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Documentation / lockstat.txt

Based on kernel version 2.6.25. Page generated on 2008-04-18 21:22 EST.

1	
2	LOCK STATISTICS
3	
4	- WHAT
5	
6	As the name suggests, it provides statistics on locks.
7	
8	- WHY
9	
10	Because things like lock contention can severely impact performance.
11	
12	- HOW
13	
14	Lockdep already has hooks in the lock functions and maps lock instances to
15	lock classes. We build on that. The graph below shows the relation between
16	the lock functions and the various hooks therein.
17	
18	        __acquire
19	            |
20	           lock _____
21	            |        \
22	            |    __contended
23	            |         |
24	            |       <wait>
25	            | _______/
26	            |/
27	            |
28	       __acquired
29	            |
30	            .
31	          <hold>
32	            .
33	            |
34	       __release
35	            |
36	         unlock
37	
38	lock, unlock	- the regular lock functions
39	__*		- the hooks
40	<> 		- states
41	
42	With these hooks we provide the following statistics:
43	
44	 con-bounces       - number of lock contention that involved x-cpu data
45	 contentions       - number of lock acquisitions that had to wait
46	 wait time min     - shortest (non-0) time we ever had to wait for a lock
47	           max     - longest time we ever had to wait for a lock
48	           total   - total time we spend waiting on this lock
49	 acq-bounces       - number of lock acquisitions that involved x-cpu data
50	 acquisitions      - number of times we took the lock
51	 hold time min     - shortest (non-0) time we ever held the lock
52	           max     - longest time we ever held the lock
53	           total   - total time this lock was held
54	
55	From these number various other statistics can be derived, such as:
56	
57	 hold time average = hold time total / acquisitions
58	
59	These numbers are gathered per lock class, per read/write state (when
60	applicable).
61	
62	It also tracks 4 contention points per class. A contention point is a call site
63	that had to wait on lock acquisition.
64	
65	 - USAGE
66	
67	Look at the current lock statistics:
68	
69	( line numbers not part of actual output, done for clarity in the explanation
70	  below )
71	
72	# less /proc/lock_stat
73	
74	01 lock_stat version 0.2
75	02 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
76	03                               class name    con-bounces    contentions   waittime-min   waittime-max waittime-total    acq-bounces   acquisitions   holdtime-min   holdtime-max holdtime-total
77	04 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
78	05
79	06               &inode->i_data.tree_lock-W:            15          21657           0.18     1093295.30 11547131054.85             58          10415           0.16          87.51        6387.60
80	07               &inode->i_data.tree_lock-R:             0              0           0.00           0.00           0.00          23302         231198           0.25           8.45       98023.38
81	08               --------------------------
82	09                 &inode->i_data.tree_lock              0          [<ffffffff8027c08f>] add_to_page_cache+0x5f/0x190
83	10
84	11 ...............................................................................................................................................................................................
85	12
86	13                              dcache_lock:          1037           1161           0.38          45.32         774.51           6611         243371           0.15         306.48       77387.24
87	14                              -----------
88	15                              dcache_lock            180          [<ffffffff802c0d7e>] sys_getcwd+0x11e/0x230
89	16                              dcache_lock            165          [<ffffffff802c002a>] d_alloc+0x15a/0x210
90	17                              dcache_lock             33          [<ffffffff8035818d>] _atomic_dec_and_lock+0x4d/0x70
91	18                              dcache_lock              1          [<ffffffff802beef8>] shrink_dcache_parent+0x18/0x130
92	
93	This excerpt shows the first two lock class statistics. Line 01 shows the
94	output version - each time the format changes this will be updated. Line 02-04
95	show the header with column descriptions. Lines 05-10 and 13-18 show the actual
96	statistics. These statistics come in two parts; the actual stats separated by a
97	short separator (line 08, 14) from the contention points.
98	
99	The first lock (05-10) is a read/write lock, and shows two lines above the
100	short separator. The contention points don't match the column descriptors,
101	they have two: contentions and [<IP>] symbol.
102	
103	
104	View the top contending locks:
105	
106	# grep : /proc/lock_stat | head
107	              &inode->i_data.tree_lock-W:            15          21657           0.18     1093295.30 11547131054.85             58          10415           0.16          87.51        6387.60
108	              &inode->i_data.tree_lock-R:             0              0           0.00           0.00           0.00          23302         231198           0.25           8.45       98023.38
109	                             dcache_lock:          1037           1161           0.38          45.32         774.51           6611         243371           0.15         306.48       77387.24
110	                         &inode->i_mutex:           161            286 18446744073709       62882.54     1244614.55           3653          20598 18446744073709       62318.60     1693822.74
111	                         &zone->lru_lock:            94             94           0.53           7.33          92.10           4366          32690           0.29          59.81       16350.06
112	              &inode->i_data.i_mmap_lock:            79             79           0.40           3.77          53.03          11779          87755           0.28         116.93       29898.44
113	                        &q->__queue_lock:            48             50           0.52          31.62          86.31            774          13131           0.17         113.08       12277.52
114	                        &rq->rq_lock_key:            43             47           0.74          68.50         170.63           3706          33929           0.22         107.99       17460.62
115	                      &rq->rq_lock_key#2:            39             46           0.75           6.68          49.03           2979          32292           0.17         125.17       17137.63
116	                         tasklist_lock-W:            15             15           1.45          10.87          32.70           1201           7390           0.58          62.55       13648.47
117	
118	Clear the statistics:
119	
120	# echo 0 > /proc/lock_stat
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