From: corbet@lwn.net (Jonathan Corbet)
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: linux-pm <linux-pm@lists.linux-foundation.org>,
lkml <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
nfs@lists.sourceforge.net,
Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>,
"Chakri n" <chakriin5@gmail.com>
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 07:28:52 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <10659.1190986132@lwn.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:50:34 PDT." <20070927235034.ae7bd73d.akpm@linux-foundation.org>
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...:)
jon
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2007-09-28 13:29 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 46+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
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
2007-09-28 6:50 ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 6:59 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 8:27 ` Chakri n
2007-09-28 8:40 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 9:01 ` Chakri n
2007-09-28 9:12 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 9:20 ` Chakri n
2007-09-28 9:23 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 10:36 ` Chakri n
2007-09-28 13:28 ` Jonathan Corbet [this message]
2007-09-28 13:35 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 16:45 ` [linux-pm] " Alan Stern
2007-09-29 1:27 ` Daniel Phillips
2007-09-28 18:04 ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 17:00 ` Trond Myklebust
2007-09-28 18:49 ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 18:48 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-09-28 19:16 ` Andrew Morton
2007-10-02 13:36 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-10-02 15:42 ` Randy Dunlap
2007-10-03 9:28 ` [PATCH] lockstat: documentation Peter Zijlstra
2007-10-03 9:35 ` Ingo Molnar
2007-09-28 19:16 ` A unresponsive file system can hang all I/O in the system on linux-2.6.23-rc6 (dirty_thresh problem?) Trond Myklebust
2007-09-28 19:26 ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 19:52 ` Trond Myklebust
2007-09-28 20:10 ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 20:32 ` Trond Myklebust
2007-09-28 20:43 ` Andrew Morton
2007-09-28 21:36 ` Chakri n
2007-09-28 23:33 ` Chakri n
2007-09-28 20:24 ` Daniel Phillips
2007-09-29 1:51 ` KDB? Daniel Phillips
2007-09-29 0:46 ` A unresponsive file system can hang all I/O in the system on linux-2.6.23-rc6 (dirty_thresh problem?) Daniel Phillips
[not found] ` <20070929110454.GA29861@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-09-29 11:04 ` Fengguang Wu
2007-09-29 11:48 ` Peter Zijlstra
[not found] ` <20070929122842.GA5454@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-09-29 12:28 ` Fengguang Wu
2007-09-29 14:43 ` Peter Zijlstra
2007-10-01 15:57 ` Chuck Ebbert
[not found] ` <20071002020040.GA5275@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-02 2:00 ` [PATCH] writeback: avoid possible balance_dirty_pages() lockup on a light-load bdi Fengguang Wu
2007-10-02 2:14 ` 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
2007-10-02 18:35 ` Chuck Ebbert
2007-10-03 12:46 ` richard kennedy
[not found] ` <20071004015053.GA5789@mail.ustc.edu.cn>
2007-10-04 1:50 ` Fengguang Wu
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