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-rw-r--r--Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt49
1 files changed, 48 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt b/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt
index cbf7ae412da..32351bfabf2 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt
@@ -157,6 +157,53 @@ RCU_SOFTIRQ: Do at least one of the following:
calls and by forcing both kernel threads and interrupts
to execute elsewhere.
+Name: kworker/%u:%d%s (cpu, id, priority)
+Purpose: Execute workqueue requests
+To reduce its OS jitter, do any of the following:
+1. Run your workload at a real-time priority, which will allow
+ preempting the kworker daemons.
+2. Do any of the following needed to avoid jitter that your
+ application cannot tolerate:
+ a. Build your kernel with CONFIG_SLUB=y rather than
+ CONFIG_SLAB=y, thus avoiding the slab allocator's periodic
+ use of each CPU's workqueues to run its cache_reap()
+ function.
+ b. Avoid using oprofile, thus avoiding OS jitter from
+ wq_sync_buffer().
+ c. Limit your CPU frequency so that a CPU-frequency
+ governor is not required, possibly enlisting the aid of
+ special heatsinks or other cooling technologies. If done
+ correctly, and if you CPU architecture permits, you should
+ be able to build your kernel with CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=n to
+ avoid the CPU-frequency governor periodically running
+ on each CPU, including cs_dbs_timer() and od_dbs_timer().
+ WARNING: Please check your CPU specifications to
+ make sure that this is safe on your particular system.
+ d. It is not possible to entirely get rid of OS jitter
+ from vmstat_update() on CONFIG_SMP=y systems, but you
+ can decrease its frequency by writing a large value to
+ /proc/sys/vm/stat_interval. The default value is HZ,
+ for an interval of one second. Of course, larger values
+ will make your virtual-memory statistics update more
+ slowly. Of course, you can also run your workload at
+ a real-time priority, thus preempting vmstat_update().
+ e. If running on high-end powerpc servers, build with
+ CONFIG_PPC_RTAS_DAEMON=n. This prevents the RTAS
+ daemon from running on each CPU every second or so.
+ (This will require editing Kconfig files and will defeat
+ this platform's RAS functionality.) This avoids jitter
+ due to the rtas_event_scan() function.
+ WARNING: Please check your CPU specifications to
+ make sure that this is safe on your particular system.
+ f. If running on Cell Processor, build your kernel with
+ CBE_CPUFREQ_SPU_GOVERNOR=n to avoid OS jitter from
+ spu_gov_work().
+ WARNING: Please check your CPU specifications to
+ make sure that this is safe on your particular system.
+ g. If running on PowerMAC, build your kernel with
+ CONFIG_PMAC_RACKMETER=n to disable the CPU-meter,
+ avoiding OS jitter from rackmeter_do_timer().
+
Name: rcuc/%u
Purpose: Execute RCU callbacks in CONFIG_RCU_BOOST=y kernels.
To reduce its OS jitter, do at least one of the following:
@@ -185,7 +232,7 @@ Purpose: Offload RCU callbacks from the corresponding CPU.
To reduce its OS jitter, do at least one of the following:
1. Use affinity, cgroups, or other mechanism to force these kthreads
to execute on some other CPU.
-2. Build with CONFIG_RCU_NOCB_CPUS=n, which will prevent these
+2. Build with CONFIG_RCU_NOCB_CPU=n, which will prevent these
kthreads from being created in the first place. However, please
note that this will not eliminate OS jitter, but will instead
shift it to RCU_SOFTIRQ.