From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755822Ab1BYPPm (ORCPT ); Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:15:42 -0500 Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([209.132.183.28]:45788 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754575Ab1BYPPl (ORCPT ); Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:15:41 -0500 Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:15:32 -0500 From: Vivek Goyal To: Tejun Heo Cc: Dominik Klein , linux kernel mailing list , libvir-list@redhat.com Subject: Re: Is it a workqueue related issue in 2.6.37 (Was: Re: [libvirt] blkio cgroup [solved]) Message-ID: <20110225151532.GE2994@redhat.com> References: <20110224143105.GL7840@htj.dyndns.org> <4D66720E.70102@in-telegence.net> <20110224151701.GQ7840@htj.dyndns.org> <4D67591F.10105@in-telegence.net> <20110225112936.GH24828@htj.dyndns.org> <4D679688.7020503@in-telegence.net> <20110225131850.GI24828@htj.dyndns.org> <20110225145708.GB2994@redhat.com> <20110225150329.GM24828@htj.dyndns.org> <20110225151113.GD2994@redhat.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20110225151113.GD2994@redhat.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 10:11:13AM -0500, Vivek Goyal wrote: > On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 04:03:29PM +0100, Tejun Heo wrote: > > Hello, > > > > On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 09:57:08AM -0500, Vivek Goyal wrote: > > > blk_throtl_work() calls generic_make_request() to dispatch some bios and I > > > guess blk_throtl_work() has been put to sleep because threre are no request > > > descriptors available and CFQ is frozen so no requests descriptors get freed > > > hence blk_throtl_work() never finishes. > > > > > > Following caught my eye. > > > > > > ksoftirqd/0-3 [000] 1640.983585: 8,16 m N cfq4810 slice > > > expired t=0 > > > ksoftirqd/0-3 [000] 1640.983588: 8,16 m N cfq4810 > > > sl_used=2 disp=6 charge=2 iops=0 sect=2080 > > > ksoftirqd/0-3 [000] 1640.983589: 8,16 m N cfq4810 > > > del_from_rr > > > ksoftirqd/0-3 [000] 1640.983591: 8,16 m N cfq schedule > > > dispatch > > > sshd-3125 [004] 1640.983597: workqueue_queue_work: work > > > struct=ffff88102c3a3110 function=flush_to_ldisc workqueue=ffff88182c834a00 > > > req_cpu=4 cpu=4 > > > sshd-3125 [004] 1640.983598: workqueue_activate_work: work > > > struct ffff88102c3a3110 > > > > > > CFQ tries to schedule a work and but there is no associated > > > "workqueue_queue_work" trace. So it looks like that work never got queued. > > > > > > CFQ calls following. > > > > > > cfq_log(cfqd, "schedule dispatch"); > > > kblockd_schedule_work(cfqd->queue, &cfqd->unplug_work); > > > > > > We do see "schedule dispatch" message and kblockd_schedule_work() calls > > > queue_work(). So what happended here? This is strange. I will put one > > > more trace after kblockd_schedule_work() to trace that function returned. > > > > It could be that the unplug work was already queued and in pending > > state. The second queueing request will be ignored then. So, I think > > the problem is that blk_throtl_work() occupies kblockd but requires > > another work item (unplug_work) to make forward progress. In such > > cases, forward progress cannot be guaranteed. Either > > blk_throtl_work() or cfq unplug work should use a separate workqueue. > > Ok, that would make sense. So blk_throtl_work() can not finish as CFQ > is not making progress and no request descriptors are being freed and > unplug_work() is not being called because blk_throtl_work() has not finished. > So that's cyclic dependency and I should use a separate work queue for > queueing throttle related work. I will write a patch. The only thing unexplained is why same problem does not happen in 2.6.38-rc kernels. Thanks Vivek