linux-ext4 - Re: [PATCH] e2fsprogs: don't set stripe/stride to 1 block in mkfs

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Date:	Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:21:18 -0700
From:	Eric Sandeen <sandeen@...hat.com>
To:	Andreas Dilger <adilger@...ger.ca>
CC:	ext4 development <linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org>,
	Zeev Tarantov <zeev.tarantov@...il.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] e2fsprogs: don't set stripe/stride to 1 block in mkfs

On 4/5/11 9:56 AM, Eric Sandeen wrote:
> On 4/5/11 9:39 AM, Eric Sandeen wrote:
>> On 4/5/11 1:10 AM, Andreas Dilger wrote:
>>> On 2011-04-04, at 9:11 AM, Eric Sandeen wrote:
>>>> Block devices may set minimum or optimal IO hints equal to
>>>> blocksize; in this case there is really nothing for ext4
>>>> to do with this information (i.e. search for a block-aligned
>>>> allocation?) so don't set fs geometry with single-block
>>>> values.
>>>>
>>>> Zeev also reported that with a block-sized stripe, the
>>>> ext4 allocator spends time spinning in ext4_mb_scan_aligned(),
>>>> oddly enough.
>>>>
>>>> Reported-by: Zeev Tarantov <zeev.tarantov@...il.com>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Eric Sandeen <sandeen@...hat.com>
>>>> ---
>>>>
>>>> diff --git a/misc/mke2fs.c b/misc/mke2fs.c
>>>> index 9798b88..74b838c 100644
>>>> --- a/misc/mke2fs.c
>>>> +++ b/misc/mke2fs.c
>>>> @@ -1135,8 +1135,11 @@ static int get_device_geometry(const char *file,
>>>> 	if ((opt_io == 0) && (psector_size > blocksize))
>>>> 		opt_io = psector_size;
>>>>
>>>> -	fs_param->s_raid_stride = min_io / blocksize;
>>>> -	fs_param->s_raid_stripe_width = opt_io / blocksize;
>>>> +	/* setting stripe/stride to blocksize is pointless */
>>>> +	if (min_io > blocksize)
>>>> +		fs_param->s_raid_stride = min_io / blocksize;
>>>> +	if (opt_io > blocksize)
>>>> +		fs_param->s_raid_stripe_width = opt_io / blocksize;
>>>
>>> I don't think it is harmful to specify an mballoc alignment that is
>>> an even multiple of the underlying device IO size (e.g. at least
>>> 256kB or 512kB).
>>>
>>> If the underlying device (e.g. zram) is reporting 16kB or 64kB opt_io
>>> size because that is PAGE_SIZE, but blocksize is 4kB, then we will
>>> have the same performance problem again.> 
>>> Cheers, Andreas
>>
>> I need to look into why ext4_mb_scan_aligned is so inefficient for a block-sized stripe.
>>
>> In practice I don't think we've seen this problem with stripe size at 4 or 8 or 16 blocks; it may just be less apparent.  I think the function steps through by stripe-sized units, and if that is 1 block, it's a lot of stepping.  
>>
>>         while (i < EXT4_BLOCKS_PER_GROUP(sb)) {
>> ...
>>                 if (!mb_test_bit(i, bitmap)) {
> 
> Offhand I think maybe mb_find_next_zero_bit would be more efficient.
> 
> --- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
> +++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
> @@ -1939,16 +1939,14 @@ void ext4_mb_scan_aligned(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac,
>         i = (a * sbi->s_stripe) - first_group_block;
>  
>         while (i < EXT4_BLOCKS_PER_GROUP(sb)) {
> -               if (!mb_test_bit(i, bitmap)) {
> -                       max = mb_find_extent(e4b, 0, i, sbi->s_stripe, &ex);
> -                       if (max >= sbi->s_stripe) {
> -                               ac->ac_found++;
> -                               ac->ac_b_ex = ex;
> -                               ext4_mb_use_best_found(ac, e4b);
> -                               break;
> -                       }
> +               i = mb_find_next_zero_bit(bitmap, EXT4_BLOCKS_PER_GROUP(sb), i);
> +               max = mb_find_extent(e4b, 0, i, sbi->s_stripe, &ex);
> +               if (max >= sbi->s_stripe) {
> +                       ac->ac_found++;
> +                       ac->ac_b_ex = ex;
> +                       ext4_mb_use_best_found(ac, e4b);
> +                       break;
>                 }
> -               i += sbi->s_stripe;
>         }
>  }
> 
> totally untested, but I think we have better ways to step through the bitmap.

I tested it ;)

Seems to work fine, though I probably should see how things actually got allocated.

Creating an fs with 1-block stripes & widths as with the original report, and copying a (built) 2.6 linux kernel tree, it took about 7 minutes, and looped in the while() loop above 328215171 times.

With the patch above, it took 6m30s, and looped 25055 times.

For a filesystem with no stripe/stride set, it took 6m26s.

Hm, but subsequent tests w/ the tiny stripe set came around 6m30s as well.  So there's no obvious speedup.

Still, avoiding all that looping seems beneficial, I can send a patch after I make sure allocation is still happening as expected.

Zeev, if you'd like to test that patch above with your profiling, that'd be awesome.

Thanks,
-Eric
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