sched_ext: Add a cgroup scheduler which uses flattened hierarchy

This patch adds scx_flatcg example scheduler which implements hierarchical
weight-based cgroup CPU control by flattening the cgroup hierarchy into a
single layer by compounding the active weight share at each level.

This flattening of hierarchy can bring a substantial performance gain when
the cgroup hierarchy is nested multiple levels. in a simple benchmark using
wrk[8] on apache serving a CGI script calculating sha1sum of a small file,
it outperforms CFS by ~3% with CPU controller disabled and by ~10% with two
apache instances competing with 2:1 weight ratio nested four level deep.

However, the gain comes at the cost of not being able to properly handle
thundering herd of cgroups. For example, if many cgroups which are nested
behind a low priority parent cgroup wake up around the same time, they may
be able to consume more CPU cycles than they are entitled to. In many use
cases, this isn't a real concern especially given the performance gain.
Also, there are ways to mitigate the problem further by e.g. introducing an
extra scheduling layer on cgroup delegation boundaries.

v5: - Updated to specify SCX_OPS_HAS_CGROUP_WEIGHT instead of
      SCX_OPS_KNOB_CGROUP_WEIGHT.

v4: - Revert reference counted kptr for cgv_node as the change caused easily
      reproducible stalls.

v3: - Updated to reflect the core API changes including ops.init/exit_task()
      and direct dispatch from ops.select_cpu(). Fixes and improvements
      including additional statistics.

    - Use reference counted kptr for cgv_node instead of xchg'ing against
      stash location.

    - Dropped '-p' option.

v2: - Use SCX_BUG[_ON]() to simplify error handling.
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: David Vernet <dvernet@meta.com>
Acked-by: Josh Don <joshdon@google.com>
Acked-by: Hao Luo <haoluo@google.com>
Acked-by: Barret Rhoden <brho@google.com>

tools/sched_ext/Makefile

@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ $(INCLUDE_DIR)/%.bpf.skel.h: $(SCXOBJ_DIR)/%.bpf.o $(INCLUDE_DIR)/vmlinux.h $(BP
 
 SCX_COMMON_DEPS := include/scx/common.h include/scx/user_exit_info.h | $(BINDIR)
 
-c-sched-targets = scx_simple scx_qmap scx_central
+c-sched-targets = scx_simple scx_qmap scx_central scx_flatcg
 
 $(addprefix $(BINDIR)/,$(c-sched-targets)): \
 	$(BINDIR)/%: \

tools/sched_ext/README.md

@@ -192,6 +192,18 @@ where this could be particularly useful is running VMs, where running with
 infinite slices and no timer ticks allows the VM to avoid unnecessary expensive
 vmexits.
 
+## scx_flatcg
+
+A flattened cgroup hierarchy scheduler. This scheduler implements hierarchical
+weight-based cgroup CPU control by flattening the cgroup hierarchy into a single
+layer, by compounding the active weight share at each level. The effect of this
+is a much more performant CPU controller, which does not need to descend down
+cgroup trees in order to properly compute a cgroup's share.
+
+Similar to scx_simple, in limited scenarios, this scheduler can perform
+reasonably well on single socket-socket systems with a unified L3 cache and show
+significantly lowered hierarchical scheduling overhead.
+
 
 # Troubleshooting
 

tools/sched_ext/scx_flatcg.c

+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 */
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2023 Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ * Copyright (c) 2023 Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
+ * Copyright (c) 2023 David Vernet <dvernet@meta.com>
+ */
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <libgen.h>
+#include <limits.h>
+#include <inttypes.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <time.h>
+#include <bpf/bpf.h>
+#include <scx/common.h>
+#include "scx_flatcg.h"
+#include "scx_flatcg.bpf.skel.h"
+
+#ifndef FILEID_KERNFS
+#define FILEID_KERNFS		0xfe
+#endif
+
+const char help_fmt[] =
+"A flattened cgroup hierarchy sched_ext scheduler.\n"
+"\n"
+"See the top-level comment in .bpf.c for more details.\n"
+"\n"
+"Usage: %s [-s SLICE_US] [-i INTERVAL] [-f] [-v]\n"
+"\n"
+"  -s SLICE_US   Override slice duration\n"
+"  -i INTERVAL   Report interval\n"
+"  -f            Use FIFO scheduling instead of weighted vtime scheduling\n"
+"  -v            Print libbpf debug messages\n"
+"  -h            Display this help and exit\n";
+
+static bool verbose;
+static volatile int exit_req;
+
+static int libbpf_print_fn(enum libbpf_print_level level, const char *format, va_list args)
+{
+	if (level == LIBBPF_DEBUG && !verbose)
+		return 0;
+	return vfprintf(stderr, format, args);
+}
+
+static void sigint_handler(int dummy)
+{
+	exit_req = 1;
+}
+
+static float read_cpu_util(__u64 *last_sum, __u64 *last_idle)
+{
+	FILE *fp;
+	char buf[4096];
+	char *line, *cur = NULL, *tok;
+	__u64 sum = 0, idle = 0;
+	__u64 delta_sum, delta_idle;
+	int idx;
+
+	fp = fopen("/proc/stat", "r");
+	if (!fp) {
+		perror("fopen(\"/proc/stat\")");
+		return 0.0;
+	}
+
+	if (!fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), fp)) {
+		perror("fgets(\"/proc/stat\")");
+		fclose(fp);
+		return 0.0;
+	}
+	fclose(fp);
+
+	line = buf;
+	for (idx = 0; (tok = strtok_r(line, " \n", &cur)); idx++) {
+		char *endp = NULL;
+		__u64 v;
+
+		if (idx == 0) {
+			line = NULL;
+			continue;
+		}
+		v = strtoull(tok, &endp, 0);
+		if (!endp || *endp != '\0') {
+			fprintf(stderr, "failed to parse %dth field of /proc/stat (\"%s\")\n",
+				idx, tok);
+			continue;
+		}
+		sum += v;
+		if (idx == 4)
+			idle = v;
+	}
+
+	delta_sum = sum - *last_sum;
+	delta_idle = idle - *last_idle;
+	*last_sum = sum;
+	*last_idle = idle;
+
+	return delta_sum ? (float)(delta_sum - delta_idle) / delta_sum : 0.0;
+}
+
+static void fcg_read_stats(struct scx_flatcg *skel, __u64 *stats)
+{
+	__u64 cnts[FCG_NR_STATS][skel->rodata->nr_cpus];
+	__u32 idx;
+
+	memset(stats, 0, sizeof(stats[0]) * FCG_NR_STATS);
+
+	for (idx = 0; idx < FCG_NR_STATS; idx++) {
+		int ret, cpu;
+
+		ret = bpf_map_lookup_elem(bpf_map__fd(skel->maps.stats),
+					  &idx, cnts[idx]);
+		if (ret < 0)
+			continue;
+		for (cpu = 0; cpu < skel->rodata->nr_cpus; cpu++)
+			stats[idx] += cnts[idx][cpu];
+	}
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+	struct scx_flatcg *skel;
+	struct bpf_link *link;
+	struct timespec intv_ts = { .tv_sec = 2, .tv_nsec = 0 };
+	bool dump_cgrps = false;
+	__u64 last_cpu_sum = 0, last_cpu_idle = 0;
+	__u64 last_stats[FCG_NR_STATS] = {};
+	unsigned long seq = 0;
+	__s32 opt;
+	__u64 ecode;
+
+	libbpf_set_print(libbpf_print_fn);
+	signal(SIGINT, sigint_handler);
+	signal(SIGTERM, sigint_handler);
+restart:
+	skel = SCX_OPS_OPEN(flatcg_ops, scx_flatcg);
+
+	skel->rodata->nr_cpus = libbpf_num_possible_cpus();
+
+	while ((opt = getopt(argc, argv, "s:i:dfvh")) != -1) {
+		double v;
+
+		switch (opt) {
+		case 's':
+			v = strtod(optarg, NULL);
+			skel->rodata->cgrp_slice_ns = v * 1000;
+			break;
+		case 'i':
+			v = strtod(optarg, NULL);
+			intv_ts.tv_sec = v;
+			intv_ts.tv_nsec = (v - (float)intv_ts.tv_sec) * 1000000000;
+			break;
+		case 'd':
+			dump_cgrps = true;
+			break;
+		case 'f':
+			skel->rodata->fifo_sched = true;
+			break;
+		case 'v':
+			verbose = true;
+			break;
+		case 'h':
+		default:
+			fprintf(stderr, help_fmt, basename(argv[0]));
+			return opt != 'h';
+		}
+	}
+
+	printf("slice=%.1lfms intv=%.1lfs dump_cgrps=%d",
+	       (double)skel->rodata->cgrp_slice_ns / 1000000.0,
+	       (double)intv_ts.tv_sec + (double)intv_ts.tv_nsec / 1000000000.0,
+	       dump_cgrps);
+
+	SCX_OPS_LOAD(skel, flatcg_ops, scx_flatcg, uei);
+	link = SCX_OPS_ATTACH(skel, flatcg_ops, scx_flatcg);
+
+	while (!exit_req && !UEI_EXITED(skel, uei)) {
+		__u64 acc_stats[FCG_NR_STATS];
+		__u64 stats[FCG_NR_STATS];
+		float cpu_util;
+		int i;
+
+		cpu_util = read_cpu_util(&last_cpu_sum, &last_cpu_idle);
+
+		fcg_read_stats(skel, acc_stats);
+		for (i = 0; i < FCG_NR_STATS; i++)
+			stats[i] = acc_stats[i] - last_stats[i];
+
+		memcpy(last_stats, acc_stats, sizeof(acc_stats));
+
+		printf("\n[SEQ %6lu cpu=%5.1lf hweight_gen=%" PRIu64 "]\n",
+		       seq++, cpu_util * 100.0, skel->data->hweight_gen);
+		printf("       act:%6llu  deact:%6llu global:%6llu local:%6llu\n",
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_ACT],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_DEACT],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_GLOBAL],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_LOCAL]);
+		printf("HWT  cache:%6llu update:%6llu   skip:%6llu  race:%6llu\n",
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_HWT_CACHE],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_HWT_UPDATES],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_HWT_SKIP],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_HWT_RACE]);
+		printf("ENQ   skip:%6llu   race:%6llu\n",
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_ENQ_SKIP],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_ENQ_RACE]);
+		printf("CNS   keep:%6llu expire:%6llu  empty:%6llu  gone:%6llu\n",
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_CNS_KEEP],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_CNS_EXPIRE],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_CNS_EMPTY],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_CNS_GONE]);
+		printf("PNC   next:%6llu  empty:%6llu nocgrp:%6llu  gone:%6llu race:%6llu fail:%6llu\n",
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_PNC_NEXT],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_PNC_EMPTY],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_PNC_NO_CGRP],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_PNC_GONE],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_PNC_RACE],
+		       stats[FCG_STAT_PNC_FAIL]);
+		printf("BAD remove:%6llu\n",
+		       acc_stats[FCG_STAT_BAD_REMOVAL]);
+		fflush(stdout);
+
+		nanosleep(&intv_ts, NULL);
+	}
+
+	bpf_link__destroy(link);
+	ecode = UEI_REPORT(skel, uei);
+	scx_flatcg__destroy(skel);
+
+	if (UEI_ECODE_RESTART(ecode))
+		goto restart;
+	return 0;
+}

tools/sched_ext/scx_flatcg.h

+#ifndef __SCX_EXAMPLE_FLATCG_H
+#define __SCX_EXAMPLE_FLATCG_H
+
+enum {
+	FCG_HWEIGHT_ONE		= 1LLU << 16,
+};
+
+enum fcg_stat_idx {
+	FCG_STAT_ACT,
+	FCG_STAT_DEACT,
+	FCG_STAT_LOCAL,
+	FCG_STAT_GLOBAL,
+
+	FCG_STAT_HWT_UPDATES,
+	FCG_STAT_HWT_CACHE,
+	FCG_STAT_HWT_SKIP,
+	FCG_STAT_HWT_RACE,
+
+	FCG_STAT_ENQ_SKIP,
+	FCG_STAT_ENQ_RACE,
+
+	FCG_STAT_CNS_KEEP,
+	FCG_STAT_CNS_EXPIRE,
+	FCG_STAT_CNS_EMPTY,
+	FCG_STAT_CNS_GONE,
+
+	FCG_STAT_PNC_NO_CGRP,
+	FCG_STAT_PNC_NEXT,
+	FCG_STAT_PNC_EMPTY,
+	FCG_STAT_PNC_GONE,
+	FCG_STAT_PNC_RACE,
+	FCG_STAT_PNC_FAIL,
+
+	FCG_STAT_BAD_REMOVAL,
+
+	FCG_NR_STATS,
+};
+
+struct fcg_cgrp_ctx {
+	u32			nr_active;
+	u32			nr_runnable;
+	u32			queued;
+	u32			weight;
+	u32			hweight;
+	u64			child_weight_sum;
+	u64			hweight_gen;
+	s64			cvtime_delta;
+	u64			tvtime_now;
+};
+
+#endif /* __SCX_EXAMPLE_FLATCG_H */