[RFC PATCH 0/8] mm/memcontrol: introduce per-tier memory accounting and control

From: Qiqi Liu <[email protected]>

This RFC introduces per-tier memory cgroup accounting. Each cgroup
tracks its memory usage per memory tier (e.g. DRAM, CXL), exposed
through a new memory.tier control file that reports per-tier usage
and accepts independent high (soft) and max (hard) limits per tier.
By default these limits are auto-derived from memory.high / memory.max
based on per-tier capacity ratios, and can be manually overridden.

The implementation integrates with the existing memory tiering and
demotion infrastructure. Per-tier usage (anonymous and file) is tracked
via dedicated page counters, and cross-tier migrations (e.g. demotion
from DRAM to CXL) correctly re-account charges. When a tier hits its
high limit, async reclaim is triggered within that tier's NUMA nodes;
exceeding max enforces reclaim scoped to the tier's own nodes, or OOM.

The feature is fully opt-in. When disabled, no extra counters or
charge/uncharge paths are created, memory.tier reads empty, and there
is no measurable overhead.

Why per-tier limits?
-------------------

On tiered memory systems, memory.max constrains total usage but cannot
express "keep fast-tier usage under X". Without per-tier limits, a
workload can monopolise DRAM, pushing other cgroups onto slower tiers.
This series gives each cgroup independent high (soft) and max (hard)
limits per tier, exposed and set through a new memory.tier file.

By default those limits auto-derive from memory.high / memory.max by
capacity ratio; writing memory.tier pins a tier.

This series takes a different approach from Joshua Hahn's toptier RFC [1],
tracking a separate page_counter per (memcg, tier) for N-tier support and
exposing writable per-tier limits under a cgroup mount option.

Patch structure
---------------

  1/8  mm/memory-tiers: add node_to_tier_id and tier_id_to_nodemask
  2/8  mm/vmscan: add try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages_nodemask
  3/8  mm/memcontrol: add per-tier page counter infrastructure and lifecycle
  4/8  mm/memcontrol: add per-tier charge and uncharge
  5/8  mm/memcontrol: add per-cpu stock for tier charge/uncharge
  6/8  mm/memcontrol: add memory.tier control file
  7/8  mm/memcontrol: auto-derive tier high/max from memory.high/max
  8/8  cgroup: add memory_tiered_limits cgroup mount option

Patches 1-2 are infrastructure (helpers in memory-tiers and vmscan).
Patches 3-5 add the core accounting: counter lifecycle (3),
per-page charge/uncharge (4), and stock batching (5).
Patch 6 adds the userspace file. Patch 7 adds auto-derivation. Patch 8
gates everything behind a mount option + kernel cmdline, so the feature
adds no measurable overhead when not opted in.

Usage
-----

Boot with:

  cgroup_memory_tiered_limits=1

Or remount at runtime (affects newly created cgroups only):

  mount -o remount,memory_tiered_limits /sys/fs/cgroup

Per-tier limits and usage can then be read from and written to
memory.tier.

Scope and limitations
---------------------

- Only LRU folios (anonymous and file pages) are tier-accounted. Kernel
  memory and socket buffers are not yet accounted per tier; support for
  these is planned as follow-up work.
- Per-tier memory.min and memory.low protections are not implemented.
  These can be added later by extending the per-tier interface to
  expose and enforce min/low protection.
- The command-line parameter mirrors cgroup_favordynmods; automatic
  enablement via the cgroup mount path is left to userspace.

Testing
-------

Tested on QEMU with fake NUMA (DRAM tier 4 + CXL tier 22), with
cgroup_memory_tiered_limits=1 on the kernel command line and demotion
enabled.

Set up a cgroup, apply per-tier limits, and run a memory-intensive
workload:

  $ mkdir /sys/fs/cgroup/mycgroup
  $ cd /sys/fs/cgroup/mycgroup
  $ echo "tier4.high=200000000" > memory.tier
  $ echo "tier4.max=300000000" > memory.tier
  $ echo 1 > /sys/kernel/mm/numa/demotion_enabled
  $ cgexec -g memory:/mycgroup ~/stream --ntimes 5 --malloc &
  $ cat memory.tier
  tier4.current=296488960
  tier4.high=199999488
  tier4.max=299999232
  tier22.current=1625464832
  tier22.high=max
  tier22.max=max

DRAM (tier4) usage stays under tier4.max (hard limit, no OOM) but exceeds
tier4.high (soft limit, suggesting that async reclaim is in progress);
CXL (tier22) absorbs the overflow via demotion.

Also verified:
  - tierN.current tracks per-tier usage (anon + file).
  - Cross-tier migration (demotion) correctly re-accounts.
  - memory.high / memory.max auto-derives tierN.high / tierN.max.
  - Manual override (writing a number to memory.tier) pins the limit.
  - Tier max enforcement triggers reclaim scoped to the tier's nodes.
  - Feature fully off (no mount option): no counters, no charge/uncharge,
    memory.tier exists but reads empty.

Open questions
--------------

- Should kmem/slab tier accounting be included in this series or deferred
  to a follow-up?
- Should per-tier memory.min and memory.low protection be part of this
  series or left for later?

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/

Signed-off-by: Qiqi Liu <[email protected]>

Qiqi Liu (8):
  mm/memory-tiers: add node_to_tier_id and tier_id_to_nodemask
  mm/vmscan: add try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages_nodemask
  mm/memcontrol: add per-tier page counter infrastructure and lifecycle
  mm/memcontrol: add per-tier charge and uncharge
  mm/memcontrol: add per-cpu stock for tier charge/uncharge
  mm/memcontrol: add memory.tier control file
  mm/memcontrol: auto-derive tier high/max from memory.high/max
  cgroup: add memory_tiered_limits cgroup mount option

 include/linux/cgroup-defs.h  |   5 +
 include/linux/memcontrol.h   |  26 ++
 include/linux/memory-tiers.h |  12 +
 include/linux/swap.h         |   6 +
 kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c       |  21 +
 mm/memcontrol.c              | 786 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 mm/memory-tiers.c            |  58 +++
 mm/vmscan.c                  |  26 +-
 8 files changed, 936 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

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2.43.0