Randomization of the page allocator improves the average
utilization of a direct-mapped memory-side-cache. See section
5.2.27 Heterogeneous Memory Attribute Table (HMAT) in the ACPI
6.2a specification for an example of how a platform advertises
the presence of a memory-side-cache. There are also incidental
security benefits as it reduces the predictability of page
allocations to compliment SLAB_FREELIST_RANDOM, but the
default granularity of shuffling on the "MAX_ORDER - 1" i.e,
10th order of pages is selected based on cache utilization
benefits on x86.
While the randomization improves cache utilization it may
negatively impact workloads on platforms without a cache. For
this reason, by default, the randomization is enabled only
after runtime detection of a direct-mapped memory-side-cache.
Otherwise, the randomization may be force enabled with the
'page_alloc.shuffle' kernel command line parameter.
Say Y if unsure.
- symbol: SHUFFLE_PAGE_ALLOCATOR
- type: bool
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