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diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/workqueue.rst b/Documentation/core-api/workqueue.rst index 00a5ba51e63f..ed73c612174d 100644 --- a/Documentation/core-api/workqueue.rst +++ b/Documentation/core-api/workqueue.rst @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ -==================================== -Concurrency Managed Workqueue (cmwq) -==================================== +========= +Workqueue +========= :Date: September, 2010 :Author: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org> @@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ there is no work item left on the workqueue the worker becomes idle. When a new work item gets queued, the worker begins executing again. -Why cmwq? -========= +Why Concurrency Managed Workqueue? +================================== In the original wq implementation, a multi threaded (MT) wq had one worker thread per CPU and a single threaded (ST) wq had one worker @@ -77,10 +77,12 @@ wants a function to be executed asynchronously it has to set up a work item pointing to that function and queue that work item on a workqueue. -Special purpose threads, called worker threads, execute the functions -off of the queue, one after the other. If no work is queued, the -worker threads become idle. These worker threads are managed in so -called worker-pools. +A work item can be executed in either a thread or the BH (softirq) context. + +For threaded workqueues, special purpose threads, called [k]workers, execute +the functions off of the queue, one after the other. If no work is queued, +the worker threads become idle. These worker threads are managed in +worker-pools. The cmwq design differentiates between the user-facing workqueues that subsystems and drivers queue work items on and the backend mechanism @@ -91,6 +93,12 @@ for high priority ones, for each possible CPU and some extra worker-pools to serve work items queued on unbound workqueues - the number of these backing pools is dynamic. +BH workqueues use the same framework. However, as there can only be one +concurrent execution context, there's no need to worry about concurrency. +Each per-CPU BH worker pool contains only one pseudo worker which represents +the BH execution context. A BH workqueue can be considered a convenience +interface to softirq. + Subsystems and drivers can create and queue work items through special workqueue API functions as they see fit. They can influence some aspects of the way the work items are executed by setting flags on the @@ -106,7 +114,7 @@ unless specifically overridden, a work item of a bound workqueue will be queued on the worklist of either normal or highpri worker-pool that is associated to the CPU the issuer is running on. -For any worker pool implementation, managing the concurrency level +For any thread pool implementation, managing the concurrency level (how many execution contexts are active) is an important issue. cmwq tries to keep the concurrency at a minimal but sufficient level. Minimal to save resources and sufficient in that the system is used at @@ -164,6 +172,17 @@ resources, scheduled and executed. ``flags`` --------- +``WQ_BH`` + BH workqueues can be considered a convenience interface to softirq. BH + workqueues are always per-CPU and all BH work items are executed in the + queueing CPU's softirq context in the queueing order. + + All BH workqueues must have 0 ``max_active`` and ``WQ_HIGHPRI`` is the + only allowed additional flag. + + BH work items cannot sleep. All other features such as delayed queueing, + flushing and canceling are supported. + ``WQ_UNBOUND`` Work items queued to an unbound wq are served by the special worker-pools which host workers which are not bound to any @@ -216,25 +235,20 @@ resources, scheduled and executed. This flag is meaningless for unbound wq. -Note that the flag ``WQ_NON_REENTRANT`` no longer exists as all -workqueues are now non-reentrant - any work item is guaranteed to be -executed by at most one worker system-wide at any given time. - ``max_active`` -------------- -``@max_active`` determines the maximum number of execution contexts -per CPU which can be assigned to the work items of a wq. For example, -with ``@max_active`` of 16, at most 16 work items of the wq can be -executing at the same time per CPU. +``@max_active`` determines the maximum number of execution contexts per +CPU which can be assigned to the work items of a wq. For example, with +``@max_active`` of 16, at most 16 work items of the wq can be executing +at the same time per CPU. This is always a per-CPU attribute, even for +unbound workqueues. -Currently, for a bound wq, the maximum limit for ``@max_active`` is -512 and the default value used when 0 is specified is 256. For an -unbound wq, the limit is higher of 512 and 4 * -``num_possible_cpus()``. These values are chosen sufficiently high -such that they are not the limiting factor while providing protection -in runaway cases. +The maximum limit for ``@max_active`` is 512 and the default value used +when 0 is specified is 256. These values are chosen sufficiently high +such that they are not the limiting factor while providing protection in +runaway cases. The number of active work items of a wq is usually regulated by the users of the wq, more specifically, by how many work items the users @@ -242,15 +256,11 @@ may queue at the same time. Unless there is a specific need for throttling the number of active work items, specifying '0' is recommended. -Some users depend on the strict execution ordering of ST wq. The -combination of ``@max_active`` of 1 and ``WQ_UNBOUND`` used to -achieve this behavior. Work items on such wq were always queued to the -unbound worker-pools and only one work item could be active at any given -time thus achieving the same ordering property as ST wq. - -In the current implementation the above configuration only guarantees -ST behavior within a given NUMA node. Instead ``alloc_ordered_queue()`` should -be used to achieve system-wide ST behavior. +Some users depend on strict execution ordering where only one work item +is in flight at any given time and the work items are processed in +queueing order. While the combination of ``@max_active`` of 1 and +``WQ_UNBOUND`` used to achieve this behavior, this is no longer the +case. Use ``alloc_ordered_queue()`` instead. Example Execution Scenarios @@ -352,6 +362,356 @@ Guidelines level of locality in wq operations and work item execution. +Affinity Scopes +=============== + +An unbound workqueue groups CPUs according to its affinity scope to improve +cache locality. For example, if a workqueue is using the default affinity +scope of "cache", it will group CPUs according to last level cache +boundaries. A work item queued on the workqueue will be assigned to a worker +on one of the CPUs which share the last level cache with the issuing CPU. +Once started, the worker may or may not be allowed to move outside the scope +depending on the ``affinity_strict`` setting of the scope. + +Workqueue currently supports the following affinity scopes. + +``default`` + Use the scope in module parameter ``workqueue.default_affinity_scope`` + which is always set to one of the scopes below. + +``cpu`` + CPUs are not grouped. A work item issued on one CPU is processed by a + worker on the same CPU. This makes unbound workqueues behave as per-cpu + workqueues without concurrency management. + +``smt`` + CPUs are grouped according to SMT boundaries. This usually means that the + logical threads of each physical CPU core are grouped together. + +``cache`` + CPUs are grouped according to cache boundaries. Which specific cache + boundary is used is determined by the arch code. L3 is used in a lot of + cases. This is the default affinity scope. + +``numa`` + CPUs are grouped according to NUMA boundaries. + +``system`` + All CPUs are put in the same group. Workqueue makes no effort to process a + work item on a CPU close to the issuing CPU. + +The default affinity scope can be changed with the module parameter +``workqueue.default_affinity_scope`` and a specific workqueue's affinity +scope can be changed using ``apply_workqueue_attrs()``. + +If ``WQ_SYSFS`` is set, the workqueue will have the following affinity scope +related interface files under its ``/sys/devices/virtual/workqueue/WQ_NAME/`` +directory. + +``affinity_scope`` + Read to see the current affinity scope. Write to change. + + When default is the current scope, reading this file will also show the + current effective scope in parentheses, for example, ``default (cache)``. + +``affinity_strict`` + 0 by default indicating that affinity scopes are not strict. When a work + item starts execution, workqueue makes a best-effort attempt to ensure + that the worker is inside its affinity scope, which is called + repatriation. Once started, the scheduler is free to move the worker + anywhere in the system as it sees fit. This enables benefiting from scope + locality while still being able to utilize other CPUs if necessary and + available. + + If set to 1, all workers of the scope are guaranteed always to be in the + scope. This may be useful when crossing affinity scopes has other + implications, for example, in terms of power consumption or workload + isolation. Strict NUMA scope can also be used to match the workqueue + behavior of older kernels. + + +Affinity Scopes and Performance +=============================== + +It'd be ideal if an unbound workqueue's behavior is optimal for vast +majority of use cases without further tuning. Unfortunately, in the current +kernel, there exists a pronounced trade-off between locality and utilization +necessitating explicit configurations when workqueues are heavily used. + +Higher locality leads to higher efficiency where more work is performed for +the same number of consumed CPU cycles. However, higher locality may also +cause lower overall system utilization if the work items are not spread +enough across the affinity scopes by the issuers. The following performance +testing with dm-crypt clearly illustrates this trade-off. + +The tests are run on a CPU with 12-cores/24-threads split across four L3 +caches (AMD Ryzen 9 3900x). CPU clock boost is turned off for consistency. +``/dev/dm-0`` is a dm-crypt device created on NVME SSD (Samsung 990 PRO) and +opened with ``cryptsetup`` with default settings. + + +Scenario 1: Enough issuers and work spread across the machine +------------------------------------------------------------- + +The command used: :: + + $ fio --filename=/dev/dm-0 --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=32k --ioengine=libaio \ + --iodepth=64 --runtime=60 --numjobs=24 --time_based --group_reporting \ + --name=iops-test-job --verify=sha512 + +There are 24 issuers, each issuing 64 IOs concurrently. ``--verify=sha512`` +makes ``fio`` generate and read back the content each time which makes +execution locality matter between the issuer and ``kcryptd``. The following +are the read bandwidths and CPU utilizations depending on different affinity +scope settings on ``kcryptd`` measured over five runs. Bandwidths are in +MiBps, and CPU util in percents. + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 16 20 20 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Affinity + - Bandwidth (MiBps) + - CPU util (%) + + * - system + - 1159.40 ±1.34 + - 99.31 ±0.02 + + * - cache + - 1166.40 ±0.89 + - 99.34 ±0.01 + + * - cache (strict) + - 1166.00 ±0.71 + - 99.35 ±0.01 + +With enough issuers spread across the system, there is no downside to +"cache", strict or otherwise. All three configurations saturate the whole +machine but the cache-affine ones outperform by 0.6% thanks to improved +locality. + + +Scenario 2: Fewer issuers, enough work for saturation +----------------------------------------------------- + +The command used: :: + + $ fio --filename=/dev/dm-0 --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=32k \ + --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=64 --runtime=60 --numjobs=8 \ + --time_based --group_reporting --name=iops-test-job --verify=sha512 + +The only difference from the previous scenario is ``--numjobs=8``. There are +a third of the issuers but is still enough total work to saturate the +system. + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 16 20 20 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Affinity + - Bandwidth (MiBps) + - CPU util (%) + + * - system + - 1155.40 ±0.89 + - 97.41 ±0.05 + + * - cache + - 1154.40 ±1.14 + - 96.15 ±0.09 + + * - cache (strict) + - 1112.00 ±4.64 + - 93.26 ±0.35 + +This is more than enough work to saturate the system. Both "system" and +"cache" are nearly saturating the machine but not fully. "cache" is using +less CPU but the better efficiency puts it at the same bandwidth as +"system". + +Eight issuers moving around over four L3 cache scope still allow "cache +(strict)" to mostly saturate the machine but the loss of work conservation +is now starting to hurt with 3.7% bandwidth loss. + + +Scenario 3: Even fewer issuers, not enough work to saturate +----------------------------------------------------------- + +The command used: :: + + $ fio --filename=/dev/dm-0 --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=32k \ + --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=64 --runtime=60 --numjobs=4 \ + --time_based --group_reporting --name=iops-test-job --verify=sha512 + +Again, the only difference is ``--numjobs=4``. With the number of issuers +reduced to four, there now isn't enough work to saturate the whole system +and the bandwidth becomes dependent on completion latencies. + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 16 20 20 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Affinity + - Bandwidth (MiBps) + - CPU util (%) + + * - system + - 993.60 ±1.82 + - 75.49 ±0.06 + + * - cache + - 973.40 ±1.52 + - 74.90 ±0.07 + + * - cache (strict) + - 828.20 ±4.49 + - 66.84 ±0.29 + +Now, the tradeoff between locality and utilization is clearer. "cache" shows +2% bandwidth loss compared to "system" and "cache (struct)" whopping 20%. + + +Conclusion and Recommendations +------------------------------ + +In the above experiments, the efficiency advantage of the "cache" affinity +scope over "system" is, while consistent and noticeable, small. However, the +impact is dependent on the distances between the scopes and may be more +pronounced in processors with more complex topologies. + +While the loss of work-conservation in certain scenarios hurts, it is a lot +better than "cache (strict)" and maximizing workqueue utilization is +unlikely to be the common case anyway. As such, "cache" is the default +affinity scope for unbound pools. + +* As there is no one option which is great for most cases, workqueue usages + that may consume a significant amount of CPU are recommended to configure + the workqueues using ``apply_workqueue_attrs()`` and/or enable + ``WQ_SYSFS``. + +* An unbound workqueue with strict "cpu" affinity scope behaves the same as + ``WQ_CPU_INTENSIVE`` per-cpu workqueue. There is no real advanage to the + latter and an unbound workqueue provides a lot more flexibility. + +* Affinity scopes are introduced in Linux v6.5. To emulate the previous + behavior, use strict "numa" affinity scope. + +* The loss of work-conservation in non-strict affinity scopes is likely + originating from the scheduler. There is no theoretical reason why the + kernel wouldn't be able to do the right thing and maintain + work-conservation in most cases. As such, it is possible that future + scheduler improvements may make most of these tunables unnecessary. + + +Examining Configuration +======================= + +Use tools/workqueue/wq_dump.py to examine unbound CPU affinity +configuration, worker pools and how workqueues map to the pools: :: + + $ tools/workqueue/wq_dump.py + Affinity Scopes + =============== + wq_unbound_cpumask=0000000f + + CPU + nr_pods 4 + pod_cpus [0]=00000001 [1]=00000002 [2]=00000004 [3]=00000008 + pod_node [0]=0 [1]=0 [2]=1 [3]=1 + cpu_pod [0]=0 [1]=1 [2]=2 [3]=3 + + SMT + nr_pods 4 + pod_cpus [0]=00000001 [1]=00000002 [2]=00000004 [3]=00000008 + pod_node [0]=0 [1]=0 [2]=1 [3]=1 + cpu_pod [0]=0 [1]=1 [2]=2 [3]=3 + + CACHE (default) + nr_pods 2 + pod_cpus [0]=00000003 [1]=0000000c + pod_node [0]=0 [1]=1 + cpu_pod [0]=0 [1]=0 [2]=1 [3]=1 + + NUMA + nr_pods 2 + pod_cpus [0]=00000003 [1]=0000000c + pod_node [0]=0 [1]=1 + cpu_pod [0]=0 [1]=0 [2]=1 [3]=1 + + SYSTEM + nr_pods 1 + pod_cpus [0]=0000000f + pod_node [0]=-1 + cpu_pod [0]=0 [1]=0 [2]=0 [3]=0 + + Worker Pools + ============ + pool[00] ref= 1 nice= 0 idle/workers= 4/ 4 cpu= 0 + pool[01] ref= 1 nice=-20 idle/workers= 2/ 2 cpu= 0 + pool[02] ref= 1 nice= 0 idle/workers= 4/ 4 cpu= 1 + pool[03] ref= 1 nice=-20 idle/workers= 2/ 2 cpu= 1 + pool[04] ref= 1 nice= 0 idle/workers= 4/ 4 cpu= 2 + pool[05] ref= 1 nice=-20 idle/workers= 2/ 2 cpu= 2 + pool[06] ref= 1 nice= 0 idle/workers= 3/ 3 cpu= 3 + pool[07] ref= 1 nice=-20 idle/workers= 2/ 2 cpu= 3 + pool[08] ref=42 nice= 0 idle/workers= 6/ 6 cpus=0000000f + pool[09] ref=28 nice= 0 idle/workers= 3/ 3 cpus=00000003 + pool[10] ref=28 nice= 0 idle/workers= 17/ 17 cpus=0000000c + pool[11] ref= 1 nice=-20 idle/workers= 1/ 1 cpus=0000000f + pool[12] ref= 2 nice=-20 idle/workers= 1/ 1 cpus=00000003 + pool[13] ref= 2 nice=-20 idle/workers= 1/ 1 cpus=0000000c + + Workqueue CPU -> pool + ===================== + [ workqueue \ CPU 0 1 2 3 dfl] + events percpu 0 2 4 6 + events_highpri percpu 1 3 5 7 + events_long percpu 0 2 4 6 + events_unbound unbound 9 9 10 10 8 + events_freezable percpu 0 2 4 6 + events_power_efficient percpu 0 2 4 6 + events_freezable_power_ percpu 0 2 4 6 + rcu_gp percpu 0 2 4 6 + rcu_par_gp percpu 0 2 4 6 + slub_flushwq percpu 0 2 4 6 + netns ordered 8 8 8 8 8 + ... + +See the command's help message for more info. + + +Monitoring +========== + +Use tools/workqueue/wq_monitor.py to monitor workqueue operations: :: + + $ tools/workqueue/wq_monitor.py events + total infl CPUtime CPUhog CMW/RPR mayday rescued + events 18545 0 6.1 0 5 - - + events_highpri 8 0 0.0 0 0 - - + events_long 3 0 0.0 0 0 - - + events_unbound 38306 0 0.1 - 7 - - + events_freezable 0 0 0.0 0 0 - - + events_power_efficient 29598 0 0.2 0 0 - - + events_freezable_power_ 10 0 0.0 0 0 - - + sock_diag_events 0 0 0.0 0 0 - - + + total infl CPUtime CPUhog CMW/RPR mayday rescued + events 18548 0 6.1 0 5 - - + events_highpri 8 0 0.0 0 0 - - + events_long 3 0 0.0 0 0 - - + events_unbound 38322 0 0.1 - 7 - - + events_freezable 0 0 0.0 0 0 - - + events_power_efficient 29603 0 0.2 0 0 - - + events_freezable_power_ 10 0 0.0 0 0 - - + sock_diag_events 0 0 0.0 0 0 - - + + ... + +See the command's help message for more info. + + Debugging ========= @@ -374,8 +734,8 @@ of possible problems: The first one can be tracked using tracing: :: - $ echo workqueue:workqueue_queue_work > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/set_event - $ cat /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/trace_pipe > out.txt + $ echo workqueue:workqueue_queue_work > /sys/kernel/tracing/set_event + $ cat /sys/kernel/tracing/trace_pipe > out.txt (wait a few secs) ^C @@ -392,7 +752,27 @@ The work item's function should be trivially visible in the stack trace. +Non-reentrance Conditions +========================= + +Workqueue guarantees that a work item cannot be re-entrant if the following +conditions hold after a work item gets queued: + + 1. The work function hasn't been changed. + 2. No one queues the work item to another workqueue. + 3. The work item hasn't been reinitiated. + +In other words, if the above conditions hold, the work item is guaranteed to be +executed by at most one worker system-wide at any given time. + +Note that requeuing the work item (to the same queue) in the self function +doesn't break these conditions, so it's safe to do. Otherwise, caution is +required when breaking the conditions inside a work function. + + Kernel Inline Documentations Reference ====================================== .. kernel-doc:: include/linux/workqueue.h + +.. kernel-doc:: kernel/workqueue.c |