API Reference

Kernel space programs can use every feature of DAMON using below APIs. All you need to do is including damon.h, which is located in include/linux/ of the source tree.

Structures

struct damon_addr_range

Represents an address region of [start, end).

Definition

struct damon_addr_range {
  unsigned long start;
  unsigned long end;
};

Members

start
Start address of the region (inclusive).
end
End address of the region (exclusive).
struct damon_region

Represents a monitoring target region.

Definition

struct damon_region {
  struct damon_addr_range ar;
  unsigned long sampling_addr;
  unsigned int nr_accesses;
  struct list_head list;
  unsigned int age;
};

Members

ar
The address range of the region.
sampling_addr
Address of the sample for the next access check.
nr_accesses
Access frequency of this region.
list
List head for siblings.
age
Age of this region.

Description

age is initially zero, increased for each aggregation interval, and reset to zero again if the access frequency is significantly changed. If two regions are merged into a new region, both nr_accesses and age of the new region are set as region size-weighted average of those of the two regions.

struct damon_target

Represents a monitoring target.

Definition

struct damon_target {
  struct pid *pid;
  unsigned int nr_regions;
  struct list_head regions_list;
  struct list_head list;
};

Members

pid
The PID of the virtual address space to monitor.
nr_regions
Number of monitoring target regions of this target.
regions_list
Head of the monitoring target regions of this target.
list
List head for siblings.

Description

Each monitoring context could have multiple targets. For example, a context for virtual memory address spaces could have multiple target processes. The pid should be set for appropriate struct damon_operations including the virtual address spaces monitoring operations.

enum damos_action

Represents an action of a Data Access Monitoring-based Operation Scheme.

Constants

DAMOS_WILLNEED
Call madvise() for the region with MADV_WILLNEED.
DAMOS_COLD
Call madvise() for the region with MADV_COLD.
DAMOS_PAGEOUT
Call madvise() for the region with MADV_PAGEOUT.
DAMOS_HUGEPAGE
Call madvise() for the region with MADV_HUGEPAGE.
DAMOS_NOHUGEPAGE
Call madvise() for the region with MADV_NOHUGEPAGE.
DAMOS_STAT
Do nothing but count the stat.
NR_DAMOS_ACTIONS
Total number of DAMOS actions
struct damos_quota

Controls the aggressiveness of the given scheme.

Definition

struct damos_quota {
  unsigned long ms;
  unsigned long sz;
  unsigned long reset_interval;
  unsigned int weight_sz;
  unsigned int weight_nr_accesses;
  unsigned int weight_age;
};

Members

ms
Maximum milliseconds that the scheme can use.
sz
Maximum bytes of memory that the action can be applied.
reset_interval
Charge reset interval in milliseconds.
weight_sz
Weight of the region’s size for prioritization.
weight_nr_accesses
Weight of the region’s nr_accesses for prioritization.
weight_age
Weight of the region’s age for prioritization.

Description

To avoid consuming too much CPU time or IO resources for applying the struct damos->action to large memory, DAMON allows users to set time and/or size quotas. The quotas can be set by writing non-zero values to ms and sz, respectively. If the time quota is set, DAMON tries to use only up to ms milliseconds within reset_interval for applying the action. If the size quota is set, DAMON tries to apply the action only up to sz bytes within reset_interval.

Internally, the time quota is transformed to a size quota using estimated throughput of the scheme’s action. DAMON then compares it against sz and uses smaller one as the effective quota.

For selecting regions within the quota, DAMON prioritizes current scheme’s target memory regions using the struct damon_operations->get_scheme_score. You could customize the prioritization logic by setting weight_sz, weight_nr_accesses, and weight_age, because monitoring operations are encouraged to respect those.

enum damos_wmark_metric

Represents the watermark metric.

Constants

DAMOS_WMARK_NONE
Ignore the watermarks of the given scheme.
DAMOS_WMARK_FREE_MEM_RATE
Free memory rate of the system in [0,1000].
NR_DAMOS_WMARK_METRICS
Total number of DAMOS watermark metrics
struct damos_watermarks

Controls when a given scheme should be activated.

Definition

struct damos_watermarks {
  enum damos_wmark_metric metric;
  unsigned long interval;
  unsigned long high;
  unsigned long mid;
  unsigned long low;
};

Members

metric
Metric for the watermarks.
interval
Watermarks check time interval in microseconds.
high
High watermark.
mid
Middle watermark.
low
Low watermark.

Description

If metric is DAMOS_WMARK_NONE, the scheme is always active. Being active means DAMON does monitoring and applying the action of the scheme to appropriate memory regions. Else, DAMON checks metric of the system for at least every interval microseconds and works as below.

If metric is higher than high, the scheme is inactivated. If metric is between mid and low, the scheme is activated. If metric is lower than low, the scheme is inactivated.

struct damos_stat

Statistics on a given scheme.

Definition

struct damos_stat {
  unsigned long nr_tried;
  unsigned long sz_tried;
  unsigned long nr_applied;
  unsigned long sz_applied;
  unsigned long qt_exceeds;
};

Members

nr_tried
Total number of regions that the scheme is tried to be applied.
sz_tried
Total size of regions that the scheme is tried to be applied.
nr_applied
Total number of regions that the scheme is applied.
sz_applied
Total size of regions that the scheme is applied.
qt_exceeds
Total number of times the quota of the scheme has exceeded.
struct damos

Represents a Data Access Monitoring-based Operation Scheme.

Definition

struct damos {
  unsigned long min_sz_region;
  unsigned long max_sz_region;
  unsigned int min_nr_accesses;
  unsigned int max_nr_accesses;
  unsigned int min_age_region;
  unsigned int max_age_region;
  enum damos_action action;
  struct damos_quota quota;
  struct damos_watermarks wmarks;
  struct damos_stat stat;
  struct list_head list;
};

Members

min_sz_region
Minimum size of target regions.
max_sz_region
Maximum size of target regions.
min_nr_accesses
Minimum ->nr_accesses of target regions.
max_nr_accesses
Maximum ->nr_accesses of target regions.
min_age_region
Minimum age of target regions.
max_age_region
Maximum age of target regions.
action
damo_action to be applied to the target regions.
quota
Control the aggressiveness of this scheme.
wmarks
Watermarks for automated (in)activation of this scheme.
stat
Statistics of this scheme.
list
List head for siblings.

Description

For each aggregation interval, DAMON finds regions which fit in the condition (min_sz_region, max_sz_region, min_nr_accesses, max_nr_accesses, min_age_region, max_age_region) and applies action to those. To avoid consuming too much CPU time or IO resources for the action, quota is used.

To do the work only when needed, schemes can be activated for specific system situations using wmarks. If all schemes that registered to the monitoring context are inactive, DAMON stops monitoring either, and just repeatedly checks the watermarks.

If all schemes that registered to a struct damon_ctx are inactive, DAMON stops monitoring and just repeatedly checks the watermarks.

After applying the action to each region, stat_count and stat_sz is updated to reflect the number of regions and total size of regions that the action is applied.

enum damon_ops_id

Identifier for each monitoring operations implementation

Constants

DAMON_OPS_VADDR
Monitoring operations for virtual address spaces
DAMON_OPS_FVADDR
Monitoring operations for only fixed ranges of virtual address spaces
DAMON_OPS_PADDR
Monitoring operations for the physical address space
NR_DAMON_OPS
Number of monitoring operations implementations
struct damon_operations

Monitoring operations for given use cases.

Definition

struct damon_operations {
  enum damon_ops_id id;
  void (*init)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  void (*update)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  void (*prepare_access_checks)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  unsigned int (*check_accesses)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  void (*reset_aggregated)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  int (*get_scheme_score)(struct damon_ctx *context,struct damon_target *t, struct damon_region *r, struct damos *scheme);
  unsigned long (*apply_scheme)(struct damon_ctx *context,struct damon_target *t, struct damon_region *r, struct damos *scheme);
  bool (*target_valid)(void *target);
  void (*cleanup)(struct damon_ctx *context);
};

Members

id
Identifier of this operations set.
init
Initialize operations-related data structures.
update
Update operations-related data structures.
prepare_access_checks
Prepare next access check of target regions.
check_accesses
Check the accesses to target regions.
reset_aggregated
Reset aggregated accesses monitoring results.
get_scheme_score
Get the score of a region for a scheme.
apply_scheme
Apply a DAMON-based operation scheme.
target_valid
Determine if the target is valid.
cleanup
Clean up the context.

Description

DAMON can be extended for various address spaces and usages. For this, users should register the low level operations for their target address space and usecase via the damon_ctx.ops. Then, the monitoring thread (damon_ctx.kdamond) calls init and prepare_access_checks before starting the monitoring, update after each damon_ctx.ops_update_interval, and check_accesses, target_valid and prepare_access_checks after each damon_ctx.sample_interval. Finally, reset_aggregated is called after each damon_ctx.aggr_interval.

Each struct damon_operations instance having valid id can be registered via damon_register_ops() and selected by damon_select_ops() later. init should initialize operations-related data structures. For example, this could be used to construct proper monitoring target regions and link those to damon_ctx.adaptive_targets. update should update the operations-related data structures. For example, this could be used to update monitoring target regions for current status. prepare_access_checks should manipulate the monitoring regions to be prepared for the next access check. check_accesses should check the accesses to each region that made after the last preparation and update the number of observed accesses of each region. It should also return max number of observed accesses that made as a result of its update. The value will be used for regions adjustment threshold. reset_aggregated should reset the access monitoring results that aggregated by check_accesses. get_scheme_score should return the priority score of a region for a scheme as an integer in [0, DAMOS_MAX_SCORE]. apply_scheme is called from kdamond when a region for user provided DAMON-based operation scheme is found. It should apply the scheme’s action to the region and return bytes of the region that the action is successfully applied. target_valid should check whether the target is still valid for the monitoring. cleanup is called from kdamond just before its termination.

struct damon_callback

Monitoring events notification callbacks.

Definition

struct damon_callback {
  void *private;
  int (*before_start)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  int (*after_wmarks_check)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  int (*after_sampling)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  int (*after_aggregation)(struct damon_ctx *context);
  void (*before_terminate)(struct damon_ctx *context);
};

Members

private
User private data.
before_start
Called before starting the monitoring.
after_wmarks_check
Called after each schemes’ watermarks check.
after_sampling
Called after each sampling.
after_aggregation
Called after each aggregation.
before_terminate
Called before terminating the monitoring.

Description

The monitoring thread (damon_ctx.kdamond) calls before_start and before_terminate just before starting and finishing the monitoring, respectively. Therefore, those are good places for installing and cleaning private.

The monitoring thread calls after_wmarks_check after each DAMON-based operation schemes’ watermarks check. If users need to make changes to the attributes of the monitoring context while it’s deactivated due to the watermarks, this is the good place to do.

The monitoring thread calls after_sampling and after_aggregation for each of the sampling intervals and aggregation intervals, respectively. Therefore, users can safely access the monitoring results without additional protection. For the reason, users are recommended to use these callback for the accesses to the results.

If any callback returns non-zero, monitoring stops.

struct damon_ctx

Represents a context for each monitoring. This is the main interface that allows users to set the attributes and get the results of the monitoring.

Definition

struct damon_ctx {
  unsigned long sample_interval;
  unsigned long aggr_interval;
  unsigned long ops_update_interval;
  struct task_struct *kdamond;
  struct mutex kdamond_lock;
  struct damon_operations ops;
  struct damon_callback callback;
  unsigned long min_nr_regions;
  unsigned long max_nr_regions;
  struct list_head adaptive_targets;
  struct list_head schemes;
};

Members

sample_interval
The time between access samplings.
aggr_interval
The time between monitor results aggregations.
ops_update_interval
The time between monitoring operations updates.
kdamond
Kernel thread who does the monitoring.
kdamond_lock
Mutex for the synchronizations with kdamond.
ops
Set of monitoring operations for given use cases.
callback
Set of callbacks for monitoring events notifications.
min_nr_regions
The minimum number of adaptive monitoring regions.
max_nr_regions
The maximum number of adaptive monitoring regions.
adaptive_targets
Head of monitoring targets (damon_target) list.
schemes
Head of schemes (damos) list.

Description

For each sample_interval, DAMON checks whether each region is accessed or not. It aggregates and keeps the access information (number of accesses to each region) for aggr_interval time. DAMON also checks whether the target memory regions need update (e.g., by mmap() calls from the application, in case of virtual memory monitoring) and applies the changes for each ops_update_interval. All time intervals are in micro-seconds. Please refer to struct damon_operations and struct damon_callback for more detail.

For each monitoring context, one kernel thread for the monitoring is created. The pointer to the thread is stored in kdamond.

Once started, the monitoring thread runs until explicitly required to be terminated or every monitoring target is invalid. The validity of the targets is checked via the damon_operations.target_valid of ops. The termination can also be explicitly requested by writing non-zero to kdamond_stop. The thread sets kdamond to NULL when it terminates. Therefore, users can know whether the monitoring is ongoing or terminated by reading kdamond. Reads and writes to kdamond and kdamond_stop from outside of the monitoring thread must be protected by kdamond_lock.

Note that the monitoring thread protects only kdamond and kdamond_stop via kdamond_lock. Accesses to other fields must be protected by themselves.

Functions

bool damon_is_registered_ops(enum damon_ops_id id)

Check if a given damon_operations is registered.

Parameters

enum damon_ops_id id
Id of the damon_operations to check if registered.

Return

true if the ops is set, false otherwise.

int damon_register_ops(struct damon_operations *ops)

Register a monitoring operations set to DAMON.

Parameters

struct damon_operations *ops
monitoring operations set to register.

Description

This function registers a monitoring operations set of valid struct damon_operations->id so that others can find and use them later.

Return

0 on success, negative error code otherwise.

int damon_select_ops(struct damon_ctx *ctx, enum damon_ops_id id)

Select a monitoring operations to use with the context.

Parameters

struct damon_ctx *ctx
monitoring context to use the operations.
enum damon_ops_id id
id of the registered monitoring operations to select.

Description

This function finds registered monitoring operations set of id and make ctx to use it.

Return

0 on success, negative error code otherwise.

int damon_set_attrs(struct damon_ctx *ctx, unsigned long sample_int, unsigned long aggr_int, unsigned long ops_upd_int, unsigned long min_nr_reg, unsigned long max_nr_reg)

Set attributes for the monitoring.

Parameters

struct damon_ctx *ctx
monitoring context
unsigned long sample_int
time interval between samplings
unsigned long aggr_int
time interval between aggregations
unsigned long ops_upd_int
time interval between monitoring operations updates
unsigned long min_nr_reg
minimal number of regions
unsigned long max_nr_reg
maximum number of regions

Description

This function should not be called while the kdamond is running. Every time interval is in micro-seconds.

Return

0 on success, negative error code otherwise.

int damon_set_schemes(struct damon_ctx *ctx, struct damos **schemes, ssize_t nr_schemes)

Set data access monitoring based operation schemes.

Parameters

struct damon_ctx *ctx
monitoring context
struct damos **schemes
array of the schemes
ssize_t nr_schemes
number of entries in schemes

Description

This function should not be called while the kdamond of the context is running.

Return

0 if success, or negative error code otherwise.

int damon_nr_running_ctxs(void)

Return number of currently running contexts.

Parameters

void
no arguments
int damon_start(struct damon_ctx **ctxs, int nr_ctxs, bool exclusive)

Starts the monitorings for a given group of contexts.

Parameters

struct damon_ctx **ctxs
an array of the pointers for contexts to start monitoring
int nr_ctxs
size of ctxs
bool exclusive
exclusiveness of this contexts group

Description

This function starts a group of monitoring threads for a group of monitoring contexts. One thread per each context is created and run in parallel. The caller should handle synchronization between the threads by itself. If exclusive is true and a group of threads that created by other ‘damon_start()’ call is currently running, this function does nothing but returns -EBUSY.

Return

0 on success, negative error code otherwise.

int damon_stop(struct damon_ctx **ctxs, int nr_ctxs)

Stops the monitorings for a given group of contexts.

Parameters

struct damon_ctx **ctxs
an array of the pointers for contexts to stop monitoring
int nr_ctxs
size of ctxs

Return

0 on success, negative error code otherwise.