linux/mm
Mel Gorman f77cf4e4cc mm, page_alloc: delete the zonelist_cache
The zonelist cache (zlc) was introduced to skip over zones that were
recently known to be full.  This avoided expensive operations such as the
cpuset checks, watermark calculations and zone_reclaim.  The situation
today is different and the complexity of zlc is harder to justify.

1) The cpuset checks are no-ops unless a cpuset is active and in general
   are a lot cheaper.

2) zone_reclaim is now disabled by default and I suspect that was a large
   source of the cost that zlc wanted to avoid. When it is enabled, it's
   known to be a major source of stalling when nodes fill up and it's
   unwise to hit every other user with the overhead.

3) Watermark checks are expensive to calculate for high-order
   allocation requests. Later patches in this series will reduce the cost
   of the watermark checking.

4) The most important issue is that in the current implementation it
   is possible for a failed THP allocation to mark a zone full for order-0
   allocations and cause a fallback to remote nodes.

The last issue could be addressed with additional complexity but as the
benefit of zlc is questionable, it is better to remove it.  If stalls due
to zone_reclaim are ever reported then an alternative would be to
introduce deferring logic based on a timeout inside zone_reclaim itself
and leave the page allocator fast paths alone.

The impact on page-allocator microbenchmarks is negligible as they don't
hit the paths where the zlc comes into play.  Most page-reclaim related
workloads showed no noticeable difference as a result of the removal.

The impact was noticeable in a workload called "stutter".  One part uses a
lot of anonymous memory, a second measures mmap latency and a third copies
a large file.  In an ideal world the latency application would not notice
the mmap latency.  On a 2-node machine the results of this patch are

stutter
                             4.3.0-rc1             4.3.0-rc1
                              baseline              nozlc-v4
Min         mmap     20.9243 (  0.00%)     20.7716 (  0.73%)
1st-qrtle   mmap     22.0612 (  0.00%)     22.0680 ( -0.03%)
2nd-qrtle   mmap     22.3291 (  0.00%)     22.3809 ( -0.23%)
3rd-qrtle   mmap     25.2244 (  0.00%)     25.2396 ( -0.06%)
Max-90%     mmap     48.0995 (  0.00%)     28.3713 ( 41.02%)
Max-93%     mmap     52.5557 (  0.00%)     36.0170 ( 31.47%)
Max-95%     mmap     55.8173 (  0.00%)     47.3163 ( 15.23%)
Max-99%     mmap     67.3781 (  0.00%)     70.1140 ( -4.06%)
Max         mmap  24447.6375 (  0.00%)  12915.1356 ( 47.17%)
Mean        mmap     33.7883 (  0.00%)     27.7944 ( 17.74%)
Best99%Mean mmap     27.7825 (  0.00%)     25.2767 (  9.02%)
Best95%Mean mmap     26.3912 (  0.00%)     23.7994 (  9.82%)
Best90%Mean mmap     24.9886 (  0.00%)     23.2251 (  7.06%)
Best50%Mean mmap     22.0157 (  0.00%)     22.0261 ( -0.05%)
Best10%Mean mmap     21.6705 (  0.00%)     21.6083 (  0.29%)
Best5%Mean  mmap     21.5581 (  0.00%)     21.4611 (  0.45%)
Best1%Mean  mmap     21.3079 (  0.00%)     21.1631 (  0.68%)

Note that the maximum stall latency went from 24 seconds to 12 which is
still bad but an improvement.  The milage varies considerably 2-node
machine on an earlier test went from 494 seconds to 47 seconds and a
4-node machine that tested an earlier version of this patch went from a
worst case stall time of 6 seconds to 67ms.  The nature of the benchmark
is inherently unpredictable as it is hammering the system and the milage
will vary between machines.

There is a secondary impact with potentially more direct reclaim because
zones are now being considered instead of being skipped by zlc.  In this
particular test run it did not occur so will not be described.  However,
in at least one test the following was observed

1. Direct reclaim rates were higher. This was likely due to direct reclaim
  being entered instead of the zlc disabling a zone and busy looping.
  Busy looping may have the effect of allowing kswapd to make more
  progress and in some cases may be better overall. If this is found then
  the correct action is to put direct reclaimers to sleep on a waitqueue
  and allow kswapd make forward progress. Busy looping on the zlc is even
  worse than when the allocator used to blindly call congestion_wait().

2. There was higher swap activity as direct reclaim was active.

3. Direct reclaim efficiency was lower. This is related to 1 as more
  scanning activity also encountered more pages that could not be
  immediately reclaimed

In that case, the direct page scan and reclaim rates are noticeable but
it is not considered a problem for a few reasons

1. The test is primarily concerned with latency. The mmap attempts are also
   faulted which means there are THP allocation requests. The ZLC could
   cause zones to be disabled causing the process to busy loop instead
   of reclaiming.  This looks like elevated direct reclaim activity but
   it's the correct action to take based on what processes requested.

2. The test hammers reclaim and compaction heavily. The number of successful
   THP faults is highly variable but affects the reclaim stats. It's not a
   realistic or reasonable measure of page reclaim activity.

3. No other page-reclaim intensive workload that was tested showed a problem.

4. If a workload is identified that benefitted from the busy looping then it
   should be fixed by having direct reclaimers sleep on a wait queue until
   woken by kswapd instead of busy looping. We had this class of problem before
   when congestion_waits() with a fixed timeout was a brain damaged decision
   but happened to benefit some workloads.

If a workload is identified that relied on the zlc to busy loop then it
should be fixed correctly and have a direct reclaimer sleep on a waitqueue
until woken by kswapd.

Signed-off-by: Mel Gorman <mgorman@techsingularity.net>
Acked-by: David Rientjes <rientjes@google.com>
Acked-by: Christoph Lameter <cl@linux.com>
Acked-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Cc: Vitaly Wool <vitalywool@gmail.com>
Cc: Rik van Riel <riel@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
..
kasan kasan: always taint kernel on report 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
backing-dev.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
balloon_compaction.c mm: page migration trylock newpage at same level as oldpage 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
bootmem.c bootmem: avoid freeing to bootmem after bootmem is done 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
cleancache.c cleancache: remove limit on the number of cleancache enabled filesystems 2015-04-14 16:49:03 -07:00
cma_debug.c mm/cma_debug: correct size input to bitmap function 2015-07-17 16:39:54 -07:00
cma.c mm/cma.c: suppress warning 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
cma.h mm: cma: mark cma_bitmap_maxno() inline in header 2015-08-14 15:56:32 -07:00
compaction.c mm, compaction: distinguish contended status in tracepoints 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
debug-pagealloc.c mm/debug-pagealloc: make debug-pagealloc boottime configurable 2014-12-13 12:42:48 -08:00
debug.c mm: introduce VM_LOCKONFAULT 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
dmapool.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
early_ioremap.c mm/early_ioremap: use offset_in_page macro 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
fadvise.c writeback: implement and use inode_congested() 2015-06-02 08:33:35 -06:00
failslab.c mm, page_alloc: rename __GFP_WAIT to __GFP_RECLAIM 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
filemap.c mm, page_alloc: rename __GFP_WAIT to __GFP_RECLAIM 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
frame_vector.c mm: fix docbook comment for get_vaddr_frames() 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
frontswap.c frontswap: allow multiple backends 2015-06-24 17:49:45 -07:00
gup.c mm: introduce VM_LOCKONFAULT 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
highmem.c mm/highmem: make kmap cache coloring aware 2014-08-06 18:01:22 -07:00
huge_memory.c mm, page_alloc: rename __GFP_WAIT to __GFP_RECLAIM 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
hugetlb_cgroup.c mm: page_counter: let page_counter_try_charge() return bool 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
hugetlb.c mm: introduce VM_LOCKONFAULT 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
hwpoison-inject.c hwpoison: use page_cgroup_ino for filtering by memcg 2015-09-10 13:29:01 -07:00
init-mm.c
internal.h mm, page_alloc: remove unnecessary recalculations for dirty zone balancing 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
interval_tree.c mm: replace vma->sharead.linear with vma->shared 2015-02-10 14:30:31 -08:00
Kconfig media updates for v4.3-rc1 2015-09-11 16:42:39 -07:00
Kconfig.debug mm/debug_pagealloc: remove obsolete Kconfig options 2015-01-08 15:10:52 -08:00
kmemcheck.c mm/slab_common: move kmem_cache definition to internal header 2014-10-09 22:25:50 -04:00
kmemleak-test.c mm/kmemleak-test.c: use pr_fmt for logging 2014-06-06 16:08:18 -07:00
kmemleak.c mm/kmemleak.c: remove unneeded initialization of object to NULL 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
ksm.c ksm: unstable_tree_search_insert error checking cleanup 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
list_lru.c memcg: simplify and inline __mem_cgroup_from_kmem 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
maccess.c mm/maccess.c: actually return -EFAULT from strncpy_from_unsafe 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
madvise.c mm: madvise allow remove operation for hugetlbfs 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
Makefile media updates for v4.3-rc1 2015-09-11 16:42:39 -07:00
memblock.c mm/memblock: make memblock_remove_range() static 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
memcontrol.c mm, page_alloc: rename __GFP_WAIT to __GFP_RECLAIM 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
memory_hotplug.c mm/page_alloc: remove unused parameter in init_currently_empty_zone() 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
memory-failure.c mm: hwpoison: ratelimit messages from unpoison_memory() 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
memory.c mm, dax: fix DAX deadlocks 2015-10-16 11:42:28 -07:00
mempolicy.c mm: rename alloc_pages_exact_node() to __alloc_pages_node() 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
mempool.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
memtest.c memtest: remove unused header files 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
migrate.c mm, page_alloc: rename __GFP_WAIT to __GFP_RECLAIM 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
mincore.c mm/mincore: use offset_in_page macro 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
mlock.c mm: mlock: add mlock flags to enable VM_LOCKONFAULT usage 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
mm_init.c mm: meminit: remove mminit_verify_page_links 2015-06-30 19:44:56 -07:00
mmap.c mm: introduce VM_LOCKONFAULT 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
mmu_context.c sched/mm: call finish_arch_post_lock_switch in idle_task_exit and use_mm 2014-02-21 08:50:17 +01:00
mmu_notifier.c mmu-notifier: add clear_young callback 2015-09-10 13:29:01 -07:00
mmzone.c mm: microoptimize zonelist operations 2015-02-11 17:06:02 -08:00
mprotect.c userfaultfd: teach vma_merge to merge across vma->vm_userfaultfd_ctx 2015-09-04 16:54:41 -07:00
mremap.c mm/mremap: use offset_in_page macro 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
msync.c mm/msync: use offset_in_page macro 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
nobootmem.c mm: page_alloc: pass PFN to __free_pages_bootmem 2015-06-30 19:44:55 -07:00
nommu.c mm/nommu.c: drop unlikely inside BUG_ON() 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
oom_kill.c mm/oom_kill.c: introduce is_sysrq_oom helper 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
page_alloc.c mm, page_alloc: delete the zonelist_cache 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
page_counter.c mm: page_counter: let page_counter_try_charge() return bool 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
page_ext.c mm: introduce idle page tracking 2015-09-10 13:29:01 -07:00
page_idle.c mm: introduce idle page tracking 2015-09-10 13:29:01 -07:00
page_io.c fs: use helper bio_add_page() instead of open coding on bi_io_vec 2015-08-13 12:32:00 -06:00
page_isolation.c mm, page_isolation: make set/unset_migratetype_isolate() file-local 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
page_owner.c mm/page_owner: set correct gfp_mask on page_owner 2015-07-17 16:39:54 -07:00
page-writeback.c writeback: fix incorrect calculation of available memory for memcg domains 2015-10-12 10:31:13 -06:00
pagewalk.c mm/pagewalk.c: prevent positive return value of walk_page_test() from being passed to callers 2015-03-25 16:20:30 -07:00
percpu-km.c percpu: implmeent pcpu_nr_empty_pop_pages and chunk->nr_populated 2014-09-02 14:46:05 -04:00
percpu-vm.c percpu: move region iterations out of pcpu_[de]populate_chunk() 2014-09-02 14:46:02 -04:00
percpu.c mm/percpu: use offset_in_page macro 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
pgtable-generic.c mm,thp: introduce flush_pmd_tlb_range 2015-10-17 17:48:20 +05:30
process_vm_access.c process_vm_access: switch to {compat_,}import_iovec() 2015-04-11 22:27:12 -04:00
quicklist.c
readahead.c mm: use only per-device readahead limit 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
rmap.c mm: page migration use migration entry for swapcache too 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
shmem.c tmpfs: avoid a little creat and stat slowdown 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
slab_common.c mm/slab_common.c: initialize kmem_cache pointer to NULL 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
slab.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
slab.h memcg: unify slab and other kmem pages charging 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
slob.c mm: rename alloc_pages_exact_node() to __alloc_pages_node() 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
slub.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
sparse-vmemmap.c mm/sparse: use memblock apis for early memory allocations 2014-01-21 16:19:47 -08:00
sparse.c mm: use macros from compiler.h instead of __attribute__((...)) 2014-04-07 16:35:54 -07:00
swap_cgroup.c mm: page_cgroup: rename file to mm/swap_cgroup.c 2014-12-10 17:41:09 -08:00
swap_state.c mm: swap: zswap: maybe_preload & refactoring 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
swap.c mm: introduce idle page tracking 2015-09-10 13:29:01 -07:00
swapfile.c mm: /proc/pid/smaps:: show proportional swap share of the mapping 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
truncate.c memcg: add per cgroup dirty page accounting 2015-06-02 08:33:33 -06:00
userfaultfd.c userfaultfd: avoid mmap_sem read recursion in mcopy_atomic 2015-09-04 16:54:41 -07:00
util.c mm/util: use offset_in_page macro 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
vmacache.c mm/vmacache: inline vmacache_valid_mm() 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
vmalloc.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
vmpressure.c mm/vmpressure.c: fix race in vmpressure_work_fn() 2014-12-02 17:32:07 -08:00
vmscan.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00
vmstat.c mm/vmstat.c: uninline node_page_state() 2015-11-05 19:34:48 -08:00
workingset.c list_lru: add helpers to isolate items 2015-02-12 18:54:10 -08:00
zbud.c mm: zbud: constify the zbud_ops 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
zpool.c zpool: add zpool_has_pool() 2015-09-10 13:29:01 -07:00
zsmalloc.c mm: zpool: constify the zpool_ops 2015-09-08 15:35:28 -07:00
zswap.c mm, page_alloc: distinguish between being unable to sleep, unwilling to sleep and avoiding waking kswapd 2015-11-06 17:50:42 -08:00