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Message-ID: <aDcmRdOrWatcBJWc@li-dc0c254c-257c-11b2-a85c-98b6c1322444.ibm.com>
Date: Wed, 28 May 2025 20:35:41 +0530
From: Ojaswin Mujoo <ojaswin@...ux.ibm.com>
To: libaokun@...weicloud.com
Cc: linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org, tytso@....edu, adilger.kernel@...ger.ca,
        jack@...e.cz, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, yi.zhang@...wei.com,
        yangerkun@...wei.com, libaokun1@...wei.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/4] ext4: add ext4_try_lock_group() to skip busy groups

On Fri, May 23, 2025 at 04:58:18PM +0800, libaokun@...weicloud.com wrote:
> From: Baokun Li <libaokun1@...wei.com>
> 
> When ext4 allocates blocks, we used to just go through the block groups
> one by one to find a good one. But when there are tons of block groups
> (like hundreds of thousands or even millions) and not many have free space
> (meaning they're mostly full), it takes a really long time to check them
> all, and performance gets bad. So, we added the "mb_optimize_scan" mount
> option (which is on by default now). It keeps track of some group lists,
> so when we need a free block, we can just grab a likely group from the
> right list. This saves time and makes block allocation much faster.
> 
> But when multiple processes or containers are doing similar things, like
> constantly allocating 8k blocks, they all try to use the same block group
> in the same list. Even just two processes doing this can cut the IOPS in
> half. For example, one container might do 300,000 IOPS, but if you run two
> at the same time, the total is only 150,000.
> 
> Since we can already look at block groups in a non-linear way, the first
> and last groups in the same list are basically the same for finding a block
> right now. Therefore, add an ext4_try_lock_group() helper function to skip
> the current group when it is locked by another process, thereby avoiding
> contention with other processes. This helps ext4 make better use of having
> multiple block groups.
> 
> Also, to make sure we don't skip all the groups that have free space
> when allocating blocks, we won't try to skip busy groups anymore when
> ac_criteria is CR_ANY_FREE.
> 
> Performance test data follows:
> 
> CPU: HUAWEI Kunpeng 920
> Memory: 480GB
> Disk: 480GB SSD SATA 3.2
> Test: Running will-it-scale/fallocate2 on 64 CPU-bound containers.
> Observation: Average fallocate operations per container per second.
> 
>                       base    patched
> mb_optimize_scan=0    3588    6755 (+88.2%)
> mb_optimize_scan=1    3588    4302 (+19.8%)

The patch looks mostly good. Same observations about mb_optimize_scan=1
improving less. We can continue this discussion in my reply to the cover
letter. That being said, I have some minor suggestions:

> 
> Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun1@...wei.com>
> ---
>  fs/ext4/ext4.h    | 23 ++++++++++++++---------
>  fs/ext4/mballoc.c | 14 +++++++++++---
>  2 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/ext4/ext4.h b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
> index 5a20e9cd7184..9c665a620a46 100644
> --- a/fs/ext4/ext4.h
> +++ b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
> @@ -3494,23 +3494,28 @@ static inline int ext4_fs_is_busy(struct ext4_sb_info *sbi)
>  	return (atomic_read(&sbi->s_lock_busy) > EXT4_CONTENTION_THRESHOLD);
>  }
>  
> +static inline bool ext4_try_lock_group(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t group)
> +{
> +	if (!spin_trylock(ext4_group_lock_ptr(sb, group)))
> +		return false;
> +	/*
> +	 * We're able to grab the lock right away, so drop the lock
> +	 * contention counter.
> +	 */
> +	atomic_add_unless(&EXT4_SB(sb)->s_lock_busy, -1, 0);
> +	return true;
> +}
> +
>  static inline void ext4_lock_group(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t group)
>  {
> -	spinlock_t *lock = ext4_group_lock_ptr(sb, group);
> -	if (spin_trylock(lock))
> -		/*
> -		 * We're able to grab the lock right away, so drop the
> -		 * lock contention counter.
> -		 */
> -		atomic_add_unless(&EXT4_SB(sb)->s_lock_busy, -1, 0);
> -	else {
> +	if (!ext4_try_lock_group(sb, group)) {
>  		/*
>  		 * The lock is busy, so bump the contention counter,
>  		 * and then wait on the spin lock.
>  		 */
>  		atomic_add_unless(&EXT4_SB(sb)->s_lock_busy, 1,
>  				  EXT4_MAX_CONTENTION);
> -		spin_lock(lock);
> +		spin_lock(ext4_group_lock_ptr(sb, group));
>  	}
>  }
>  
> diff --git a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
> index 1e98c5be4e0a..5c13d9f8a1cc 100644
> --- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
> +++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
> @@ -896,7 +896,8 @@ static void ext4_mb_choose_next_group_p2_aligned(struct ext4_allocation_context
>  				    bb_largest_free_order_node) {
>  			if (sbi->s_mb_stats)
>  				atomic64_inc(&sbi->s_bal_cX_groups_considered[CR_POWER2_ALIGNED]);
> -			if (likely(ext4_mb_good_group(ac, iter->bb_group, CR_POWER2_ALIGNED))) {
> +			if (likely(ext4_mb_good_group(ac, iter->bb_group, CR_POWER2_ALIGNED)) &&
> +			    !spin_is_locked(ext4_group_lock_ptr(ac->ac_sb, iter->bb_group))) {

Maybe reversing the && order to be (!spin_is_locked() && ext4_mb_good_group()) would be better?

>  				*group = iter->bb_group;
>  				ac->ac_flags |= EXT4_MB_CR_POWER2_ALIGNED_OPTIMIZED;
>  				read_unlock(&sbi->s_mb_largest_free_orders_locks[i]);
> @@ -932,7 +933,8 @@ ext4_mb_find_good_group_avg_frag_lists(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac, int o
>  	list_for_each_entry(iter, frag_list, bb_avg_fragment_size_node) {
>  		if (sbi->s_mb_stats)
>  			atomic64_inc(&sbi->s_bal_cX_groups_considered[cr]);
> -		if (likely(ext4_mb_good_group(ac, iter->bb_group, cr))) {
> +		if (likely(ext4_mb_good_group(ac, iter->bb_group, cr)) &&
> +		    !spin_is_locked(ext4_group_lock_ptr(ac->ac_sb, iter->bb_group))) {

same as above
 
>  			grp = iter;
>  			break;
>  		}
> @@ -2911,7 +2913,13 @@ ext4_mb_regular_allocator(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac)
>  			if (err)
>  				goto out;
>  
> -			ext4_lock_group(sb, group);
> +			/* skip busy group */
> +			if (cr >= CR_ANY_FREE) {
> +				ext4_lock_group(sb, group);
> +			} else if (!ext4_try_lock_group(sb, group)) {
> +				ext4_mb_unload_buddy(&e4b);
> +				continue;
> +			}

This in itself looks good. I am just thinking that now that we are
deciding to skip locked groups, in the code above this one, shall we do
something like:

      
      if (spin_is_locked(group_lock))
        continue;
      
      err = ext4_mb_load_buddy(sb, group, &e4b);
      if (err)
        goto out;

      /* skip busy group */
      if (cr >= CR_ANY_FREE) {
        ext4_lock_group(sb, group);
      } else if (!ext4_try_lock_group(sb, group)) {
        ext4_mb_unload_buddy(&e4b);
        continue;
      }

With this we can even avoid loading the folio as well.

Regards,
ojaswin
>  
>  			/*
>  			 * We need to check again after locking the
> -- 
> 2.46.1
> 

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