Re: [PATCH] io_uring: Use io_schedule* in cqring wait

[Phil Elwell]

Jens, Greg,

On Mon, 24 Jul 2023 at 16:58, Jens Axboe <axboe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 7/24/23 9:50?AM, Jens Axboe wrote:
> > On 7/24/23 9:48?AM, Greg KH wrote:
> >> On Mon, Jul 24, 2023 at 04:35:43PM +0100, Phil Elwell wrote:
> >>> Hi Andres,
> >>>
> >>> With this commit applied to the 6.1 and later kernels (others not
> >>> tested) the iowait time ("wa" field in top) in an ARM64 build running
> >>> on a 4 core CPU (a Raspberry Pi 4 B) increases to 25%, as if one core
> >>> is permanently blocked on I/O. The change can be observed after
> >>> installing mariadb-server (no configuration or use is required). After
> >>> reverting just this commit, "wa" drops to zero again.
> >>
> >> This has been discussed already:
> >>      https://lore.kernel.org/r/12251678.O9o76ZdvQC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry - a brief search failed to find that.

> >> It's not a bug, mariadb does have pending I/O, so the report is correct,
> >> but the CPU isn't blocked at all.
> >
> > Indeed - only thing I can think of is perhaps mariadb is having a
> > separate thread waiting on the ring in perpetuity, regardless of whether
> > or not it currently has IO.
> >
> > But yes, this is very much ado about nothing...
>
> Current -git and having mariadb idle:
>
> Average:     CPU    %usr   %nice    %sys %iowait    %irq   %soft  %steal  %guest  %gnice   %idle
> Average:     all    0.00    0.00    0.04   12.47    0.04    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   87.44
> Average:       0    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00
> Average:       1    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00
> Average:       2    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.33    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.67
> Average:       3    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00
> Average:       4    0.00    0.00    0.33    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.67
> Average:       5    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00
> Average:       6    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00
> Average:       7    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00
>
> which is showing 100% iowait on one cpu, as mariadb has a thread waiting
> on IO. That is obviously a valid use case, if you split submission and
> completion into separate threads. Then you have the latter just always
> waiting on something to process.
>
> With the suggested patch, we do eliminate that case and the iowait on
> that task is gone. Here's current -git with the patch and mariadb also
> running:
>
> 09:53:49 AM  CPU    %usr   %nice    %sys %iowait    %irq   %soft  %steal  %guest  %gnice   %idle
> 09:53:50 AM  all    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.75    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.25
> 09:53:50 AM    0    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00
> 09:53:50 AM    1    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.00
> 09:53:50 AM    2    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.00
> 09:53:50 AM    3    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.00
> 09:53:50 AM    4    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.99    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.01
> 09:53:50 AM    5    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.00
> 09:53:50 AM    6    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00  100.00
> 09:53:50 AM    7    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    1.00    0.00    0.00    0.00   99.00
>
>
> Even though I don't think this is an actual problem, it is a bit
> confusing that you get 100% iowait while waiting without having IO
> pending. So I do think the suggested patch is probably worthwhile
> pursuing. I'll post it and hopefully have Andres test it too, if he's
> available.

If you CC me I'll happily test it for you.

Thanks,

Phil

> --
> Jens Axboe
>