I have a proxy server with "loaded" squid. On some moment i did sync, and expecting it to finish in reasonable time. Waited more than 30 minutes, still "sync". Can be reproduced easily. Here is some stats and info: Linux SUPERPROXY 2.6.33.1-build-0051 #16 SMP Wed Mar 31 17:23:28 EEST 2010 i686 GNU/Linux SUPERPROXY ~ # iostat -k -x -d 30 Linux 2.6.33.1-build-0051 (SUPERPROXY) 03/31/10 _i686_ (4 CPU) Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rkB/s wkB/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util sda 0.16 0.01 0.08 0.03 3.62 1.33 88.94 0.15 1389.89 59.15 0.66 sdb 4.14 61.25 6.22 25.55 44.52 347.21 24.66 2.24 70.60 2.36 7.49 sdc 4.37 421.28 9.95 98.31 318.27 2081.95 44.34 20.93 193.21 2.31 24.96 sdd 2.34 339.90 3.97 117.47 95.48 1829.52 31.70 1.73 14.23 8.09 98.20 sde 2.29 71.40 2.34 27.97 22.56 397.81 27.74 2.34 77.34 1.66 5.04 dm-0 0.00 0.00 0.19 0.02 3.48 0.02 32.96 0.05 252.11 28.05 0.60 Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rkB/s wkB/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util sda 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sdb 0.00 54.67 2.93 26.87 12.27 326.13 22.71 2.19 73.49 1.91 5.68 sdc 0.00 420.50 3.43 110.53 126.40 2127.73 39.56 23.82 209.00 2.06 23.44 sdd 0.00 319.63 2.30 122.03 121.87 1765.87 30.37 1.72 13.83 7.99 99.37 sde 0.00 71.67 0.83 30.63 6.93 409.33 26.46 2.66 84.68 1.51 4.76 dm-0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 CPU: 8.4% usr 7.7% sys 0.0% nic 50.7% idle 27.7% io 0.6% irq 4.7% sirq Load average: 5.57 4.82 4.46 2/243 2032 PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %MEM CPU %CPU COMMAND 1769 1552 squid R 668m 8.3 3 11.7 /usr/sbin/squid -N 1546 1545 root R 10800 0.1 2 6.0 /config/globax /config/globax.conf 1549 1548 root S 43264 0.5 2 1.5 /config/globax /config/globax- dld.conf 1531 2 root DW 0 0.0 0 0.3 [jbd2/sdd1-8] 1418 1 root S 2500 0.0 3 0.0 /sbin/syslogd -R 80.83.17.2 1524 2 root SW 0 0.0 0 0.0 [flush-8:32] 1525 2 root SW 0 0.0 1 0.0 [jbd2/sdc1-8] 1604 2 root DW 0 0.0 0 0.0 [flush-8:48] 1537 2 root SW 0 0.0 1 0.0 [jbd2/sde1-8] 18 2 root SW 0 0.0 3 0.0 [events/3] 1545 1 root S 3576 0.0 1 0.0 /config/globax /config/globax.conf 1548 1 root S 3576 0.0 0 0.0 /config/globax /config/globax- dld.conf 1918 1 ntp S 3316 0.0 3 0.0 /usr/sbin/ntpd -s 1919 1 root S 3268 0.0 3 0.0 /usr/sbin/ntpd -s 1 0 root S 2504 0.0 0 0.0 /bin/sh /init trynew trynew trynew trynew 1923 1257 root S 2504 0.0 1 0.0 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1 1924 1257 root S 2504 0.0 0 0.0 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2 1927 1257 root S 2504 0.0 0 0.0 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3 2015 2014 root S 2504 0.0 1 0.0 -ash 2032 2015 root R 2504 0.0 3 0.0 top 1584 1 root S 2500 0.0 1 0.0 /usr/bin/ifplugd -i eth0 -a -r /etc/startup/rc.ifup -t 1 -u 1 -d 1 1592 1 root S 2500 0.0 1 0.0 /usr/bin/ifplugd -i eth2 -a -r /etc/startup/rc.ifup -t 1 -u 1 -d 1 1587 1 root S 2500 0.0 1 0.0 /usr/bin/ifplugd -i eth1 -a -r /etc/startup/rc.ifup -t 1 -u 1 -d 1 1595 1 root S 2500 0.0 1 0.0 /usr/bin/ifplugd -i eth3 -a -r /etc/startup/rc.ifup -t 1 -u 1 -d 1 1257 1 root S 2500 0.0 0 0.0 init 1420 1 root S 2500 0.0 1 0.0 /sbin/klogd 1432 1 root S 2500 0.0 3 0.0 /usr/sbin/telnetd -f /etc/issue.telnet 1552 1 root S 2500 0.0 1 0.0 /bin/sh /bin/squidloop 1743 1742 root S 2500 0.0 3 0.0 ash -c gs newkernel 1744 1743 root S 2500 0.0 0 0.0 /bin/sh /bin/gs newkernel 1753 1744 root D 2368 0.0 0 0.0 sync SUPERPROXY ~ # cat /proc/1753/stack [<c019a93c>] bdi_sched_wait+0x8/0xc [<c019a807>] wait_on_bit+0x20/0x2c [<c019a9af>] sync_inodes_sb+0x6f/0x10a [<c019dd53>] __sync_filesystem+0x28/0x49 [<c019ddf3>] sync_filesystems+0x7f/0xc0 [<c019de7a>] sys_sync+0x1b/0x2d [<c02f7a25>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb [<ffffffff>] 0xffffffff SUPERPROXY ~ # cat /proc/1753/status Name: sync State: D (disk sleep) Tgid: 1753 Pid: 1753 PPid: 1744 TracerPid: 0 Uid: 0 0 0 0 Gid: 0 0 0 0 FDSize: 32 Groups: 0 VmPeak: 2368 kB VmSize: 2368 kB VmLck: 0 kB VmHWM: 408 kB VmRSS: 408 kB VmData: 192 kB VmStk: 84 kB VmExe: 488 kB VmLib: 1540 kB VmPTE: 12 kB Threads: 1 SigQ: 2/127824 SigPnd: 0000000000000000 ShdPnd: 0000000000000000 SigBlk: 0000000000000000 SigIgn: 0000000000000000 SigCgt: 0000000000000000 CapInh: 0000000000000000 CapPrm: ffffffffffffffff CapEff: ffffffffffffffff CapBnd: ffffffffffffffff Cpus_allowed: f Cpus_allowed_list: 0-3 Mems_allowed: 1 Mems_allowed_list: 0 voluntary_ctxt_switches: 124 nonvoluntary_ctxt_switches: 2 SUPERPROXY ~ # cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 8186788 kB MemFree: 3758908 kB Buffers: 373656 kB Cached: 3122824 kB SwapCached: 0 kB Active: 1851000 kB Inactive: 2152916 kB Active(anon): 446516 kB Inactive(anon): 63140 kB Active(file): 1404484 kB Inactive(file): 2089776 kB Unevictable: 2152 kB Mlocked: 0 kB HighTotal: 7346120 kB HighFree: 3720868 kB LowTotal: 840668 kB LowFree: 38040 kB SwapTotal: 0 kB SwapFree: 0 kB Dirty: 109540 kB Writeback: 1036 kB AnonPages: 509648 kB Mapped: 2320 kB Shmem: 8 kB Slab: 263512 kB SReclaimable: 129176 kB SUnreclaim: 134336 kB KernelStack: 980 kB PageTables: 1460 kB NFS_Unstable: 0 kB Bounce: 0 kB WritebackTmp: 0 kB CommitLimit: 4093392 kB Committed_AS: 746808 kB VmallocTotal: 122880 kB VmallocUsed: 2860 kB VmallocChunk: 113308 kB DirectMap4k: 4088 kB DirectMap2M: 907264 kB "Tuning" (that probably is wrong?) SCHED="cfq" echo ${SCHED} >/sys/block/sdb/queue/scheduler echo ${SCHED} >/sys/block/sdc/queue/scheduler echo ${SCHED} >/sys/block/sdd/queue/scheduler echo ${SCHED} >/sys/block/sde/queue/scheduler echo ${SCHED} >/sys/block/sdf/queue/scheduler echo 0 >/sys/block/sdb/queue/iosched/low_latency echo 0 >/sys/block/sdc/queue/iosched/low_latency echo 0 >/sys/block/sdd/queue/iosched/low_latency echo 0 >/sys/block/sde/queue/iosched/low_latency echo 0 >/sys/block/sdf/queue/iosched/low_latency echo 128 >/sys/block/sdb/queue/iosched/quantum echo 128 >/sys/block/sdc/queue/iosched/quantum echo 128 >/sys/block/sdd/queue/iosched/quantum echo 128 >/sys/block/sde/queue/iosched/quantum echo 128 >/sys/block/sdf/queue/iosched/quantum sysctl -w vm.dirty_background_bytes=600000000 sysctl -w vm.dirty_bytes=800000000 rootfs on / type rootfs (rw) proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime) sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime) none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600) none on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,relatime) /dev/mapper/root on /mnt/flash type ext3 (rw,noatime,errors=continue,data=writeback) /dev/loop0 on /lib/modules/2.6.33.1-build-0051 type squashfs (ro,relatime) none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,relatime) /dev/sdb2 on /cache1 type ext4 (rw,noatime,nodiratime,barrier=0,journal_async_commit,nobh,data=writeback) /dev/sdc1 on /cache2 type ext4 (rw,noatime,nodiratime,barrier=0,journal_async_commit,nobh,data=writeback) /dev/sdd1 on /cache3 type ext4 (rw,noatime,nodiratime,barrier=0,journal_async_commit,nobh,data=writeback) /dev/sde1 on /cache4 type ext4 (rw,noatime,nodiratime,barrier=0,journal_async_commit,nobh,data=writeback) /dev/sda1 on /mnt/boot type ext2 (rw,relatime,errors=continue) -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-fsdevel" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html