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Explore push-based load balancing as an alternative to idle and newidle balance mechanisms in Linux kernel scheduling through this 22-minute conference talk from the Linux Plumbers Conference. Delve into the prototype development that emerged from OSPM '25 discussions, examining the optimization of global nohz idle tracking to per-LLC tracking to reduce access and update costs for shared load balancing data. Analyze three fundamental challenges in push-based load balancing: reducing the overhead of pushing tasks from busy CPU contexts by potentially offloading to smp_call_function on idle targets, preventing multiple busy CPUs from selecting the same idle target and causing task pileup, and extending nohz idle tracking beyond periodic tick-disabled CPUs to efficiently replace newidle balance. Learn about the infrastructure requirements for pushing fair tasks and how this approach can be aligned for both capacity aware scheduling (CAS) and energy aware scheduling (EAS) use cases, with insights into ongoing prototype development addressing these critical scheduling optimization challenges.
