Re: bcache and load average

[Eric Wheeler <bcache@lists.ewheeler.net>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: TEXT/PLAIN, Size: 2158 bytes --]

> Going through various forum messages and bug reports (for Debian: 
> https://lists.debian.org/debian-kernel/2015/03/msg00060.html for Arch: 
> https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/38843 for some other distro: 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/esos-users/NXp8tG7sVE8/QXZyPdZ2saIJ 
> ) it looks like the bcache_writeback kernel thread, being in 
> uninterruptible sleep, keeps the load average at 1.0 (or maybe more) 
> always. Could you please confirm this ?

Try the attached patches that I've been collecting over the past year or 
two. I do not believe they have been merged into mainline (BUT SOMEONE 
NEEDS TO).

I am not sure that these address the load bug, but if the load is being 
increased by a large amount of dmesg output caused by rcu traces, then the 
patches will help.

-Eric
 
> 
>  - this behaviour should be described in the bcache documentation
>    because it feels to me (and many other) like a true gotcha. It's
>    apparently completely undocumented. A "CAVEATS" section at the
>    bottom of bcache.txt in the kernel Documentation explaining this
>    would be nice, what do you think?
> 
>  - Is there any way around this? Some people seem to grow uneasy (maybe
>    irrationnally) having a constant load on an otherwise unused system
>    (I know that a sleeping thread actually does nothing, but many 
>    system administrators can't wrap their head around this idea). 
> 
> I've tried some advice I've found on the web, like switching to
> writethrough and "echo 0 > /sys/block/bcache0/bcache/writeback_running"
> but to absolutely no effect.
> 
> Any advice and idea is welcome :)
> 
> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Emmanuel Florac     |   Direction technique
>                     |   Intellique
>                     |	<eflorac@intellique.com>
>                     |   +33 1 78 94 84 02
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-bcache" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> 

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #2: Type: TEXT/x-diff; name=bcache-unregister-reboot-notifier.patch, Size: 921 bytes --]

From: Zheng Liu <wenqing.lz@taobao.com>

In bcache_init() function it forgot to unregister reboot notifier if
bcache fails to unregister a block device.  This commit fixes this.

Signed-off-by: Zheng Liu <wenqing.lz@taobao.com>
Tested-by: Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>
---
 drivers/md/bcache/super.c | 4 +++-
  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/super.c b/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
index 4dd2bb7..fdbb211 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
@@ -2100,8 +2100,10 @@ static int __init bcache_init(void)
 	closure_debug_init();
 
 	bcache_major = register_blkdev(0, "bcache");
-	if (bcache_major < 0)
+	if (bcache_major < 0) {
+		unregister_reboot_notifier(&reboot);
 		return bcache_major;
+	}
 
 	if (!(bcache_wq = create_workqueue("bcache")) ||
 	    !(bcache_kobj = kobject_create_and_add("bcache", fs_kobj)) ||

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #3: Type: TEXT/x-diff; name=bcache-rcu-sched-bugfix.patch, Size: 2722 bytes --]

	
From:	Zheng Liu <gnehzuil.liu@gmail.com>
To:	linux-bcache@vger.kernel.org
Cc:	Zheng Liu <wenqing.lz@taobao.com>, Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>, Zhu Yanhai <zhu.yanhai@gmail.com>, Kent Overstreet <kmo@daterainc.com>
Subject:	[PATCH v2] bcache: fix a livelock in btree lock
Date:	Wed, 25 Feb 2015 20:32:09 +0800 (02/25/2015 04:32:09 AM)
From: Zheng Liu <wenqing.lz@taobao.com>

This commit tries to fix a livelock in bcache.  This livelock might
happen when we causes a huge number of cache misses simultaneously.

When we get a cache miss, bcache will execute the following path.

->cached_dev_make_request()
  ->cached_dev_read()
    ->cached_lookup()
      ->bch->btree_map_keys()
        ->btree_root()  <------------------------
          ->bch_btree_map_keys_recurse()        |
            ->cache_lookup_fn()                 |
              ->cached_dev_cache_miss()         |
                ->bch_btree_insert_check_key() -|
                  [If btree->seq is not equal to seq + 1, we should return
                   EINTR and traverse btree again.]

In bch_btree_insert_check_key() function we first need to check upgrade
flag (op->lock == -1), and when this flag is true we need to release
read btree->lock and try to take write btree->lock.  During taking and
releasing this write lock, btree->seq will be monotone increased in
order to prevent other threads modify this in cache miss (see btree.h:74).
But if there are some cache misses caused by some requested, we could
meet a livelock because btree->seq is always changed by others.  Thus no
one can make progress.

This commit will try to take write btree->lock if it encounters a race
when we traverse btree.  Although it sacrifice the scalability but we
can ensure that only one can modify the btree.

Signed-off-by: Zheng Liu <wenqing.lz@taobao.com>
Tested-by: Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>
Cc: Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>
Cc: Zhu Yanhai <zhu.yanhai@gmail.com>
Cc: Kent Overstreet <kmo@daterainc.com>
---
changelog:
v2: fix a bug that stops all concurrency writes unconditionally.

 drivers/md/bcache/btree.c |    4 +++-
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/btree.c b/drivers/md/bcache/btree.c
index 218f21a..43829d9 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/btree.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/btree.c
@@ -2163,8 +2163,10 @@ int bch_btree_insert_check_key(struct btree *b, struct btree_op *op,
 		rw_lock(true, b, b->level);
 
 		if (b->key.ptr[0] != btree_ptr ||
-		    b->seq != seq + 1)
+                   b->seq != seq + 1) {
+                       op->lock = b->level;
 			goto out;
+               }
 	}
 
 	SET_KEY_PTRS(check_key, 1);

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #4: Type: TEXT/x-diff; name=bcache-fix-memleak-bch_cached_dev_run.patch, Size: 989 bytes --]


From: Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>
Subject: [PATCH] fix a leak in bch_cached_dev_run()
Newsgroups: gmane.linux.kernel.bcache.devel
Date: 2015-02-03 11:24:06 GMT (3 weeks, 2 days, 11 hours and 43 minutes ago)

From: Al Viro <viro@ZenIV.linux.org.uk>

Signed-off-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
Tested-by: Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>
---
 drivers/md/bcache/super.c | 5 ++++-
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/super.c b/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
index 8c2d657..53f1512 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
@@ -880,8 +880,11 @@ void bch_cached_dev_run(struct cached_dev *dc)
 	buf[SB_LABEL_SIZE] = '\0';
 	env[2] = kasprintf(GFP_KERNEL, "CACHED_LABEL=%s", buf);

-	if (atomic_xchg(&dc->running, 1))
+	if (atomic_xchg(&dc->running, 1)) {
+		kfree(env[1]);
+		kfree(env[2]);
 		return;
+	}

 	if (!d->c &&
 	    BDEV_STATE(&dc->sb) != BDEV_STATE_NONE) {
-- 
2.1.2


[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #5: Type: TEXT/x-diff; name=bcache-cond_resched.patch, Size: 832 bytes --]

From f0e6320a7874af434575f37a11ec6e4992cef790 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Kent Overstreet <kmo@daterainc.com>
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 2014 13:44:47 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 1/5] bcache: Add a cond_resched() call to gc
Git-commit: f0e6320a7874af434575f37a11ec6e4992cef790
Patch-mainline: Submitted
References: bnc#910440

Change-id: Id4f18c533b80ddb40df94ed0bb5e2a236a4bc325
Signed-off-by: Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>

---
 drivers/md/bcache/btree.c | 1 +
  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

--- a/drivers/md/bcache/btree.c	2014-11-03 16:51:01.720000000 -0800
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/btree.c	2014-11-03 16:51:26.456000000 -0800
@@ -1741,6 +1741,7 @@
 	do {
 		ret = btree_root(gc_root, c, &op, &writes, &stats);
 		closure_sync(&writes);
+		cond_resched();
 
 		if (ret && ret != -EAGAIN)
 			pr_warn("gc failed!");

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #6: Type: TEXT/x-diff; name=bcache-attach-detach-cleanup.patch, Size: 5427 bytes --]

From: Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>
Subject: [PATCH] bcache: [BUG] clear BCACHE_DEV_UNLINK_DONE flag when attaching a backing device
Newsgroups: gmane.linux.kernel.bcache.devel
Date: 2015-02-03 11:18:01 GMT (3 weeks, 2 days, 11 hours and 45 minutes ago)

From: Zheng Liu <wenqing.lz@taobao.com>

This bug can be reproduced by the following script:

  #!/bin/bash

  bcache_sysfs="/sys/fs/bcache"

  function clear_cache()
  {
  	if [ ! -e $bcache_sysfs ]; then
  		echo "no bcache sysfs"
  		exit
  	fi

  	cset_uuid=$(ls -l $bcache_sysfs|head -n 2|tail -n 1|awk '{print $9}')
  	sudo sh -c "echo $cset_uuid > /sys/block/sdb/sdb1/bcache/detach"
  	sleep 5
  	sudo sh -c "echo $cset_uuid > /sys/block/sdb/sdb1/bcache/attach"
  }

  for ((i=0;i<10;i++)); do
  	clear_cache
  done

The warning messages look like below:
[  275.948611] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[  275.963840] WARNING: at fs/sysfs/dir.c:512 sysfs_add_one+0xb8/0xd0() (Tainted: P        W 
---------------   )
[  275.979253] Hardware name: Tecal RH2285
[  275.994106] sysfs: cannot create duplicate filename '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:09.0/0000:08:00.0/host4/target4:2:1/4:2:1:0/block/sdb/sdb1/bcache/cache'
[  276.024105] Modules linked in: bcache tcp_diag inet_diag ipmi_devintf ipmi_si ipmi_msghandler
bonding 8021q garp stp llc ipv6 ext3 jbd loop sg iomemory_vsl(P) bnx2 microcode serio_raw i2c_i801
i2c_core iTCO_wdt iTCO_vendor_support i7core_edac edac_core shpchp ext4 jbd2 mbcache megaraid_sas
pata_acpi ata_generic ata_piix dm_mod [last unloaded: scsi_wait_scan]
[  276.072643] Pid: 2765, comm: sh Tainted: P        W  ---------------    2.6.32 #1
[  276.089315] Call Trace:
[  276.105801]  [<ffffffff81070fe7>] ? warn_slowpath_common+0x87/0xc0
[  276.122650]  [<ffffffff810710d6>] ? warn_slowpath_fmt+0x46/0x50
[  276.139361]  [<ffffffff81205c08>] ? sysfs_add_one+0xb8/0xd0
[  276.156012]  [<ffffffff8120609b>] ? sysfs_do_create_link+0x12b/0x170
[  276.172682]  [<ffffffff81206113>] ? sysfs_create_link+0x13/0x20
[  276.189282]  [<ffffffffa03bda21>] ? bcache_device_link+0xc1/0x110 [bcache]
[  276.205993]  [<ffffffffa03bfa08>] ? bch_cached_dev_attach+0x478/0x4f0 [bcache]
[  276.222794]  [<ffffffffa03c4a17>] ? bch_cached_dev_store+0x627/0x780 [bcache]
[  276.239680]  [<ffffffff8116783a>] ? alloc_pages_current+0xaa/0x110
[  276.256594]  [<ffffffff81203b15>] ? sysfs_write_file+0xe5/0x170
[  276.273364]  [<ffffffff811887b8>] ? vfs_write+0xb8/0x1a0
[  276.290133]  [<ffffffff811890b1>] ? sys_write+0x51/0x90
[  276.306368]  [<ffffffff8100c072>] ? system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b
[  276.322301] ---[ end trace 9f5d4fcdd0c3edfb ]---
[  276.338241] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[  276.354109] WARNING: at /home/wenqing.lz/bcache/bcache/super.c:720
bcache_device_link+0xdf/0x110 [bcache]() (Tainted: P        W  ---------------   )
[  276.386017] Hardware name: Tecal RH2285
[  276.401430] Couldn't create device <-> cache set symlinks
[  276.401759] Modules linked in: bcache tcp_diag inet_diag ipmi_devintf ipmi_si ipmi_msghandler
bonding 8021q garp stp llc ipv6 ext3 jbd loop sg iomemory_vsl(P) bnx2 microcode serio_raw i2c_i801
i2c_core iTCO_wdt iTCO_vendor_support i7core_edac edac_core shpchp ext4 jbd2 mbcache megaraid_sas
pata_acpi ata_generic ata_piix dm_mod [last unloaded: scsi_wait_scan]
[  276.465477] Pid: 2765, comm: sh Tainted: P        W  ---------------    2.6.32 #1
[  276.482169] Call Trace:
[  276.498610]  [<ffffffff81070fe7>] ? warn_slowpath_common+0x87/0xc0
[  276.515405]  [<ffffffff810710d6>] ? warn_slowpath_fmt+0x46/0x50
[  276.532059]  [<ffffffffa03bda3f>] ? bcache_device_link+0xdf/0x110 [bcache]
[  276.548808]  [<ffffffffa03bfa08>] ? bch_cached_dev_attach+0x478/0x4f0 [bcache]
[  276.565569]  [<ffffffffa03c4a17>] ? bch_cached_dev_store+0x627/0x780 [bcache]
[  276.582418]  [<ffffffff8116783a>] ? alloc_pages_current+0xaa/0x110
[  276.599341]  [<ffffffff81203b15>] ? sysfs_write_file+0xe5/0x170
[  276.616142]  [<ffffffff811887b8>] ? vfs_write+0xb8/0x1a0
[  276.632607]  [<ffffffff811890b1>] ? sys_write+0x51/0x90
[  276.648671]  [<ffffffff8100c072>] ? system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b
[  276.664756] ---[ end trace 9f5d4fcdd0c3edfc ]---

We forget to clear BCACHE_DEV_UNLINK_DONE flag in bcache_device_attach()
function when we attach a backing device first time.  After detaching this
backing device, this flag will be true and sysfs_remove_link() isn't called in
bcache_device_unlink().  Then when we attach this backing device again,
sysfs_create_link() will return EEXIST error in bcache_device_link().

So the fix is trival and we clear this flag in bcache_device_link().

Signed-off-by: Zheng Liu <wenqing.lz@taobao.com>
Tested-by: Joshua Schmid <jschmid@suse.com>
---
 drivers/md/bcache/super.c | 2 ++
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/md/bcache/super.c b/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
index 4dd2bb7..f624ae8 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bcache/super.c
@@ -708,6 +708,8 @@ static void bcache_device_link(struct bcache_device *d, struct cache_set *c,
 	WARN(sysfs_create_link(&d->kobj, &c->kobj, "cache") ||
 	     sysfs_create_link(&c->kobj, &d->kobj, d->name),
 	     "Couldn't create device <-> cache set symlinks");
+
+	clear_bit(BCACHE_DEV_UNLINK_DONE, &d->flags);
 }

 static void bcache_device_detach(struct bcache_device *d)
-- 
2.1.2