> Now if 2.4 has worse _performance_ than 2.2 due to one reason or
> another, that I'd like to hear about ;)
Well, here is a workload that performs worse on 2.4.0 than on 2.2.19pre,
and as it is the usual workload on my little cluster of 3 machines, they
are all running 2.2.19pre:
The application is some mathematics computations (modular symbols) using a
package called MAGMA; at times this requires very large matrices. The
RSS can get up to 870MB; for some reason a MAGMA process under linux
thinks it has run out of memory at 870MB, regardless of the actual
memory/swap in the machine. MAGMA is single-threaded.
The typical machine is a dual Intel box with 512MB RAM and 512MB swap.
There is no problem with just one MAGMA process, it just hits that 870MB
barrier and gracefully exits. But if I do the following test, I notice
very different behaviour under 2.2 and 2.4: while running 'top d 1' I
simultaneously launch two instances of a job which actually requires more
than 870MB of memory to complete. So each instance will slowly grow in
RSS until it gets killed by OOM or hits that 870MB limit.
Under 2.2, everything proceeds smoothly: before physical RAM is exhausted,
top updates every second, and the jobs have all the CPU. When swapping
kicks in, top updates every 1-2 seconds and lists most of the CPU as
'system' (kswapd), but I perceive not much loss of interactivity.
Eventually the 1GB of virtual memory is exhausted, the OOM killer kills
one of the MAGMA's, and the other runs till it hits the 870MB barrier and
exits.
But under 2.4, interactivity suffers as soon as physical RAM is exhausted.
Top only updates every 2-10 seconds, the load average hits 3-4, and top
reports the CPUs are 90% idle. Eventually, the OOM killer kicks in and
all returns to normal. For practical purposes, the machine is unusual
while swapping like this.
I have heard 'vmstat' mentioned here, so below is the output of a 'vmstat
1' concommitant with the test above (top and the two MAGMA jobs). I would
be more than happy to provide any other relevant information about this.
I read the LKML via an archive that updates once a day, so please cc: me
if you would like a speedier response. I wish I knew of a newsgroup
interface to the LKML, then I could read it more often :-).
Cheers,
Wayne
procs memory swap io system cpu
r b w swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
0 0 0 49180 447840 840 54104 269 969 84 244 76 236 10 4 86
1 0 0 49180 443276 852 55972 0 0 470 0 163 150 15 2 83
2 0 0 49180 440060 852 56292 0 0 80 0 115 60 93 1 6
2 0 0 49180 438236 856 56292 0 0 1 0 107 53 99 1 0
2 0 0 49180 429468 856 56392 0 0 25 0 109 16 99 0 0
2 0 0 49180 421296 856 56392 0 0 0 0 104 13 98 2 0
2 0 0 49180 421132 856 56392 0 0 0 0 108 53 100 0 0
2 0 0 49180 421128 856 56392 0 0 0 0 108 47 100 0 0
2 0 0 49180 397520 856 56392 0 0 0 1 107 49 96 4 0
2 0 0 49180 364860 856 56392 0 0 0 0 106 47 95 5 0
2 0 0 49180 332244 856 56392 0 0 0 0 106 49 95 5 0
2 0 0 49180 299660 856 56392 0 0 0 0 106 54 92 8 0
2 0 0 49180 267076 856 56392 0 0 0 0 109 56 95 5 0
2 0 0 49180 234632 856 56392 0 0 0 0 110 57 94 6 0
2 0 0 49180 202096 872 56448 32 0 18 0 117 70 95 5 0
2 0 0 49180 169544 872 56448 0 0 0 0 103 13 96 4 0
2 0 0 49180 137108 872 56448 0 0 0 0 107 49 93 7 0
2 0 0 49180 104600 872 56448 0 0 0 0 107 51 94 6 0
2 0 0 49180 72368 872 56448 0 0 0 52 136 54 93 7 0
2 0 0 49180 39964 872 56448 0 0 0 0 110 59 92 8 0
2 0 2 7296 1576 96 13072 0 720 0 184 130 465 74 22 4
procs memory swap io system cpu
r b w swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
1 2 2 53620 1564 116 23512 1012 31876 565 7969 883 3802 1 8 92
2 1 2 68800 1560 96 20128 68 15396 17 3850 291 2775 1 7 92
3 0 1 99484 1556 96 26096 84 29552 21 7388 594 3832 1 4 95
1 3 2 114708 1560 104 32528 284 14696 161 3674 374 3125 0 4 96
1 4 2 175484 1560 124 31112 360 63000 237 15753 1404 14952 1 5 94
1 2 2 205900 1560 96 32748 12 30080 3 7520 606 8356 1 5 94
2 1 2 221156 1560 96 17848 412 14256 103 3564 308 8450 1 10 89
1 2 2 222128 1564 96 12736 0 16100 7 4025 346 1010 0 5 95
1 2 2 236580 1560 108 15220 276 13988 97 3497 347 4102 0 7 92
2 1 2 267488 1560 104 32044 260 17376 69 4346 405 1265 0 7 93
3 1 1 282756 1560 96 29380 16 15304 4 3827 335 4359 1 7 92
2 1 2 282756 1580 96 11460 92 14948 23 3737 332 4120 1 5 94
2 1 2 313496 1560 100 30476 200 15484 54 3871 318 2359 0 9 90
2 1 2 313496 1560 100 14148 0 13076 1 3270 246 5165 1 8 91
3 1 1 344564 1572 96 23892 16 18444 11 4613 419 1555 0 7 93
2 1 2 375020 1560 96 25400 172 26988 43 6747 556 2910 1 7 93
1 2 2 375020 1968 96 22760 8 17136 2 4284 378 787 0 2 98
2 1 2 406056 1568 96 20432 212 17320 53 4330 393 2704 1 10 89
3 0 3 421316 1560 96 25056 72 14416 18 3604 281 1731 0 5 94
1 3 0 452120 1544 100 21216 240 31480 116 7870 715 2681 1 6 94
2 2 2 467488 1588 108 27248 440 15056 123 3765 385 2206 0 5 94
procs memory swap io system cpu
r b w swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id
2 1 0 467488 1564 136 13352 88 15376 49 3844 368 2913 1 4 95
3 0 1 482864 1560 96 15256 128 15384 32 3846 296 986 1 7 92
3 0 1 497920 1560 96 14144 0 12636 0 3159 245 2302 1 9 90
3 1 1 529844 1540 96 18632 940 33340 569 8336 1104 1366 1 10 88
0 1 0 269856 205944 148 21772 2628 0 1196 2 267 313 0 3 97
0 1 0 269856 182736 156 33180 11180 0 2854 0 309 451 6 3 91
0 1 0 269856 158668 156 44696 11516 0 2879 0 314 462 12 4 83
0 1 0 269856 131928 156 57588 12892 0 3223 0 312 466 8 4 88
0 1 0 269856 105176 156 70448 12864 0 3216 0 332 506 12 3 85
0 1 0 269856 79056 156 82644 12196 0 3049 0 456 602 10 6 83
1 1 0 269856 46948 156 96900 14252 0 3563 0 359 518 21 7 72
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/