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.  Note that the ``min``
310and the ``max`` form a closed interval.
311
312schemes/<N>/quotas/
313-------------------
314
315The directory for the :ref:`quotas <damon_design_damos_quotas>` of the given
316DAMON-based operation scheme.
317
318Under ``quotas`` directory, three files (``ms``, ``bytes``,
319``reset_interval_ms``) and one directory (``weights``) having three files
320(``sz_permil``, ``nr_accesses_permil``, and ``age_permil``) in it exist.
321
322You can set the ``time quota`` in milliseconds, ``size quota`` in bytes, and
323``reset interval`` in milliseconds by writing the values to the three files,
324respectively.  Then, DAMON tries to use only up to ``time quota`` milliseconds
325for applying the ``action`` to memory regions of the ``access_pattern``, and to
326apply the action to only up to ``bytes`` bytes of memory regions within the
327``reset_interval_ms``.  Setting both ``ms`` and ``bytes`` zero disables the
328quota limits.
329
330You can also set the :ref:`prioritization weights
331<damon_design_damos_quotas_prioritization>` for size, access frequency, and age
332in per-thousand unit by writing the values to the three files under the
333``weights`` directory.
334
335schemes/<N>/watermarks/
336-----------------------
337
338The directory for the :ref:`watermarks <damon_design_damos_watermarks>` of the
339given DAMON-based operation scheme.
340
341Under the watermarks directory, five files (``metric``, ``interval_us``,
342``high``, ``mid``, and ``low``) for setting the metric, the time interval
343between check of the metric, and the three watermarks exist.  You can set and
344get the five values by writing to the files, respectively.
345
346Keywords and meanings of those that can be written to the ``metric`` file are
347as below.
348
349 - none: Ignore the watermarks
350 - free_mem_rate: System's free memory rate (per thousand)
351
352The ``interval`` should written in microseconds unit.
353
354schemes/<N>/filters/
355--------------------
356
357The directory for the :ref:`filters <damon_design_damos_filters>` of the given
358DAMON-based operation scheme.
359
360In the beginning, this directory has only one file, ``nr_filters``.  Writing a
361number (``N``) to the file creates the number of child directories named ``0``
362to ``N-1``.  Each directory represents each filter.  The filters are evaluated
363in the numeric order.
364
365Each filter directory contains three files, namely ``type``, ``matcing``, and
366``memcg_path``.  You can write one of two special keywords, ``anon`` for
367anonymous pages, or ``memcg`` for specific memory cgroup filtering.  In case of
368the memory cgroup filtering, you can specify the memory cgroup of the interest
369by writing the path of the memory cgroup from the cgroups mount point to
370``memcg_path`` file.  You can write ``Y`` or ``N`` to ``matching`` file to
371filter out pages that does or does not match to the type, respectively.  Then,
372the scheme's action will not be applied to the pages that specified to be
373filtered out.
374
375For example, below restricts a DAMOS action to be applied to only non-anonymous
376pages of all memory cgroups except ``/having_care_already``.::
377
378    # echo 2 > nr_filters
379    # # filter out anonymous pages
380    echo anon > 0/type
381    echo Y > 0/matching
382    # # further filter out all cgroups except one at '/having_care_already'
383    echo memcg > 1/type
384    echo /having_care_already > 1/memcg_path
385    echo N > 1/matching
386
387Note that filters are currently supported only when ``paddr``
388`implementation <sysfs_contexts>` is being used.
389
390.. _sysfs_schemes_stats:
391
392schemes/<N>/stats/
393------------------
394
395DAMON counts the total number and bytes of regions that each scheme is tried to
396be applied, the two numbers for the regions that each scheme is successfully
397applied, and the total number of the quota limit exceeds.  This statistics can
398be used for online analysis or tuning of the schemes.
399
400The statistics can be retrieved by reading the files under ``stats`` directory
401(``nr_tried``, ``sz_tried``, ``nr_applied``, ``sz_applied``, and
402``qt_exceeds``), respectively.  The files are not updated in real time, so you
403should ask DAMON sysfs interface to updte the content of the files for the
404stats by writing a special keyword, ``update_schemes_stats`` to the relevant
405``kdamonds/<N>/state`` file.
406
407.. _sysfs_schemes_tried_regions:
408
409schemes/<N>/tried_regions/
410--------------------------
411
412When a special keyword, ``update_schemes_tried_regions``, is written to the
413relevant ``kdamonds/<N>/state`` file, DAMON creates directories named integer
414starting from ``0`` under this directory.  Each directory contains files
415exposing detailed information about each of the memory region that the
416corresponding scheme's ``action`` has tried to be applied under this directory,
417during next :ref:`aggregation interval <sysfs_monitoring_attrs>`.  The
418information includes address range, ``nr_accesses``, and ``age`` of the region.
419
420The directories will be removed when another special keyword,
421``clear_schemes_tried_regions``, is written to the relevant
422``kdamonds/<N>/state`` file.
423
424tried_regions/<N>/
425------------------
426
427In each region directory, you will find four files (``start``, ``end``,
428``nr_accesses``, and ``age``).  Reading the files will show the start and end
429addresses, ``nr_accesses``, and ``age`` of the region that corresponding
430DAMON-based operation scheme ``action`` has tried to be applied.
431
432Example
433~~~~~~~
434
435Below commands applies a scheme saying "If a memory region of size in [4KiB,
4368KiB] is showing accesses per aggregate interval in [0, 5] for aggregate
437interval in [10, 20], page out the region.  For the paging out, use only up to
43810ms per second, and also don't page out more than 1GiB per second.  Under the
439limitation, page out memory regions having longer age first.  Also, check the
440free memory rate of the system every 5 seconds, start the monitoring and paging
441out when the free memory rate becomes lower than 50%, but stop it if the free
442memory rate becomes larger than 60%, or lower than 30%". ::
443
444    # cd <sysfs>/kernel/mm/damon/admin
445    # # populate directories
446    # echo 1 > kdamonds/nr_kdamonds; echo 1 > kdamonds/0/contexts/nr_contexts;
447    # echo 1 > kdamonds/0/contexts/0/schemes/nr_schemes
448    # cd kdamonds/0/contexts/0/schemes/0
449    # # set the basic access pattern and the action
450    # echo 4096 > access_pattern/sz/min
451    # echo 8192 > access_pattern/sz/max
452    # echo 0 > access_pattern/nr_accesses/min
453    # echo 5 > access_pattern/nr_accesses/max
454    # echo 10 > access_pattern/age/min
455    # echo 20 > access_pattern/age/max
456    # echo pageout > action
457    # # set quotas
458    # echo 10 > quotas/ms
459    # echo $((1024*1024*1024)) > quotas/bytes
460    # echo 1000 > quotas/reset_interval_ms
461    # # set watermark
462    # echo free_mem_rate > watermarks/metric
463    # echo 5000000 > watermarks/interval_us
464    # echo 600 > watermarks/high
465    # echo 500 > watermarks/mid
466    # echo 300 > watermarks/low
467
468Please note that it's highly recommended to use user space tools like `damo
469<https://github.com/awslabs/damo>`_ rather than manually reading and writing
470the files as above.  Above is only for an example.
471
472.. _debugfs_interface:
473
474debugfs Interface (DEPRECATED!)
475===============================
476
477.. note::
478
479  THIS IS DEPRECATED!
480
481  DAMON debugfs interface is deprecated, so users should move to the
482  :ref:`sysfs interface <sysfs_interface>`.  If you depend on this and cannot
483  move, please report your usecase to damon@lists.linux.dev and
484  linux-mm@kvack.org.
485
486DAMON exports eight files, ``attrs``, ``target_ids``, ``init_regions``,
487``schemes``, ``monitor_on``, ``kdamond_pid``, ``mk_contexts`` and
488``rm_contexts`` under its debugfs directory, ``<debugfs>/damon/``.
489
490
491Attributes
492----------
493
494Users can get and set the ``sampling interval``, ``aggregation interval``,
495``update interval``, and min/max number of monitoring target regions by
496reading from and writing to the ``attrs`` file.  To know about the monitoring
497attributes in detail, please refer to the :doc:`/mm/damon/design`.  For
498example, below commands set those values to 5 ms, 100 ms, 1,000 ms, 10 and
4991000, and then check it again::
500
501    # cd <debugfs>/damon
502    # echo 5000 100000 1000000 10 1000 > attrs
503    # cat attrs
504    5000 100000 1000000 10 1000
505
506
507Target IDs
508----------
509
510Some types of address spaces supports multiple monitoring target.  For example,
511the virtual memory address spaces monitoring can have multiple processes as the
512monitoring targets.  Users can set the targets by writing relevant id values of
513the targets to, and get the ids of the current targets by reading from the
514``target_ids`` file.  In case of the virtual address spaces monitoring, the
515values should be pids of the monitoring target processes.  For example, below
516commands set processes having pids 42 and 4242 as the monitoring targets and
517check it again::
518
519    # cd <debugfs>/damon
520    # echo 42 4242 > target_ids
521    # cat target_ids
522    42 4242
523
524Users can also monitor the physical memory address space of the system by
525writing a special keyword, "``paddr\n``" to the file.  Because physical address
526space monitoring doesn't support multiple targets, reading the file will show a
527fake value, ``42``, as below::
528
529    # cd <debugfs>/damon
530    # echo paddr > target_ids
531    # cat target_ids
532    42
533
534Note that setting the target ids doesn't start the monitoring.
535
536
537Initial Monitoring Target Regions
538---------------------------------
539
540In case of the virtual address space monitoring, DAMON automatically sets and
541updates the monitoring target regions so that entire memory mappings of target
542processes can be covered.  However, users can want to limit the monitoring
543region to specific address ranges, such as the heap, the stack, or specific
544file-mapped area.  Or, some users can know the initial access pattern of their
545workloads and therefore want to set optimal initial regions for the 'adaptive
546regions adjustment'.
547
548In contrast, DAMON do not automatically sets and updates the monitoring target
549regions in case of physical memory monitoring.  Therefore, users should set the
550monitoring target regions by themselves.
551
552In such cases, users can explicitly set the initial monitoring target regions
553as they want, by writing proper values to the ``init_regions`` file.  The input
554should be a sequence of three integers separated by white spaces that represent
555one region in below form.::
556
557    <target idx> <start address> <end address>
558
559The ``target idx`` should be the index of the target in ``target_ids`` file,
560starting from ``0``, and the regions should be passed in address order.  For
561example, below commands will set a couple of address ranges, ``1-100`` and
562``100-200`` as the initial monitoring target region of pid 42, which is the
563first one (index ``0``) in ``target_ids``, and another couple of address
564ranges, ``20-40`` and ``50-100`` as that of pid 4242, which is the second one
565(index ``1``) in ``target_ids``.::
566
567    # cd <debugfs>/damon
568    # cat target_ids
569    42 4242
570    # echo "0   1       100 \
571            0   100     200 \
572            1   20      40  \
573            1   50      100" > init_regions
574
575Note that this sets the initial monitoring target regions only.  In case of
576virtual memory monitoring, DAMON will automatically updates the boundary of the
577regions after one ``update interval``.  Therefore, users should set the
578``update interval`` large enough in this case, if they don't want the
579update.
580
581
582Schemes
583-------
584
585Users can get and set the DAMON-based operation :ref:`schemes
586<damon_design_damos>` by reading from and writing to ``schemes`` debugfs file.
587Reading the file also shows the statistics of each scheme.  To the file, each
588of the schemes should be represented in each line in below form::
589
590    <target access pattern> <action> <quota> <watermarks>
591
592You can disable schemes by simply writing an empty string to the file.
593
594Target Access Pattern
595~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
596
597The target access :ref:`pattern <damon_design_damos_access_pattern>` of the
598scheme.  The ``<target access pattern>`` is constructed with three ranges in
599below form::
600
601    min-size max-size min-acc max-acc min-age max-age
602
603Specifically, bytes for the size of regions (``min-size`` and ``max-size``),
604number of monitored accesses per aggregate interval for access frequency
605(``min-acc`` and ``max-acc``), number of aggregate intervals for the age of
606regions (``min-age`` and ``max-age``) are specified.  Note that the ranges are
607closed interval.
608
609Action
610~~~~~~
611
612The ``<action>`` is a predefined integer for memory management :ref:`actions
613<damon_design_damos_action>`.  The supported numbers and their meanings are as
614below.
615
616 - 0: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_WILLNEED``.  Ignored if
617   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
618 - 1: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_COLD``.  Ignored if
619   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
620 - 2: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_PAGEOUT``.
621 - 3: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_HUGEPAGE``.  Ignored if
622   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
623 - 4: Call ``madvise()`` for the region with ``MADV_NOHUGEPAGE``.  Ignored if
624   ``target`` is ``paddr``.
625 - 5: Do nothing but count the statistics
626
627Quota
628~~~~~
629
630Users can set the :ref:`quotas <damon_design_damos_quotas>` of the given scheme
631via the ``<quota>`` in below form::
632
633    <ms> <sz> <reset interval> <priority weights>
634
635This makes DAMON to try to use only up to ``<ms>`` milliseconds for applying
636the action to memory regions of the ``target access pattern`` within the
637``<reset interval>`` milliseconds, and to apply the action to only up to
638``<sz>`` bytes of memory regions within the ``<reset interval>``.  Setting both
639``<ms>`` and ``<sz>`` zero disables the quota limits.
640
641For the :ref:`prioritization <damon_design_damos_quotas_prioritization>`, users
642can set the weights for the three properties in ``<priority weights>`` in below
643form::
644
645    <size weight> <access frequency weight> <age weight>
646
647Watermarks
648~~~~~~~~~~
649
650Users can specify :ref:`watermarks <damon_design_damos_watermarks>` of the
651given scheme via ``<watermarks>`` in below form::
652
653    <metric> <check interval> <high mark> <middle mark> <low mark>
654
655``<metric>`` is a predefined integer for the metric to be checked.  The
656supported numbers and their meanings are as below.
657
658 - 0: Ignore the watermarks
659 - 1: System's free memory rate (per thousand)
660
661The value of the metric is checked every ``<check interval>`` microseconds.
662
663If the value is higher than ``<high mark>`` or lower than ``<low mark>``, the
664scheme is deactivated.  If the value is lower than ``<mid mark>``, the scheme
665is activated.
666
667.. _damos_stats:
668
669Statistics
670~~~~~~~~~~
671
672It also counts the total number and bytes of regions that each scheme is tried
673to be applied, the two numbers for the regions that each scheme is successfully
674applied, and the total number of the quota limit exceeds.  This statistics can
675be used for online analysis or tuning of the schemes.
676
677The statistics can be shown by reading the ``schemes`` file.  Reading the file
678will show each scheme you entered in each line, and the five numbers for the
679statistics will be added at the end of each line.
680
681Example
682~~~~~~~
683
684Below commands applies a scheme saying "If a memory region of size in [4KiB,
6858KiB] is showing accesses per aggregate interval in [0, 5] for aggregate
686interval in [10, 20], page out the region.  For the paging out, use only up to
68710ms per second, and also don't page out more than 1GiB per second.  Under the
688limitation, page out memory regions having longer age first.  Also, check the
689free memory rate of the system every 5 seconds, start the monitoring and paging
690out when the free memory rate becomes lower than 50%, but stop it if the free
691memory rate becomes larger than 60%, or lower than 30%".::
692
693    # cd <debugfs>/damon
694    # scheme="4096 8192  0 5    10 20    2"  # target access pattern and action
695    # scheme+=" 10 $((1024*1024*1024)) 1000" # quotas
696    # scheme+=" 0 0 100"                     # prioritization weights
697    # scheme+=" 1 5000000 600 500 300"       # watermarks
698    # echo "$scheme" > schemes
699
700
701Turning On/Off
702--------------
703
704Setting the files as described above doesn't incur effect unless you explicitly
705start the monitoring.  You can start, stop, and check the current status of the
706monitoring by writing to and reading from the ``monitor_on`` file.  Writing
707``on`` to the file starts the monitoring of the targets with the attributes.
708Writing ``off`` to the file stops those.  DAMON also stops if every target
709process is terminated.  Below example commands turn on, off, and check the
710status of DAMON::
711
712    # cd <debugfs>/damon
713    # echo on > monitor_on
714    # echo off > monitor_on
715    # cat monitor_on
716    off
717
718Please note that you cannot write to the above-mentioned debugfs files while
719the monitoring is turned on.  If you write to the files while DAMON is running,
720an error code such as ``-EBUSY`` will be returned.
721
722
723Monitoring Thread PID
724---------------------
725
726DAMON does requested monitoring with a kernel thread called ``kdamond``.  You
727can get the pid of the thread by reading the ``kdamond_pid`` file.  When the
728monitoring is turned off, reading the file returns ``none``. ::
729
730    # cd <debugfs>/damon
731    # cat monitor_on
732    off
733    # cat kdamond_pid
734    none
735    # echo on > monitor_on
736    # cat kdamond_pid
737    18594
738
739
740Using Multiple Monitoring Threads
741---------------------------------
742
743One ``kdamond`` thread is created for each monitoring context.  You can create
744and remove monitoring contexts for multiple ``kdamond`` required use case using
745the ``mk_contexts`` and ``rm_contexts`` files.
746
747Writing the name of the new context to the ``mk_contexts`` file creates a
748directory of the name on the DAMON debugfs directory.  The directory will have
749DAMON debugfs files for the context. ::
750
751    # cd <debugfs>/damon
752    # ls foo
753    # ls: cannot access 'foo': No such file or directory
754    # echo foo > mk_contexts
755    # ls foo
756    # attrs  init_regions  kdamond_pid  schemes  target_ids
757
758If the context is not needed anymore, you can remove it and the corresponding
759directory by putting the name of the context to the ``rm_contexts`` file. ::
760
761    # echo foo > rm_contexts
762    # ls foo
763    # ls: cannot access 'foo': No such file or directory
764
765Note that ``mk_contexts``, ``rm_contexts``, and ``monitor_on`` files are in the
766root directory only.
767
768
769.. _tracepoint:
770
771Tracepoint for Monitoring Results
772=================================
773
774DAMON provides the monitoring results via a tracepoint,
775``damon:damon_aggregated``.  While the monitoring is turned on, you could
776record the tracepoint events and show results using tracepoint supporting tools
777like ``perf``.  For example::
778
779    # echo on > monitor_on
780    # perf record -e damon:damon_aggregated &
781    # sleep 5
782    # kill 9 $(pidof perf)
783    # echo off > monitor_on
784    # perf script
785