[Devel] Re: [patch00/05]: Containers(V2)- Introduction

[Nick Piggin]

On Wed, Sep 20, 2006 at 09:25:03AM -0700, Christoph Lameter wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Sep 2006, Rohit Seth wrote:
> 
> > For example, a user can run a batch job like backup inside containers.
> > This job if run unconstrained could step over most of the memory present
> > in system thus impacting other workloads running on the system at that
> > time.  But when the same job is run inside containers then the backup
> > job is run within container limits.
> 
> I just saw this for the first time since linux-mm was not cced. We have 
> discussed a similar mechanism on linux-mm.
> 
> We already have such a functionality in the kernel its called a cpuset. A 
> container could be created simply by creating a fake node that then 
> allows constraining applications to this node. We already track the 
> types of pages per node. The statistics you want are already existing. 
> See /proc/zoneinfo and /sys/devices/system/node/node*/*.
> 
> > We use the term container to indicate a structure against which we track
> > and charge utilization of system resources like memory, tasks etc for a
> > workload. Containers will allow system admins to customize the
> > underlying platform for different applications based on their
> > performance and HW resource utilization needs.  Containers contain
> > enough infrastructure to allow optimal resource utilization without
> > bogging down rest of the kernel.  A system admin should be able to
> > create, manage and free containers easily.
> 
> Right thats what cpusets do and it has been working fine for years. Maybe 
> Paul can help you if you find anything missing in the existing means to 
> control resources.

What I like about Rohit's patches is the page tracking stuff which 
seems quite simple but capable.

I suspect cpusets don't quite provide enough features for non-exclusive 
use of memory (eg. page tracking for directed reclaim).