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Date:      Wed, 16 Mar 2022 13:55:58 -0400
From:      Karl Denninger <karl@denninger.net>
To:        freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
Subject:   md option "async" risks kernel deadlock? Why.
Message-ID:  <3cca9997-97f7-7c49-9531-4069618539b1@denninger.net>

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 From the man page for mdconfig(8)

     -o [no]option
              Set or reset options.

              [no]async
                      For vnode backed devices: avoid IO_SYNC for increased
                      performance but at the risk of deadlocking the entire
                      kernel.

Why and how severe is this risk?

The scenario where I care is the use of md to build and populate a 
"disk" image often used with Crochet and nanobsd so as to create an 
image file that can then be directly dd'd to a media device (e.g. SD 
card) and booted.

When the backing store for this is a ZFS file on spinning rust the 
performance is beyond horrid; about 50tps is all you get, presumably due 
to clashes between the backing store and md itself which winds up 
forcing a crazy amount of seeks.  I suspect its seek-related because if 
the zfs pool is on SSD its plenty fast -- but a backing on spinning 
rust, including all mirror vdev-comprised pools (which are quite fast 
for general file storage) is silly-slow.

Setting the zfs mountpoint to async has no impact on performance.  I 
assume that setting mdconfig's option very well might, but kernel 
deadlocks are bad news, so I'm trying to understand the risk profile 
since these builds are done on a production machine.

Thanks!

-- 
Karl Denninger
karl@denninger.net
/The Market Ticker/
/[S/MIME encrypted email preferred]/
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    <p>From the man page for mdconfig(8)</p>
    <p>    -o [no]option<br>
                   Set or reset options.<br>
      <br>
                   [no]async<br>
                           For vnode backed devices: avoid IO_SYNC for
      increased<br>
                           performance but at the risk of deadlocking
      the entire<br>
                           kernel.<br>
    </p>
    <p>Why and how severe is this risk?</p>
    <p>The scenario where I care is the use of md to build and populate
      a "disk" image often used with Crochet and nanobsd so as to create
      an image file that can then be directly dd'd to a media device
      (e.g. SD card) and booted.</p>
    <p>When the backing store for this is a ZFS file on spinning rust
      the performance is beyond horrid; about 50tps is all you get,
      presumably due to clashes between the backing store and md itself
      which winds up forcing a crazy amount of seeks.  I suspect its
      seek-related because if the zfs pool is on SSD its plenty fast --
      but a backing on spinning rust, including all mirror
      vdev-comprised pools (which are quite fast for general file
      storage) is silly-slow.</p>
    <p>Setting the zfs mountpoint to async has no impact on
      performance.  I assume that setting mdconfig's option very well
      might, but kernel deadlocks are bad news, so I'm trying to
      understand the risk profile since these builds are done on a
      production machine.</p>
    <p>Thanks!<br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
      Karl Denninger<br>
      <a href="mailto:karl@denninger.net" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">karl@denninger.net</a><br>
      <i>The Market Ticker</i><br>
      <font size="-2"><i>[S/MIME encrypted email preferred]</i></font></div>
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