Ubuntu Community · Those easily-missed type details in Ubuntu

717
Ubr/ubuntu·posted by alice_dev·1 hour agoDiscussion

Those easily-missed type details in Ubuntu

Short version: Ubuntu needs almost no tuning at small and medium scale — the point where it starts to hurt is much further out than most people assume. Full measurements below.

The first thing was to collapse the variables. We were changing config and upgrading the version at the same time, and afterwards nobody could say which change caused what. We rolled back to moving one variable at a time, re-ran three times, and only then did the curve settle. Tedious, but not skippable.

# Load test: do not jump straight to the max concurrency.
# Ramp it up, otherwise you miss the knee.
for c in 50 100 200 400 800; do
  wrk -t8 -c$c -d60s --latency http://127.0.0.1:8080/api/feed
  sleep 20
done

We also fixed monitoring along the way: replaced average-based alerts with percentiles and split them per endpoint. False alerts dropped by about seventy percent and the on-call rotation visibly cheered up.

On trade-offs, my view is this: if nobody on the team owns this area long-term, do not introduce a second mechanism. With two coexistence you first have to work out which one is even in play when things break, and that costs far more than the performance you saved.

One last trap: in container environments remember to adjust the memory-related parameters in step. Otherwise the host limit and the process expectation disagree, and the symptom is intermittent, unreproducible failure.

103 comments

103 comments

M
Lli_ming·2 days ago

One counter-example: below Ubuntu 7.4 the semantics of that code are different, so do not copy it verbatim. We got burned in staging and rolled back once.

476
Hhuang_ke·2 days ago

This matches what we see in production. We only hit it past 3k QPS; the earlier load tests showed nothing — the test traffic was too clean, with no long-tail requests.

331
Sslow_query·2 days ago

This matches what we see in production. We only hit it past 3k QPS; the earlier load tests showed nothing — the test traffic was too clean, with no long-tail requests.

472
Oops_wang·2 days ago

This matches what we see in production. We only hit it past 3k QPS; the earlier load tests showed nothing — the test traffic was too clean, with no long-tail requests.

471
Kkernel_panic·2 days ago

I just read the Ubuntu source — the author actually explains the reasoning in a comment, roughly "so that it degrades into predictable behaviour in extreme cases".

448
Wwinter·2 hours ago

Has anyone run a controlled experiment? I did, reducing it to a single variable, and the difference was 4% — within noise. So I suspect the main cause is something else.

492
Sslow_query·2 days ago

Saved. I am reworking this area this week — this saves a lot of wrong turns.

167
Mmike_xu·yesterday

Worth learning from this debugging approach. We went straight at the logs and took a much longer route.

164
Ddev_zhou·12 minutes ago

Agreeing with the above. One addition: with this option enabled the GC count in your metrics doubles, so adjust the alert threshold at the same time or it will keep firing.

1
Oops_wang·2 days ago

One counter-example: below Ubuntu 7.4 the semantics of that code are different, so do not copy it verbatim. We got burned in staging and rolled back once.

441
Zzhu_zong·28 minutes ago

A question: what changes in a container with a 512Mi memory limit? That is how we run it in production.

118
Oops_wang·5 hours ago

A question: what changes in a container with a 512Mi memory limit? That is how we run it in production.

287
Zzhu_zong·2 days agoLevel 6

Has anyone run a controlled experiment? I did, reducing it to a single variable, and the difference was 4% — within noise. So I suspect the main cause is something else.

1
Zzhu_zong·2 days ago

Thanks for sharing real numbers — far more useful than the articles that only cover concepts.

1
Bbob_chen·2 days ago

Agreeing with the above. One addition: with this option enabled the GC count in your metrics doubles, so adjust the alert threshold at the same time or it will keep firing.

47
Rran_bo·2 days ago

A question: what changes in a container with a 512Mi memory limit? That is how we run it in production.

407
Sslow_query·2 days ago

Can you give a minimal reproduction? I ran it locally for ten minutes and could not reproduce on macOS with the latest version.

401
Sswoole_lee·2 days ago

This is not a Ubuntu problem, it is a usage problem. The docs say this API is not thread-safe and you must lock around it yourself.

365
Rrase·2 days ago

There is actually a simpler fix that needs no architecture change: move this check up to the gateway and the problem disappears. The cost is one extra lookup at the gateway.

278
Sslow_query·2 days ago

Thanks for sharing real numbers — far more useful than the articles that only cover concepts.

261
Zzhou_yi·2 hours ago

One counter-example: below Ubuntu 7.4 the semantics of that code are different, so do not copy it verbatim. We got burned in staging and rolled back once.

24
Zzhu_zong·2 days ago

Worth learning from this debugging approach. We went straight at the logs and took a much longer route.

485
Ttang_haoOP·2 days ago

A question: what changes in a container with a 512Mi memory limit? That is how we run it in production.

195
Cchen_dev·2 days ago

Sharing our numbers, 8 cores 16GB, same scenario:

| Concurrency | P50 | P99 |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 12ms | 88ms |
| 500 | 31ms | 340ms |

P99 clearly collapses at 500 concurrency, which lines up with your knee point.

246
Zzhu_zong·3 minutes ago

This is not a Ubuntu problem, it is a usage problem. The docs say this API is not thread-safe and you must lock around it yourself.

239
Rrase·5 hours ago

There is actually a simpler fix that needs no architecture change: move this check up to the gateway and the problem disappears. The cost is one extra lookup at the gateway.

514
Zzhou_yi·2 hours ago

Sharing our numbers, 8 cores 16GB, same scenario:

| Concurrency | P50 | P99 |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 12ms | 88ms |
| 500 | 31ms | 340ms |

P99 clearly collapses at 500 concurrency, which lines up with your knee point.

211
Rran_bo·2 days ago

I see point 3 differently. The trade-off depends on your read/write ratio: read-heavy with little writing means caching actually widens the inconsistency window.

106
Ttang_hao·2 days ago

This is not a Ubuntu problem, it is a usage problem. The docs say this API is not thread-safe and you must lock around it yourself.

79
Oops_wang·2 days ago

Has anyone run a controlled experiment? I did, reducing it to a single variable, and the difference was 4% — within noise. So I suspect the main cause is something else.

40
Bbob_chen·2 days ago

Has anyone run a controlled experiment? I did, reducing it to a single variable, and the difference was 4% — within noise. So I suspect the main cause is something else.

216
Zzhou_yi·2 days ago

Saved. I am reworking this area this week — this saves a lot of wrong turns.

212
Wwinter·2 days ago

We have run this in production for two years without hitting it. That said, we never reached this scale, so our experience is not really evidence here.

210
Lli_ming·28 minutes ago

Saved. I am reworking this area this week — this saves a lot of wrong turns.

123
Zzhou_yi·2 days ago

Agreeing with the above. One addition: with this option enabled the GC count in your metrics doubles, so adjust the alert threshold at the same time or it will keep firing.

502
Lli_ming·2 days ago

Thanks for sharing real numbers — far more useful than the articles that only cover concepts.

323
Lli_ming·2 days ago

Thanks for sharing real numbers — far more useful than the articles that only cover concepts.

60
Zzhou_yi·2 days agoedited

Agreeing with the above. One addition: with this option enabled the GC count in your metrics doubles, so adjust the alert threshold at the same time or it will keep firing.

23
Kkite·2 days ago

Sharing our numbers, 8 cores 16GB, same scenario:

| Concurrency | P50 | P99 |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 12ms | 88ms |
| 500 | 31ms | 340ms |

P99 clearly collapses at 500 concurrency, which lines up with your knee point.

123
LlinlinOP·just now

Can you give a minimal reproduction? I ran it locally for ten minutes and could not reproduce on macOS with the latest version.

50
Aalice_dev·28 minutes ago

Has anyone run a controlled experiment? I did, reducing it to a single variable, and the difference was 4% — within noise. So I suspect the main cause is something else.

417
Cchen_dev·2 days agoedited

I just read the Ubuntu source — the author actually explains the reasoning in a comment, roughly "so that it degrades into predictable behaviour in extreme cases".

167
Oops_wang·2 days ago

This matches what we see in production. We only hit it past 3k QPS; the earlier load tests showed nothing — the test traffic was too clean, with no long-tail requests.

66
Kkernel_panic·2 days ago

I just read the Ubuntu source — the author actually explains the reasoning in a comment, roughly "so that it degrades into predictable behaviour in extreme cases".

279
Lli_ming·2 days ago

Can you give a minimal reproduction? I ran it locally for ten minutes and could not reproduce on macOS with the latest version.

516
Kkernel_panic·12 minutes agoLevel 6

This is not a Ubuntu problem, it is a usage problem. The docs say this API is not thread-safe and you must lock around it yourself.

417
Llinlin·2 days ago

Sharing our numbers, 8 cores 16GB, same scenario:

| Concurrency | P50 | P99 |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 12ms | 88ms |
| 500 | 31ms | 340ms |

P99 clearly collapses at 500 concurrency, which lines up with your knee point.

262
Ddev_zhouMod·2 days agoLevel 6

There is actually a simpler fix that needs no architecture change: move this check up to the gateway and the problem disappears. The cost is one extra lookup at the gateway.

48
Sslow_query·2 days agoLevel 6

Thanks for sharing real numbers — far more useful than the articles that only cover concepts.

8
Cchen_dev·2 days agoLevel 6

Agreeing with the above. One addition: with this option enabled the GC count in your metrics doubles, so adjust the alert threshold at the same time or it will keep firing.

1
Rran_boMod·3 minutes ago

A question: what changes in a container with a 512Mi memory limit? That is how we run it in production.

304
KkiteMod·2 days ago

This matches what we see in production. We only hit it past 3k QPS; the earlier load tests showed nothing — the test traffic was too clean, with no long-tail requests.

106
Ddev_zhou·3 minutes ago

We have run this in production for two years without hitting it. That said, we never reached this scale, so our experience is not really evidence here.

100
Aalice_dev·2 days ago

Saved. I am reworking this area this week — this saves a lot of wrong turns.

100
Cchen_devOP·2 days ago

I just read the Ubuntu source — the author actually explains the reasoning in a comment, roughly "so that it degrades into predictable behaviour in extreme cases".

39
Zzhou_yi·2 days ago

I just read the Ubuntu source — the author actually explains the reasoning in a comment, roughly "so that it degrades into predictable behaviour in extreme cases".

302
Kkite·2 days ago

I just read the Ubuntu source — the author actually explains the reasoning in a comment, roughly "so that it degrades into predictable behaviour in extreme cases".

58
Aalice_dev·28 minutes ago

One counter-example: below Ubuntu 7.4 the semantics of that code are different, so do not copy it verbatim. We got burned in staging and rolled back once.

281
Mmike_xu·2 days ago

Worth learning from this debugging approach. We went straight at the logs and took a much longer route.

185
Ttang_hao·2 days ago

Thanks for sharing real numbers — far more useful than the articles that only cover concepts.

97
Rrase·just now

We have run this in production for two years without hitting it. That said, we never reached this scale, so our experience is not really evidence here.

95
Zzhou_yi·2 days ago

Can you give a minimal reproduction? I ran it locally for ten minutes and could not reproduce on macOS with the latest version.

167
Sslow_query·2 days ago

Has anyone run a controlled experiment? I did, reducing it to a single variable, and the difference was 4% — within noise. So I suspect the main cause is something else.

507
Bbob_chen·28 minutes ago

Saved. I am reworking this area this week — this saves a lot of wrong turns.

4
Sswoole_leeOP·2 days ago

Agreeing with the above. One addition: with this option enabled the GC count in your metrics doubles, so adjust the alert threshold at the same time or it will keep firing.

205
Lli_mingMod·2 days ago

Sharing our numbers, 8 cores 16GB, same scenario:

| Concurrency | P50 | P99 |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 12ms | 88ms |
| 500 | 31ms | 340ms |

P99 clearly collapses at 500 concurrency, which lines up with your knee point.

2
Cchen_dev·2 days ago

Has anyone run a controlled experiment? I did, reducing it to a single variable, and the difference was 4% — within noise. So I suspect the main cause is something else.

87
Aalice_dev·2 days ago

We have run this in production for two years without hitting it. That said, we never reached this scale, so our experience is not really evidence here.

68
Zzhou_yi·2 days ago

Saved. I am reworking this area this week — this saves a lot of wrong turns.

44
Sslow_query·2 days agoedited

I see point 3 differently. The trade-off depends on your read/write ratio: read-heavy with little writing means caching actually widens the inconsistency window.

42
Ddev_zhou·2 days agoedited

Can you give a minimal reproduction? I ran it locally for ten minutes and could not reproduce on macOS with the latest version.

24
Zzhou_yi·5 hours ago

Thanks for sharing real numbers — far more useful than the articles that only cover concepts.

22
Lli_ming·5 hours agoedited

I see point 3 differently. The trade-off depends on your read/write ratio: read-heavy with little writing means caching actually widens the inconsistency window.

258
Ddev_zhou·5 hours ago

Agreeing with the above. One addition: with this option enabled the GC count in your metrics doubles, so adjust the alert threshold at the same time or it will keep firing.

78
Lli_ming·28 minutes ago

This is not a Ubuntu problem, it is a usage problem. The docs say this API is not thread-safe and you must lock around it yourself.

405
Rrase·2 days ago

Worth learning from this debugging approach. We went straight at the logs and took a much longer route.

321
Ddev_zhou·2 days ago

Sharing our numbers, 8 cores 16GB, same scenario:

| Concurrency | P50 | P99 |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 12ms | 88ms |
| 500 | 31ms | 340ms |

P99 clearly collapses at 500 concurrency, which lines up with your knee point.

208
Rrase·2 days agoedited

This is not a Ubuntu problem, it is a usage problem. The docs say this API is not thread-safe and you must lock around it yourself.

22
Kkite·12 minutes agoedited

This matches what we see in production. We only hit it past 3k QPS; the earlier load tests showed nothing — the test traffic was too clean, with no long-tail requests.

15
Ttang_haoMod·just now

Worth learning from this debugging approach. We went straight at the logs and took a much longer route.

14
Oops_wang·yesterday

There is actually a simpler fix that needs no architecture change: move this check up to the gateway and the problem disappears. The cost is one extra lookup at the gateway.

147
Lli_ming·1 hour ago

I see point 3 differently. The trade-off depends on your read/write ratio: read-heavy with little writing means caching actually widens the inconsistency window.

451
Kkite·2 days ago

Saved. I am reworking this area this week — this saves a lot of wrong turns.

418
Ddev_zhou·2 days ago

I just read the Ubuntu source — the author actually explains the reasoning in a comment, roughly "so that it degrades into predictable behaviour in extreme cases".

86
Ttang_hao·2 days ago

I see point 3 differently. The trade-off depends on your read/write ratio: read-heavy with little writing means caching actually widens the inconsistency window.

112
Zzhu_zongOP·2 days ago

We have run this in production for two years without hitting it. That said, we never reached this scale, so our experience is not really evidence here.

319
Zzhou_yi·1 hour ago

I see point 3 differently. The trade-off depends on your read/write ratio: read-heavy with little writing means caching actually widens the inconsistency window.

41
Bbob_chen·2 days ago

Worth learning from this debugging approach. We went straight at the logs and took a much longer route.

8
Cchen_dev·2 days ago

One counter-example: below Ubuntu 7.4 the semantics of that code are different, so do not copy it verbatim. We got burned in staging and rolled back once.

291
Nnikic·2 days ago

A question: what changes in a container with a 512Mi memory limit? That is how we run it in production.

1
Zzhu_zong·1 hour ago

This is not a Ubuntu problem, it is a usage problem. The docs say this API is not thread-safe and you must lock around it yourself.

7
Oops_wang·2 days ago

Worth learning from this debugging approach. We went straight at the logs and took a much longer route.

12
Kkite·2 days agoLevel 6

Can you give a minimal reproduction? I ran it locally for ten minutes and could not reproduce on macOS with the latest version.

361
LlinlinOP·2 days agoLevel 6

One counter-example: below Ubuntu 7.4 the semantics of that code are different, so do not copy it verbatim. We got burned in staging and rolled back once.

286
Hhuang_ke·2 days agoLevel 6

A question: what changes in a container with a 512Mi memory limit? That is how we run it in production.

157
Sslow_queryMod·2 days agoedited

Sharing our numbers, 8 cores 16GB, same scenario:

| Concurrency | P50 | P99 |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 12ms | 88ms |
| 500 | 31ms | 340ms |

P99 clearly collapses at 500 concurrency, which lines up with your knee point.

234
NnikicMod·3 minutes ago

One counter-example: below Ubuntu 7.4 the semantics of that code are different, so do not copy it verbatim. We got burned in staging and rolled back once.

12
Sswoole_lee·2 days ago

We have run this in production for two years without hitting it. That said, we never reached this scale, so our experience is not really evidence here.

11
Zzhu_zong·12 minutes ago

We have run this in production for two years without hitting it. That said, we never reached this scale, so our experience is not really evidence here.

7
Bbob_chen·2 days ago

There is actually a simpler fix that needs no architecture change: move this check up to the gateway and the problem disappears. The cost is one extra lookup at the gateway.

6
Bbob_chen·28 minutes ago

I see point 3 differently. The trade-off depends on your read/write ratio: read-heavy with little writing means caching actually widens the inconsistency window.

3
Lli_ming·2 days ago

There is actually a simpler fix that needs no architecture change: move this check up to the gateway and the problem disappears. The cost is one extra lookup at the gateway.

23
Rrase·2 days ago

There is actually a simpler fix that needs no architecture change: move this check up to the gateway and the problem disappears. The cost is one extra lookup at the gateway.

2

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