Re: [PATCH v2 2/3] vmstat: skip periodic vmstat update for nohz full CPUs

From: Michal Hocko
Date: Mon Jun 05 2023 - 14:58:00 EST


On Mon 05-06-23 14:35:56, Marcelo Tosatti wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 05, 2023 at 05:55:49PM +0200, Michal Hocko wrote:
> > > The example above shows an additional 7us for the
> > >
> > > oslat -> kworker -> oslat
> > >
> > > switches. In the case of a virtualized CPU, and the vmstat_update
> > > interruption in the host (of a qemu-kvm vcpu), the latency penalty
> > > observed in the guest is higher than 50us, violating the acceptable
> > > latency threshold.
> > >
> > > The isolated vCPU can perform operations that modify per-CPU page counters,
> > > for example to complete I/O operations:
> > >
> > > CPU 11/KVM-9540 [001] dNh1. 2314.248584: mod_zone_page_state <-__folio_end_writeback
> > > CPU 11/KVM-9540 [001] dNh1. 2314.248585: <stack trace>
> > > => 0xffffffffc042b083
> > > => mod_zone_page_state
> > > => __folio_end_writeback
> > > => folio_end_writeback
> > > => iomap_finish_ioend
> > > => blk_mq_end_request_batch
> > > => nvme_irq
> > > => __handle_irq_event_percpu
> > > => handle_irq_event
> > > => handle_edge_irq
> > > => __common_interrupt
> > > => common_interrupt
> > > => asm_common_interrupt
> > > => vmx_do_interrupt_nmi_irqoff
> > > => vmx_handle_exit_irqoff
> > > => vcpu_enter_guest
> > > => vcpu_run
> > > => kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run
> > > => kvm_vcpu_ioctl
> > > => __x64_sys_ioctl
> > > => do_syscall_64
> > > => entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
> >
> > OK, this is really useful. It is just not really clear whether the IO
> > triggered here is from the guest or it a host activity.
>
> Guest initiated I/O, since the host CPU is isolated.

Make it explicit in the changelog.

I am just wondering how you can achieve your strict deadlines when IO is
involved but that is another story I guess.

--
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs