From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263798AbTLJRou (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:44:50 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263809AbTLJRou (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:44:50 -0500 Received: from us01smtp2.synopsys.com ([198.182.44.80]:10486 "EHLO kiruna.synopsys.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S263798AbTLJRoq (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:44:46 -0500 Message-ID: <3FD75B8A.21FA59D9@synopsys.com> Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:44:42 -0500 From: Chris Petersen Reply-To: Chris.Petersen@synopsys.com Organization: Synopsys, Inc. X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.78 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Marcelo Tosatti Cc: William Lee Irwin III , Chris Petersen , Linux-Kernel Subject: FIXED (was Re: PROBLEM: Blk Dev Cache causing kswapd thrashing) References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Marcelo, It appears the block-device-cache/kswapd problem is indeed fixed in 2.4.23 (yay!). To confuse matters RedHat has released an RPM with 2.4.20-24.7 which apparently contains later patches that include the fix. This can be confusing because their 2.4.21-4EL kernel is busted (WRT this bug). But, at least this way we can simply tell our RH-based customers to go grab the RPM. Thanks, -chris Marcelo Tosatti wrote: > > On Tue, 25 Nov 2003, William Lee Irwin III wrote: > > > On Tue, Nov 25, 2003 at 04:03:56PM -0500, Chris Petersen wrote: > > > The block device cache is causing kswapd thrashing, usually bringing > > > the system to a halt. > > > This problem has been reproduced on kernels as recent as 2.4.21. > > > In our application we deal with large (multi-GB) files on multi-CPU > > > 4GB platforms. While handling these files, the block device cache > > > allocates all remaining available memory (3.5G) up to the 4G > > > physical limit. > > > > Please try 2.4.23-rc5, and if that doesn't fix it, try 2.6.0-test10. > > AIUI both have page replacement improvements over 2.4.21. > > Chris, > > Did you try 2.4 already? > > If you didnt, please tell me results when you do so. > > Thanks -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Chris M. Petersen cmp@synopsys.com Sr. R&D Engineer Synopsys, Inc. o: 919.425.7342 1101 Slater Road, Suite 300 c: 919.349.6393 Durham, NC 27703 f: 919.425.7320 -----------------------------------------------------------------