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Bug#876035: linux: i386: i/o with PAE kernels and > 8GB ram



Source: linux
Severity: important
Version: 4.2
Tags: upstream
Control: affects -1 jenkins.debian.org
Control: block 875990 by -1

It seems that since linux 4.2, PAE systems suffer from severe i/o write
performance issues on systems with more than 8GB of ram. The bug was
probably there all along, but recent changes in the kernel made the
impacts more obvious...

  https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=196157
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-hwe/+bug/1698118


A detailed description of the issue:

  http://flaterco.com/kb/PAE_slowdown.html


This can be seen on the reproducible builds i386 nodes, after upgrading
to stretch late june/early july 2017, there was a huge spike in iowait:

  https://jenkins.debian.net/munin/debian.net/profitbricks-build2-i386.debian.net/cpu.html
  https://jenkins.debian.net/munin/debian.net/profitbricks-build12-i386.debian.net/cpu.html


Switching to an amd64 kernel for hardware that supports it is an option
in many cases, though at least for reproducible builds purposes, doesn't
test reproducibility issues case by 32-bit vs. 64-bit kernel variations.


live well,
  vagrant

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