Instance Balancer / per-NUMA-node binding capability

[dahlia123]

Hello!

I have a question about Process Lasso's CPU affinity features (specifically Instance Balancer) and whether there is any NUMA-aware capability available now, or planned, that can keep each instance of an application bound within a separated single NUMA node.

My system is a dual-socket machine with 192 physical cores total (SMT disabled). It is configured as 4 NUMA nodes, with 48 cores per NUMA node (NPS=2). Windows also exposes this as 4 processor groups.


I run multiple concurrent instances of an application. Each instance is configured to use 24 cores (i.e., half of a NUMA node in my topology).


What I would ideally like:

When I start the first instance, it should bind to 24 cores within NUMA node 0.

When I start a second instance, it should bind to 24 cores within a different NUMA node (e.g., node 1), rather than consuming the remaining 24 cores in node 0.

Most importantly, I want each instance to remain entirely within a single NUMA node (no cross-node core selection), to preserve memory locality.


Does Instance Balancer (or any other Process Lasso feature such as CPU Sets / affinity rules) currently support NUMA-aware allocation, i.e., assigning each new instance to a different NUMA node while ensuring the instance's cores remain within that node?

If not today, is NUMA-aware "bind within a NUMA node" behavior something on your roadmap (or is there a recommended best-practice approach within Process Lasso to achieve this)?

Any guidance or recommendations would be appreciated, especially for systems with multiple processor groups.


Anyway, thank you for creating such an incredible program.

[Jeremy Collake]

The Instance Balancer and other features are not currently NUMA aware. We can, however, work on this. If we're able to crank out a beta with a NUMA aware Instance Balancer in the coming days, I'll reply here again (a ticket has been created for this).

Speaking more generally, NUMA awareness hasn't been a big concern because we haven't been asked for it. If you need it, we tend to get it done .

[Jeremy Collake]

We have added a distinct "NUMA" algorithm to the Instance Balancer as of Process Lasso v17.0.2.3 BETA. It should function as you've requested, but please let us know your experience with it.

To get on the beta channel, check menu item "Updates > Include Betas".

[dahlia123]

Wow! That's great news! Thank you so much for all the effort you put into this.

I'll try the updated version soon and report back with my results.