How CUDA constant memory allocation works? - memory

Question

I'd like to get some insight about how constant memory is allocated (using CUDA 4.2). I know that the total available constant memory is 64KB. But when is this memory actually allocated on the device? Is this limit apply to each kernel, cuda context or for the whole application?
Let's say there are several kernels in a .cu file, each using less than 64K constant memory. But the total constant memory usage is more than 64K. Is it possible to call these kernels sequentially? What happens if they are called concurrently using different streams?
What happens if there is a large CUDA dynamic library with lots of kernels each using different amounts of constant memory?
What happens if there are two applications each requiring more than half of the available constant memory? The first application runs fine, but when will the second app fail? At app start, at cudaMemcpyToSymbol() calls or at kernel execution?

Answer 1

Parallel Thread Execution ISA Version 3.1 section 5.1.3 discusses constant banks.
Constant memory is restricted in size, currently limited to 64KB which
can be used to hold statically-sized constant variables. There is an
additional 640KB of constant memory, organized as ten independent 64KB
regions. The driver may allocate and initialize constant buffers in
these regions and pass pointers to the buffers as kernel function
parameters. Since the ten regions are not contiguous, the driver
must ensure that constant buffers are allocated so that each buffer
fits entirely within a 64KB region and does not span a region
boundary.
A simple program can be used to illustrate the use of constant memory.
__constant__ int kd_p1;
__constant__ short kd_p2;
__constant__ char kd_p3;
__constant__ double kd_p4;
__constant__ float kd_floats[8];
__global__ void parameters(int p1, short p2, char p3, double p4, int* pp1, short* pp2, char* pp3, double* pp4)
{
*pp1 = p1;
*pp2 = p2;
*pp3 = p3;
*pp4 = p4;
return;
}
__global__ void constants(int* pp1, short* pp2, char* pp3, double* pp4)
{
*pp1 = kd_p1;
*pp2 = kd_p2;
*pp3 = kd_p3;
*pp4 = kd_p4;
return;
}
Compile this for compute_30, sm_30 and execute cuobjdump -sass <executable or obj> to disassemble you should see
Fatbin elf code:
================
arch = sm_30
code version = [1,6]
producer = cuda
host = windows
compile_size = 32bit
identifier = c:/dev/constant_banks/kernel.cu
code for sm_30
Function : _Z10parametersiscdPiPsPcPd
/*0008*/ /*0x10005de428004001*/ MOV R1, c [0x0] [0x44]; // stack pointer
/*0010*/ /*0x40001de428004005*/ MOV R0, c [0x0] [0x150]; // pp1
/*0018*/ /*0x50009de428004005*/ MOV R2, c [0x0] [0x154]; // pp2
/*0020*/ /*0x0001dde428004005*/ MOV R7, c [0x0] [0x140]; // p1
/*0028*/ /*0x13f0dc4614000005*/ LDC.U16 R3, c [0x0] [0x144]; // p2
/*0030*/ /*0x60011de428004005*/ MOV R4, c [0x0] [0x158]; // pp3
/*0038*/ /*0x70019de428004005*/ MOV R6, c [0x0] [0x15c]; // pp4
/*0048*/ /*0x20021de428004005*/ MOV R8, c [0x0] [0x148]; // p4
/*0050*/ /*0x30025de428004005*/ MOV R9, c [0x0] [0x14c]; // p4
/*0058*/ /*0x1bf15c0614000005*/ LDC.U8 R5, c [0x0] [0x146]; // p3
/*0060*/ /*0x0001dc8590000000*/ ST [R0], R7; // *pp1 = p1
/*0068*/ /*0x0020dc4590000000*/ ST.U16 [R2], R3; // *pp2 = p2
/*0070*/ /*0x00415c0590000000*/ ST.U8 [R4], R5; // *pp3 = p3
/*0078*/ /*0x00621ca590000000*/ ST.64 [R6], R8; // *pp4 = p4
/*0088*/ /*0x00001de780000000*/ EXIT;
/*0090*/ /*0xe0001de74003ffff*/ BRA 0x90;
/*0098*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00a0*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00a8*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00b0*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00b8*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
...........................................
Function : _Z9constantsPiPsPcPd
/*0008*/ /*0x10005de428004001*/ MOV R1, c [0x0] [0x44]; // stack pointer
/*0010*/ /*0x00001de428004005*/ MOV R0, c [0x0] [0x140]; // p1
/*0018*/ /*0x10009de428004005*/ MOV R2, c [0x0] [0x144]; // p2
/*0020*/ /*0x0001dde428004c00*/ MOV R7, c [0x3] [0x0]; // kd_p1
/*0028*/ /*0x13f0dc4614000c00*/ LDC.U16 R3, c [0x3] [0x4]; // kd_p2
/*0030*/ /*0x20011de428004005*/ MOV R4, c [0x0] [0x148]; // p3
/*0038*/ /*0x30019de428004005*/ MOV R6, c [0x0] [0x14c]; // p4
/*0048*/ /*0x20021de428004c00*/ MOV R8, c [0x3] [0x8]; // kd_p4
/*0050*/ /*0x30025de428004c00*/ MOV R9, c [0x3] [0xc]; // kd_p4
/*0058*/ /*0x1bf15c0614000c00*/ LDC.U8 R5, c [0x3] [0x6]; // kd_p3
/*0060*/ /*0x0001dc8590000000*/ ST [R0], R7;
/*0068*/ /*0x0020dc4590000000*/ ST.U16 [R2], R3;
/*0070*/ /*0x00415c0590000000*/ ST.U8 [R4], R5;
/*0078*/ /*0x00621ca590000000*/ ST.64 [R6], R8;
/*0088*/ /*0x00001de780000000*/ EXIT;
/*0090*/ /*0xe0001de74003ffff*/ BRA 0x90;
/*0098*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00a0*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00a8*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00b0*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
/*00b8*/ /*0x00001de440000000*/ NOP CC.T;
.....................................
I annotated to the right of the SASS.
On sm30 you can see that parameters are passed in constant bank 0 starting at offset 0x140.
User defined __constant__ variables are defined in constant bank 3.
If you execute cuobjdump --dump-elf <executable or obj> you can find other interesting constant information.
32bit elf: abi=6, sm=30, flags = 0x1e011e
Sections:
Index Offset Size ES Align Type Flags Link Info Name
1 34 142 0 1 STRTAB 0 0 0 .shstrtab
2 176 19b 0 1 STRTAB 0 0 0 .strtab
3 314 d0 10 4 SYMTAB 0 2 a .symtab
4 3e4 50 0 4 CUDA_INFO 0 3 b .nv.info._Z9constantsPiPsPcPd
5 434 30 0 4 CUDA_INFO 0 3 0 .nv.info
6 464 90 0 4 CUDA_INFO 0 3 a .nv.info._Z10parametersiscdPiPsPcPd
7 4f4 160 0 4 PROGBITS 2 0 a .nv.constant0._Z10parametersiscdPiPsPcPd
8 654 150 0 4 PROGBITS 2 0 b .nv.constant0._Z9constantsPiPsPcPd
9 7a8 30 0 8 PROGBITS 2 0 0 .nv.constant3
a 7d8 c0 0 4 PROGBITS 6 3 a00000b .text._Z10parametersiscdPiPsPcPd
b 898 c0 0 4 PROGBITS 6 3 a00000c .text._Z9constantsPiPsPcPd
.section .strtab
.section .shstrtab
.section .symtab
index value size info other shndx name
0 0 0 0 0 0 (null)
1 0 0 3 0 a .text._Z10parametersiscdPiPsPcPd
2 0 0 3 0 7 .nv.constant0._Z10parametersiscdPiPsPcPd
3 0 0 3 0 b .text._Z9constantsPiPsPcPd
4 0 0 3 0 8 .nv.constant0._Z9constantsPiPsPcPd
5 0 0 3 0 9 .nv.constant3
6 0 4 1 0 9 kd_p1
7 4 2 1 0 9 kd_p2
8 6 1 1 0 9 kd_p3
9 8 8 1 0 9 kd_p4
10 16 32 1 0 9 kd_floats
11 0 192 12 10 a _Z10parametersiscdPiPsPcPd
12 0 192 12 10 b _Z9constantsPiPsPcPd
The kernel parameter constant bank is versioned per launch so that concurrent kernels can be executed. The compiler and user constants are per CUmodule. It is the responsibility of the developer to manage coherency of this data. For example, the developer has to ensure that a cudaMemcpyToSymbol is update in a safe manner.