Re: [v9 PATCH 13/13] mm: vmscan: shrink deferred objects proportional to priority

From: Shakeel Butt
Date: Wed Mar 10 2021 - 13:25:03 EST


On Wed, Mar 10, 2021 at 9:46 AM Yang Shi <shy828301@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> The number of deferred objects might get windup to an absurd number, and it
> results in clamp of slab objects. It is undesirable for sustaining workingset.
>
> So shrink deferred objects proportional to priority and cap nr_deferred to twice
> of cache items.
>
> The idea is borrowed from Dave Chinner's patch:
> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-xfs/20191031234618.15403-13-david@xxxxxxxxxxxxx/
>
> Tested with kernel build and vfs metadata heavy workload in our production
> environment, no regression is spotted so far.

Did you run both of these workloads in the same cgroup or separate cgroups?

>
> Signed-off-by: Yang Shi <shy828301@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> mm/vmscan.c | 46 +++++++++++-----------------------------------
> 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 35 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
> index 9a2dfeaa79f4..6a0a91b23597 100644
> --- a/mm/vmscan.c
> +++ b/mm/vmscan.c
> @@ -662,7 +662,6 @@ static unsigned long do_shrink_slab(struct shrink_control *shrinkctl,
> */
> nr = xchg_nr_deferred(shrinker, shrinkctl);
>
> - total_scan = nr;
> if (shrinker->seeks) {
> delta = freeable >> priority;
> delta *= 4;
> @@ -676,37 +675,9 @@ static unsigned long do_shrink_slab(struct shrink_control *shrinkctl,
> delta = freeable / 2;
> }
>
> + total_scan = nr >> priority;
> total_scan += delta;
> - if (total_scan < 0) {
> - pr_err("shrink_slab: %pS negative objects to delete nr=%ld\n",
> - shrinker->scan_objects, total_scan);
> - total_scan = freeable;
> - next_deferred = nr;
> - } else
> - next_deferred = total_scan;
> -
> - /*
> - * We need to avoid excessive windup on filesystem shrinkers
> - * due to large numbers of GFP_NOFS allocations causing the
> - * shrinkers to return -1 all the time. This results in a large
> - * nr being built up so when a shrink that can do some work
> - * comes along it empties the entire cache due to nr >>>
> - * freeable. This is bad for sustaining a working set in
> - * memory.
> - *
> - * Hence only allow the shrinker to scan the entire cache when
> - * a large delta change is calculated directly.
> - */
> - if (delta < freeable / 4)
> - total_scan = min(total_scan, freeable / 2);
> -
> - /*
> - * Avoid risking looping forever due to too large nr value:
> - * never try to free more than twice the estimate number of
> - * freeable entries.
> - */
> - if (total_scan > freeable * 2)
> - total_scan = freeable * 2;
> + total_scan = min(total_scan, (2 * freeable));
>
> trace_mm_shrink_slab_start(shrinker, shrinkctl, nr,
> freeable, delta, total_scan, priority);
> @@ -745,10 +716,15 @@ static unsigned long do_shrink_slab(struct shrink_control *shrinkctl,
> cond_resched();
> }
>
> - if (next_deferred >= scanned)
> - next_deferred -= scanned;
> - else
> - next_deferred = 0;
> + /*
> + * The deferred work is increased by any new work (delta) that wasn't
> + * done, decreased by old deferred work that was done now.
> + *
> + * And it is capped to two times of the freeable items.
> + */
> + next_deferred = max_t(long, (nr + delta - scanned), 0);
> + next_deferred = min(next_deferred, (2 * freeable));
> +
> /*
> * move the unused scan count back into the shrinker in a
> * manner that handles concurrent updates.
> --
> 2.26.2
>