HP-UX 11i Internals

Physical Memory Allocator at HP-UX 11.0

Now that we have examined the various components of the lmv, we must put it all together and consider the two tasks of memory allocation and memory freeing. Figure 6-18 ties the structures into a single view.

Figure 6-18. Physical Memory Allocator

Allocating Memory

The kernel routine allocate_page() is responsible for the allocation of physical pages of a specific requested size. It works with the views, pools, and ponds. The basic algorithm works as follows:

• An allocation is attempted from the uncached ponds of all pools for the desired size (or larger). The initial pool is determined by CHOOSE_VIEW_AND_POOL() ...