Facebook releases its own OOM implementation
Contract Killer
© Lead Image © efks, 123RF.com
When a Linux system runs out of memory, a special agent, the out-of-memory killer, rushes to its aid. Facebook has now introduced its own OOM killer. What makes it different from its kernel-based counterpart? And what is an OOM killer really?
If you have not placed an order for a large server for a long time, you will probably rub your eyes in amazement the next time you order a new device: Configurations with terabytes instead of gigabytes of RAM are easy to get, and you don't need to be a millionaire to buy them. Gone are the days when people were proud of every single gigabyte (Figure 1).
Figure 1: RAM is no longer a scarce resource, but no system is immune to an OOM situation.
Some buyers don't even worry about RAM anymore and just assume the system will have enough; however, this might be a little too optimistic, even on a modern system. Servers still sometimes come up short on RAM, and when they do, it can have dramatic consequences: If a component such as systemd needs RAM and cannot allocate it, the system will malfunction or stop working. To avoid a RAM shortage bringing computers to their knees, the Linux kernel has a watchdog on board: the out-of-memory killer, or OOM killer for short. In an emergency, OOM frees up memory by shooting down processes in a targeted way; the memory is then available for other, presumably more important purposes.
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