Re: [PATCH] mm: migrate: record the mlocked page status to remove unnecessary lru drain

From: Baolin Wang
Date: Thu Oct 19 2023 - 22:45:40 EST




On 10/20/2023 10:30 AM, Yin, Fengwei wrote:


On 10/20/2023 10:09 AM, Baolin Wang wrote:


On 10/19/2023 8:07 PM, Yin, Fengwei wrote:


On 10/19/2023 4:51 PM, Baolin Wang wrote:


On 10/19/2023 4:22 PM, Yin Fengwei wrote:
Hi Baolin,

On 10/19/23 15:25, Baolin Wang wrote:


On 10/19/2023 2:09 PM, Huang, Ying wrote:
Zi Yan <ziy@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:

On 18 Oct 2023, at 9:04, Baolin Wang wrote:

When doing compaction, I found the lru_add_drain() is an obvious hotspot
when migrating pages. The distribution of this hotspot is as follows:
      - 18.75% compact_zone
         - 17.39% migrate_pages
            - 13.79% migrate_pages_batch
               - 11.66% migrate_folio_move
                  - 7.02% lru_add_drain
                     + 7.02% lru_add_drain_cpu
                  + 3.00% move_to_new_folio
                    1.23% rmap_walk
               + 1.92% migrate_folio_unmap
            + 3.20% migrate_pages_sync
         + 0.90% isolate_migratepages

The lru_add_drain() was added by commit c3096e6782b7 ("mm/migrate:
__unmap_and_move() push good newpage to LRU") to drain the newpage to LRU
immediately, to help to build up the correct newpage->mlock_count in
remove_migration_ptes() for mlocked pages. However, if there are no mlocked
pages are migrating, then we can avoid this lru drain operation, especailly
for the heavy concurrent scenarios.

lru_add_drain() is also used to drain pages out of folio_batch. Pages in folio_batch
have an additional pin to prevent migration. See folio_get(folio); in folio_add_lru().

lru_add_drain() is called after the page reference count checking in
move_to_new_folio().  So, I don't this is an issue.

Agree. The purpose of adding lru_add_drain() is to address the 'mlock_count' issue for mlocked pages. Please see commit c3096e6782b7 and related comments. Moreover I haven't seen an increase in the number of page migration failures due to page reference count checking after this patch.

I agree with your. My understanding also is that the lru_add_drain() is only needed
for mlocked folio to correct mlock_count. Like to hear the confirmation from Huge.


But I have question: why do we need use page_was_mlocked instead of check
folio_test_mlocked(src)? Does page migration clear the mlock flag? Thanks.

Yes, please see the call trace: try_to_migrate_one() ---> page_remove_rmap() ---> munlock_vma_folio().

Yes. This will clear mlock bit.

What about set dst folio mlocked if source is before try_to_migrate_one()? And
then check whether dst folio is mlocked after? And need clear mlocked if migration
fails. I suppose the change is minor. Just a thought. Thanks.

IMO, this will break the mlock related statistics in mlock_folio() when the remove_migration_pte() rebuilds the mlock status and mlock count.

Another concern I can see is that, during the page migration, a concurrent munlock() can be called to clean the VM_LOCKED flags for the VMAs, so the remove_migration_pte() should not rebuild the mlock status and mlock count. But the dst folio's mlcoked status is still remained, which is wrong.

So your suggested apporach seems not easy, and I think my patch is simple with re-using existing __migrate_folio_record() and __migrate_folio_extract() :)

Can these concerns be addressed by clear dst mlocked after lru_add_drain() but before
remove_migration_pte()?

IMHO, that seems too hacky to me. I still prefer to rely on the migration process of the mlcock pages.