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From: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
To: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Chakri n <chakriin5@gmail.com>,
	linux-pm <linux-pm@lists.linux-foundation.org>,
	nfs@lists.sourceforge.net, lkml <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
	Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Subject: Re: A unresponsive file system can hang all I/O in the system on linux-2.6.23-rc6 (dirty_thresh problem?)
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:04:45 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20070928110445.69e687c0.akpm@linux-foundation.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <10659.1190986132@lwn.net>

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:28:52 -0600 corbet@lwn.net (Jonathan Corbet) wrote:

> Andrew wrote:
> > It's unrelated to the actual value of dirty_thresh: if the machine fills up
> > with dirty (or unstable) NFS pages then eventually new writers will block
> > until that condition clears.
> > 
> > 2.4 doesn't have this problem at low levels of dirty data because 2.4
> > VFS/MM doesn't account for NFS pages at all.
> 
> Is it really NFS-related?  I was trying to back up my 2.6.23-rc8 system
> to an external USB drive the other day when something flaked and the
> drive fell off the bus.  That, too, was sufficient to wedge the entire
> system, even though the only thing which needed the dead drive was one
> rsync process.  It's kind of a bummer to have to hit the reset button
> after the failure of (what should be) a non-critical piece of hardware.
> 
> Not that I have a fix to propose...:)
> 

That's a USB bug, surely.  What should happen is that the kernel attempts
writeback, gets an IO error and then your data gets lost.

  parent reply	other threads:[~2007-09-28 18:04 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 42+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
     [not found] <92cbf19b0709272332s25684643odaade0e98cb3a1f4@mail.gmail.com>
2007-09-28  6:50 ` A unresponsive file system can hang all I/O in the system on linux-2.6.23-rc6 (dirty_thresh problem?) Andrew Morton
     [not found] ` <20070927235034.ae7bd73d.akpm@linux-foundation.org>
2007-09-28  6:59   ` Peter Zijlstra
     [not found]   ` <1190962752.31636.15.camel@twins>
2007-09-28  8:27     ` Chakri n
     [not found]     ` <92cbf19b0709280127yba48b60wfe58e532944894ca@mail.gmail.com>
2007-09-28  8:40       ` Peter Zijlstra
     [not found]       ` <1190968800.31636.26.camel@twins>
2007-09-28  9:01         ` Chakri n
     [not found]         ` <92cbf19b0709280201o3778f945mf1d8d61cbb3d0558@mail.gmail.com>
2007-09-28  9:12           ` Peter Zijlstra
     [not found]           ` <1190970729.31636.29.camel@twins>
2007-09-28  9:20             ` Chakri n
     [not found]             ` <92cbf19b0709280220o7cdd4b1cua37a8776af68ac25@mail.gmail.com>
2007-09-28  9:23               ` Peter Zijlstra
     [not found]               ` <1190971419.31636.38.camel@twins>
2007-09-28 10:36                 ` Chakri n
2007-09-28 13:28   ` Jonathan Corbet
     [not found]   ` <10659.1190986132@lwn.net>
2007-09-28 13:35     ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 18:04     ` Andrew Morton [this message]
     [not found]     ` <1190986542.13204.10.camel@twins>
2007-09-28 16:45       ` Alan Stern
2007-09-29  1:27       ` Daniel Phillips
2007-09-28 17:00   ` Trond Myklebust
     [not found]   ` <1190998853.6702.17.camel@heimdal.trondhjem.org>
     [not found]     ` <20070928114930.2c201324.akpm@linux-foundation.org>
2007-09-28 18:48       ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 19:16       ` Trond Myklebust
     [not found]       ` <1191005339.18147.89.camel@lappy>
2007-09-28 19:16         ` Andrew Morton
     [not found]       ` <1191006971.6702.25.camel@heimdal.trondhjem.org>
2007-09-28 19:26         ` Andrew Morton
     [not found]         ` <20070928122628.965137f2.akpm@linux-foundation.org>
2007-09-28 19:52           ` Trond Myklebust
     [not found]           ` <1191009148.6702.46.camel@heimdal.trondhjem.org>
2007-09-28 20:10             ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 20:24             ` Daniel Phillips
     [not found]             ` <20070928131012.4a03c53e.akpm@linux-foundation.org>
2007-09-28 20:32               ` Trond Myklebust
     [not found]               ` <1191011538.6702.59.camel@heimdal.trondhjem.org>
2007-09-28 20:43                 ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 21:36                   ` Chakri n
     [not found]                   ` <92cbf19b0709281436i41247863t6cbc919c33e972a3@mail.gmail.com>
2007-09-28 23:33                     ` Chakri n
2007-09-29  1:51         ` KDB? Daniel Phillips
2007-09-28 18:49     ` A unresponsive file system can hang all I/O in the system on linux-2.6.23-rc6 (dirty_thresh problem?) Andrew Morton
2007-09-29  0:46   ` Daniel Phillips
     [not found] ` <20070929110454.GA29861@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-09-29 11:04   ` Fengguang Wu
     [not found] ` <391063897.19256@ustc.edu.cn>
2007-09-29 11:48   ` Peter Zijlstra
     [not found]   ` <1191066481.18147.115.camel@lappy>
     [not found]     ` <20070929122842.GA5454@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-09-29 12:28       ` Fengguang Wu
     [not found]     ` <391068925.28146@ustc.edu.cn>
2007-09-29 14:43       ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-10-01 15:57   ` Chuck Ebbert
     [not found]   ` <470118EE.1020103@redhat.com>
     [not found]     ` <391290444.23950@ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-02  2:14       ` [PATCH] writeback: avoid possible balance_dirty_pages() lockup on a light-load bdi Andrew Morton
     [not found]         ` <20071002121327.GA5718@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-02 12:13           ` Fengguang Wu
     [not found]           ` <20071002132702.GA10967@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-02 13:27             ` Fengguang Wu
     [not found]           ` <391331626.16970@ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-02 18:35             ` Chuck Ebbert
     [not found]     ` <20071002020040.GA5275@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-02  2:00       ` Fengguang Wu
2007-10-03 12:46       ` richard kennedy
     [not found]       ` <1191415612.3123.21.camel@castor.rsk.org>
     [not found]         ` <20071004015053.GA5789@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-04  1:50           ` Fengguang Wu
2007-09-28  6:32 A unresponsive file system can hang all I/O in the system on linux-2.6.23-rc6 (dirty_thresh problem?) Chakri n

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