Re: VFS scalability git tree

[Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>]

On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 10:57:17PM +1000, Dave Chinner wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 06:06:32PM +1000, Nick Piggin wrote:
> > On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 05:05:39PM +1000, Nick Piggin wrote:
> > > On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 11:55:14PM +1000, Dave Chinner wrote:
> > > > On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 05:01:00AM +1000, Nick Piggin wrote:
> > > > > I'm pleased to announce I have a git tree up of my vfs scalability work.
> > > > > 
> > > > > git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/npiggin/linux-npiggin.git
> > > > > http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/npiggin/linux-npiggin.git
> > > > > 
> > > > > Branch vfs-scale-working
> > > > 
> > > > With a production build (i.e. no lockdep, no xfs debug), I'll
> > > > run the same fs_mark parallel create/unlink workload to show
> > > > scalability as I ran here:
> > > > 
> > > > http://oss.sgi.com/archives/xfs/2010-05/msg00329.html
> > > 
> > > I've made a similar setup, 2s8c machine, but using 2GB ramdisk instead
> > > of a real disk (I don't have easy access to a good disk setup ATM, but
> > > I guess we're more interested in code above the block layer anyway).
> > > 
> > > Made an XFS on /dev/ram0 with 16 ags, 64MB log, otherwise same config as
> > > yours.
> > > 
> > > I found that performance is a little unstable, so I sync and echo 3 >
> > > drop_caches between each run. When it starts reclaiming memory, things
> > > get a bit more erratic (and XFS seemed to be almost livelocking for tens
> > > of seconds in inode reclaim).
> > 
> > So about this XFS livelock type thingy. It looks like this, and happens
> > periodically while running the above fs_mark benchmark requiring reclaim
> > of inodes:
> ....
> 
> > Nothing much happening except 100% system time for seconds at a time
> > (length of time varies). This is on a ramdisk, so it isn't waiting
> > for IO.
> > 
> > During this time, lots of things are contending on the lock:
> > 
> >     60.37%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] __write_lock_failed
> >      4.30%         kswapd0  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] __write_lock_failed
> >      3.70%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] try_wait_for_completion
> >      3.59%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] _raw_write_lock
> >      3.46%         kswapd1  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] __write_lock_failed
> >                    |
> >                    --- __write_lock_failed
> >                       |
> >                       |--99.92%-- xfs_inode_ag_walk
> >                       |          xfs_inode_ag_iterator
> >                       |          xfs_reclaim_inode_shrink
> >                       |          shrink_slab
> >                       |          shrink_zone
> >                       |          balance_pgdat
> >                       |          kswapd
> >                       |          kthread
> >                       |          kernel_thread_helper
> >                        --0.08%-- [...]
> > 
> >      3.02%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] _raw_spin_lock
> >      1.82%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] _xfs_buf_find
> >      1.16%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] memcpy
> >      0.86%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] _raw_spin_lock_irqsave
> >      0.75%         fs_mark  [kernel.kallsyms]   [k] xfs_log_commit_cil
> >                    |
> >                    --- xfs_log_commit_cil
> >                        _xfs_trans_commit
> >                       |
> >                       |--60.00%-- xfs_remove
> >                       |          xfs_vn_unlink
> >                       |          vfs_unlink
> >                       |          do_unlinkat
> >                       |          sys_unlink
> > 
> > I'm not sure if there was a long-running read locker in there causing
> > all the write lockers to fail, or if they are just running into one
> > another.
> 
> The longest hold is in the inode cluster writeback
> (xfs_iflush_cluster), but if there is no IO then I don't see how
> that would be a problem.

No I wasn't suggesting there was, just that there could have
been one that I didn't notice in profiles (ie. because it
had taken read lock rather than spinning on it).

 
> I suspect that it might be caused by having several CPUs
> all trying to run the shrinker at the same time and them all
> starting at the same AG and therefore lockstepping and getting
> nothing done because they are all scanning the same inodes.

I think that is the most likely answer, yes.


> Maybe a start AG rotor for xfs_inode_ag_iterator() is needed to
> avoid this lockstepping.  I've attached a patch below to do this
> - can you give it a try?

Cool yes I will. I could try it in combination with the batching
patch too. Thanks.

 
> > But anyway, I hacked the following patch which seemed to
> > improve that behaviour. I haven't run any throughput numbers on it yet,
> > but I could if you're interested (and it's not completely broken!)
> 
> Batching is certainly something that I have been considering, but
> apart from the excessive scanning bug, the per-ag inode tree lookups
> hve not featured prominently in any profiling I've done, so it
> hasn't been a high priority.
> 
> You patch looks like it will work fine, but I think it can be made a
> lot cleaner. I'll have a closer look at this once I get to the bottom of
> the dbench hang you are seeing....

Well I'll see if I can measure any efficiency or lock contention
improvements with it and report back. Might have to wait till the
weekend.

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