Message-ID: <cover.1753076363.git.pan.deng@intel.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2025 14:10:22 +0800
From: Pan Deng <pan.deng@...el.com>
To: peterz@...radead.org,
	mingo@...nel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	tianyou.li@...el.com,
	tim.c.chen@...ux.intel.com,
	yu.c.chen@...el.com,
	pan.deng@...el.com
Subject: [PATCH v2 0/4] sched/rt: mitigate root_domain cache line contention

When running multi-instance FFmpeg workload in cloud environment,
cache line contention is severe during the access to root_domain data
structures, which significantly degrades performance.

The SUT is a 2-socket machine with 240 physical cores and 480 logical
CPUs. 60 FFmpeg instances are launched, each pinned to 4 physical cores
(8 logical CPUs) for transcoding tasks. Sub-threads use RT priority 99
with FIFO scheduling. FPS(frame per second) is used as score.

Profiling shows the kernel consumes ~20% of CPU cycles, which is
excessive in this scenario. The overhead primarily comes from RT task
scheduling functions like `cpupri_set`, `cpupri_find_fitness`,
`dequeue_pushable_task`, `enqueue_pushable_task`, `pull_rt_task`,
`__find_first_and_bit`, and `__bitmap_and`. This is due to read/write
contention on root_domain cache lines.

The `perf c2c` report, sorted by contention severity, reveals:

root_domain cache line 3:
- `cpupri->pri_to_cpu[0].count` is heavily loaded/stored,
   since counts[0] is more frequently updated than others along with a
   rt task enqueues an empty runq or dequeues from a non-overloaded runq.
- `rto_mask` is heavily loaded
- `rto_loop_next` and `rto_loop_start` are frequently stored
- `rto_push_work` and `rto_lock` are lightly accessed
- cycles per load: ~10K to 59K.

root_domain cache line 1:
- `rto_count` is frequently loaded/stored
- `overloaded` is heavily loaded
- cycles per load: ~2.8K to 44K

cpumask (bitmap) cache line of cpupri_vec->mask:
- bits are loaded during cpupri_find
- bits are stored during cpupri_set
- cycles per load: ~2.2K to 8.7K

The end cache line of cpupri:
- `cpupri_vec->count` and `mask` contends. The transcoding threads use
  rt pri 99, so that the contention occurs in the end.
- cycles per load: ~1.5K to 10.5K

According to above, we propose 4 patches to mitigate the contention,
each patch resolves part of above issues:
Patch 1: Reorganize `cpupri_vec`, separate `count`, `mask` fields,
         reducing contention on root_domain cache line 3 and cpupri's
         last cache line. This patch has an alternative implementation,
         which is described in the patch commit message, welcome any
         comments.
Patch 2: Restructure `root_domain` structure to minimize contention of
         root_domain cache line 1 and 3 by reordering fields.
Patch 3: Split `root_domain->rto_count` to per-NUMA-node counters,
         reducing the contention on root_domain cache line 1.
Patch 4: Split `cpupri_vec->cpumask` to per-NUMA-node bitmaps, reducing
         load/store contention on the cpumask bitmap cache line.

Evaluation:
The patches are tested non-cumulatively, I'm happly to provide additional
data as needed.

FFmpeg benchmark:
Performance changes (FPS):
- Baseline:             100.0%
- Baseline + Patch 1:   111.0%
- Baseline + Patch 2:   105.0%
- Baseline + Patch 3:   104.0%
- Baseline + Patch 4:   103.8%

Kernel CPU cycle usage(lower is better):
- Baseline:              20.0%
- Baseline + Patch 1:    11.0%
- Baseline + Patch 2:    17.7%
- Baseline + Patch 3:    18.6%
- Baseline + Patch 4:    18.7%

Cycles per load reduction (by perf c2c report):
- Patch 1:
  - `root_domain` cache line 3:    10K–59K    ->  0.5K–8K
  - `cpupri` last cache line:      1.5K–10.5K ->  eliminated
- Patch 2:
  - `root_domain` cache line 1:    2.8K–44K   ->  2.1K–2.7K
  - `root_domain` cache line 3:    10K–59K    ->  eliminated
- Patch 3:
  - `root_domain` cache line 1:    2.8K–44K   ->  eliminated
- Patch 4:
  - `cpupri_vec->mask` cache line: 2.2K–8.7K  ->  0.5K–2.2K

stress-ng rt cyclic benchmark:
Command:
stress-ng/stress-ng --cyclic $(nproc) --cyclic-policy fifo   \
                    --timeout 30 --minimize --metrics

Performance changes (bogo ops/s, real time):
- Baseline:             100.0%
- Baseline + Patch 1:   131.4%
- Baseline + Patch 2:   118.6%
- Baseline + Patch 3:   150.4%
- Baseline + Patch 4:   105.9%

rt-tests pi_stress benchmark:
Command:
rt-tests/pi_stress -D 30 -g $(($(nproc) / 2))

Performance changes (Total inversions performed):
- Baseline:             100.0%
- Baseline + Patch 1:   176.5%
- Baseline + Patch 2:   104.7%
- Baseline + Patch 3:   105.1%
- Baseline + Patch 4:   109.3%

Changes since v1:
 - Patch 3: Fixed non CONFIG_SMP build issue.
 - Patch 1-4: Added stress-ng/cyclic and rt-tests/pi_stress test result.

Comments are appreciated, I'm looking forward to hearing feedback
making revisions, thanks a lot!

Pan Deng (4):
  sched/rt: Optimize cpupri_vec layout to mitigate cache line contention
  sched/rt: Restructure root_domain to reduce cacheline contention
  sched/rt: Split root_domain->rto_count to per-NUMA-node counters
  sched/rt: Split cpupri_vec->cpumask to per NUMA node to reduce
    contention

 kernel/sched/cpupri.c   | 200 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 kernel/sched/cpupri.h   |   6 +-
 kernel/sched/rt.c       |  56 ++++++++++-
 kernel/sched/sched.h    |  61 ++++++------
 kernel/sched/topology.c |   7 ++
 5 files changed, 282 insertions(+), 48 deletions(-)

--
2.43.5

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