linux-kernel - [PATCH 13/14] Documentation: add a doc for blk-iolatency

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Message-Id: <20180629192542.26649-14-josef@toxicpanda.com>
Date:   Fri, 29 Jun 2018 15:25:41 -0400
From:   Josef Bacik <josef@...icpanda.com>
To:     axboe@...nel.dk, kernel-team@...com, linux-block@...r.kernel.org,
        akpm@...ux-foundation.org, hannes@...xchg.org, tj@...nel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org
Cc:     Josef Bacik <jbacik@...com>
Subject: [PATCH 13/14] Documentation: add a doc for blk-iolatency

From: Josef Bacik <jbacik@...com>

A basic documentation to describe the interface, statistics, and
behavior of io.latency.

Signed-off-by: Josef Bacik <jbacik@...com>
---
 Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt | 79 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 79 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt b/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt
index 74cdeaed9f7a..1fd46969c938 100644
--- a/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cgroup-v2.txt
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ v1 is available under Documentation/cgroup-v1/.
      5-3. IO
        5-3-1. IO Interface Files
        5-3-2. Writeback
+       5-3-3. IO Latency
+         5-3-3-1. How IO Latency Throttling Works
+         5-3-3-2. IO Latency Interface Files
      5-4. PID
        5-4-1. PID Interface Files
      5-5. Device
@@ -1395,6 +1398,82 @@ writeback as follows.
 	vm.dirty[_background]_ratio.
 
 
+IO Latency
+~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This is a cgroup v2 controller for IO workload protection.  You provide a group
+with a latency target, and if the average latency exceeds that target the
+controller will throttle any peers that have a lower latency target than the
+protected workload.
+
+The limits are only applied at the peer level in the hierarchy.  This means that
+in the diagram below, only groups A, B, and C will influence each other, and
+groups D and F will influence each other.  Group G will influence nobody.
+
+			[root]
+		/	   |		\
+		A	   B		C
+	       /  \        |
+	      D    F	   G
+
+
+So the ideal way to configure this is to set io.latency in groups A, B, and C.
+Generally you do not want to set a value lower than the latency your device
+supports.  Experiment to find the value that works best for your workload.
+Start at higher than the expected latency for your device and watch the
+total_lat_avg value in io.stat for your workload group to get an idea of the
+latency you see during normal operation.  Use this value as a basis for your
+real setting, setting at 10-15% higher than the value in io.stat.
+Experimentation is key here because total_lat_avg is a running total, so is the
+"statistics" portion of "lies, damned lies, and statistics."
+
+How IO Latency Throttling Works
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+io.latency is work conserving; so as long as everybody is meeting their latency
+target the controller doesn't do anything.  Once a group starts missing its
+target it begins throttling any peer group that has a higher target than itself.
+This throttling takes 2 forms:
+
+- Queue depth throttling.  This is the number of outstanding IO's a group is
+  allowed to have.  We will clamp down relatively quickly, starting at no limit
+  and going all the way down to 1 IO at a time.
+
+- Artificial delay induction.  There are certain types of IO that cannot be
+  throttled without possibly adversely affecting higher priority groups.  This
+  includes swapping and metadata IO.  These types of IO are allowed to occur
+  normally, however they are "charged" to the originating group.  If the
+  originating group is being throttled you will see the use_delay and delay
+  fields in io.stat increase.  The delay value is how many microseconds that are
+  being added to any process that runs in this group.  Because this number can
+  grow quite large if there is a lot of swapping or metadata IO occurring we
+  limit the individual delay events to 1 second at a time.
+
+Once the victimized group starts meeting its latency target again it will start
+unthrottling any peer groups that were throttled previously.  If the victimized
+group simply stops doing IO the global counter will unthrottle appropriately.
+
+IO Latency Interface Files
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+  io.latency
+	This takes a similar format as the other controllers.
+
+		"MAJOR:MINOR target=<target time in microseconds"
+
+  io.stat
+	If the controller is enabled you will see extra stats in io.stat in
+	addition to the normal ones.
+
+	  depth
+		This is the current queue depth for the group.
+
+	  avg_lat
+		The running average IO latency for this group in microseconds.
+		Running average is generally flawed, but will give an
+		administrator a general idea of the overall latency they can
+		expect for their workload on the given disk.
+
 PID
 ---
 
-- 
2.14.3