Re: [2.6.10-rc1 and prev] System unuseable while writing to disk

[Prakash K. Cheemplavam]

Nick Piggin wrote:
> Prakash K. Cheemplavam wrote:
>
> > 100  0
> >  0  0      0 774876  14532 136460    0    0     0     0 1180   436  1 
> > 0 99  0
> >  1  1      0 571740  14732 333736    0    0    32 42628 1325   633  3 
> > 43 52  2
> >  2  2      0 217812  15072 676648    0    0     0 45184 1523  1771 14 
> > 78  0  8
> >  1  2      0 220436  15072 676648    0    0     0 49664 1582  1365  9 
> > 6  0 85
> >  0  2      0  85460  15984 808012    0    0   164 73984 1487  1143 18 
> > 32  0 49
> >  0  1      0  85716  15984 808140    0    0     0 29056 1493  1381  4 
> > 6  0 90
> >  0  1      0  86100  15984 808140    0    0     0 40320 1420  1367  3 
> > 2  0 95
> >  0  1      0  86100  15984 808140    0    0     0 44416 1386   693  0 
> > 2  0 98
> >  0  1      0  86100  15984 808140    0    0     0 50304 1518  1413  5 
> > 6  0 89
> >  0  1      0  86164  15984 808140    0    0     0 28544 1452   827  1 
> > 2  0 97
> >  0  1      0  86292  15984 808140    0    0     0 35840 1386   809  1 
> > 2  0 97
> >  0  1      0  86356  15984 808140    0    0     0 37376 1450  1373  3 
> > 3  0 94
> > procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- 
> > ----cpu----
> >  r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   so    bi    bo   in    cs us 
> > sy id wa
> >  1  1      0  86484  15984 808140    0    0     0 42880 1752  2494  7 
> > 6  0 87
> >  0  1      0  86484  15984 808140    0    0     0 31872 1608  2098  7 
> > 4  0 89
> >  0  1      0  86484  15984 808140    0    0     0 45952 1530   795  1 
> > 2  0 97
> >  0  1      0  86484  15984 808140    0    0     0 44288 1515   814  0 
> > 3  0 97
> >  0  1      0  90580  15984 808140    0    0     0 29052 1471  1365  5 
> > 5  0 90
> >  1  0      0  90148  16108 809356    0    0   976  2088 1383  1319 22 
> > 11  0 67
> >  0  0      0  90148  16108 809360    0    0     4    16 1444   833 10 
> > 5 84  1
> >  0  0      0  90148  16108 809360    0    0     0     0 1256   473  0 
> > 0 100  0
> >  0  0      0  90148  16108 809360    0    0     0     0 1379   611  3 
> > 1 96  0
> >  0  0      0  90148  16108 809360    0    0     0     0 1526  2439 16 
> > 5 79  0
> >  0  0      0  90148  16164 809360    0    0     0   120 1563  1824 16 
> > 4 80  0
> >
> >
> > Beginning and end the system is idle and then I start writing down the 
> > file. During that time thunderbird gets unusable.

So I did some further tests with my new hd. I put my home dir onto it 
using different file systems and this was the result:

- reiserfs: craps out, as explained
- ext2: much better but tb gets unusable for short periods of time, as well
- xfs: I couldn't get tb unuseable here. It gets much slower, but still 
usable

So it seems at partially (if not entirely?) be related to the 
filesystem. Could it be other parts of the kernel which are not doing 
its job properly ans just exhibiting some fs's weakness?

Prakash

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