Ubuntu Manpage: mbind - set memory policy for a memory range

NAME

       mbind - set memory policy for a memory range

SYNOPSIS

       #include <numaif.h>

       long mbind(void *addr, unsigned long len, int mode,
                  const unsigned long *nodemask, unsigned long maxnode,
                  unsigned flags);

       Link with -lnuma.

DESCRIPTION

mbind() sets the NUMA memory policy, which consists of a policy mode and zero or more nodes, for the
memory range starting with addr and continuing for len bytes. The memory policy defines from which node
memory is allocated.

If the memory range specified by the addr and len arguments includes an "anonymous" region of memory—that
is a region of memory created using the mmap(2) system call with the MAP_ANONYMOUS—or a memory-mapped
file, mapped using the mmap(2) system call with the MAP_PRIVATE flag, pages will be allocated only
according to the specified policy when the application writes [stores] to the page. For anonymous
regions, an initial read access will use a shared page in the kernel containing all zeros. For a file
mapped with MAP_PRIVATE, an initial read access will allocate pages according to the process policy of
the process that causes the page to be allocated. This may not be the process that called mbind().

The specified policy will be ignored for any MAP_SHARED mappings in the specified memory range. Rather
the pages will be allocated according to the process policy of the process that caused the page to be
allocated. Again, this may not be the process that called mbind().

If the specified memory range includes a shared memory region created using the shmget(2) system call and
attached using the shmat(2) system call, pages allocated for the anonymous or shared memory region will
be allocated according to the policy specified, regardless which process attached to the shared memory
segment causes the allocation. If, however, the shared memory region was created with the SHM_HUGETLB
flag, the huge pages will be allocated according to the policy specified only if the page allocation is
caused by the process that calls mbind() for that region.

By default, mbind() has an effect only for new allocations; if the pages inside the range have been
already touched before setting the policy, then the policy has no effect. This default behavior may be
overridden by the MPOL_MF_MOVE and MPOL_MF_MOVE_ALL flags described below.

The mode argument must specify one of MPOL_DEFAULT, MPOL_BIND, MPOL_INTERLEAVE, or MPOL_PREFERRED. All
policy modes except MPOL_DEFAULT require the caller to specify via the nodemask argument, the node or
nodes to which the mode applies.

The mode argument may also include an optional mode flag . The supported mode flags are:

MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES (since Linux-2.6.26)
A nonempty nodemask specifies physical node ids. Linux does not remap the nodemask when the
process moves to a different cpuset context, nor when the set of nodes allowed by the process's
current cpuset context changes.

MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES (since Linux-2.6.26)
A nonempty nodemask specifies node ids that are relative to the set of node ids allowed by the
process's current cpuset.

nodemask points to a bit mask of nodes containing up to maxnode bits. The bit mask size is rounded to
the next multiple of sizeof(unsigned long), but the kernel will use bits only up to maxnode. A NULL
value of nodemask or a maxnode value of zero specifies the empty set of nodes. If the value of maxnode
is zero, the nodemask argument is ignored. Where a nodemask is required, it must contain at least one
node that is on-line, allowed by the process's current cpuset context [unless the MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES
mode flag is specified], and contains memory.

The MPOL_DEFAULT mode requests that any nondefault policy be removed, restoring default behavior. When
applied to a range of memory via mbind(), this means to use the process policy, which may have been set
with set_mempolicy(2). If the mode of the process policy is also MPOL_DEFAULT, the system-wide default
policy will be used. The system-wide default policy allocates pages on the node of the CPU that triggers
the allocation. For MPOL_DEFAULT, the nodemask and maxnode arguments must be specify the empty set of
nodes.

The MPOL_BIND mode specifies a strict policy that restricts memory allocation to the nodes specified in
nodemask. If nodemask specifies more than one node, page allocations will come from the node with the
lowest numeric node ID first, until that node contains no free memory. Allocations will then come from
the node with the next highest node ID specified in nodemask and so forth, until none of the specified
nodes contain free memory. Pages will not be allocated from any node not specified in the nodemask.

The MPOL_INTERLEAVE mode specifies that page allocations be interleaved across the set of nodes specified
in nodemask. This optimizes for bandwidth instead of latency by spreading out pages and memory accesses
to those pages across multiple nodes. To be effective the memory area should be fairly large, at least
1MB or bigger with a fairly uniform access pattern. Accesses to a single page of the area will still be
limited to the memory bandwidth of a single node.

MPOL_PREFERRED sets the preferred node for allocation. The kernel will try to allocate pages from this
node first and fall back to other nodes if the preferred nodes is low on free memory. If nodemask
specifies more than one node ID, the first node in the mask will be selected as the preferred node. If
the nodemask and maxnode arguments specify the empty set, then the memory is allocated on the node of the
CPU that triggered the allocation. This is the only way to specify "local allocation" for a range of
memory via mbind().

If MPOL_MF_STRICT is passed in flags and mode is not MPOL_DEFAULT, then the call will fail with the error
EIO if the existing pages in the memory range don't follow the policy.

If MPOL_MF_MOVE is specified in flags, then the kernel will attempt to move all the existing pages in the
memory range so that they follow the policy. Pages that are shared with other processes will not be
moved. If MPOL_MF_STRICT is also specified, then the call will fail with the error EIO if some pages
could not be moved.

If MPOL_MF_MOVE_ALL is passed in flags, then the kernel will attempt to move all existing pages in the
memory range regardless of whether other processes use the pages. The calling process must be privileged
(CAP_SYS_NICE) to use this flag. If MPOL_MF_STRICT is also specified, then the call will fail with the
error EIO if some pages could not be moved.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, mbind() returns 0; on error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS

       EFAULT Part  or  all of the memory range specified by nodemask and maxnode points outside your accessible
              address space.  Or, there was an unmapped hole in the specified memory range specified by addr and
              len.

       EINVAL An invalid value was specified for flags or mode; or addr + len was less than addr; or addr is not
              a multiple of the system page size.  Or, mode is MPOL_DEFAULT and nodemask  specified  a  nonempty
              set; or mode is MPOL_BIND or MPOL_INTERLEAVE and nodemask is empty.  Or, maxnode exceeds a kernel-
              imposed limit.  Or, nodemask specifies one or more node IDs that  are  greater  than  the  maximum
              supported  node ID.  Or, none of the node IDs specified by nodemask are on-line and allowed by the
              process's current cpuset context, or none of the specified nodes contain  memory.   Or,  the  mode
              argument specified both MPOL_F_STATIC_NODES and MPOL_F_RELATIVE_NODES.

       EIO    MPOL_MF_STRICT  was  specified and an existing page was already on a node that does not follow the
              policy; or MPOL_MF_MOVE or MPOL_MF_MOVE_ALL was specified and the kernel was unable  to  move  all
              existing pages in the range.

       ENOMEM Insufficient kernel memory was available.

       EPERM  The  flags  argument  included  the  MPOL_MF_MOVE_ALL  flag  and  the  caller  does  not  have the
              CAP_SYS_NICE privilege.

VERSIONS

       The mbind() system call was added to the Linux kernel in version 2.6.7.

CONFORMING TO

       This system call is Linux-specific.

NOTES

       For information on library support, see numa(7).

       NUMA policy is not supported on a memory-mapped file range that was mapped with the MAP_SHARED flag.

       The MPOL_DEFAULT mode can have different effects for mbind() and set_mempolicy(2).  When MPOL_DEFAULT  is
       specified  for  set_mempolicy(2),  the  process's  policy  reverts  to  system  default  policy  or local
       allocation.  When MPOL_DEFAULT is specified for a range of memory using mbind(), any  pages  subsequently
       allocated  for  that  range  will use the process's policy, as set by set_mempolicy(2).  This effectively
       removes the explicit policy from the specified range, "falling back" to a possibly nondefault policy.  To
       select explicit "local allocation" for a memory range, specify a mode of MPOL_PREFERRED with an empty set
       of nodes.  This method will work for set_mempolicy(2), as well.

       Support for huge page policy was added with 2.6.16.  For interleave policy to be effective on  huge  page
       mappings the policied memory needs to be tens of megabytes or larger.

       MPOL_MF_STRICT is ignored on huge page mappings.

       MPOL_MF_MOVE and MPOL_MF_MOVE_ALL are available only on Linux 2.6.16 and later.

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 4.04 of  the  Linux  man-pages  project.   A  description  of  the  project,
       information   about   reporting   bugs,   and   the  latest  version  of  this  page,  can  be  found  at
       http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.