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).
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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