RFR(XL): 8203469: Faster safepoints

Robbin Ehn robbin.ehn at oracle.com
Wed Jan 23 11:53:28 UTC 2019


Hi Dan,

> 
>      L755:   // To handle the thread_blocked state on the backedge of the 
> WaitBarrier from
>      L756:   // previous safepoint and reading the resetted 
> (0/InactiveSafepointCounter) we
>      L757:   // re-read state after we read thread safepoint id. The JavaThread 
> changes it
>      L758:   // state before resetting, the second read will either see a 
> different thread
>      L759:   // state making this an unsafe state or it can see blocked again.
>      L760:   // When we see blocked twice with a 0 safepoint id, either:
>      L761:   // - It is normally blocked, e.g. on Mutex, TBIVM.
>      L762:   // - It was in SS:block(), looped around to SS:block() and is 
> blocked on the WaitBarrier.
>      L763:   // - It was in SS:block() but now on a Mutex.
>      L764:   // Either case safe.
>          Please consider these minor tweaks:
> 
>             // To handle the thread_blocked state on the backedge of the 
> WaitBarrier from a
>             // previous safepoint and reading the possibly reset 
> (0/InactiveSafepointCounter)
>             // id, re-read state after we read thread safepoint id. If the 
> JavaThread changes
>             // its state before resetting, the second read will either see a 
> different thread
>             // state making this an unsafe state or it can see blocked again.
>             // When we see blocked twice with a 0 safepoint id, this means:
>             // - It is normally blocked, e.g., on Mutex, TBIVM.
>             // - It was in SS:block(), looped around to SS:block() and is 
> blocked on the WaitBarrier.
>             // - It was in SS:block() but now on a Mutex.
>             // All of these cases are safe.
> 

I did change the text a bit here, hope you like it.
All other fixed.

> 
> Thanks for persisting with this work. Thumbs up! All of my comments
> in this round are editorial. I don't need to see another webrev if
> you choose to make the above changes.

Thanks!

v03 to RFR mail.

/Robbin

> 
> Dan
> 
> 
>> http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~rehn/8203469/v02/inc/
>>
>> Patricio had some good questions about try_stable_load_state.
>> In previous internal versions I have done the stable load by loading thread 
>> state before and after safepoint id. For some reason I changed during a
>> refactoring to the reverse, which is incorrect. Consider the following:
>>
>> JavaThread: state / safepoint id / poll |VMThread: global state / safepoint 
>> counter / WaitBarrier
>> ########################################|################################
>> _thread_in_native       / 0 / disarmed  | _not_synchronized / 0 / disarmed
>>                                         | _not_synchronized / 0 / armed(1)
>>                                         | _not_synchronized / 1 / armed(1)
>>                                         | _synchronizing    / 1 / armed(1)
>> _thread_in_native       / 0 / armed     |
>>                                         | <LOAD JavaThread safepoint id:0>
>>                                         | <LOAD JavaThread thread state 
>> id:_thread_in_native>
>>                                         | <LOAD JavaThread safepoint id:0>
>>                                         | _synchonized      / 1 / armed(1)
>> <JavaThread transistion to VM>          |
>> _thread_in_native_trans / 0 / armed     |
>> <LOAD safepoint counter(1)>             |
>> <JavaThread goes off-proc>              |
>>                                         | _not_synchonized  / 1 / armed(1)
>>                                         | _not_synchonized  / 2 / armed(1)
>> _thread_in_native_trans / 0 / disarmed  |
>>                                         | _not_synchonized  / 2 / disarmed
>> Next safepoint starts:
>>                                         | _not_synchronized / 2 / armed(3)
>>                                         | _not_synchronized / 3 / armed(3)
>>                                         | _synchronizing    / 3 / armed(3)
>> _thread_in_native_trans / 0 / armed     |
>>                                         | <LOAD JavaThread safepoint id:0>
>> <JavaThread goes on-proc>               |
>> <STORE loaded safepoint counter(1)>     |
>> _thread_in_native_trans / 1 / armed     |
>> _thread_blocked         / 1 / armed     |
>> <WaitBarrier not armed for 1>           |
>>                                         | <LOAD JavaThread thread state 
>> id:_thread_blocked>
>> _thread_in_native_trans / 1 / armed     |
>> _thread_in_native_trans / 0 / armed     |
>>                                         | <LOAD JavaThread safepoint id:0>
>>
>> A false positive is read.
>>
>> When do it the correct the safe matrix looks like:
>> State load 1      | Safepoint id | State load 2     | Result
>> ##################|##############|##################|#######
>> any               | !0/current   | any              | treat all as unsafe
>> any               | any          | !state1          | treat all as unsafe
>> any               | 0/current    | state1           | suspend flag is safe
>> thread_in_native  | 0/current    | thread_in_native | safe
>> thread_in_blocked | 0/current    | thread_in_blocked| safe
>> !thread_in_blocked
>> &&
>> !thread_in_native | 0/current    | state1           | unsafe
>>
>> The case with blocked/0/blocked I added this comment for:
>>
>>  755   // To handle the thread_blocked state on the backedge of the 
>> WaitBarrier from
>>  756   // previous safepoint and reading the resetted 
>> (0/InactiveSafepointCounter) we
>>  757   // re-read state after we read thread safepoint id. The JavaThread 
>> changes it
>>  758   // state before resetting, the second read will either see a different 
>> thread
>>  759   // state making this an unsafe state or it can see blocked again.
>>  760   // When we see blocked twice with a 0 safepoint id, either:
>>  761   // - It is normally blocked, e.g. on Mutex, TBIVM.
>>  762   // - It was in SS:block(), looped around to SS:block() and is blocked 
>> on the WaitBarrier.
>>  763   // - It was in SS:block() but now on a Mutex.
>>  764   // Either case safe.
>>
>> I hope above explains why loading state before and after safepoint id is
>> sufficient.
>>
>> Passes, with flying colors, t1-5, stress test, KS 24h stress.
>>
>> Thanks, Robbin
>>
>> On 1/15/19 11:39 AM, Robbin Ehn wrote:
>>> Hi all, please review.
>>>
>>> Bug: https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8203469
>>> Code: http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~rehn/8203469/v00/webrev/
>>>
>>> Thanks to Dan for pre-reviewing a lot!
>>>
>>> Background:
>>> ZGC often does very short safepoint operations. For a perspective, in a
>>> specJBB2015 run, G1 can have young collection stops lasting about 170 ms. While
>>> in the same setup ZGC does 0.2ms to 1.5 ms operations depending on which
>>> operation it is. The time it takes to stop and start the JavaThreads is relative
>>> very large to a ZGC safepoint. With an operation that just takes 0.2ms the
>>> overhead of stopping and starting JavaThreads is several times the operation.
>>>
>>> High-level functionality change:
>>> Serializing the starting over Threads_lock takes time.
>>> - Don't wait on Threads_lock use the WaitBarrier.
>>> Serializing the stopping over Safepoint_lock takes time.
>>> - Let threads stop in parallel, remove Safepoint_lock.
>>>
>>> Details:
>>> JavaThreads have 2 abstract logical states: unsafe or safe.
>>> - Safe means the JavaThread will not touch Java heap or VM internal structures
>>>    without doing a transition and block before doing so.
>>>          - The safe states are:
>>>                  - When polls armed: _thread_in_native and _thread_blocked.
>>>                  - When Threads_lock is held: externally suspended flag is set.
>>>          - VM Thread have polls armed and holds the Threads_lock during a
>>>            safepoint.
>>> - Unsafe means that either Java heap or VM internal structures can be accessed
>>>    by the JavaThread, e.g., _thread_in_Java, _thread_in_vm.
>>>          - All combination that are not safe are unsafe.
>>>
>>> We cannot start a safepoint until all unsafe threads have transitioned to a safe
>>> state. To make them safe, we arm polls in compiled code and make sure any
>>> transition to another unsafe state will be blocked. JavaThreads which are unsafe
>>> with state _thread_in_Java may transition to _thread_in_native without being
>>> blocked, since it just became a safe thread and we can proceed. Any safe thread
>>> may try to transition at any time to an unsafe state, thus coming into the
>>> safepoint blocking code at any moment, e.g., after the safepoint is over, or
>>> even at the beginning of next safepoint.
>>>
>>> The VMThread cannot tolerate false positives from the JavaThread thread state
>>> because that would mean starting the safepoint without all JavaThreads being
>>> safe. The two locks (Threads_lock and Safepoint_lock) make sure we never observe
>>> false positives from the safepoint blocking code, if we remove them, how do we
>>> handle false positives?
>>>
>>> By first publishing which barrier tag (safepoint counter) we will call
>>> WaitBarrier.wait() with as the threads safepoint id and then change the state to
>>> _thread_blocked, the VMThread can ignore JavaThreads by doing a stable load of
>>> the state. A stable load of the thread state is successful if the thread
>>> safepoint id is the same both before and after the load of the state and
>>> safepoint id is current or InactiveSafepointCounter. If the stable load fails,
>>> the thread is considered safepoint unsafe. It's no longer enough that thread is
>>> have state _thread_blocked it must also have correct safepoint id before and
>>> after we read the state.
>>>
>>> Performance:
>>> The result of faster safepoints is that the average CPU time for JavaThreads
>>> between safepoints is higher, thus increasing the allocation rate. The thread
>>> that stops first waits shorter time until it gets started. Even the thread that
>>> stops last also have shorter stop since we start them faster. If your
>>> application is using a concurrent GC it may need re-tunning since each java
>>> worker thread have an increased CPU time/allocation rate. Often this means max
>>> performance is achieved using slightly less java worker threads than before.
>>> Also the increase allocation rate means shorter time between GC safepoints.
>>> - If you are using a non-concurrent GC, you should see improved latency and
>>>    throughput.
>>> - After re-tunning with a concurrent GC throughput should be equal or better but
>>>    with better latency. But bear in mind this is a latency patch, not a
>>>    throughput one.
>>> With current code a java thread is not to guarantee to run between safepoint (in
>>> theory a java thread can be starved indefinitely), since the VM thread may
>>> re-grab the Threads_locks before it woke up from previous safepoint. If the
>>> GC/VM don't respect MMU (minimum mutator utilization) or if your machine is very
>>> over-provisioned this can happen.
>>> The current schema thus re-safepoint quickly if the java threads have not
>>> started yet at the cost of latency. Since the new code uses the WaitBarrier with
>>> the safepoint counter, all threads must roll forward to next safepoint by
>>> getting at least some CPU time between two safepoints. Meaning MMU violations
>>> are more obvious.
>>>
>>> Some examples on numbers:
>>> - On a 16 strand machine synchronization and un-synchronization/starting is at
>>>    least 3x faster (in non-trivial test). Synchronization ~600 -> ~100us and
>>>    starting ~400->~100us.
>>>    (Semaphore path is a bit slower than futex in the WaitBarrier on Linux).
>>> - SPECjvm2008 serial (untuned G1) gives 10x (1 ms vs 100 us) faster
>>>    synchronization time on 16 strands and ~5% score increase. In this case 
>>> the GC
>>>    op is 1ms, so we reduce the overhead of synchronization from 100% to 10%.
>>> - specJBB2015 ParGC ~9% increase in critical-jops.
>>>
>>> Thanks, Robbin
> 


More information about the hotspot-dev mailing list