bottlerocket-os / bottlerocket-os/bottlerocket-kernel-kit

Support `ARM64_64K_PAGES` / `ARM64_16K_PAGES` variants

Open
#259 1 comment 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
13
Forks
38
Avg merge
1d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
21

Description

**What I'd like:**

Pre-built image with 16k/64k stack size on `aarch64`. IIRC the kernel flag(s) for this:

- `PAGE_SIZE_64KB`
- `ARM64_64K_PAGES`
- `PAGE_SIZE_16KB`
- `ARM64_16K_PAGES`

Supposedly unlocks faster performance for modern/heavy workloads – something I'd be curious to test for K8S database workloads.

Also on Cilium using `acceleration: native` relies on `XDP` which requires working on single pages – the 4kb page sizes means an MTU of ~3500 (4kb minus overhead), and larger page sizes would theoretically allow for using this hardware acceleration with MTU of 9000 (something I would also like to test).

**Any alternatives you've considered:**

Trying to make a custom build myself but preferably don't want to have to keep "rebasing" my custom image. Would like to use `/aws/service/bottlerocket/aws-k8s-${clusterVersion}/aarch64-64k/latest/image_id` or something similar. Sadly AFAIK this option is only a kernel build-time parameter 😢

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by tracing how the Bottlerocket kernel build consumes the PAGE_SIZE_64KB, ARM64_64K_PAGES, PAGE_SIZE_16KB, and ARM64_16K_PAGES options, then inspect how the aarch64 image path is published. Done means independently available 16K and 64K image identifiers, with the resulting kernel behavior suitable for the requested XDP and workload testing.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
aws, kubernetes, linux
Domain
cloud, infrastructure, networking, operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.