linux-kernel - Re: Q: (2.6.16 & ext3) bad SMP load balancing when writing to ext3 on slow device

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Date:	Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:44:06 +0200
From:	"Ulrich Windl" <ulrich.windl@...uni-regensburg.de>
To:	Robert Hancock <hancockr@...w.ca>
CC:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Q: (2.6.16 & ext3) bad SMP load balancing when writing to ext3 on slow device

On 6 Sep 2008 at 12:15, Robert Hancock wrote:

> Ulrich Windl wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > while copying large remote files for an USB memory stick formatted with ext3 using 
> > scp, I noticed a stall in wrie speed. Looking at the system with top I saw:
> > top - 09:25:25 up 55 days, 23:49,  2 users,  load average: 11.09, 7.41, 4.43
> > Tasks: 128 total,   1 running, 127 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> > Cpu0  :  7.6%us,  0.3%sy,  0.0%ni,  0.0%id, 90.4%wa,  0.3%hi,  1.3%si,  0.0%st
> > Cpu1  :  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,  0.0%id,100.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
> > Cpu2  :  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,  0.0%id,100.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
> > Cpu3  :  0.0%us,  1.7%sy,  0.0%ni,  0.0%id, 98.3%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
> > Mem:   1028044k total,  1017956k used,    10088k free,    34784k buffers
> > Swap:  2097140k total,      616k used,  2096524k free,   733100k cached
> > 
> >   PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
> > 11284 root      18   0 29168 1960 1504 D    2  0.2   0:11.81 scp
> >   137 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0  14:16.59 pdflush
> > 10865 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.50 kjournald
> > 11355 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.09 pdflush
> > 11396 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.12 pdflush
> > 11397 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.06 pdflush
> > 12007 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.02 pdflush
> > 12070 root      16   0 23976 2376 1744 R    0  0.2   0:00.28 top
> > 12294 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.00 pdflush
> > 12295 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.02 pdflush
> > 12296 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.02 pdflush
> > 27490 root      10  -5     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:02.93 usb-storage
> > 
> > First, it's impressive that a singly copy job can raise the load to above 10, and 
> > the next thing is that writing to a slow device can make 4 CPUs (actually two with 
> > hyperthreading) busy. The pdflush daemons are expected to bring dirty blocks onto 
> > the device, I guess. Does it make any sense to make four CPUs busy with doing so?
> 
> They're not busy. IO wait means they have nothing to do other than wait 
> for IO to complete. It's a bit surprising that you get so many pdflush 
> threads started up, however..

Robert,

back to the question: Assuming the I/O is limited by the controller, communication 
channel and device, does it ever make any sense to start additional I/O daemons 
for a device that is already handled by a daemon and doesn't have an alternate 
communication channel (to make more dirty block go onto the device)? (Assuming no 
daemon servers more than one device).

Regards,
Ulrich

> 
> > 
> > Here's another snapshot showing the assigned CPU also:
> > 
> > top - 09:32:18 up 55 days, 23:56,  2 users,  load average: 10.63, 9.99, 6.78
> > Tasks: 127 total,   1 running, 126 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> > Cpu0  :  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,  0.0%id,100.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
> > Cpu1  :  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,  0.0%id,100.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
> > Cpu2  :  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,  1.7%id, 98.3%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
> > Cpu3  :  0.0%us,  0.0%sy,  0.0%ni,  0.0%id,100.0%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
> > Mem:   1028044k total,  1017896k used,    10148k free,    18044k buffers
> > Swap:  2097140k total,      616k used,  2096524k free,   741616k cached
> > 
> >   PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  P COMMAND
> >   137 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0  14:16.71 1 pdflush
> >  4299 root      17   0  5860  752  596 D    0  0.1   9:36.19 1 syslogd
> > 10865 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.62 1 kjournald
> > 11284 root      18   0 29168 1960 1504 D    0  0.2   0:14.76 3 scp
> > 11355 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.19 0 pdflush
> > 11396 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.24 1 pdflush
> > 11397 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.22 1 pdflush
> > 12294 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.11 1 pdflush
> > 12295 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.14 1 pdflush
> > 12296 root      15   0     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:00.13 1 pdflush
> > 12591 root      16   0 23976 2376 1744 R    0  0.2   0:00.07 3 top
> > 27490 root      10  -5     0    0    0 D    0  0.0   0:03.13 3 usb-storage
> > 
> > At times like shown, the scp seems to come to a complete halt. (Previously I had 
> > been using VFAT filesystem on the stick, and copy went much smoother, but the 
> > filesystem was full, so I tried another filesystem.)
> > 
> > Would anybody bee so kind to explain why the system looks like that? I'm not 
> > subscribed, so please honor the CC:.
> > 
> > Regards,
> > Ulrich Windl
> 


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