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Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:54:14 -0700 From: Chad Talbott <ctalbott@...gle.com> To: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@...gle.com>, Michael Rubin <mrubin@...gle.com> Subject: Metadata in sys_sync_file_range and fadvise(DONTNEED) We are looking at adding calls to posix_fadvise(DONTNEED) to various data logging routines. This has two benefits: - frequent write-out -> shorter queues give lower latency, also disk is more utilized as writeout begins immediately - less useless stuff in page cache One problem with fadvise() (and ext2, at least) is that associated metadata isn't scheduled with the data. So, for a large log file with a high append rate, hundreds of indirect blocks are left to be written out by periodic writeback. This metadata consists of single blocks spaced by 4MB, leading to spikes of very inefficient disk utilization, deep queues and high latency. Andrew suggests a new SYNC_FILE_RANGE_METADATA flag for sys_sync_file_range(), and leaving posix_fadvise() alone. That will work for my purposes, but it seems like it leaves posix_fadvise(DONTNEED) with a performance bug on ext2 (or any other filesystem with interleaved data/metadata). Andrew's argument is that people have expectations about posix_fadvise() behavior as it's been around for years in Linux. I'd like to get a consensus on what The Right Thing is, so I can move toward implementing it and moving the logging code onto that interface. Chad -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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