Re: [PATCH 4/5] page allocator: Pre-emptively wake kswapd when high-order watermarks are hit

[Mel Gorman <mel@csn.ul.ie>]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:41:42PM -0700, David Rientjes wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Oct 2009, Mel Gorman wrote:
> 
> > diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > index 7f2aa3e..851df40 100644
> > --- a/mm/page_alloc.c
> > +++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > @@ -1596,6 +1596,17 @@ try_next_zone:
> >  	return page;
> >  }
> >  
> > +static inline
> > +void wake_all_kswapd(unsigned int order, struct zonelist *zonelist,
> > +						enum zone_type high_zoneidx)
> > +{
> > +	struct zoneref *z;
> > +	struct zone *zone;
> > +
> > +	for_each_zone_zonelist(zone, z, zonelist, high_zoneidx)
> > +		wakeup_kswapd(zone, order);
> > +}
> > +
> >  static inline int
> >  should_alloc_retry(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
> >  				unsigned long pages_reclaimed)
> > @@ -1730,18 +1741,18 @@ __alloc_pages_high_priority(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
> >  			congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ/50);
> >  	} while (!page && (gfp_mask & __GFP_NOFAIL));
> >  
> > -	return page;
> > -}
> > -
> > -static inline
> > -void wake_all_kswapd(unsigned int order, struct zonelist *zonelist,
> > -						enum zone_type high_zoneidx)
> > -{
> > -	struct zoneref *z;
> > -	struct zone *zone;
> > +	/*
> > +	 * If after a high-order allocation we are now below watermarks,
> > +	 * pre-emptively kick kswapd rather than having the next allocation
> > +	 * fail and have to wake up kswapd, potentially failing GFP_ATOMIC
> > +	 * allocations or entering direct reclaim
> > +	 */
> > +	if (unlikely(order) && page && !zone_watermark_ok(preferred_zone, order,
> > +				preferred_zone->watermark[ALLOC_WMARK_LOW],
> > +				zone_idx(preferred_zone), ALLOC_WMARK_LOW))
> > +		wake_all_kswapd(order, zonelist, high_zoneidx);
> >  
> > -	for_each_zone_zonelist(zone, z, zonelist, high_zoneidx)
> > -		wakeup_kswapd(zone, order);
> > +	return page;
> >  }
> >  
> >  static inline int
> 
> Hmm, is this really supposed to be added to __alloc_pages_high_priority()?  
> By the patch description I was expecting kswapd to be woken up 
> preemptively whenever the preferred zone is below ALLOC_WMARK_LOW and 
> we're known to have just allocated at a higher order, not just when 
> current was oom killed (when we should already be freeing a _lot_ of 
> memory soon) or is doing a higher order allocation during direct reclaim.
> 

It was a somewhat arbitrary choice to have it trigger in the event high
priority allocations were happening frequently.

> For the best coverage, it would have to be add the branch to the fastpath.  

Agreed - specifically at the end of __alloc_pages_nodemask()

> That seems fine for a debugging aid and to see if progress is being made 
> on the GFP_ATOMIC allocation issues, but doesn't seem like it should make 
> its way to mainline, the subsequent GFP_ATOMIC allocation could already be 
> happening and in the page allocator's slowpath at this point that this 
> wakeup becomes unnecessary.
> 
> If this is moved to the fastpath, why is this wake_all_kswapd() and not
> wakeup_kswapd(preferred_zone, order)?  Do we need to kick kswapd in all 
> zones even though they may be free just because preferred_zone is now 
> below the watermark?
> 

It probably makes no difference as zones are checked for their watermarks
before any real work happens. However, even if this patch makes a difference,
I don't want to see it merged.  At best, it is an extremely heavy-handed
hack which is why I asked for it to be tested in isolation. It shouldn't
be necessary at all because sort of pre-emptive waking of kswapd was never
necessary before.

> Wouldn't it be better to do this on page_zone(page) instead of 
> preferred_zone anyway?
> 

No. The preferred_zone is the zone we should be allocating from. If we
failed to allocate from it, it implies the watermarks are not being met
so we want to wake it.

-- 
Mel Gorman
Part-time Phd Student                          Linux Technology Center
University of Limerick                         IBM Dublin Software Lab

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