LKML Archive on lore.kernel.org
help / color / mirror / Atom feed
* Re: Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
@ 2008-01-14  8:01 Martin Knoblauch
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Martin Knoblauch @ 2008-01-14  8:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Martin Knoblauch, Chris Snook; +Cc: linux-kernel, linux-nfs

----- Original Message ----
> From: Martin Knoblauch <spamtrap@knobisoft.de>
> To: Chris Snook <csnook@redhat.com>
> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org; linux-nfs@vger.kernel.org; spam trap <spamtrap@knobisoft.de>
> Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2007 12:11:08 PM
> Subject: Re: Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Chris Snook 
> > To: Martin Knoblauch 
> > Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org; linux-nfs@vger.kernel.org
> > Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 7:45:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: Strange NFS write performance
> Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS,
> 
 maybe VW related
> > 
> > Martin Knoblauch wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > currently I am tracking down an "interesting" effect when writing
> 
> > 3) It sounds like the bottleneck is the vxfs filesystem.  It
> > only *appears* on  the client side because writes up
> until
> 
 dirty_ratio
> > get buffered on the client. 
> >   If you can confirm that the server is actually writing stuff to
> > disk slower  when the client is in writeback mode, then it's possible
> > the Linux NFSclient is  doing something inefficient in
> writeback
> 
 mode.
> > 
> 
> so, is the output of "iostat -d -l1 d111" during two runs. The
> first
> 
 run is with 750 MB, the second with 850MB.
> 
> // 750MB
> $ iostat -d -l 1 md111 2
>    md111
> kps tps serv
>  22   0   14
>   0   0    0
>   0   0   13
> 29347 468   12
> 37040 593   17
> 30938 492   25
> 30421 491   25
> 41626 676   16
> 42913 703   14
> 39890 647   15
> 9009 141    7
> 8963 141    7
> 5143  81    7
> 34814 547   10
> 49323 775   12
> 28624 451    6
>  22   1    6
> #### finish
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
> 
>  Here it seems that the disk is writing for 26-28 seconds with avg.
> 29
> 
 MB/sec. Fine.
> 
> // 850MB
> $ iostat -d -l 1 md111 2
>    md111
> kps tps serv
>   0   0    0
> 11275 180   10
> 39874 635   14
> 37403 587   17
> 24341 392   30
> 25989 423   26
> 22464 375   30
> 21922 361   32
> 27924 450   26
> 21507 342   21
> 9217 153   15
> 9260 150   15
> 9544 155   15
> 9298 150   14
> 10118 162   11
> 15505 250   12
> 27513 448   14
> 26698 436   15
> 26144 431   15
> 25201 412   14
> #### 38 seconds in run
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
> 579  17   12
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
> 518   9   16
> 485   8    6
>   9   1    7
> 514   9    7
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
> 541   9    8
> 532  10    6
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
> 650  12    7
>   0   0    0
> 242   8    9
> 1023  18    5
> 304   5    6
> 418   8    7
> 283   5    5
> 303   5    8
> 527  10    6
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   5   1   13
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0   11
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   0   0    0
>   1   0   15
>   0   0    0
>  96   2   15
> 138   3   10
> 11057 175    6
> 17549 280    6
> 351   8    5
>   0   0    0
> ##### 218 seconds in run, finish.
> 
>  So, for the first 38 seconds everything looks similar to the 750
> MB case. For the next about 180 seconds most time nothing happens.
> Averaging 4.1 MB/sec.
> 
> Maybe it is time to capture the traffic. What are the best
> tcpdump parameters for NFS? I always forget :-(
> 
> Cheers
> Martin
> 
> 
Hi,

 now that the seasonal festivities are over - Happy New Year btw. - any comments/suggestions on my problem?

Cheers
Martin




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Re: Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
@ 2007-12-29 11:11 Martin Knoblauch
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Martin Knoblauch @ 2007-12-29 11:11 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Chris Snook; +Cc: linux-kernel, linux-nfs, spam trap

----- Original Message ----
> From: Chris Snook <csnook@redhat.com>
> To: Martin Knoblauch <spamtrap@knobisoft.de>
> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org; linux-nfs@vger.kernel.org
> Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 7:45:13 PM
> Subject: Re: Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
> 
> Martin Knoblauch wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > currently I am tracking down an "interesting" effect when writing

> 3) It sounds like the bottleneck is the vxfs filesystem.  It
> only *appears* on  the client side because writes up until dirty_ratio
> get buffered on the client. 
>   If you can confirm that the server is actually writing stuff to
> disk slower  when the client is in writeback mode, then it's possible
> the Linux NFSclient is  doing something inefficient in writeback mode.
> 

so, is the output of "iostat -d -l1 d111" during two runs. The first run is with 750 MB, the second with 850MB.

// 750MB
$ iostat -d -l 1 md111 2
   md111
kps tps serv
 22   0   14
  0   0    0
  0   0   13
29347 468   12
37040 593   17
30938 492   25
30421 491   25
41626 676   16
42913 703   14
39890 647   15
9009 141    7
8963 141    7
5143  81    7
34814 547   10
49323 775   12
28624 451    6
 22   1    6
#### finish
  0   0    0
  0   0    0

 Here it seems that the disk is writing for 26-28 seconds with avg. 29 MB/sec. Fine.

// 850MB
$ iostat -d -l 1 md111 2
   md111
kps tps serv
  0   0    0
11275 180   10
39874 635   14
37403 587   17
24341 392   30
25989 423   26
22464 375   30
21922 361   32
27924 450   26
21507 342   21
9217 153   15
9260 150   15
9544 155   15
9298 150   14
10118 162   11
15505 250   12
27513 448   14
26698 436   15
26144 431   15
25201 412   14
#### 38 seconds in run
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
579  17   12
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
518   9   16
485   8    6
  9   1    7
514   9    7
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
541   9    8
532  10    6
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
650  12    7
  0   0    0
242   8    9
1023  18    5
304   5    6
418   8    7
283   5    5
303   5    8
527  10    6
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  5   1   13
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0   11
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  0   0    0
  1   0   15
  0   0    0
 96   2   15
138   3   10
11057 175    6
17549 280    6
351   8    5
  0   0    0
##### 218 seconds in run, finish.

 So, for the first 38 seconds everything looks similar to the 750 MB case. For the next about 180 seconds most time nothing happens. Averaging 4.1 MB/sec.

Maybe it is time to capture the traffic. What are the best tcpdump parameters for NFS? I always forget :-(

Cheers
Martin




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Re: Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
@ 2007-12-29  9:59 Martin Knoblauch
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Martin Knoblauch @ 2007-12-29  9:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Chris Snook; +Cc: linux-kernel, linux-nfs, spam trap

----- Original Message ----
> From: Chris Snook <csnook@redhat.com>
> To: Martin Knoblauch <spamtrap@knobisoft.de>
> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org; linux-nfs@vger.kernel.org
> Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 7:45:13 PM
> Subject: Re: Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
> 
> Martin Knoblauch wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > currently I am tracking down an "interesting" effect when writing
> to
> 
 a
> > Solars-10/Sparc based server. The server exports two filesystems.
> One
> 
 UFS,
> > one VXFS. The filesystems are mounted NFS3/TCP, no special
> options.
> 
 Linux
> > kernel in question is 2.6.24-rc6, but it happens with earlier kernels
> > (2.6.19.2, 2.6.22.6) as well. The client is x86_64 with 8 GB of ram.
> > 
> > The problem: when writing to the VXFS based filesystem,
> performance
> 
 drops
> > dramatically when the the filesize reaches or exceeds
> "dirty_ratio".
> 
 For a
> > dirty_ratio of 10% (about 800MB) files below 750 MB are
> transfered
> 
 with about
> > 30 MB/sec. Anything above 770 MB drops down to below 10 MB/sec. If
> I
> 
 perform
> > the same tests on the UFS based FS, performance stays at about
> 30
> 
 MB/sec
> > until 3GB and likely larger (I just stopped at 3 GB).
> > 
> > Any ideas what could cause this difference? Any suggestions
> on
> 
 debugging it?
> 
> 1) Try normal NFS tuning, such as rsize/wsize tuning.
>

  rsize/wsize only have minimal effect. The negotiated  size seems to be optimal.

> 2) You're entering synchronous writeback mode, so you can delay the
> 
 problem by raising dirty_ratio to 100, or reduce the size of the problem
> by lowering  dirty_ratio to 1.  Either one could help.
> 

 For experiments, sure. But I do not think that I want to have 8 GB of dirty pages [potentially] laying around. Are you sure that 1% is a useful value for dirty_ratio? Looking at the code, it seems a minimum of 5% is  enforced  in "page-writeback.c:get_dirty_limits":

        dirty_ratio = vm_dirty_ratio;
        if (dirty_ratio > unmapped_ratio / 2)
                dirty_ratio = unmapped_ratio / 2;

        if (dirty_ratio < 5)
                dirty_ratio = 5;


> 3) It sounds like the bottleneck is the vxfs filesystem.  It only
> 
 *appears* on  the client side because writes up until dirty_ratio get buffered on
> the client. 

 Sure, the fact that a UFS (or SAM-FS) based FS behaves well in the same situation points in that direction.

>   If you can confirm that the server is actually writing stuff to disk
> 
 slower  when the client is in writeback mode, then it's possible the Linux
> NFS client is  doing something inefficient in writeback mode.
> 

 I will try to get an iostat trace from the Sun side. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers
Martin
PS: Happy Year 2008 to all Kernel Hackers and their families




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Re: Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
  2007-12-28 15:24 Martin Knoblauch
@ 2007-12-28 18:45 ` Chris Snook
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Chris Snook @ 2007-12-28 18:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Martin Knoblauch; +Cc: linux-kernel, linux-nfs

Martin Knoblauch wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> currently I am tracking down an "interesting" effect when writing to a
> Solars-10/Sparc based server. The server exports two filesystems. One UFS,
> one VXFS. The filesystems are mounted NFS3/TCP, no special options. Linux
> kernel in question is 2.6.24-rc6, but it happens with earlier kernels
> (2.6.19.2, 2.6.22.6) as well. The client is x86_64 with 8 GB of ram.
> 
> The problem: when writing to the VXFS based filesystem, performance drops
> dramatically when the the filesize reaches or exceeds "dirty_ratio". For a
> dirty_ratio of 10% (about 800MB) files below 750 MB are transfered with about
> 30 MB/sec. Anything above 770 MB drops down to below 10 MB/sec. If I perform
> the same tests on the UFS based FS, performance stays at about 30 MB/sec
> until 3GB and likely larger (I just stopped at 3 GB).
> 
> Any ideas what could cause this difference? Any suggestions on debugging it?

1) Try normal NFS tuning, such as rsize/wsize tuning.

2) You're entering synchronous writeback mode, so you can delay the problem by 
raising dirty_ratio to 100, or reduce the size of the problem by lowering 
dirty_ratio to 1.  Either one could help.

3) It sounds like the bottleneck is the vxfs filesystem.  It only *appears* on 
the client side because writes up until dirty_ratio get buffered on the client. 
  If you can confirm that the server is actually writing stuff to disk slower 
when the client is in writeback mode, then it's possible the Linux NFS client is 
doing something inefficient in writeback mode.

	-- Chris

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

* Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related
@ 2007-12-28 15:24 Martin Knoblauch
  2007-12-28 18:45 ` Chris Snook
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Martin Knoblauch @ 2007-12-28 15:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-kernel; +Cc: linux-nfs

Hi,

 currently I am tracking down an "interesting" effect when writing to a Solars-10/Sparc based server. The server exports two filesystems. One UFS, one VXFS. The filesystems are mounted NFS3/TCP, no special options. Linux kernel in question is 2.6.24-rc6, but it happens with earlier kernels (2.6.19.2, 2.6.22.6) as well. The client is x86_64 with 8 GB of ram. 

 The problem: when writing to the VXFS based filesystem, performance drops dramatically when the the filesize reaches or exceeds "dirty_ratio". For a dirty_ratio of 10% (about 800MB) files below 750 MB are transfered with about 30 MB/sec. Anything above 770 MB drops down to below 10 MB/sec. If I perform the same tests on the UFS based FS, performance stays at about 30 MB/sec until 3GB and likely larger (I just stopped at 3 GB).

 Any ideas what could cause this difference? Any suggestions on debugging it?

spsdm5:/lfs/test_ufs on /mnt/test_ufs type nfs (rw,proto=tcp,nfsvers=3,hard,intr,addr=160.50.118.37)
spsdm5:/lfs/test_vxfs on /mnt/test_vxfs type nfs (rw,proto=tcp,nfsvers=3,hard,intr,addr=160.50.118.37)

Cheers
Martin
PS: Please CC me, as I am not subscribed. Don't worry about the spamtrap name :-)

------------------------------------------------------
Martin Knoblauch
email: k n o b i AT knobisoft DOT de
www:   http://www.knobisoft.de



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2008-01-14  8:01 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 5+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2008-01-14  8:01 Strange NFS write performance Linux->Solaris-10/VXFS, maybe VW related Martin Knoblauch
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2007-12-29 11:11 Martin Knoblauch
2007-12-29  9:59 Martin Knoblauch
2007-12-28 15:24 Martin Knoblauch
2007-12-28 18:45 ` Chris Snook

This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for NNTP newsgroup(s).