• David Vernet's avatar
    livepatch: Avoid CPU hogging with cond_resched · f5bdb34b
    David Vernet authored
    When initializing a 'struct klp_object' in klp_init_object_loaded(), and
    performing relocations in klp_resolve_symbols(), klp_find_object_symbol()
    is invoked to look up the address of a symbol in an already-loaded module
    (or vmlinux). This, in turn, calls kallsyms_on_each_symbol() or
    module_kallsyms_on_each_symbol() to find the address of the symbol that is
    being patched.
    
    It turns out that symbol lookups often take up the most CPU time when
    enabling and disabling a patch, and may hog the CPU and cause other tasks
    on that CPU's runqueue to starve -- even in paths where interrupts are
    enabled.  For example, under certain workloads, enabling a KLP patch with
    many objects or functions may cause ksoftirqd to be starved, and thus for
    interrupts to be backlogged and delayed. This may end up causing TCP
    retransmits on the host where the KLP patch is being applied, and in
    general, may cause any interrupts serviced by softirqd to be delayed while
    the patch is being applied.
    
    So as to ensure that kallsyms_on_each_symbol() does not end up hogging the
    CPU, this patch adds a call to cond_resched() in kallsyms_on_each_symbol()
    and module_kallsyms_on_each_symbol(), which are invoked when doing a symbol
    lookup in vmlinux and a module respectively.  Without this patch, if a
    live-patch is applied on a 36-core Intel host with heavy TCP traffic, a
    ~10x spike is observed in TCP retransmits while the patch is being applied.
    Additionally, collecting sched events with perf indicates that ksoftirqd is
    awakened ~1.3 seconds before it's eventually scheduled.  With the patch, no
    increase in TCP retransmit events is observed, and ksoftirqd is scheduled
    shortly after it's awakened.
    Signed-off-by: default avatarDavid Vernet <void@manifault.com>
    Acked-by: default avatarMiroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz>
    Acked-by: default avatarSong Liu <song@kernel.org>
    Signed-off-by: default avatarPetr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
    Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20211229215646.830451-1-void@manifault.com
    f5bdb34b
module.c 120 KB