc
  • To allocate memory quanta
  • if (!dptr-gtdatas_pos)
  • dptr-gtdatas_pos kmem_cache_alloc(scullc_cach
    e,

  • GFP_KERNEL)
  • if (!dptr-gtdatas_pos)
  • goto nomem
  • memset(dptr-gtdatas_pos, 0, scullc_quantum)
  • To release memory
  • for (i 0 i lt qset i)
  • if (dptr-gtdatai)
  • kmem_cache_free(scullc_cache, dptr-gtdatai)

23
A scull Based on the Slab Caches scullc
  • To destroy the memory cache at module unload time
  • / scullc_cleanup release the cache of our
    quanta /
  • if (scullc_cache)
  • kmem_cache_destroy(scullc_cache)

24
Memory Pools
  • Similar to memory cache
  • Reserve a pool of memory to guarantee the success
    of memory allocations
  • Can be wasteful
  • To create a memory pool, call
  • include ltlinux/mempool.hgt
  • mempool_t mempool_create(int min_nr,
  • mempool_alloc_t
    alloc_fn,
  • mempool_free_t
    free_fn,
  • void pool_data)

25
Memory Pools
  • min_nr is the minimum number of allocation
    objects
  • alloc_fn and free_fn are the allocation and
    freeing functions
  • typedef void (mempool_alloc_t)(int gfp_mask,
  • void pool_data)
  • typedef void (mempool_free_t)(void element,
  • void pool_data)
  • pool_data is passed to the allocation and freeing
    functions

26
Memory Pools
  • To allow the slab allocator to handle allocation
    and deallocation, use predefined functions
  • cache kmem_cache_create(...)
  • pool mempool_create(MY_POOL_MINIMUM,
    mempool_alloc_slab,
  • mempool_free_slab, cache)
  • To allocate and deallocate a memory pool object,
    call
  • void mempool_alloc(mempool_t pool, int
    gfp_mask)
  • void mempool_free(void element, mempool_t
    pool)

27
Memory Pools
  • To resize the memory pool, call
  • int mempool_resize(mempool_t pool, int
    new_min_nr,
  • int gfp_mask)
  • To deallocate the memory poll, call
  • void mempool_destroy(mempool_t pool)

28
get_free_page and Friends
  • For allocating big chunks of memory, it is more
    efficient to use a page-oriented allocator
  • To allocate pages, call
  • / returns a pointer to a zeroed page /
  • get_zeroed_page(unsigned int flags)
  • / does not clear the page /
  • __get_free_page(unsigned int flags)
  • / allocates multiple physically contiguous pages
    /
  • __get_free_pages(unsigned int flags, unsigned int
    order)

29
get_free_page and Friends
  • flags
  • Same as flags for kmalloc
  • order
  • Allocate 2order pages
  • order 0 for 1 page
  • order 3 for 8 pages
  • Can use get_order(size)to find out order
  • Maximum allowed value is about 10 or 11
  • See /proc/buddyinfo statistics

30
get_free_page and Friends
  • Subject to the same rules as kmalloc
  • To free pages, call
  • void free_page(unsigned long addr)
  • void free_pages(unsigned long addr, unsigned long
    order)
  • Make sure to free the same number of pages
  • Or the memory map becomes corrupted

31
A scull Using Whole Pages scullp
  • Memory allocation
  • if (!dptr-gtdatas_pos)
  • dptr-gtdatas_pos
  • (void ) __get_free_pages(GFP_KERNEL,
    dptr-gtorder)
  • if (!dptr-gtdatas_pos)
  • goto nomem
  • memset(dptr-gtdatas_pos, 0, PAGE_SIZE ltlt
    dptr-gtorder)
  • Memory deallocation
  • for (i 0 i lt qset i)
  • if (dptr-gtdatai)
  • free_pages((unsigned long) (dptr-gtdatai),
    dptr-gtorder)

32
The alloc_pages Interface
  • Core Linux page allocator function
  • struct page alloc_pages_node(int nid, unsigned
    int flags,
  • unsigned int
    order)
  • nid NUMA node ID
  • Two higher level macros
  • struct page alloc_pages(unsigned int flags,
  • unsigned int order)
  • struct page alloc_page(unsigned int flags)
  • Allocate memory on the current NUMA node

33
The alloc_pages Interface
  • To release pages, call
  • void __free_page(struct page page)
  • void __free_pages(struct page page, unsigned int
    order)
  • / optimized calls for cache-resident or
    non-cache-resident pages /
  • void free_hot_page(struct page page)
  • void free_cold_page(struct page page)

34
vmalloc and Friends
  • Allocates a virtually contiguous memory region
  • Not consecutive pages in physical memory
  • Each page retrieved with a separate alloc_page
    call
  • Less efficient
  • Can sleep (cannot be used in atomic context)
  • Returns 0 on error, or a pointer to the allocated
    memory
  • Its use is discouraged

35
vmalloc and Friends
  • vmalloc-related prototypes
  • include ltlinux/vmalloc.hgt
  • void vmalloc(unsigned long size)
  • void vfree(void addr)
  • void ioremap(unsigned long offset, unsigned long
    size)
  • void iounmap(void addr)

36
vmalloc and Friends
  • Each allocation via vmalloc involves setting up
    and modifying page tables
  • Return address range between VMALLOC_START and
    VMALLOC_END (defined in ltlinux/pgtable.hgt)
  • Used for allocating memory for a large sequential
    buffer

37
vmalloc and Friends
  • ioremap builds page tables
  • Does not allocate memory
  • Takes a physical address (offset) and return a
    virtual address
  • Useful to map the address of a PCI buffer to
    kernel space
  • Should use readb and other functions to access
    remapped memory

38
A scull Using Virtual Addresses scullv
  • This module allocates 16 pages at a time
  • To obtain new memory
  • if (!dptr-gtdatas_pos)
  • dptr-gtdatas_pos
  • (void ) vmalloc(PAGE_SIZE ltlt dptr-gtorder)
  • if (!dptr-gtdatas_pos)
  • goto nomem
  • memset(dptr-gtdatas_pos, 0,
  • PAGE_SIZE ltlt dptr-gtorder)

39
A scull Using Virtual Addresses scullv
  • To release memory
  • for (i 0 i lt qset i)
  • if (dptr-gtdatai)
  • vfree(dptr-gtdatai)

40
Per-CPU Variables
  • Each CPU gets its own copy of a variable
  • Almost no locking for each CPU to work with its
    own copy
  • Better performance for frequent updates
  • Example networking subsystem
  • Each CPU counts the number of processed packets
    by type
  • When user space request to see the value, just
    add up each CPUs version and return the total

41
Per-CPU Variables
  • To create a per-CPU variable
  • include ltlinux/percpu.hgt
  • DEFINE_PER_CPU(type, name)
  • name an array
  • DEFINE_PER_CPU(int3, my_percpu_array)
  • Declares a per-CPU array of three integers
  • To access a per-CPU variable
  • Need to prevent process migration
  • get_cpu_var(name) / disables preemption /
  • put_cpu_var(name) / enables preemption /

42
Per-CPU Variables
  • To access another CPUs copy of the variable,
    call
  • per_cpu(name, int cpu_id)
  • To dynamically allocate and release per-CPU
    variables, call
  • void alloc_percpu(type)
  • void __alloc_percpu(size_t size)
  • void free_percpu(const void data)

43
Per-CPU Variables
  • To access dynamically allocated per-CPU
    variables, call
  • per_cpu_ptr(void per_cpu_var, int cpu_id)
  • To ensure that a process cannot be moved out of a
    processor, call get_cpu (returns cpu ID) to block
    preemption
  • int cpu
  • cpu get_cpu()
  • ptr per_cpu_ptr(per_cpu_var, cpu)
  • / work with ptr /
  • put_cpu()

44
Per-CPU Variables
  • To export per-CPU variables, call
  • EXPORT_PER_CPU_SYMBOL(per_cpu_var)
  • EXPORT_PER_CPU_SYMBOL_GPL(per_cpu_var)
  • To access an exported variable, call
  • / instead of DEFINE_PER_CPU() /
  • DECLARE_PER_CPU(type, name)
  • More examples in ltlinux/percpu_counter.hgt

45
Obtaining Large Buffers
  • First, consider the alternatives
  • Optimize the data representation
  • Export the feature to the user space
  • Use scatter-gather mappings
  • Allocate at boot time

46
Acquiring a Dedicated Buffer at Boot Time
  • Advantages
  • Least prone to failure
  • Bypass all memory management policies
  • Disadvantages
  • Inelegant and inflexible
  • Not a feasible option for the average user
  • Available only for code linked to the kernel
  • Need to rebuild and reboot the computer to
    install or replace a device driver

47
Acquiring a Dedicated Buffer at Boot Time
  • To allocate, call one of these functions
  • include ltlinux/bootmem.hgt
  • void alloc_bootmem(unsigned long size)
  • / need low memory for DMA /
  • void alloc_bootmem_low(unsigned long size)
  • / allocated in whole pages /
  • void alloc_bootmem_pages(unsigned long size)
  • void alloc_bootmem_low_pages(unsigned long
    size)

48
Acquiring a Dedicated Buffer at Boot Time
  • To free, call
  • void free_bootmem(unsigned long addr, unsigned
    long size)
  • Need to link your driver into the kernel
  • See Documentation/kbuild

49
Memory Usage Pitfalls
  • Failure to handle failed memory allocation
  • Needed for every allocation
  • Allocate too much memory
  • No built-in limit on memory usage
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