KSM with 2.6.35

[e100]

So far 2.6.35 is working well for me, the only problem I have is understanding the parameters in ksmtuned.conf. I have looked for documentation but found none so I made my own.

/etc/ksmtuned.conf:

# Configuration file for ksmtuned.
#DEBUG=1
# number of seconds ksmtuned should sleep between tuning adjustments
# Every KSM_MONITOR_INTERVAL seconds ksmtuned adjust how aggressive KSM will
# search for duplicated pages based on free memory.
# KSM_MONITOR_INTERVAL=60

# Millisecond sleep between ksm scans for 16Gb server.
# Smaller servers sleep more, bigger sleep less.
# How many Milliseconds to sleep between scans of 16GB of RAM.
# The actual sleep time is calculated as sleep = KSM_SLEEP_MSEC * 16 / Total GB of RAM
# The final sleep value will be written to /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/sleep_millisecs
# KSM_SLEEP_MSEC=100

# KSM_NPAGES_BOOST: amount to increment the number of pages to scan
# The number of pages to be scanned will be increased by KSM_NPAGES_BOOST
# when the amount of free ram < threshold (see KSM_THRES_* below)
# KSM_NPAGES_BOOST=300

# KSM_NPAGES_DECAY: amount to decrease the number of pages to scan
# The number of pages to be scanned will be decreased by KSM_NPAGES_DECAY
# when the amount of free ram >= threshold (see KSM_THRES_* below)
# KSM_NPAGES_DECAY=-50

# KSM_NPAGES_MIN: Minimum number of pages to be scanned at all times
# KSM_NPAGES_MIN=64

# KSM_NPAGES_MAX: Maximum number of pages to be scanned at all times
# KSM_NPAGES_MAX=1250

# KSM_THRES_COEF: Decimal percentage of free RAM
# If free memory is less than this percentage KSM will be activated
# KSM_THRES_COEF=20

# KSM_THRES_CONST: Bytes
# If free memory is less than this number KSM will be activated
# KSM_THRES_CONST=2048

#NOTE: Only KSM_THRES_CONST or KSM_THRES_COEF is actually used.
#Whichever results in a larger number wins.

 

[Ninjix]

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

 

[nano09]

Thanks mate, that config helped me a lot .
It made it clear why KSM was not working.
Even though I tried to force /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run to "1", it kept reverting back to "0".

Kudos to you my friend

 

[tarax]

Thank you very much

 

[caracolla]

Thank you very much e100
Your post should be made sticky !
Now my ksmd works, at last !

 

[vcp_ai]

Thanks e100 :

According Proxmox Docu, KSM should start when less than 50% of Ram is free, but with defaults from ksmtuned:

KSM_THRES_COEF=20
KSM_THRES_CONST=2048

It never started in my configuration .... (4Gb Memory and 800 Mb free)

You Note:

#NOTE: Only KSM_THRES_CONST or KSM_THRES_COEF is actually used. 
#Whichever results in a larger number wins.

larger was the key to my problem. I reduced THRES_CONST to 1024 and it inmediately started ..
Thanks

 

[cbourque]

Thanks e100 :

According Proxmox Docu, KSM should start when less than 50% of Ram is free, but with defaults from ksmtuned:

KSM_THRES_COEF=20
KSM_THRES_CONST=2048

It never started in my configuration .... (4Gb Memory and 800 Mb free)

You Note:

#NOTE: Only KSM_THRES_CONST or KSM_THRES_COEF is actually used. 
#Whichever results in a larger number wins.

larger was the key to my problem. I reduced THRES_CONST to 1024 and it inmediately started ..
Thanks

Hi vcp_ai!

I was looking at your answer and I'm sorry but it doesn't make any sense!

Reducing the value of KSM_THRES_CONST from 2048 to 1024 will have absolutely no impact whatsoever since this value will never be used!!!

The script /usr/sbin/ksmtuned will first compute the threshold by using the KSM_THRES_COEF parameter (default to 20%) which in your case is equal to this value: 838860 KB (4GB*0.2).

And then it will check if KSM_THRES_CONST is greater than the threshold (from previous step) and if yes will use this value as the new threshold (which will never happen in your case since 1024 < 838860)!

Also the documentation made by e100 is wrong about the KSM_THRES_CONST parameter: the specified value should be in Kilobytes and not Bytes!

I think Proxmox's documentation is wrong too because they say that KSM will kick in as soon as free ram goes below 50% (which is false: default threshold is 20%)?!?!?!

Hope this helps and please correct me If I'm wrong!

Christian