Red Hat Summit Red Hat SummitSupportConsoleDevelopersStart a trialContact

8.4.2. The KSM Tuning Service

The ksmtuned service fine-tunes the kernel same-page merging (KSM) configuration by looping and adjusting ksm. In addition, the ksmtuned service is notified by libvirt when a guest virtual machine is created or destroyed. The ksmtuned service has no options. 
# systemctl start ksmtuned
Starting ksmtuned:                                         [  OK  ]
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
The ksmtuned service can be tuned with the retune parameter, which instructs ksmtuned to run tuning functions manually.
The /etc/ksmtuned.conf file is the configuration file for the ksmtuned service. The file output below is the default ksmtuned.conf file: 
# Configuration file for ksmtuned.
# How long ksmtuned should sleep between tuning adjustments
# KSM_MONITOR_INTERVAL=60

# Millisecond sleep between ksm scans for 16Gb server.
# Smaller servers sleep more, bigger sleep less.
# KSM_SLEEP_MSEC=10

# KSM_NPAGES_BOOST - is added to the `npages` value, when `free memory` is less than `thres`.
# KSM_NPAGES_BOOST=300

# KSM_NPAGES_DECAY - is the value given is subtracted to the `npages` value, when `free memory` is greater than `thres`.
# KSM_NPAGES_DECAY=-50

# KSM_NPAGES_MIN - is the lower limit for the `npages` value.
# KSM_NPAGES_MIN=64

# KSM_NPAGES_MAX - is the upper limit for the `npages` value.
# KSM_NPAGES_MAX=1250

# KSM_THRES_COEF - is the RAM percentage to be calculated in parameter `thres`.
# KSM_THRES_COEF=20

# KSM_THRES_CONST - If this is a low memory system, and the `thres` value is less than `KSM_THRES_CONST`, then reset `thres` value to `KSM_THRES_CONST` value.
# KSM_THRES_CONST=2048

# uncomment the following to enable ksmtuned debug information
# LOGFILE=/var/log/ksmtuned
# DEBUG=1
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
Within the /etc/ksmtuned.conf file, npages sets how many pages ksm will scan before the ksmd daemon becomes inactive. This value will also be set in the /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/pages_to_scan file.
The KSM_THRES_CONST value represents the amount of available memory used as a threshold to activate ksm. ksmd is activated if either of the following occurs:
  • The amount of free memory drops below the threshold, set in KSM_THRES_CONST.
  • The amount of committed memory plus the threshold, KSM_THRES_CONST, exceeds the total amount of memory.
Back to top
Red Hat logoGithubredditYoutubeTwitter

Learn

Try, buy, & sell

Communities

About Red Hat Documentation

We help Red Hat users innovate and achieve their goals with our products and services with content they can trust. Explore our recent updates.

Making open source more inclusive

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. For more details, see the Red Hat Blog.

About Red Hat

We deliver hardened solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments, from the core datacenter to the network edge.

Theme

© 2025 Red Hat