Using Hardware Hints for Optimal Page Placement

Explore the utilization of hardware-provided memory access information for optimizing page placement in this 45-minute conference talk from the Linux Plumbers Conference. Delve into the emerging trend of hardware platforms exposing actionable memory access data to operating systems and its potential benefits for kernel subsystems like NUMA balancing. Examine various opportunities, including NUMA balancing, reclaim, and hot page promotion in tiered memory systems, as well as the challenges associated with integrating hardware-provided memory access information into the kernel. Gain insights from the speaker's experience using the Instruction Based Sampling (IBS) mechanism in AMD EPYC processors for NUMA balancing and hot page promotion. Learn about the latest developments in this field and their implications for improving memory management in Linux systems.