workstation: per-user memory caps + systemd-oomd backstop on devvm
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The shared devvm keeps overloading and had to be hard-killed again today
(2026-06-22): a runaway in one user's ssh/tmux session (a 10G ugrep, plus
stacked max-effort agents) grew unbounded, spilled into the disk swap, and
swap-thrashed the throttled virtual disk into an IO storm until the box wedged.

Root cause: ssh/tmux work runs under user-<uid>.slice, left memory-uncontained
by the explicit 2026-06-10 "swap-only" decision, while only the t3-serve tree
was capped. So one user could starve everyone.

This bounds every user on BOTH trees (MemoryHigh=12G, MemoryMax=16G,
MemorySwapMax=0 so work OOMs locally at its ceiling instead of thrashing swap),
adds a systemd-oomd PSI backstop that sheds the single worst work cgroup under
box-wide pressure while leaving system.slice (sshd/services/your way in)
protected, gives system.slice a fair-share CPU/IO priority edge, and routes
docker containers into a capped, oomd-policed docker.slice so they can't dodge
the caps or mis-target oomd. All durable in setup-devvm.sh so a VM rebuild
reproduces them; systemd-oomd added to packages.txt.

Applied live and verified: oomctl shows the backstop armed (not dry-run) on the
work slices with system.slice protected; a capped-balloon stress test OOM-killed
locally at the ceiling with swap flat (no thrash).

Post-mortem: docs/post-mortems/2026-06-22-devvm-mem-io-overload-containment.md

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Viktor Barzin 2026-06-22 10:25:09 +00:00
parent 2169e0de5f
commit 3a59f4a8bf
3 changed files with 245 additions and 0 deletions

View file

@ -226,6 +226,134 @@ systemctl enable --now t3-dispatch.service \
log "WARN: some units failed to enable (check: systemctl status t3-dispatch t3-*.timer)"
log "service units installed + enabled (t3-dispatch + 3 timers; t3-serve@ per-user)"
# 10) RESOURCE CONTAINMENT (2026-06-22): bound per-user memory + an OOM backstop so
# ONE user's runaway can never IO/memory-overload the shared box. History: the
# 2026-06-10 "swap-only, ssh/tmux memory-uncontained" decision let a single
# user's runaway (a 10G `ugrep`; agent storms) swap-thrash the 60/60-throttled
# virtual disk into an IO storm + multi-minute freeze (hard-killed 2026-06-22).
# t3-serve@ was already capped (its [Service] block); the HOLE was the uncapped
# user-<uid>.slice (all ssh/tmux work). Design — per user, on BOTH trees:
# MemoryHigh=12G soft, MemoryMax=16G hard, MemorySwapMax=0 (work never touches
# disk swap → no thrash; it OOMs locally at the ceiling instead), fair-share
# CPU/IO weights, and systemd-oomd (PSI) killing the single worst work cgroup on
# sustained box-wide memory pressure. system.slice is NOT policed, so sshd +
# services + your way in always survive. Docker containers are routed into a
# capped, oomd-policed docker.slice so they can't dodge the caps or mis-target
# oomd onto an innocent user. systemd-oomd pkg comes from packages.txt (§1).
# Post-mortem: docs/post-mortems/2026-06-22-devvm-mem-io-overload-containment.md
# 10a) per-user caps + weights + oomd policing on EVERY user-<uid>.slice (ssh/tmux)
install -d -m 0755 /etc/systemd/system/user-.slice.d
cat > /etc/systemd/system/user-.slice.d/50-devvm-resource.conf <<'SLICE_EOF'
# Per-user containment for the shared devvm (setup-devvm.sh §10, 2026-06-22).
# Applies to EACH user-<uid>.slice = all of one user's ssh/tmux work. Mirrors the
# t3-serve@.service caps so a user is bounded in whichever surface they work in.
[Slice]
MemoryAccounting=yes
MemoryHigh=12G
MemoryMax=16G
MemorySwapMax=0
CPUAccounting=yes
CPUWeight=100
IOAccounting=yes
IOWeight=100
ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill
ManagedOOMSwap=kill
SLICE_EOF
# 10b) systemd-oomd backstop (PSI-based). Kill the worst-pressured descendant of a
# policed slice when memory-pressure 'full' stays >60% for 20s; swap guard 80%.
install -d -m 0755 /etc/systemd/oomd.conf.d
cat > /etc/systemd/oomd.conf.d/10-devvm.conf <<'OOMD_EOF'
# devvm OOM backstop (setup-devvm.sh §10, 2026-06-22). Acts only on slices that
# opt in via ManagedOOM*=kill (user-<uid>.slice, system-t3\x2dserve.slice,
# docker.slice). system.slice is deliberately NOT policed.
[OOM]
SwapUsedLimit=80%
DefaultMemoryPressureLimit=60%
DefaultMemoryPressureDurationSec=20s
OOMD_EOF
# 10c) capped, oomd-policed docker.slice (top-level sibling of system/user slices);
# daemon.json cgroup-parent (10d) makes EVERY container land here.
cat > /etc/systemd/system/docker.slice <<'DOCKER_SLICE_EOF'
# All docker containers live here (cgroup-parent in /etc/docker/daemon.json) so
# they share one bounded budget and a runaway container dies ITSELF instead of
# mis-targeting oomd onto an innocent user. setup-devvm.sh §10, 2026-06-22.
[Unit]
Description=Docker containers slice (capped + oomd-policed)
[Slice]
MemoryAccounting=yes
MemoryHigh=6G
MemoryMax=8G
MemorySwapMax=0
CPUAccounting=yes
CPUWeight=100
IOAccounting=yes
IOWeight=100
ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill
ManagedOOMSwap=kill
DOCKER_SLICE_EOF
# 10d) point dockerd at docker.slice (idempotent JSON merge; flag a needed restart).
# python preserves the rest of daemon.json (buildkit, nvidia runtime, etc.).
docker_restart=0
# if-condition form so the deliberate non-zero exit (10=changed) does NOT trip the
# script's `set -e`; $? in the else branch is the python exit code.
if python3 - <<'PY'
import json, os, sys
p = "/etc/docker/daemon.json"
try:
d = json.load(open(p)) if os.path.exists(p) else {}
except Exception:
sys.exit(2) # malformed -> don't touch
if d.get("cgroup-parent") == "docker.slice":
sys.exit(0) # already correct -> no restart
d["cgroup-parent"] = "docker.slice"
json.dump(d, open(p, "w"), indent=4)
sys.exit(10) # changed -> restart needed
PY
then rc=0; else rc=$?; fi
case $rc in
0) : ;;
10) docker_restart=1 ;;
*) log "WARN: could not patch /etc/docker/daemon.json — docker.slice NOT wired" ;;
esac
# 10e) ManagedOOM on the auto-generated t3-serve slice. Its name carries an escaped
# '-' (system-t3\x2dserve.slice); a static drop-in works whether or not an
# instance is currently running (set-property would need it loaded).
install -d -m 0755 '/etc/systemd/system/system-t3\x2dserve.slice.d'
cat > '/etc/systemd/system/system-t3\x2dserve.slice.d/50-devvm-oomd.conf' <<'T3SLICE_EOF'
# oomd policing for all t3-serve@ instances (per-service caps live in
# t3-serve@.service). setup-devvm.sh §10, 2026-06-22.
[Slice]
ManagedOOMMemoryPressure=kill
ManagedOOMSwap=kill
T3SLICE_EOF
# 10f) give system.slice a priority edge so sshd/services stay snappy under
# contention (weights are work-conserving — users still get idle CPU/IO).
install -d -m 0755 /etc/systemd/system/system.slice.d
cat > /etc/systemd/system/system.slice.d/50-devvm-priority.conf <<'SYS_EOF'
# Keep the box's nervous system responsive under contention (setup-devvm.sh §10).
[Slice]
CPUAccounting=yes
CPUWeight=200
IOAccounting=yes
IOWeight=200
SYS_EOF
# 10g) activate: reload, arm oomd, restart dockerd ONLY if daemon.json changed.
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now systemd-oomd.service >/dev/null 2>&1 \
|| log "WARN: systemd-oomd failed to enable — is the package installed? (packages.txt §1)"
if [[ $docker_restart -eq 1 ]] && systemctl is-active --quiet docker; then
log "restarting dockerd to apply cgroup-parent=docker.slice (running containers bounce briefly)"
systemctl restart docker || log "WARN: docker restart failed"
fi
log "§10 resource containment: per-user 12G/16G swap=0, oomd PSI backstop, docker.slice"
# Run one foreground reconcile while the admin Vault token borrowed in section 8
# is still available. This is what mints new roster users' isolated periodic
# Vault tokens; the hourly no-admin-token reconcile only maintains existing ones.