Ubuntu Manpage: cset - manage cpusets functions in the Linux kernel

NAME

       cset - manage cpusets functions in the Linux kernel

SYNOPSIS

       cset [--version | --help | --tohex]
       cset [help <command> | <command> --help]
       cset [cset options] <command> [command options] [args]

DESCRIPTION

Note
In general, you need to have root permissions to run cset. The tool mounts the cpusets
filesystem and manipulates it. Non-root users do not have permission for these
actions.
Cset is a Python application to make using the cpusets facilities in the Linux kernel
easier. The actual included command is called cset and it allows manipulation of cpusets
on the system and provides higher level functions such as implementation and control of a
basic cpu shielding setup.

Typical uses of cset include
Setting up and managing a simple shielded CPU environment
The concept of shielded cpus is that a certain number of cpus are partitioned off on
the system and only processes that are of interest are run on these cpus (i.e., inside
the shield).

For a simple shielded configuration, one typically uses three cpusets: the root set, a
system set and a user set. Cset includes a super command that implements this strategy
and lets you easily manage it. See cset-shield(1) for more details.

Setting up and managing a complex shielding environment
Shielding can be more complex of course where concepts such as priority cpusets and
intersecting cpuset can be used. You can use cset to help manage this type of
shielding as well. You will need to use the cset-set(1) and cset-proc(1) subcommands
directly to do that.

Managing cpusets on the system
The cset subcommand cset-set(1) allows you to create and destroy arbitrary cpusets on
the system and assign arbitrary cpus and memory nodes to them. The cpusets so created
have to follow the Linux kernel cpuset rules. See the cset-set(1) subcommand for more
details.

Managing processes that run on various system cpusets
The cset subcommand cset-proc(1) allows you to manage processes running on various
cpusets created on the system. You can exec new processes in specific cpusets and move
tasks around existing cpusets. See the cset-proc(1) subcommand for more details.

OPTIONS

       The following generic option flags are available. Additional options are available
       per-command, and documented in the command-specific documentation.

       cset --version
           Display version information and exits.

       cset --help
           Prints the synopsis and a list of all commands.

       cset --log <filename>
           Creates a log file for the current run. All manner of useful information is stored in
           this file. This is usually used to debug cset when things don’t go as planned.

       cset --machine
           Makes cset output information for all operations in a format that is machine readable
           (i.e. easy to parse).

       cset --tohex <CPUSPEC>
           Converts a CPUSPEC (see cset-set(1) for definition) to a hexadecimal number and
           outputs it. Useful for setting IRQ stub affinity to a cpuset definition.

CSET COMMANDS

       The cset commands are divided into groups, according to the primary purpose of those
       commands. Following is a short description of each command. A more detailed description is
       available in individual command manpages. Those manpages are named cset-<command>(1). The
       first command, help, is especially useful as it prints out a long summary of what a
       particular command does.

       cset help command
           print out a lengthy summary of how the specified subcommand works

       cset command --help
           print out an extended synopsis of the specified subcommand

       cset shield
           supercommand to set up and manage basic shielding (see cset-shield(1))

       cset set
           create, modify and destroy cpusets (see cset-set(1))

       cset proc
           create and manage processes within cpusets (see cset-proc(1))

PERSISTENT CPUSETS

       To create a persistent cpuset setup, i.e. one that survives a reboot, you need to create
       the file /etc/init.d/cset. This distribuition of cset includes an example cset init.d file
       found in /usr/share/doc/pacakges/cpuset which is called cset.init.d. You will need to
       alter the file to your specifications and copy it to be the file /etc/init.d/cset. See the
       comments in that file for more details.

FILES

       If used, the init.d script /etc/init.d/cset starts and stops a cpuset configuration on
       boot and poweroff.

       Cpuset uses a configuration file if present on the system. The file is /etc/cset.conf and
       may contain the following options.

       mountpoint = <directory_name>
           Specify the mountpoint where the cpuset filesystem is to be mounted. By default this
           is /cpusets; however, some people prefer to mount this in the more traditional
           /dev/cpusets.

LICENSE

       Cpuset is licensed under the GNU GPL V2 only.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2008-2011 Novell Inc.

AUTHOR

       Written by Alex Tsariounov <alext@novell.com>

       Some substrate code and ideas were taken from the excellent Stacked GIT (stgit) v0.13 (see
       http://gna.org/projects/stgit and http://www.procode.org/stgit). Stacked GIT is under GPL
       V2 or later.