From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Return-Path: From: Josef Bacik To: axboe@kernel.dk, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org, hannes@cmpxchg.org, tj@kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, linux-block@vger.kernel.org, kernel-team@fb.com Cc: Josef Bacik Subject: [PATCH 13/14] Documentation: add a doc for blk-iolatency Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2018 11:15:02 -0400 Message-Id: <20180703151503.2549-14-josef@toxicpanda.com> In-Reply-To: <20180703151503.2549-1-josef@toxicpanda.com> References: <20180703151503.2549-1-josef@toxicpanda.com> List-ID: From: Josef Bacik A basic documentation to describe the interface, statistics, and behavior of io.latency. Signed-off-by: Josef Bacik --- Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst | 79 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 79 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst index 8a2c52d5c53b..569ce27b85e5 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst @@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ v1 is available under Documentation/cgroup-v1/. 5-3. IO 5-3-1. IO Interface Files 5-3-2. Writeback + 5-3-3. IO Latency + 5-3-3-1. How IO Latency Throttling Works + 5-3-3-2. IO Latency Interface Files 5-4. PID 5-4-1. PID Interface Files 5-5. Device @@ -1446,6 +1449,82 @@ writeback as follows. vm.dirty[_background]_ratio. +IO Latency +~~~~~~~~~~ + +This is a cgroup v2 controller for IO workload protection. You provide a group +with a latency target, and if the average latency exceeds that target the +controller will throttle any peers that have a lower latency target than the +protected workload. + +The limits are only applied at the peer level in the hierarchy. This means that +in the diagram below, only groups A, B, and C will influence each other, and +groups D and F will influence each other. Group G will influence nobody. + + [root] + / | \ + A B C + / \ | + D F G + + +So the ideal way to configure this is to set io.latency in groups A, B, and C. +Generally you do not want to set a value lower than the latency your device +supports. Experiment to find the value that works best for your workload. +Start at higher than the expected latency for your device and watch the +total_lat_avg value in io.stat for your workload group to get an idea of the +latency you see during normal operation. Use this value as a basis for your +real setting, setting at 10-15% higher than the value in io.stat. +Experimentation is key here because total_lat_avg is a running total, so is the +"statistics" portion of "lies, damned lies, and statistics." + +How IO Latency Throttling Works +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +io.latency is work conserving; so as long as everybody is meeting their latency +target the controller doesn't do anything. Once a group starts missing its +target it begins throttling any peer group that has a higher target than itself. +This throttling takes 2 forms: + +- Queue depth throttling. This is the number of outstanding IO's a group is + allowed to have. We will clamp down relatively quickly, starting at no limit + and going all the way down to 1 IO at a time. + +- Artificial delay induction. There are certain types of IO that cannot be + throttled without possibly adversely affecting higher priority groups. This + includes swapping and metadata IO. These types of IO are allowed to occur + normally, however they are "charged" to the originating group. If the + originating group is being throttled you will see the use_delay and delay + fields in io.stat increase. The delay value is how many microseconds that are + being added to any process that runs in this group. Because this number can + grow quite large if there is a lot of swapping or metadata IO occurring we + limit the individual delay events to 1 second at a time. + +Once the victimized group starts meeting its latency target again it will start +unthrottling any peer groups that were throttled previously. If the victimized +group simply stops doing IO the global counter will unthrottle appropriately. + +IO Latency Interface Files +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + io.latency + This takes a similar format as the other controllers. + + "MAJOR:MINOR target=