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Re: [Xen-devel] open/stat64 syscalls run faster on Xen VM than standard

To: Anthony Liguori <aliguori@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] open/stat64 syscalls run faster on Xen VM than standard Linux
From: xuehai zhang <hai@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 06:39:45 -0600
Cc: Kate Keahey <keahey@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Tim Freeman <tfreeman@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Xen Mailing List <xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Anthony Liguori wrote:
This may just be the difference between having the extra level of block caching from using a loop back device.

Try running the same benchmark on a domain that uses an actual partition. While the syscalls may appear to be faster, I imagine it's because the cost of pulling in a block has already been payed so the overall workload is unaffected.

I created a new domainU by using the physical partition instead of the loopback file as the backends of the VBDs and I reran the "strace -c /bin/sh -c /bin/echo foo" benchmark inside of the domU. The following are the results. Comparing with the results for domU with loopback files as VBDs I reported in the previous email (quoted below), the average time of open/stat64 syscalls are very similar, but still much smaller than the values for standard Linux. If the reason that open/stat64 run faster on domU with loopback files as VBDs is because of the extra level of block caching from using a loop back device, why open/stat64 still run similarily faster on domU with physical partition as VBDs when there is no extra level of block caching from using a loop back device?

XenLinux (physical partition as VBDs)

root@cctest1:~/c# strace -c /bin/sh -c /bin/echo foo
% time     seconds  usecs/call     calls    errors syscall
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
 39.56    0.001955        1955         1           write
 18.94    0.000936         936         1           execve
  7.65    0.000378          24        16           old_mmap
  7.57    0.000374          42         9         2 open
  6.27    0.000310          52         6           read
  5.10    0.000252          84         3           munmap
  4.92    0.000243           9        26           brk
  1.92    0.000095          14         7           close
  1.78    0.000088           8        11           rt_sigaction
  1.40    0.000069          10         7           fstat64
  1.01    0.000050           8         6           rt_sigprocmask
  0.93    0.000046          23         2           access
  0.79    0.000039          13         3           uname
  0.69    0.000034          17         2           stat64
  0.38    0.000019          19         1           ioctl
  0.16    0.000008           8         1           getppid
  0.16    0.000008           8         1           getpgrp
  0.14    0.000007           7         1           time
  0.14    0.000007           7         1           getuid32
  0.14    0.000007           7         1           getgid32
  0.12    0.000006           6         1           getpid
  0.12    0.000006           6         1           getegid32
  0.10    0.000005           5         1           geteuid32
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
100.00    0.004942                   109         2 total

Thanks.

Xuehai


xuehai zhang wrote:

Dear all,
When I debugged the execution performance of an application using strace, I found there are some system calls like open and stat64 which run faster on XenLinux than the standard Linux. The following is the output of running "strace -c /bin/sh -c /bin/echo foo" on both systems. An open call runs averagely 109 usec on standard Linux but only 41 usecs on XenLinux. An stat64 call runs
75 usecs on standard Linux but only 19 usecs on XenLinux.
The Xen VM runs on the same physical machine as the standard Linux. It uses loopback files in dom0 as the backends of VBDs.
Any insight is highly appreciated.
Thanks.
Xuehai

XenLinux:
# strace -c /bin/sh -c /bin/echo foo

% time     seconds  usecs/call     calls    errors syscall
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
 39.05    0.001972        1972         1           write
 19.35    0.000977         977         1           execve
  7.74    0.000391          24        16           old_mmap
  7.23    0.000365          41         9         2 open
  6.06    0.000306          51         6           read
  5.17    0.000261          10        26           brk
  4.93    0.000249          83         3           munmap
  1.98    0.000100          14         7           close
  1.90    0.000096           9        11           rt_sigaction
  1.52    0.000077          11         7           fstat64
  1.01    0.000051           9         6           rt_sigprocmask
  0.95    0.000048          24         2           access
  0.81    0.000041          14         3           uname
  0.75    0.000038          19         2           stat64
  0.38    0.000019          19         1           ioctl
  0.18    0.000009           9         1           time
  0.18    0.000009           9         1           getppid
  0.16    0.000008           8         1           getpgrp
  0.16    0.000008           8         1           getuid32
  0.14    0.000007           7         1           getgid32
  0.12    0.000006           6         1           getpid
  0.12    0.000006           6         1           geteuid32
  0.12    0.000006           6         1           getegid32
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
100.00    0.005050                   109         2 total


Standard Linux:
# strace -c /bin/sh -c /bin/echo foo

% time     seconds  usecs/call     calls    errors syscall
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
 22.90    0.000982         109         9         2 open
 22.85    0.000980         980         1           execve
 10.87    0.000466          29        16           old_mmap
 10.45    0.000448         448         1           write
  7.06    0.000303          51         6           read
  6.67    0.000286          10        30           brk
  3.61    0.000155          78         2           access
  3.50    0.000150          75         2           stat64
  2.91    0.000125          42         3           munmap
  2.24    0.000096          14         7           close
  2.12    0.000091          13         7           fstat64
  1.84    0.000079           7        11           rt_sigaction
  1.03    0.000044           7         6           rt_sigprocmask
  0.72    0.000031          10         3           uname
  0.19    0.000008           8         1           geteuid32
  0.16    0.000007           7         1           time
  0.16    0.000007           7         1           getppid
  0.16    0.000007           7         1           getpgrp
  0.16    0.000007           7         1           getuid32
  0.14    0.000006           6         1           getpid
  0.14    0.000006           6         1           getgid32
  0.12    0.000005           5         1           getegid32
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
100.00    0.004289                   112         2 total

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