Re: [PATCH V2 1/3] drivers/staging: zcache: in-kernel tmem code

[Minchan Kim]

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 2:23 AM, Dan Magenheimer
<dan.magenheimer@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Minchan --
>
> Thanks very much for the review!
>
> Unless you disagree, I don't think you found anything that must be
> fixed before zcache is included in-tree in drivers/staging, though

Never oppose zcache adds into staging.

> some of the comments should probably be addressed if/when zcache
> is moved out of drivers/staging into, at some point, the mm tree.

Yes, please.

>
>> > +/*
>> > + * A tmem host implementation must use this function to register
>> callbacks
>> > + * for memory allocation.
>> > + */
>>
>> I think it would better to use "object management(ex, allocation,
>> free) " rather than vague "memory allocation".
>
> Agreed, too vague. ÂProbably "metadata allocation/free"?

It would be better.

>
>> And I am not sure it's good that support allocation flexibility.
>> (The flexibility is rather limited since user should implement it as
>> considering rb tree. We don't need to export policy to user)
>> I think we can implement general obj/objnode allocation in tmem to
>> hide it from host.
>> It can make client simple to use tmem but lost flexibility.
>> Do we really need the flexibility?
>
> In the existing implementation, I agree the flexibility is overkill.
> But when zcache is extended to handle multiple clients (e.g. for
> cgroups or KVM) the callbacks will be useful for memory accounting.
> And even with a single client, it would be nice to be able to
> track true memory usage (including the space consumed by the
> metadata).

Okay. Just for accounting is good. My concern is the pool mechanism of
zcache_do_preload.
Why should client care of objecet
alloc/free/objnode_alloc/objnode_free and preloading like stuffs?

Couldn't we do it metatdata  management in tmem itself?

>
>> > +/*
>> > + * A tmem host implementation must use this function to register
>> > + * callbacks for a page-accessible memory (PAM) implementation
>> > + */
>>
>> You said tmem_hostops is for memory allocation.
>> But said tmem_pamops is for PAM implementation?
>> It's not same level explanation.
>> I hope you write down it more clearly by same level.
>> (Ex, is for add/delete/get the page into PAM)
>
> Agreed. ÂHostops is really for metadata allocation. ÂIn earlier
> implementation, hostops had more functions than just metadata
> but those are gone now.
>
>> > +/* searches for object==oid in pool, returns locked object if found
>> */
>>
>> Returns locked object if found?
>> I can't find it in the code and merge the comment above, not separate
>> phrase.
>
> This is an old comment from an earlier locking model so I
> will remove it.
>
>> > + Â Â Â BUG_ON(obj == NULL);
>>
>> We don't need this BUG_ON. If obj is NULL, obj->pool is crashed then
>> we can know it.
>
> Right. ÂWill remove.
>
>> > + Â Â Â atomic_dec(&pool->obj_count);
>>
>> Does we really need the atomic operation?
>> It seems it's protected by hash bucket lock.
>
> No, it's not protected by the hashbucket lock. ÂThe objects are
> spread across all the hashbuckets in a pool so
> atomic operation is necessary I think.

Ahh.. I didn't review [1/3] so missed zcache's use case without hackbucket lock.

>
>> Another topic.
>> I think hb->lock is very coarse-grained.
>> Maybe we need more fine-grained lock design to emphasis on your
>> concurrent benefit.
>
> I agree, but was struggling with getting multiple levels
> of locking to work (see the Draft0 posting of kztmem).
> Jeremy suggested I simplify the locking model as much as
> possible to ensure that it worked, and then
> worry about performance if measurements showed there was a
> problem.
>
> The big problem with multiple levels of locking is that
> the data structures are accessed both top-down (through
> get/put/flush/etc) and bottom-up (through the shrinker
> interface). ÂThis creates many races and deadlock possibilities
> The simplified locking model made much of that go away.

Okay. I agree. Now, it's important to make sure it works well.
We can enhance it if we have a real problem on scalability, then.

>
>> > + Â Â Â BUG_ON(atomic_read(&pool->obj_count) < 0);
>> > + Â Â Â INVERT_SENTINEL(obj, OBJ);
>> > + Â Â Â obj->pool = NULL;
>> > + Â Â Â tmem_oid_set_invalid(&obj->oid);
>> > + Â Â Â rb_erase(&obj->rb_tree_node, &hb->obj_rb_root);
>>
>> For example, we can remove obj in rb tree and then we can clean up the
>> object.
>> It can reduce lock hold time.
>
> Because of the bottoms up race conditions, I don't think this
> can be done safely. ÂAssume the obj is removed from the

I didn't see shrinker interface. I will look.

> rb tree, and is asynchronously walked to clean it up.
> Suppose an object with the same object-id is created before
> the cleanup is complete, and a shrinker request is also
> started which wanted to "evict" pages and finds pages with
> that object-id. ÂWhat gets evicted?
>
> It *might* be possible though to mark the obj as a zombie
> and reject all puts/gets to it until the asynchronous
> cleanup is complete. ÂI'll think about that.
>
> BTW, I think this *can* be done safely when an entire pool
> is deleted, because the pool-id is chosen inside the
> host and we can avoid recycling the pool id until all
> pages belonging to it have been reclaimed.
>
>> > + Â Â Â if (destroy)
>>
>> I don't see any use case of not-destroy.
>> What do you have in your mind?
>
> The Xen implementation of tmem has a "flush but don't destroy"
> interface intended to be a quick way to reclaim lots of
> memory. ÂI'm not sure if this will be useful for zcache
> yet, but left it in just in case.

Okay. Then please comment why destroy is needed.
It can prevent that anyone's unnecessary patch to remove it in future.

>
>> I remember you sent the patch which point out current radix-tree
>> problem.
>> Sorry for not follow that.
>>
>> Anyway, I think it would be better to separate this patch into another
>> tmem-radix-tree.c and write down the description in the patch why we
>> need new radix-tree in detail.
>> Sorry for bothering you.
>
> It seemed best to leave this for another day as anything
> that affects core radix-tree.c code probably deserves a
> lot more care and attention than I can give it.

Okay.

>
>> > + Â Â Â spin_lock(&hb->lock);
>>
>> This spin_lock means we can't call *put* in interrupt context.
>> But now we can call put_page in intrrupt context.
>> I see zcache_put_page checks irqs_disabled so now it's okay.
>> But zcache is just only one client of tmem. In future, another client
>> can call it in interrupt context.
>>
>> Do you intent to limit calling it in only not-interrupt context by
>> design?
>
> For now, yes. ÂIf someone smarter than me can figure out how
> to ensure concurrency while allowing "put" to be called in
> an interrupt context, that might be nice.

Probably, you could it by spin_lock_irq_save stuff and passing GFP_xxx.
or define put semantics to atomic.

Okay. It would be a further work if someone needs that.

>
>> > + Â Â Â if (ephemeral)
>> > + Â Â Â Â Â Â Â pampd = tmem_pampd_delete_from_obj(obj, index);
>>
>> I hope you write down about this exclusive characteristic of ephemeral
>> in description.
>
> Yes... in fact I was thinking there should be a "tmem_get" and a
> separate "tmem_get_and_flush" call and the decision should be
> made (and documented) in the host.
>
>> > + Â Â Â bool persistent;
>> > + Â Â Â bool shared;
>>
>> Just nitpick.
>> Do we need two each variable for persist and shared?
>> Couldn't we merge it into just one "flag variable"?
>
> Yes, though there are very few pool data structures so
> the extra clarity seemed better than saving a few bytes.
> If you think this is a "kernel style" issue, I could
> easily change it.

What I have a concern is just in future when you need new attributes,
maybe we have to add new fields. If you consider some debug, it's not
good since we have to change debug function to show new field. Just
one flag and each bit usage solves it.

I am a rather excessive?

As I said, it's just nitpick. ;-)
If you don't like it for clarity, I don't oppose it.

>
>> > +/* pampd abstract datatype methods provided by the PAM
>> implementation */
>> > +struct tmem_pamops {
>> > + Â Â Â void *(*create)(struct tmem_pool *, struct tmem_oid *,
>> uint32_t,
>> > + Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â struct page *);
>> > + Â Â Â int (*get_data)(struct page *, void *, struct tmem_pool *);
>> > + Â Â Â void (*free)(void *, struct tmem_pool *);
>> > +};
>>
>> Hmm.. create/get_data/free isn't good naming, I think.
>> How about add/get/delete like page/swap cache operation?
>
> Do you think the semantics are the same? ÂI suppose they are
> very similar for create and free, but I think the get_data
> is different isn't it?

Yes. the semantics are not same.
But create and free are rather awkward to me.
I feel It would be better to use "create and remove".
And get_data is awkward to me, too.
You don't use create_data, free_data but use get_data.
So What I suggest is "create", "remove" and "get".

How about?

>
>> > +extern void tmem_register_pamops(struct tmem_pamops *m);
>> > +
>> > +/* memory allocation methods provided by the host implementation */
>> > +struct tmem_hostops {
>> > + Â Â Â struct tmem_obj *(*obj_alloc)(struct tmem_pool *);
>> > + Â Â Â void (*obj_free)(struct tmem_obj *, struct tmem_pool *);
>> > + Â Â Â struct tmem_objnode *(*objnode_alloc)(struct tmem_pool *);
>> > + Â Â Â void (*objnode_free)(struct tmem_objnode *, struct tmem_pool
>> *);
>> > +};
>>
>> As I said, I am not sure the benefit of hostop.
>> If we can do, I want to hide it from host.
>
> See above. ÂI'd like to leave it that way for awhile until there
> are other hosts (especially with multiple clients). ÂIf they
> don't need it, I agree, we should remove it.

See my comment.

>
>> It's very quick review so maybe I miss your design/goal.
>> Sorry if I am doing such a thing.
>>
>> --
>> Kind regards,
>> Minchan Kim
>
> Actually, it was a good review and I very much appreciate it!
> I think maybe the only goal you missed is that I plan to extend
> this beyond a single client so I think accounting of space
> for metadata will be useful and important (which led me to
> use the hostops "metadata allocation and free".)
>
> Thanks again!

Thanks for giving good features to us by great effort, Dan. :)

> Dan
>



-- 
Kind regards,
Minchan Kim
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