1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
2
3===============
4Detailed Usages
5===============
6
7DAMON provides below interfaces for different users.
8
9- *DAMON user space tool.*
10  `This <https://github.com/awslabs/damo>`_ is for privileged people such as
11  system administrators who want a just-working human-friendly interface.
12  Using this, users can use the DAMON’s major features in a human-friendly way.
13  It may not be highly tuned for special cases, though.  For more detail,
14  please refer to its `usage document
15  <https://github.com/awslabs/damo/blob/next/USAGE.md>`_.
16- *sysfs interface.*
17  :ref:`This <sysfs_interface>` is for privileged user space programmers who
18  want more optimized use of DAMON.  Using this, users can use DAMON’s major
19  features by reading from and writing to special sysfs files.  Therefore,
20  you can write and use your personalized DAMON sysfs wrapper programs that
21  reads/writes the sysfs files instead of you.  The `DAMON user space tool
22  <https://github.com/awslabs/damo>`_ is one example of such programs.  Note
23  that this interface provides only simple :ref:`statistics <damos_stats>` for
24  the monitoring results.  For detailed monitoring results, DAMON provides a
25  :ref:`tracepoint <tracepoint>`.
26- *debugfs interface. (DEPRECATED!)*
27  :ref:`This <debugfs_interface>` is almost identical to :ref:`sysfs interface
28  <sysfs_interface>`.  This is deprecated, so users should move to the
29  :ref:`sysfs interface <sysfs_interface>`.  If you depend on this and cannot
30  move, please report your usecase to damon@lists.linux.dev and
31  linux-mm@kvack.org.
32- *Kernel Space Programming Interface.*
33  :doc:`This </mm/damon/api>` is for kernel space programmers.  Using this,
34  users can utilize every feature of DAMON most flexibly and efficiently by
35  writing kernel space DAMON application programs for you.  You can even extend
36  DAMON for various address spaces.  For detail, please refer to the interface
37  :doc:`document </mm/damon/api>`.
38
39.. _sysfs_interface:
40
41sysfs Interface
42===============
43
44DAMON sysfs interface is built when ``CONFIG_DAMON_SYSFS`` is defined.  It
45creates multiple directories and files under its sysfs directory,
46``<sysfs>/kernel/mm/damon/``.  You can control DAMON by writing to and reading
47from the files under the directory.
48
49For a short example, users can monitor the virtual address space of a given
50workload as below. ::
51
52    # cd /sys/kernel/mm/damon/admin/
53    # echo 1 > kdamonds/nr_kdamonds && echo 1 > kdamonds/0/contexts/nr_contexts
54    # echo vaddr > kdamonds/0/contexts/0/operations
55    # echo 1 > kdamonds/0/contexts/0/targets/nr_targets
56    # echo $(pidof <workload>) > kdamonds/0/contexts/0/targets/0/pid_target
57    # echo on > kdamonds/0/state
58
59Files Hierarchy
60---------------
61
62The files hierarchy of DAMON sysfs interface is shown below.  In the below
63figure, parents-children relations are represented with indentations, each
64directory is having ``/`` suffix, and files in each directory are separated by
65comma (","). ::
66
67    /sys/kernel/mm/damon/admin
68kdamonds/nr_kdamonds
69    │ │ 0/state,pid
70    │ │ │ contexts/nr_contexts
71    │ │ │ │ 0/avail_operations,operations
72    │ │ │ │ │ monitoring_attrs/
73    │ │ │ │ │ │ intervals/sample_us,aggr_us,update_us
74    │ │ │ │ │ │ nr_regions/min,max
75    │ │ │ │ │ targets/nr_targets
76    │ │ │ │ │ │ 0/pid_target
77    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ regions/nr_regions
78    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 0/start,end
79    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ...
80    │ │ │ │ │ │ ...
81    │ │ │ │ │ schemes/nr_schemes
82    │ │ │ │ │ │ 0/action
83    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ access_pattern/
84    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ sz/min,max
85    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ nr_accesses/min,max
86    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ age/min,max
87    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ quotas/ms,bytes,reset_interval_ms
88    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ weights/sz_permil,nr_accesses_permil,age_permil
89    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ watermarks/metric,interval_us,high,mid,low
90    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ filters/nr_filters
91    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 0/type,matching,memcg_id
92    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ stats/nr_tried,sz_tried,nr_applied,sz_applied,qt_exceeds
93    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ tried_regions/
94    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 0/start,end,nr_accesses,age
95    │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ...
96    │ │ │ │ │ │ ...
97    │ │ │ │ ...
98    │ │ ...
99
100Root
101----
102
103The root of the DAMON sysfs interface is ``<sysfs>/kernel/mm/damon/``, and it
104has one directory named ``admin``.  The directory contains the files for
105privileged user space programs' control of DAMON.  User space tools or deamons
106having the root permission could use this directory.
107
108kdamonds/
109---------
110
111The monitoring-related information including request specifications and results
112are called DAMON context.  DAMON executes each context with a kernel thread
113called kdamond, and multiple kdamonds could run in parallel.
114
115Under the ``admin`` directory, one directory, ``kdamonds``, which has files for
116controlling the kdamonds exist.  In the beginning, this directory has only one
117file, ``nr_kdamonds``.  Writing a number (``N``) to the file creates the number
118of child directories named ``0`` to ``N-1``.  Each directory represents each
119kdamond.
120
121kdamonds/<N>/
122-------------
123
124In each kdamond directory, two files (``state`` and ``pid``) and one directory
125(``contexts``) exist.
126
127Reading ``state`` returns ``on`` if the kdamond is currently running, or
128``off`` if it is not running.  Writing ``on`` or ``off`` makes the kdamond be
129in the state.  Writing ``commit`` to the ``state`` file makes kdamond reads the
130user inputs in the sysfs files except ``state`` file again.  Writing
131``update_schemes_stats`` to ``state`` file updates the contents of stats files
132for each DAMON-based operation scheme of the kdamond.  For details of the
133stats, please refer to :ref:`stats section <sysfs_schemes_stats>`.  Writing
134``update_schemes_tried_regions`` to ``state`` file updates the DAMON-based
135operation scheme action tried regions directory for each DAMON-based operation
136scheme of the kdamond.  Writing ``clear_schemes_tried_regions`` to ``state``
137file clears the DAMON-based operating scheme action tried regions directory for
138each DAMON-based operation scheme of the kdamond.  For details of the
139DAMON-based operation scheme action tried regions directory, please refer to
140:ref:`tried_regions section <sysfs_schemes_tried_regions>`.
141
142If the state is ``on``, reading ``pid`` shows the pid of the kdamond thread.
143
144``contexts`` directory contains files for controlling the monitoring contexts
145that this kdamond will execute.
146
147kdamonds/<N>/contexts/
148----------------------
149
150In the beginning, this directory has only one file, ``nr_contexts``.  Writing a
151number (``N``) to the file creates the number of child directories named as
152``0`` to ``N-1``.  Each directory represents each monitoring context.  At the
153moment, only one context per kdamond is supported, so only ``0`` or ``1`` can
154be written to the file.
155
156.. _sysfs_contexts:
157
158contexts/<N>/
159-------------
160
161In each context directory, two files (``avail_operations`` and ``operations``)
162and three directories (``monitoring_attrs``, ``targets``, and ``schemes``)
163exist.
164
165DAMON supports multiple types of monitoring operations, including those for
166virtual address space and the physical address space.  You can get the list of
167available monitoring operations set on the currently running kernel by reading
168``avail_operations`` file.  Based on the kernel configuration, the file will
169list some or all of below keywords.
170
171 - vaddr: Monitor virtual address spaces of specific processes
172 - fvaddr: Monitor fixed virtual address ranges
173 - paddr: Monitor the physical address space of the system
174
175Please refer to :ref:`regions sysfs directory <sysfs_regions>` for detailed
176differences between the operations sets in terms of the monitoring target
177regions.
178
179You can set and get what type of monitoring operations DAMON will use for the
180context by writing one of the keywords listed in ``avail_operations`` file and
181reading from the ``operations`` file.
182
183.. _sysfs_monitoring_attrs:
184
185contexts/<N>/monitoring_attrs/
186------------------------------
187
188Files for specifying attributes of the monitoring including required quality
189and efficiency of the monitoring are in ``monitoring_attrs`` directory.
190Specifically, two directories, ``intervals`` and ``nr_regions`` exist in this
191directory.
192
193Under ``intervals`` directory, three files for DAMON's sampling interval
194(``sample_us``), aggregation interval (``aggr_us``), and update interval
195(``update_us``) exist.  You can set and get the values in micro-seconds by
196writing to and reading from the files.
197
198Under ``nr_regions`` directory, two files for the lower-bound and upper-bound
199of DAMON's monitoring regions (``min`` and ``max``, respectively), which
200controls the monitoring overhead, exist.  You can set and get the values by
201writing to and rading from the files.
202
203For more details about the intervals and monitoring regions range, please refer
204to the Design document (:doc:`/mm/damon/design`).
205
206contexts/<N>/targets/
207---------------------
208
209In the beginning, this directory has only one file, ``nr_targets``.  Writing a
210number (``N``) to the file creates the number of child directories named ``0``
211to ``N-1``.  Each directory represents each monitoring target.
212
213targets/<N>/
214------------
215
216In each target directory, one file (``pid_target``) and one directory
217(``regions``) exist.
218
219If you wrote ``vaddr`` to the ``contexts/<N>/operations``, each target should
220be a process.  You can specify the process to DAMON by writing the pid of the
221process to the ``pid_target`` file.
222
223.. _sysfs_regions:
224
225targets/<N>/regions
226-------------------
227
228When ``vaddr`` monitoring operations set is being used (``vaddr`` is written to
229the ``contexts/<N>/operations`` file), DAMON automatically sets and updates the
230monitoring target regions so that entire memory mappings of target processes
231can be covered.  However, users could want to set the initial monitoring region
232to specific address ranges.
233
234In contrast, DAMON do not automatically sets and updates the monitoring target
235regions when ``fvaddr`` or ``paddr`` monitoring operations sets are being used
236(``fvaddr`` or ``paddr`` have written to the ``contexts/<N>/operations``).
237Therefore, users should set the monitoring target regions by themselves in the
238cases.
239
240For such cases, users can explicitly set the initial monitoring target regions
241as they want, by writing proper values to the files under this directory.
242
243In the beginning, this directory has only one file, ``nr_regions``.  Writing a
244number (``N``) to the file creates the number of child directories named ``0``
245to ``N-1``.  Each directory represents each initial monitoring target region.
246
247regions/<N>/
248------------
249
250In each region directory, you will find two files (``start`` and ``end``).  You
251can set and get the start and end addresses of the initial monitoring target
252region by writing to and reading from the files, respectively.
253
254Each region should not overlap with others.  ``end`` of directory ``N`` should
255be equal or smaller than ``start`` of directory ``N+1``.
256
257contexts/<N>/schemes/
258---------------------
259
260The directory for DAMON-based Operation Schemes (:ref:`DAMOS
261<damon_design_damos>`).  Users can get and set the schemes by reading from and
262writing to files under this directory.
263
264In the beginning, this directory has only one file, ``nr_schemes``.  Writing a
265number (``N``) to the file creates the number of child directories named ``0``
266to ``N-1``.  Each directory represents each DAMON-based operation scheme.
267
268schemes/<N>/
269------------
270
271In each scheme directory, five directories (``access_pattern``, ``quotas``,
272``watermarks``, ``filters``, ``stats``, and ``tried_regions``) and one file
273(``action``) exist.
274
275The ``action`` file is for setting and getting the scheme's :ref:`action
276<damon_design_damos_action>`.  The keywords that can be written to and read
277from the file and their meaning are as below.
278
279Note that support of each action depends on the running DAMON operations set
280:ref:`implementation <sysfs_contexts>`.
281
282 - ``willneed``: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_WILLNEED``.
283   Supported by ``vaddr`` and ``fvaddr`` operations set.
284 - ``cold``: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_COLD``.
285   Supported by ``vaddr`` and ``fvaddr`` operations set.
286 - ``pageout``: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_PAGEOUT``.
287   Supported by ``vaddr``, ``fvaddr`` and ``paddr`` operations set.
288 - ``hugepage``: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_HUGEPAGE``.
289   Supported by ``vaddr`` and ``fvaddr`` operations set.
290 - ``nohugepage``: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_NOHUGEPAGE``.
291   Supported by ``vaddr`` and ``fvaddr`` operations set.
292 - ``lru_prio``: Prioritize the region on its LRU lists.
293   Supported by ``paddr`` operations set.
294 - ``lru_deprio``: Deprioritize the region on its LRU lists.
295   Supported by ``paddr`` operations set.
296 - ``stat``: Do nothing but count the statistics.
297   Supported by all operations sets.
298
299schemes/<N>/access_pattern/
300---------------------------
301
302The directory for the target access :ref:`pattern
303<damon_design_damos_access_pattern>` of the given DAMON-based operation scheme.
304
305Under the ``access_pattern`` directory, three directories (``sz``,
306``nr_accesses``, and ``age``) each having two files (``min`` and ``max``)
307exist.  You can set and get the access pattern for the given scheme by writing
308to and reading from the ``min`` and ``max`` files under ``sz``,
309``nr_accesses``, and ``age`` directories, respectively.
310
311schemes/<N>/quotas/
312-------------------
313
314The directory for the :ref:`quotas <damon_design_damos_quotas>` of the given
315DAMON-based operation scheme.
316
317Under ``quotas`` directory, three files (``ms``, ``bytes``,
318``reset_interval_ms``) and one directory (``weights``) having three files
319(``sz_permil``, ``nr_accesses_permil``, and ``age_permil``) in it exist.
320
321You can set the ``time quota`` in milliseconds, ``size quota`` in bytes, and
322``reset interval`` in milliseconds by writing the values to the three files,
323respectively.  You can also set the :ref:`prioritization weights
324<damon_design_damos_quotas_prioritization>` for size, access frequency, and age
325in per-thousand unit by writing the values to the three files under the
326``weights`` directory.
327
328schemes/<N>/watermarks/
329-----------------------
330
331The directory for the :ref:`watermarks <damon_design_damos_watermarks>` of the
332given DAMON-based operation scheme.
333
334Under the watermarks directory, five files (``metric``, ``interval_us``,
335``high``, ``mid``, and ``low``) for setting the metric, the time interval
336between check of the metric, and the three watermarks exist.  You can set and
337get the five values by writing to the files, respectively.
338
339Keywords and meanings of those that can be written to the ``metric`` file are
340as below.
341
342 - none: Ignore the watermarks
343 - free_mem_rate: System's free memory rate (per thousand)
344
345The ``interval`` should written in microseconds unit.
346
347schemes/<N>/filters/
348--------------------
349
350The directory for the :ref:`filters <damon_design_damos_filters>` of the given
351DAMON-based operation scheme.
352
353In the beginning, this directory has only one file, ``nr_filters``.  Writing a
354number (``N``) to the file creates the number of child directories named ``0``
355to ``N-1``.  Each directory represents each filter.  The filters are evaluated
356in the numeric order.
357
358Each filter directory contains three files, namely ``type``, ``matcing``, and
359``memcg_path``.  You can write one of two special keywords, ``anon`` for
360anonymous pages, or ``memcg`` for specific memory cgroup filtering.  In case of
361the memory cgroup filtering, you can specify the memory cgroup of the interest
362by writing the path of the memory cgroup from the cgroups mount point to
363``memcg_path`` file.  You can write ``Y`` or ``N`` to ``matching`` file to
364filter out pages that does or does not match to the type, respectively.  Then,
365the scheme's action will not be applied to the pages that specified to be
366filtered out.
367
368For example, below restricts a DAMOS action to be applied to only non-anonymous
369pages of all memory cgroups except ``/having_care_already``.::
370
371    # echo 2 > nr_filters
372    # # filter out anonymous pages
373    echo anon > 0/type
374    echo Y > 0/matching
375    # # further filter out all cgroups except one at '/having_care_already'
376    echo memcg > 1/type
377    echo /having_care_already > 1/memcg_path
378    echo N > 1/matching
379
380Note that filters are currently supported only when ``paddr``
381`implementation <sysfs_contexts>` is being used.
382
383.. _sysfs_schemes_stats:
384
385schemes/<N>/stats/
386------------------
387
388DAMON counts the total number and bytes of regions that each scheme is tried to
389be applied, the two numbers for the regions that each scheme is successfully
390applied, and the total number of the quota limit exceeds.  This statistics can
391be used for online analysis or tuning of the schemes.
392
393The statistics can be retrieved by reading the files under ``stats`` directory
394(``nr_tried``, ``sz_tried``, ``nr_applied``, ``sz_applied``, and
395``qt_exceeds``), respectively.  The files are not updated in real time, so you
396should ask DAMON sysfs interface to updte the content of the files for the
397stats by writing a special keyword, ``update_schemes_stats`` to the relevant
398``kdamonds/<N>/state`` file.
399
400.. _sysfs_schemes_tried_regions:
401
402schemes/<N>/tried_regions/
403--------------------------
404
405When a special keyword, ``update_schemes_tried_regions``, is written to the
406relevant ``kdamonds/<N>/state`` file, DAMON creates directories named integer
407starting from ``0`` under this directory.  Each directory contains files
408exposing detailed information about each of the memory region that the
409corresponding scheme's ``action`` has tried to be applied under this directory,
410during next :ref:`aggregation interval <sysfs_monitoring_attrs>`.  The
411information includes address range, ``nr_accesses``, and ``age`` of the region.
412
413The directories will be removed when another special keyword,
414``clear_schemes_tried_regions``, is written to the relevant
415``kdamonds/<N>/state`` file.
416
417tried_regions/<N>/
418------------------
419
420In each region directory, you will find four files (``start``, ``end``,
421``nr_accesses``, and ``age``).  Reading the files will show the start and end
422addresses, ``nr_accesses``, and ``age`` of the region that corresponding
423DAMON-based operation scheme ``action`` has tried to be applied.
424
425Example
426~~~~~~~
427
428Below commands applies a scheme saying "If a memory region of size in [4KiB,
4298KiB] is showing accesses per aggregate interval in [0, 5] for aggregate
430interval in [10, 20], page out the region.  For the paging out, use only up to
43110ms per second, and also don't page out more than 1GiB per second.  Under the
432limitation, page out memory regions having longer age first.  Also, check the
433free memory rate of the system every 5 seconds, start the monitoring and paging
434out when the free memory rate becomes lower than 50%, but stop it if the free
435memory rate becomes larger than 60%, or lower than 30%". ::
436
437    # cd <sysfs>/kernel/mm/damon/admin
438    # # populate directories
439    # echo 1 > kdamonds/nr_kdamonds; echo 1 > kdamonds/0/contexts/nr_contexts;
440    # echo 1 > kdamonds/0/contexts/0/schemes/nr_schemes
441    # cd kdamonds/0/contexts/0/schemes/0
442    # # set the basic access pattern and the action
443    # echo 4096 > access_pattern/sz/min
444    # echo 8192 > access_pattern/sz/max
445    # echo 0 > access_pattern/nr_accesses/min
446    # echo 5 > access_pattern/nr_accesses/max
447    # echo 10 > access_pattern/age/min
448    # echo 20 > access_pattern/age/max
449    # echo pageout > action
450    # # set quotas
451    # echo 10 > quotas/ms
452    # echo $((1024*1024*1024)) > quotas/bytes
453    # echo 1000 > quotas/reset_interval_ms
454    # # set watermark
455    # echo free_mem_rate > watermarks/metric
456    # echo 5000000 > watermarks/interval_us
457    # echo 600 > watermarks/high
458    # echo 500 > watermarks/mid
459    # echo 300 > watermarks/low
460
461Please note that it's highly recommended to use user space tools like `damo
462<https://github.com/awslabs/damo>`_ rather than manually reading and writing
463the files as above.  Above is only for an example.
464
465.. _debugfs_interface:
466
467debugfs Interface (DEPRECATED!)
468===============================
469
470.. note::
471
472  THIS IS DEPRECATED!
473
474  DAMON debugfs interface is deprecated, so users should move to the
475  :ref:`sysfs interface <sysfs_interface>`.  If you depend on this and cannot
476  move, please report your usecase to damon@lists.linux.dev and
477  linux-mm@kvack.org.
478
479DAMON exports eight files, ``attrs``, ``target_ids``, ``init_regions``,
480``schemes``, ``monitor_on``, ``kdamond_pid``, ``mk_contexts`` and
481``rm_contexts`` under its debugfs directory, ``<debugfs>/damon/``.
482
483
484Attributes
485----------
486
487Users can get and set the ``sampling interval``, ``aggregation interval``,
488``update interval``, and min/max number of monitoring target regions by
489reading from and writing to the ``attrs`` file.  To know about the monitoring
490attributes in detail, please refer to the :doc:`/mm/damon/design`.  For
491example, below commands set those values to 5 ms, 100 ms, 1,000 ms, 10 and
4921000, and then check it again::
493
494    # cd <debugfs>/damon
495    # echo 5000 100000 1000000 10 1000 > attrs
496    # cat attrs
497    5000 100000 1000000 10 1000
498
499
500Target IDs
501----------
502
503Some types of address spaces supports multiple monitoring target.  For example,
504the virtual memory address spaces monitoring can have multiple processes as the
505monitoring targets.  Users can set the targets by writing relevant id values of
506the targets to, and get the ids of the current targets by reading from the
507``target_ids`` file.  In case of the virtual address spaces monitoring, the
508values should be pids of the monitoring target processes.  For example, below
509commands set processes having pids 42 and 4242 as the monitoring targets and
510check it again::
511
512    # cd <debugfs>/damon
513    # echo 42 4242 > target_ids
514    # cat target_ids
515    42 4242
516
517Users can also monitor the physical memory address space of the system by
518writing a special keyword, "``paddr\n``" to the file.  Because physical address
519space monitoring doesn't support multiple targets, reading the file will show a
520fake value, ``42``, as below::
521
522    # cd <debugfs>/damon
523    # echo paddr > target_ids
524    # cat target_ids
525    42
526
527Note that setting the target ids doesn't start the monitoring.
528
529
530Initial Monitoring Target Regions
531---------------------------------
532
533In case of the virtual address space monitoring, DAMON automatically sets and
534updates the monitoring target regions so that entire memory mappings of target
535processes can be covered.  However, users can want to limit the monitoring
536region to specific address ranges, such as the heap, the stack, or specific
537file-mapped area.  Or, some users can know the initial access pattern of their
538workloads and therefore want to set optimal initial regions for the 'adaptive
539regions adjustment'.
540
541In contrast, DAMON do not automatically sets and updates the monitoring target
542regions in case of physical memory monitoring.  Therefore, users should set the
543monitoring target regions by themselves.
544
545In such cases, users can explicitly set the initial monitoring target regions
546as they want, by writing proper values to the ``init_regions`` file.  The input
547should be a sequence of three integers separated by white spaces that represent
548one region in below form.::
549
550    <target idx> <start address> <end address>
551
552The ``target idx`` should be the index of the target in ``target_ids`` file,
553starting from ``0``, and the regions should be passed in address order.  For
554example, below commands will set a couple of address ranges, ``1-100`` and
555``100-200`` as the initial monitoring target region of pid 42, which is the
556first one (index ``0``) in ``target_ids``, and another couple of address
557ranges, ``20-40`` and ``50-100`` as that of pid 4242, which is the second one
558(index ``1``) in ``target_ids``.::
559
560    # cd <debugfs>/damon
561    # cat target_ids
562    42 4242
563    # echo "0   1       100 \
564            0   100     200 \
565            1   20      40  \
566            1   50      100" > init_regions
567
568Note that this sets the initial monitoring target regions only.  In case of
569virtual memory monitoring, DAMON will automatically updates the boundary of the
570regions after one ``update interval``.  Therefore, users should set the
571``update interval`` large enough in this case, if they don't want the
572update.
573
574
575Schemes
576-------
577
578Users can get and set the DAMON-based operation :ref:`schemes
579<damon_design_damos>` by reading from and writing to ``schemes`` debugfs file.
580Reading the file also shows the statistics of each scheme.  To the file, each
581of the schemes should be represented in each line in below form::
582
583    <target access pattern> <action> <quota> <watermarks>
584
585You can disable schemes by simply writing an empty string to the file.
586
587Target Access Pattern
588~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
589
590The target access :ref:`pattern <damon_design_damos_access_pattern>` of the
591scheme.  The ``<target access pattern>`` is constructed with three ranges in
592below form::
593
594    min-size max-size min-acc max-acc min-age max-age
595
596Specifically, bytes for the size of regions (``min-size`` and ``max-size``),
597number of monitored accesses per aggregate interval for access frequency
598(``min-acc`` and ``max-acc``), number of aggregate intervals for the age of
599regions (``min-age`` and ``max-age``) are specified.  Note that the ranges are
600closed interval.
601
602Action
603~~~~~~
604
605The ``<action>`` is a predefined integer for memory management :ref:`actions
606<damon_design_damos_action>`.  The supported numbers and their meanings are as
607below.
608
609 - 0: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_WILLNEED``.  Ignored if
610   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
611 - 1: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_COLD``.  Ignored if
612   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
613 - 2: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_PAGEOUT``.
614 - 3: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_HUGEPAGE``.  Ignored if
615   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
616 - 4: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_NOHUGEPAGE``.  Ignored if
617   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
618 - 5: Do nothing but count the statistics
619
620Quota
621~~~~~
622
623Users can set the :ref:`quotas <damon_design_damos_quotas>` of the given scheme
624via the ``<quota>`` in below form::
625
626    <ms> <sz> <reset interval> <priority weights>
627
628This makes DAMON to try to use only up to ``<ms>`` milliseconds for applying
629the action to memory regions of the ``target access pattern`` within the
630``<reset interval>`` milliseconds, and to apply the action to only up to
631``<sz>`` bytes of memory regions within the ``<reset interval>``.  Setting both
632``<ms>`` and ``<sz>`` zero disables the quota limits.
633
634For the :ref:`prioritization <damon_design_damos_quotas_prioritization>`, users
635can set the weights for the three properties in ``<priority weights>`` in below
636form::
637
638    <size weight> <access frequency weight> <age weight>
639
640Watermarks
641~~~~~~~~~~
642
643Users can specify :ref:`watermarks <damon_design_damos_watermarks>` of the
644given scheme via ``<watermarks>`` in below form::
645
646    <metric> <check interval> <high mark> <middle mark> <low mark>
647
648``<metric>`` is a predefined integer for the metric to be checked.  The
649supported numbers and their meanings are as below.
650
651 - 0: Ignore the watermarks
652 - 1: System's free memory rate (per thousand)
653
654The value of the metric is checked every ``<check interval>`` microseconds.
655
656If the value is higher than ``<high mark>`` or lower than ``<low mark>``, the
657scheme is deactivated.  If the value is lower than ``<mid mark>``, the scheme
658is activated.
659
660.. _damos_stats:
661
662Statistics
663~~~~~~~~~~
664
665It also counts the total number and bytes of regions that each scheme is tried
666to be applied, the two numbers for the regions that each scheme is successfully
667applied, and the total number of the quota limit exceeds.  This statistics can
668be used for online analysis or tuning of the schemes.
669
670The statistics can be shown by reading the ``schemes`` file.  Reading the file
671will show each scheme you entered in each line, and the five numbers for the
672statistics will be added at the end of each line.
673
674Example
675~~~~~~~
676
677Below commands applies a scheme saying "If a memory region of size in [4KiB,
6788KiB] is showing accesses per aggregate interval in [0, 5] for aggregate
679interval in [10, 20], page out the region.  For the paging out, use only up to
68010ms per second, and also don't page out more than 1GiB per second.  Under the
681limitation, page out memory regions having longer age first.  Also, check the
682free memory rate of the system every 5 seconds, start the monitoring and paging
683out when the free memory rate becomes lower than 50%, but stop it if the free
684memory rate becomes larger than 60%, or lower than 30%".::
685
686    # cd <debugfs>/damon
687    # scheme="4096 8192  0 5    10 20    2"  # target access pattern and action
688    # scheme+=" 10 $((1024*1024*1024)) 1000" # quotas
689    # scheme+=" 0 0 100"                     # prioritization weights
690    # scheme+=" 1 5000000 600 500 300"       # watermarks
691    # echo "$scheme" > schemes
692
693
694Turning On/Off
695--------------
696
697Setting the files as described above doesn't incur effect unless you explicitly
698start the monitoring.  You can start, stop, and check the current status of the
699monitoring by writing to and reading from the ``monitor_on`` file.  Writing
700``on`` to the file starts the monitoring of the targets with the attributes.
701Writing ``off`` to the file stops those.  DAMON also stops if every target
702process is terminated.  Below example commands turn on, off, and check the
703status of DAMON::
704
705    # cd <debugfs>/damon
706    # echo on > monitor_on
707    # echo off > monitor_on
708    # cat monitor_on
709    off
710
711Please note that you cannot write to the above-mentioned debugfs files while
712the monitoring is turned on.  If you write to the files while DAMON is running,
713an error code such as ``-EBUSY`` will be returned.
714
715
716Monitoring Thread PID
717---------------------
718
719DAMON does requested monitoring with a kernel thread called ``kdamond``.  You
720can get the pid of the thread by reading the ``kdamond_pid`` file.  When the
721monitoring is turned off, reading the file returns ``none``. ::
722
723    # cd <debugfs>/damon
724    # cat monitor_on
725    off
726    # cat kdamond_pid
727    none
728    # echo on > monitor_on
729    # cat kdamond_pid
730    18594
731
732
733Using Multiple Monitoring Threads
734---------------------------------
735
736One ``kdamond`` thread is created for each monitoring context.  You can create
737and remove monitoring contexts for multiple ``kdamond`` required use case using
738the ``mk_contexts`` and ``rm_contexts`` files.
739
740Writing the name of the new context to the ``mk_contexts`` file creates a
741directory of the name on the DAMON debugfs directory.  The directory will have
742DAMON debugfs files for the context. ::
743
744    # cd <debugfs>/damon
745    # ls foo
746    # ls: cannot access 'foo': No such file or directory
747    # echo foo > mk_contexts
748    # ls foo
749    # attrs  init_regions  kdamond_pid  schemes  target_ids
750
751If the context is not needed anymore, you can remove it and the corresponding
752directory by putting the name of the context to the ``rm_contexts`` file. ::
753
754    # echo foo > rm_contexts
755    # ls foo
756    # ls: cannot access 'foo': No such file or directory
757
758Note that ``mk_contexts``, ``rm_contexts``, and ``monitor_on`` files are in the
759root directory only.
760
761
762.. _tracepoint:
763
764Tracepoint for Monitoring Results
765=================================
766
767DAMON provides the monitoring results via a tracepoint,
768``damon:damon_aggregated``.  While the monitoring is turned on, you could
769record the tracepoint events and show results using tracepoint supporting tools
770like ``perf``.  For example::
771
772    # echo on > monitor_on
773    # perf record -e damon:damon_aggregated &
774    # sleep 5
775    # kill 9 $(pidof perf)
776    # echo off > monitor_on
777    # perf script
778