The Linux Kernel - System Memory Management

One of the primary functions of the operating system kernel is memory management. Not only does the kernel manage the physical memory available on the server, it can also create and manage virtual memory, or memory that does not actually exist. It does this by using space on the hard disk, called the swap space. The kernel swaps the contents of virtual memory locations back and forth from the swap space to the actual physical memory. This process allows the system to think there is more memory available than what physically exists.

The memory locations are grouped into blocks called pages. The kernel locates each page of memory in either the physical memory or the swap space. It then maintains a table of the memory pages that indicates which pages are in physical memory and which pages are swapped out to disk.

The kernel keeps track of which memory pages are in use and automatically copies memory pages that have not been accessed for a period of time to the swap space area (called swapping out). When a program wants to access a memory page that has been swapped out, the kernel must make room for it in physical memory by swapping out a different memory page and swap in the required page from the swap space. Obviously, this process takes time, and it can slow down a running process. The process of swapping out memory pages for running applications continues for as long as the Linux system is running. You can see the current status of the memory on a Ubuntu system by using the System Monitor utility.

The Memory graph shows that this Linux system has 380.5 MB of physical memory. It also shows that about 148.3 MB is currently being used. The next line shows that there is about 235.3 MB of swap space memory available on this system, with none in use at the time. By default, each process running on the Linux system has its own private memory pages. One process cannot access memory pages being used by another process. The kernel maintains its own memory areas. For security purposes, no processes can access memory used by the kernel processes. Each individual user on the system also has a private memory area used for handling any applications the user starts. Often, however, related applications run that must communicate with each other. One way to do this is through data sharing. To facilitate data sharing, you can create shared memory pages.

A shared memory page allows multiple processes to read and write to the same shared memory area. The kernel maintains and administers the shared memory areas, controlling which processes are allowed access to the shared area. The special ipcs command allows us to view the current shared memory pages on the system. Here’s the output from a sample ipcs command:

test@testbox:~$ ipcs -m

------ Shared Memory Segments --------
key shmid owner perms bytes nattch status
0x00000000 557056 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 589825 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 622594 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 655363 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 688132 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 720901 test 600 196608 2 dest
0x00000000 753670 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 1212423 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 819208 test 600 196608 2 dest
0x00000000 851977 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 1179658 test 600 393216 2 dest
0x00000000 1245195 test 600 196608 2 dest
0x00000000 1277964 test 600 16384 2 dest
0x00000000 1441805 test 600 393216 2 dest

test@testbox:~$

Each shared memory segment has an owner that created the segment. Each segment also has a standard Linux permissions setting that sets the availability of the segment for other users. The key value is used to allow other users to gain access to the shared memory segment.

Source of Information : Apress Ubuntu On A Dime The Path To Low Cost Computing