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Linux/Documentation/timers/no_hz.rst

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Differences between /Documentation/timers/no_hz.rst (Version linux-6.11.5) and /Documentation/timers/no_hz.rst (Version linux-6.8.12)


  1 ======================================              1 ======================================
  2 NO_HZ: Reducing Scheduling-Clock Ticks              2 NO_HZ: Reducing Scheduling-Clock Ticks
  3 ======================================              3 ======================================
  4                                                     4 
  5                                                     5 
  6 This document describes Kconfig options and bo      6 This document describes Kconfig options and boot parameters that can
  7 reduce the number of scheduling-clock interrup      7 reduce the number of scheduling-clock interrupts, thereby improving energy
  8 efficiency and reducing OS jitter.  Reducing O      8 efficiency and reducing OS jitter.  Reducing OS jitter is important for
  9 some types of computationally intensive high-p      9 some types of computationally intensive high-performance computing (HPC)
 10 applications and for real-time applications.       10 applications and for real-time applications.
 11                                                    11 
 12 There are three main ways of managing scheduli     12 There are three main ways of managing scheduling-clock interrupts
 13 (also known as "scheduling-clock ticks" or sim     13 (also known as "scheduling-clock ticks" or simply "ticks"):
 14                                                    14 
 15 1.      Never omit scheduling-clock ticks (CON     15 1.      Never omit scheduling-clock ticks (CONFIG_HZ_PERIODIC=y or
 16         CONFIG_NO_HZ=n for older kernels).  Yo     16         CONFIG_NO_HZ=n for older kernels).  You normally will -not-
 17         want to choose this option.                17         want to choose this option.
 18                                                    18 
 19 2.      Omit scheduling-clock ticks on idle CP     19 2.      Omit scheduling-clock ticks on idle CPUs (CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y or
 20         CONFIG_NO_HZ=y for older kernels).  Th     20         CONFIG_NO_HZ=y for older kernels).  This is the most common
 21         approach, and should be the default.       21         approach, and should be the default.
 22                                                    22 
 23 3.      Omit scheduling-clock ticks on CPUs th     23 3.      Omit scheduling-clock ticks on CPUs that are either idle or that
 24         have only one runnable task (CONFIG_NO     24         have only one runnable task (CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL=y).  Unless you
 25         are running realtime applications or c     25         are running realtime applications or certain types of HPC
 26         workloads, you will normally -not- wan     26         workloads, you will normally -not- want this option.
 27                                                    27 
 28 These three cases are described in the followi     28 These three cases are described in the following three sections, followed
 29 by a third section on RCU-specific considerati     29 by a third section on RCU-specific considerations, a fourth section
 30 discussing testing, and a fifth and final sect     30 discussing testing, and a fifth and final section listing known issues.
 31                                                    31 
 32                                                    32 
 33 Never Omit Scheduling-Clock Ticks                  33 Never Omit Scheduling-Clock Ticks
 34 =================================                  34 =================================
 35                                                    35 
 36 Very old versions of Linux from the 1990s and      36 Very old versions of Linux from the 1990s and the very early 2000s
 37 are incapable of omitting scheduling-clock tic     37 are incapable of omitting scheduling-clock ticks.  It turns out that
 38 there are some situations where this old-schoo     38 there are some situations where this old-school approach is still the
 39 right approach, for example, in heavy workload     39 right approach, for example, in heavy workloads with lots of tasks
 40 that use short bursts of CPU, where there are      40 that use short bursts of CPU, where there are very frequent idle
 41 periods, but where these idle periods are also     41 periods, but where these idle periods are also quite short (tens or
 42 hundreds of microseconds).  For these types of     42 hundreds of microseconds).  For these types of workloads, scheduling
 43 clock interrupts will normally be delivered an     43 clock interrupts will normally be delivered any way because there
 44 will frequently be multiple runnable tasks per     44 will frequently be multiple runnable tasks per CPU.  In these cases,
 45 attempting to turn off the scheduling clock in     45 attempting to turn off the scheduling clock interrupt will have no effect
 46 other than increasing the overhead of switchin     46 other than increasing the overhead of switching to and from idle and
 47 transitioning between user and kernel executio     47 transitioning between user and kernel execution.
 48                                                    48 
 49 This mode of operation can be selected using C     49 This mode of operation can be selected using CONFIG_HZ_PERIODIC=y (or
 50 CONFIG_NO_HZ=n for older kernels).                 50 CONFIG_NO_HZ=n for older kernels).
 51                                                    51 
 52 However, if you are instead running a light wo     52 However, if you are instead running a light workload with long idle
 53 periods, failing to omit scheduling-clock inte     53 periods, failing to omit scheduling-clock interrupts will result in
 54 excessive power consumption.  This is especial     54 excessive power consumption.  This is especially bad on battery-powered
 55 devices, where it results in extremely short b     55 devices, where it results in extremely short battery lifetimes.  If you
 56 are running light workloads, you should theref     56 are running light workloads, you should therefore read the following
 57 section.                                           57 section.
 58                                                    58 
 59 In addition, if you are running either a real-     59 In addition, if you are running either a real-time workload or an HPC
 60 workload with short iterations, the scheduling     60 workload with short iterations, the scheduling-clock interrupts can
 61 degrade your applications performance.  If thi     61 degrade your applications performance.  If this describes your workload,
 62 you should read the following two sections.        62 you should read the following two sections.
 63                                                    63 
 64                                                    64 
 65 Omit Scheduling-Clock Ticks For Idle CPUs          65 Omit Scheduling-Clock Ticks For Idle CPUs
 66 =========================================          66 =========================================
 67                                                    67 
 68 If a CPU is idle, there is little point in sen     68 If a CPU is idle, there is little point in sending it a scheduling-clock
 69 interrupt.  After all, the primary purpose of      69 interrupt.  After all, the primary purpose of a scheduling-clock interrupt
 70 is to force a busy CPU to shift its attention      70 is to force a busy CPU to shift its attention among multiple duties,
 71 and an idle CPU has no duties to shift its att     71 and an idle CPU has no duties to shift its attention among.
 72                                                    72 
 73 An idle CPU that is not receiving scheduling-c     73 An idle CPU that is not receiving scheduling-clock interrupts is said to
 74 be "dyntick-idle", "in dyntick-idle mode", "in     74 be "dyntick-idle", "in dyntick-idle mode", "in nohz mode", or "running
 75 tickless".  The remainder of this document wil     75 tickless".  The remainder of this document will use "dyntick-idle mode".
 76                                                    76 
 77 The CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y Kconfig option causes      77 The CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y Kconfig option causes the kernel to avoid sending
 78 scheduling-clock interrupts to idle CPUs, whic     78 scheduling-clock interrupts to idle CPUs, which is critically important
 79 both to battery-powered devices and to highly      79 both to battery-powered devices and to highly virtualized mainframes.
 80 A battery-powered device running a CONFIG_HZ_P     80 A battery-powered device running a CONFIG_HZ_PERIODIC=y kernel would
 81 drain its battery very quickly, easily 2-3 tim     81 drain its battery very quickly, easily 2-3 times as fast as would the
 82 same device running a CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y kern     82 same device running a CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y kernel.  A mainframe running
 83 1,500 OS instances might find that half of its     83 1,500 OS instances might find that half of its CPU time was consumed by
 84 unnecessary scheduling-clock interrupts.  In t     84 unnecessary scheduling-clock interrupts.  In these situations, there
 85 is strong motivation to avoid sending scheduli     85 is strong motivation to avoid sending scheduling-clock interrupts to
 86 idle CPUs.  That said, dyntick-idle mode is no     86 idle CPUs.  That said, dyntick-idle mode is not free:
 87                                                    87 
 88 1.      It increases the number of instruction     88 1.      It increases the number of instructions executed on the path
 89         to and from the idle loop.                 89         to and from the idle loop.
 90                                                    90 
 91 2.      On many architectures, dyntick-idle mo     91 2.      On many architectures, dyntick-idle mode also increases the
 92         number of expensive clock-reprogrammin     92         number of expensive clock-reprogramming operations.
 93                                                    93 
 94 Therefore, systems with aggressive real-time r     94 Therefore, systems with aggressive real-time response constraints often
 95 run CONFIG_HZ_PERIODIC=y kernels (or CONFIG_NO     95 run CONFIG_HZ_PERIODIC=y kernels (or CONFIG_NO_HZ=n for older kernels)
 96 in order to avoid degrading from-idle transiti     96 in order to avoid degrading from-idle transition latencies.
 97                                                    97 
 98 There is also a boot parameter "nohz=" that ca     98 There is also a boot parameter "nohz=" that can be used to disable
 99 dyntick-idle mode in CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y kerne     99 dyntick-idle mode in CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y kernels by specifying "nohz=off".
100 By default, CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y kernels boot w    100 By default, CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y kernels boot with "nohz=on", enabling
101 dyntick-idle mode.                                101 dyntick-idle mode.
102                                                   102 
103                                                   103 
104 Omit Scheduling-Clock Ticks For CPUs With Only    104 Omit Scheduling-Clock Ticks For CPUs With Only One Runnable Task
105 ==============================================    105 ================================================================
106                                                   106 
107 If a CPU has only one runnable task, there is     107 If a CPU has only one runnable task, there is little point in sending it
108 a scheduling-clock interrupt because there is     108 a scheduling-clock interrupt because there is no other task to switch to.
109 Note that omitting scheduling-clock ticks for     109 Note that omitting scheduling-clock ticks for CPUs with only one runnable
110 task implies also omitting them for idle CPUs.    110 task implies also omitting them for idle CPUs.
111                                                   111 
112 The CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL=y Kconfig option causes     112 The CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL=y Kconfig option causes the kernel to avoid
113 sending scheduling-clock interrupts to CPUs wi    113 sending scheduling-clock interrupts to CPUs with a single runnable task,
114 and such CPUs are said to be "adaptive-ticks C    114 and such CPUs are said to be "adaptive-ticks CPUs".  This is important
115 for applications with aggressive real-time res    115 for applications with aggressive real-time response constraints because
116 it allows them to improve their worst-case res    116 it allows them to improve their worst-case response times by the maximum
117 duration of a scheduling-clock interrupt.  It     117 duration of a scheduling-clock interrupt.  It is also important for
118 computationally intensive short-iteration work    118 computationally intensive short-iteration workloads:  If any CPU is
119 delayed during a given iteration, all the othe    119 delayed during a given iteration, all the other CPUs will be forced to
120 wait idle while the delayed CPU finishes.  Thu    120 wait idle while the delayed CPU finishes.  Thus, the delay is multiplied
121 by one less than the number of CPUs.  In these    121 by one less than the number of CPUs.  In these situations, there is
122 again strong motivation to avoid sending sched    122 again strong motivation to avoid sending scheduling-clock interrupts.
123                                                   123 
124 By default, no CPU will be an adaptive-ticks C    124 By default, no CPU will be an adaptive-ticks CPU.  The "nohz_full="
125 boot parameter specifies the adaptive-ticks CP    125 boot parameter specifies the adaptive-ticks CPUs.  For example,
126 "nohz_full=1,6-8" says that CPUs 1, 6, 7, and     126 "nohz_full=1,6-8" says that CPUs 1, 6, 7, and 8 are to be adaptive-ticks
127 CPUs.  Note that you are prohibited from marki    127 CPUs.  Note that you are prohibited from marking all of the CPUs as
128 adaptive-tick CPUs:  At least one non-adaptive    128 adaptive-tick CPUs:  At least one non-adaptive-tick CPU must remain
129 online to handle timekeeping tasks in order to    129 online to handle timekeeping tasks in order to ensure that system
130 calls like gettimeofday() returns accurate val    130 calls like gettimeofday() returns accurate values on adaptive-tick CPUs.
131 (This is not an issue for CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y     131 (This is not an issue for CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y because there are no running
132 user processes to observe slight drifts in clo !! 132 user processes to observe slight drifts in clock rate.)  Therefore, the
133 means that your system must have at least two  !! 133 boot CPU is prohibited from entering adaptive-ticks mode.  Specifying a
                                                   >> 134 "nohz_full=" mask that includes the boot CPU will result in a boot-time
                                                   >> 135 error message, and the boot CPU will be removed from the mask.  Note that
                                                   >> 136 this means that your system must have at least two CPUs in order for
134 CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL=y to do anything for you.       137 CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL=y to do anything for you.
135                                                   138 
136 Finally, adaptive-ticks CPUs must have their R    139 Finally, adaptive-ticks CPUs must have their RCU callbacks offloaded.
137 This is covered in the "RCU IMPLICATIONS" sect    140 This is covered in the "RCU IMPLICATIONS" section below.
138                                                   141 
139 Normally, a CPU remains in adaptive-ticks mode    142 Normally, a CPU remains in adaptive-ticks mode as long as possible.
140 In particular, transitioning to kernel mode do    143 In particular, transitioning to kernel mode does not automatically change
141 the mode.  Instead, the CPU will exit adaptive    144 the mode.  Instead, the CPU will exit adaptive-ticks mode only if needed,
142 for example, if that CPU enqueues an RCU callb    145 for example, if that CPU enqueues an RCU callback.
143                                                   146 
144 Just as with dyntick-idle mode, the benefits o    147 Just as with dyntick-idle mode, the benefits of adaptive-tick mode do
145 not come for free:                                148 not come for free:
146                                                   149 
147 1.      CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL selects CONFIG_NO_HZ    150 1.      CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL selects CONFIG_NO_HZ_COMMON, so you cannot run
148         adaptive ticks without also running dy    151         adaptive ticks without also running dyntick idle.  This dependency
149         extends down into the implementation,     152         extends down into the implementation, so that all of the costs
150         of CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE are also incurred    153         of CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE are also incurred by CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL.
151                                                   154 
152 2.      The user/kernel transitions are slight    155 2.      The user/kernel transitions are slightly more expensive due
153         to the need to inform kernel subsystem    156         to the need to inform kernel subsystems (such as RCU) about
154         the change in mode.                       157         the change in mode.
155                                                   158 
156 3.      POSIX CPU timers prevent CPUs from ent    159 3.      POSIX CPU timers prevent CPUs from entering adaptive-tick mode.
157         Real-time applications needing to take    160         Real-time applications needing to take actions based on CPU time
158         consumption need to use other means of    161         consumption need to use other means of doing so.
159                                                   162 
160 4.      If there are more perf events pending     163 4.      If there are more perf events pending than the hardware can
161         accommodate, they are normally round-r    164         accommodate, they are normally round-robined so as to collect
162         all of them over time.  Adaptive-tick     165         all of them over time.  Adaptive-tick mode may prevent this
163         round-robining from happening.  This w    166         round-robining from happening.  This will likely be fixed by
164         preventing CPUs with large numbers of     167         preventing CPUs with large numbers of perf events pending from
165         entering adaptive-tick mode.              168         entering adaptive-tick mode.
166                                                   169 
167 5.      Scheduler statistics for adaptive-tick    170 5.      Scheduler statistics for adaptive-tick CPUs may be computed
168         slightly differently than those for no    171         slightly differently than those for non-adaptive-tick CPUs.
169         This might in turn perturb load-balanc    172         This might in turn perturb load-balancing of real-time tasks.
170                                                   173 
171 Although improvements are expected over time,     174 Although improvements are expected over time, adaptive ticks is quite
172 useful for many types of real-time and compute    175 useful for many types of real-time and compute-intensive applications.
173 However, the drawbacks listed above mean that     176 However, the drawbacks listed above mean that adaptive ticks should not
174 (yet) be enabled by default.                      177 (yet) be enabled by default.
175                                                   178 
176                                                   179 
177 RCU Implications                                  180 RCU Implications
178 ================                                  181 ================
179                                                   182 
180 There are situations in which idle CPUs cannot    183 There are situations in which idle CPUs cannot be permitted to
181 enter either dyntick-idle mode or adaptive-tic    184 enter either dyntick-idle mode or adaptive-tick mode, the most
182 common being when that CPU has RCU callbacks p    185 common being when that CPU has RCU callbacks pending.
183                                                   186 
184 Avoid this by offloading RCU callback processi    187 Avoid this by offloading RCU callback processing to "rcuo" kthreads
185 using the CONFIG_RCU_NOCB_CPU=y Kconfig option    188 using the CONFIG_RCU_NOCB_CPU=y Kconfig option.  The specific CPUs to
186 offload may be selected using The "rcu_nocbs="    189 offload may be selected using The "rcu_nocbs=" kernel boot parameter,
187 which takes a comma-separated list of CPUs and    190 which takes a comma-separated list of CPUs and CPU ranges, for example,
188 "1,3-5" selects CPUs 1, 3, 4, and 5.  Note tha    191 "1,3-5" selects CPUs 1, 3, 4, and 5.  Note that CPUs specified by
189 the "nohz_full" kernel boot parameter are also    192 the "nohz_full" kernel boot parameter are also offloaded.
190                                                   193 
191 The offloaded CPUs will never queue RCU callba    194 The offloaded CPUs will never queue RCU callbacks, and therefore RCU
192 never prevents offloaded CPUs from entering ei    195 never prevents offloaded CPUs from entering either dyntick-idle mode
193 or adaptive-tick mode.  That said, note that i    196 or adaptive-tick mode.  That said, note that it is up to userspace to
194 pin the "rcuo" kthreads to specific CPUs if de    197 pin the "rcuo" kthreads to specific CPUs if desired.  Otherwise, the
195 scheduler will decide where to run them, which    198 scheduler will decide where to run them, which might or might not be
196 where you want them to run.                       199 where you want them to run.
197                                                   200 
198                                                   201 
199 Testing                                           202 Testing
200 =======                                           203 =======
201                                                   204 
202 So you enable all the OS-jitter features descr    205 So you enable all the OS-jitter features described in this document,
203 but do not see any change in your workload's b    206 but do not see any change in your workload's behavior.  Is this because
204 your workload isn't affected that much by OS j    207 your workload isn't affected that much by OS jitter, or is it because
205 something else is in the way?  This section he    208 something else is in the way?  This section helps answer this question
206 by providing a simple OS-jitter test suite, wh    209 by providing a simple OS-jitter test suite, which is available on branch
207 master of the following git archive:              210 master of the following git archive:
208                                                   211 
209 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/    212 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/frederic/dynticks-testing.git
210                                                   213 
211 Clone this archive and follow the instructions    214 Clone this archive and follow the instructions in the README file.
212 This test procedure will produce a trace that     215 This test procedure will produce a trace that will allow you to evaluate
213 whether or not you have succeeded in removing     216 whether or not you have succeeded in removing OS jitter from your system.
214 If this trace shows that you have removed OS j    217 If this trace shows that you have removed OS jitter as much as is
215 possible, then you can conclude that your work    218 possible, then you can conclude that your workload is not all that
216 sensitive to OS jitter.                           219 sensitive to OS jitter.
217                                                   220 
218 Note: this test requires that your system have    221 Note: this test requires that your system have at least two CPUs.
219 We do not currently have a good way to remove     222 We do not currently have a good way to remove OS jitter from single-CPU
220 systems.                                          223 systems.
221                                                   224 
222                                                   225 
223 Known Issues                                      226 Known Issues
224 ============                                      227 ============
225                                                   228 
226 *       Dyntick-idle slows transitions to and     229 *       Dyntick-idle slows transitions to and from idle slightly.
227         In practice, this has not been a probl    230         In practice, this has not been a problem except for the most
228         aggressive real-time workloads, which     231         aggressive real-time workloads, which have the option of disabling
229         dyntick-idle mode, an option that most    232         dyntick-idle mode, an option that most of them take.  However,
230         some workloads will no doubt want to u    233         some workloads will no doubt want to use adaptive ticks to
231         eliminate scheduling-clock interrupt l    234         eliminate scheduling-clock interrupt latencies.  Here are some
232         options for these workloads:              235         options for these workloads:
233                                                   236 
234         a.      Use PMQOS from userspace to in    237         a.      Use PMQOS from userspace to inform the kernel of your
235                 latency requirements (preferre    238                 latency requirements (preferred).
236                                                   239 
237         b.      On x86 systems, use the "idle=    240         b.      On x86 systems, use the "idle=mwait" boot parameter.
238                                                   241 
239         c.      On x86 systems, use the "intel    242         c.      On x86 systems, use the "intel_idle.max_cstate=" to limit
240         `       the maximum C-state depth.        243         `       the maximum C-state depth.
241                                                   244 
242         d.      On x86 systems, use the "idle=    245         d.      On x86 systems, use the "idle=poll" boot parameter.
243                 However, please note that use     246                 However, please note that use of this parameter can cause
244                 your CPU to overheat, which ma    247                 your CPU to overheat, which may cause thermal throttling
245                 to degrade your latencies -- a    248                 to degrade your latencies -- and that this degradation can
246                 be even worse than that of dyn    249                 be even worse than that of dyntick-idle.  Furthermore,
247                 this parameter effectively dis    250                 this parameter effectively disables Turbo Mode on Intel
248                 CPUs, which can significantly     251                 CPUs, which can significantly reduce maximum performance.
249                                                   252 
250 *       Adaptive-ticks slows user/kernel trans    253 *       Adaptive-ticks slows user/kernel transitions slightly.
251         This is not expected to be a problem f    254         This is not expected to be a problem for computationally intensive
252         workloads, which have few such transit    255         workloads, which have few such transitions.  Careful benchmarking
253         will be required to determine whether     256         will be required to determine whether or not other workloads
254         are significantly affected by this eff    257         are significantly affected by this effect.
255                                                   258 
256 *       Adaptive-ticks does not do anything un    259 *       Adaptive-ticks does not do anything unless there is only one
257         runnable task for a given CPU, even th    260         runnable task for a given CPU, even though there are a number
258         of other situations where the scheduli    261         of other situations where the scheduling-clock tick is not
259         needed.  To give but one example, cons    262         needed.  To give but one example, consider a CPU that has one
260         runnable high-priority SCHED_FIFO task    263         runnable high-priority SCHED_FIFO task and an arbitrary number
261         of low-priority SCHED_OTHER tasks.  In    264         of low-priority SCHED_OTHER tasks.  In this case, the CPU is
262         required to run the SCHED_FIFO task un    265         required to run the SCHED_FIFO task until it either blocks or
263         some other higher-priority task awaken    266         some other higher-priority task awakens on (or is assigned to)
264         this CPU, so there is no point in send    267         this CPU, so there is no point in sending a scheduling-clock
265         interrupt to this CPU.  However, the c    268         interrupt to this CPU.  However, the current implementation
266         nevertheless sends scheduling-clock in    269         nevertheless sends scheduling-clock interrupts to CPUs having a
267         single runnable SCHED_FIFO task and mu    270         single runnable SCHED_FIFO task and multiple runnable SCHED_OTHER
268         tasks, even though these interrupts ar    271         tasks, even though these interrupts are unnecessary.
269                                                   272 
270         And even when there are multiple runna    273         And even when there are multiple runnable tasks on a given CPU,
271         there is little point in interrupting     274         there is little point in interrupting that CPU until the current
272         running task's timeslice expires, whic    275         running task's timeslice expires, which is almost always way
273         longer than the time of the next sched    276         longer than the time of the next scheduling-clock interrupt.
274                                                   277 
275         Better handling of these sorts of situ    278         Better handling of these sorts of situations is future work.
276                                                   279 
277 *       A reboot is required to reconfigure bo    280 *       A reboot is required to reconfigure both adaptive idle and RCU
278         callback offloading.  Runtime reconfig    281         callback offloading.  Runtime reconfiguration could be provided
279         if needed, however, due to the complex    282         if needed, however, due to the complexity of reconfiguring RCU at
280         runtime, there would need to be an ear    283         runtime, there would need to be an earthshakingly good reason.
281         Especially given that you have the str    284         Especially given that you have the straightforward option of
282         simply offloading RCU callbacks from a    285         simply offloading RCU callbacks from all CPUs and pinning them
283         where you want them whenever you want     286         where you want them whenever you want them pinned.
284                                                   287 
285 *       Additional configuration is required t    288 *       Additional configuration is required to deal with other sources
286         of OS jitter, including interrupts and    289         of OS jitter, including interrupts and system-utility tasks
287         and processes.  This configuration nor    290         and processes.  This configuration normally involves binding
288         interrupts and tasks to particular CPU    291         interrupts and tasks to particular CPUs.
289                                                   292 
290 *       Some sources of OS jitter can currentl    293 *       Some sources of OS jitter can currently be eliminated only by
291         constraining the workload.  For exampl    294         constraining the workload.  For example, the only way to eliminate
292         OS jitter due to global TLB shootdowns    295         OS jitter due to global TLB shootdowns is to avoid the unmapping
293         operations (such as kernel module unlo    296         operations (such as kernel module unload operations) that
294         result in these shootdowns.  For anoth    297         result in these shootdowns.  For another example, page faults
295         and TLB misses can be reduced (and in     298         and TLB misses can be reduced (and in some cases eliminated) by
296         using huge pages and by constraining t    299         using huge pages and by constraining the amount of memory used
297         by the application.  Pre-faulting the     300         by the application.  Pre-faulting the working set can also be
298         helpful, especially when combined with    301         helpful, especially when combined with the mlock() and mlockall()
299         system calls.                             302         system calls.
300                                                   303 
301 *       Unless all CPUs are idle, at least one    304 *       Unless all CPUs are idle, at least one CPU must keep the
302         scheduling-clock interrupt going in or    305         scheduling-clock interrupt going in order to support accurate
303         timekeeping.                              306         timekeeping.
304                                                   307 
305 *       If there might potentially be some ada    308 *       If there might potentially be some adaptive-ticks CPUs, there
306         will be at least one CPU keeping the s    309         will be at least one CPU keeping the scheduling-clock interrupt
307         going, even if all CPUs are otherwise     310         going, even if all CPUs are otherwise idle.
308                                                   311 
309         Better handling of this situation is o    312         Better handling of this situation is ongoing work.
310                                                   313 
311 *       Some process-handling operations still    314 *       Some process-handling operations still require the occasional
312         scheduling-clock tick.  These operatio    315         scheduling-clock tick.  These operations include calculating CPU
313         load, maintaining sched average, compu    316         load, maintaining sched average, computing CFS entity vruntime,
314         computing avenrun, and carrying out lo    317         computing avenrun, and carrying out load balancing.  They are
315         currently accommodated by scheduling-c    318         currently accommodated by scheduling-clock tick every second
316         or so.  On-going work will eliminate t    319         or so.  On-going work will eliminate the need even for these
317         infrequent scheduling-clock ticks.        320         infrequent scheduling-clock ticks.
                                                      

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