pageserver: option to run with just one tokio runtime (#7331)

This PR is an off-by-default revision v2 of the (since-reverted) PR
#6555 / commit `3220f830b7fbb785d6db8a93775f46314f10a99b`.

See that PR for details on why running with a single runtime is
desirable and why we should be ready.

We reverted #6555 because it showed regressions in prodlike cloudbench,
see the revert commit message `ad072de4209193fd21314cf7f03f14df4fa55eb1`
for more context.

This PR makes it an opt-in choice via an env var.

The default is to use the 4 separate runtimes that we have today, there
shouldn't be any performance change.

I tested manually that the env var & added metric works.

```
# undefined env var => no change to before this PR, uses 4 runtimes
./target/debug/neon_local start
# defining the env var enables one-runtime mode, value defines that one runtime's configuration
NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME=current_thread ./target/debug/neon_local start
NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME=multi_thread:1 ./target/debug/neon_local start
NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME=multi_thread:2 ./target/debug/neon_local start
NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME=multi_thread:default ./target/debug/neon_local start

```

I want to use this change to do more manualy testing and potentially
testing in staging.

Future Work
-----------

Testing / deployment ergonomics would be better if this were a variable
in `pageserver.toml`.
It can be done, but, I don't need it right now, so let's stick with the
env var.

control_plane/src/background_process.rs

@@ -86,7 +86,10 @@ where
         .stdout(process_log_file)
         .stderr(same_file_for_stderr)
         .args(args);
-    let filled_cmd = fill_remote_storage_secrets_vars(fill_rust_env_vars(background_command));
+
+    let filled_cmd = fill_env_vars_prefixed_neon(fill_remote_storage_secrets_vars(
+        fill_rust_env_vars(background_command),
+    ));
     filled_cmd.envs(envs);
 
     let pid_file_to_check = match &initial_pid_file {
@@ -268,6 +271,15 @@ fn fill_remote_storage_secrets_vars(mut cmd: &mut Command) -> &mut Command {
     cmd
 }
 
+fn fill_env_vars_prefixed_neon(mut cmd: &mut Command) -> &mut Command {
+    for (var, val) in std::env::vars() {
+        if var.starts_with("NEON_PAGESERVER_") {
+            cmd = cmd.env(var, val);
+        }
+    }
+    cmd
+}
+
 /// Add a `pre_exec` to the cmd that, inbetween fork() and exec(),
 /// 1. Claims a pidfile with a fcntl lock on it and
 /// 2. Sets up the pidfile's file descriptor so that it (and the lock)

libs/utils/src/env.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+//! Wrapper around `std::env::var` for parsing environment variables.
+
+use std::{fmt::Display, str::FromStr};
+
+pub fn var<V, E>(varname: &str) -> Option<V>
+where
+    V: FromStr<Err = E>,
+    E: Display,
+{
+    match std::env::var(varname) {
+        Ok(s) => Some(
+            s.parse()
+                .map_err(|e| format!("failed to parse env var {varname}: {e:#}"))
+                .unwrap(),
+        ),
+        Err(std::env::VarError::NotPresent) => None,
+        Err(std::env::VarError::NotUnicode(_)) => {
+            panic!("env var {varname} is not unicode")
+        }
+    }
+}

libs/utils/src/lib.rs

@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ pub mod yielding_loop;
 
 pub mod zstd;
 
+pub mod env;
+
 /// This is a shortcut to embed git sha into binaries and avoid copying the same build script to all packages
 ///
 /// we have several cases:

pageserver/src/metrics.rs

@@ -2100,6 +2100,7 @@ pub(crate) fn remove_tenant_metrics(tenant_shard_id: &TenantShardId) {
 use futures::Future;
 use pin_project_lite::pin_project;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
+use std::num::NonZeroUsize;
 use std::pin::Pin;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use std::task::{Context, Poll};
@@ -2669,6 +2670,26 @@ pub(crate) mod disk_usage_based_eviction {
     pub(crate) static METRICS: Lazy<Metrics> = Lazy::new(Metrics::default);
 }
 
+static TOKIO_EXECUTOR_THREAD_COUNT: Lazy<UIntGaugeVec> = Lazy::new(|| {
+    register_uint_gauge_vec!(
+        "pageserver_tokio_executor_thread_configured_count",
+        "Total number of configued tokio executor threads in the process.
+         The `setup` label denotes whether we're running with multiple runtimes or a single runtime.",
+        &["setup"],
+    )
+    .unwrap()
+});
+
+pub(crate) fn set_tokio_runtime_setup(setup: &str, num_threads: NonZeroUsize) {
+    static SERIALIZE: std::sync::Mutex<()> = std::sync::Mutex::new(());
+    let _guard = SERIALIZE.lock().unwrap();
+    TOKIO_EXECUTOR_THREAD_COUNT.reset();
+    TOKIO_EXECUTOR_THREAD_COUNT
+        .get_metric_with_label_values(&[setup])
+        .unwrap()
+        .set(u64::try_from(num_threads.get()).unwrap());
+}
+
 pub fn preinitialize_metrics() {
     // Python tests need these and on some we do alerting.
     //

pageserver/src/task_mgr.rs

@@ -33,13 +33,14 @@
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::fmt;
 use std::future::Future;
+use std::num::NonZeroUsize;
 use std::panic::AssertUnwindSafe;
+use std::str::FromStr;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicU64, Ordering};
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 
 use futures::FutureExt;
 use pageserver_api::shard::TenantShardId;
-use tokio::runtime::Runtime;
 use tokio::task::JoinHandle;
 use tokio::task_local;
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
@@ -48,8 +49,11 @@ use tracing::{debug, error, info, warn};
 
 use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
 
+use utils::env;
 use utils::id::TimelineId;
 
+use crate::metrics::set_tokio_runtime_setup;
+
 //
 // There are four runtimes:
 //
@@ -98,52 +102,119 @@ use utils::id::TimelineId;
 // other operations, if the upload tasks e.g. get blocked on locks. It shouldn't
 // happen, but still.
 //
-pub static COMPUTE_REQUEST_RUNTIME: Lazy<Runtime> = Lazy::new(|| {
-    tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
-        .thread_name("compute request worker")
-        .enable_all()
-        .build()
-        .expect("Failed to create compute request runtime")
-});
 
-pub static MGMT_REQUEST_RUNTIME: Lazy<Runtime> = Lazy::new(|| {
-    tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
-        .thread_name("mgmt request worker")
-        .enable_all()
-        .build()
-        .expect("Failed to create mgmt request runtime")
-});
-
-pub static WALRECEIVER_RUNTIME: Lazy<Runtime> = Lazy::new(|| {
-    tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
-        .thread_name("walreceiver worker")
-        .enable_all()
-        .build()
-        .expect("Failed to create walreceiver runtime")
-});
-
-pub static BACKGROUND_RUNTIME: Lazy<Runtime> = Lazy::new(|| {
-    tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
-        .thread_name("background op worker")
-        // if you change the number of worker threads please change the constant below
-        .enable_all()
-        .build()
-        .expect("Failed to create background op runtime")
-});
-
-pub(crate) static BACKGROUND_RUNTIME_WORKER_THREADS: Lazy<usize> = Lazy::new(|| {
-    // force init and thus panics
-    let _ = BACKGROUND_RUNTIME.handle();
+pub(crate) static TOKIO_WORKER_THREADS: Lazy<NonZeroUsize> = Lazy::new(|| {
     // replicates tokio-1.28.1::loom::sys::num_cpus which is not available publicly
     // tokio would had already panicked for parsing errors or NotUnicode
     //
     // this will be wrong if any of the runtimes gets their worker threads configured to something
     // else, but that has not been needed in a long time.
-    std::env::var("TOKIO_WORKER_THREADS")
-        .map(|s| s.parse::<usize>().unwrap())
-        .unwrap_or_else(|_e| usize::max(2, num_cpus::get()))
+    NonZeroUsize::new(
+        std::env::var("TOKIO_WORKER_THREADS")
+            .map(|s| s.parse::<usize>().unwrap())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|_e| usize::max(2, num_cpus::get())),
+    )
+    .expect("the max() ensures that this is not zero")
 });
 
+enum TokioRuntimeMode {
+    SingleThreaded,
+    MultiThreaded { num_workers: NonZeroUsize },
+}
+
+impl FromStr for TokioRuntimeMode {
+    type Err = String;
+
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        match s {
+            "current_thread" => Ok(TokioRuntimeMode::SingleThreaded),
+            s => match s.strip_prefix("multi_thread:") {
+                Some("default") => Ok(TokioRuntimeMode::MultiThreaded {
+                    num_workers: *TOKIO_WORKER_THREADS,
+                }),
+                Some(suffix) => {
+                    let num_workers = suffix.parse::<NonZeroUsize>().map_err(|e| {
+                        format!(
+                            "invalid number of multi-threaded runtime workers ({suffix:?}): {e}",
+                        )
+                    })?;
+                    Ok(TokioRuntimeMode::MultiThreaded { num_workers })
+                }
+                None => Err(format!("invalid runtime config: {s:?}")),
+            },
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+static ONE_RUNTIME: Lazy<Option<tokio::runtime::Runtime>> = Lazy::new(|| {
+    let thread_name = "pageserver-tokio";
+    let Some(mode) = env::var("NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME") else {
+        // If the env var is not set, leave this static as None.
+        set_tokio_runtime_setup(
+            "multiple-runtimes",
+            NUM_MULTIPLE_RUNTIMES
+                .checked_mul(*TOKIO_WORKER_THREADS)
+                .unwrap(),
+        );
+        return None;
+    };
+    Some(match mode {
+        TokioRuntimeMode::SingleThreaded => {
+            set_tokio_runtime_setup("one-runtime-single-threaded", NonZeroUsize::new(1).unwrap());
+            tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
+                .thread_name(thread_name)
+                .enable_all()
+                .build()
+                .expect("failed to create one single runtime")
+        }
+        TokioRuntimeMode::MultiThreaded { num_workers } => {
+            set_tokio_runtime_setup("one-runtime-multi-threaded", num_workers);
+            tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+                .thread_name(thread_name)
+                .enable_all()
+                .worker_threads(num_workers.get())
+                .build()
+                .expect("failed to create one multi-threaded runtime")
+        }
+    })
+});
+
+/// Declare a lazy static variable named `$varname` that will resolve
+/// to a tokio runtime handle. If the env var `NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME`
+/// is set, this will resolve to `ONE_RUNTIME`. Otherwise, the macro invocation
+/// declares a separate runtime and the lazy static variable `$varname`
+/// will resolve to that separate runtime.
+///
+/// The result is is that `$varname.spawn()` will use `ONE_RUNTIME` if
+/// `NEON_PAGESERVER_USE_ONE_RUNTIME` is set, and will use the separate runtime
+/// otherwise.
+macro_rules! pageserver_runtime {
+    ($varname:ident, $name:literal) => {
+        pub static $varname: Lazy<&'static tokio::runtime::Runtime> = Lazy::new(|| {
+            if let Some(runtime) = &*ONE_RUNTIME {
+                return runtime;
+            }
+            static RUNTIME: Lazy<tokio::runtime::Runtime> = Lazy::new(|| {
+                tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+                    .thread_name($name)
+                    .worker_threads(TOKIO_WORKER_THREADS.get())
+                    .enable_all()
+                    .build()
+                    .expect(std::concat!("Failed to create runtime ", $name))
+            });
+            &*RUNTIME
+        });
+    };
+}
+
+pageserver_runtime!(COMPUTE_REQUEST_RUNTIME, "compute request worker");
+pageserver_runtime!(MGMT_REQUEST_RUNTIME, "mgmt request worker");
+pageserver_runtime!(WALRECEIVER_RUNTIME, "walreceiver worker");
+pageserver_runtime!(BACKGROUND_RUNTIME, "background op worker");
+// Bump this number when adding a new pageserver_runtime!
+// SAFETY: it's obviously correct
+const NUM_MULTIPLE_RUNTIMES: NonZeroUsize = unsafe { NonZeroUsize::new_unchecked(4) };
+
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
 pub struct PageserverTaskId(u64);
 

pageserver/src/tenant/tasks.rs

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ use utils::{backoff, completion};
 
 static CONCURRENT_BACKGROUND_TASKS: once_cell::sync::Lazy<tokio::sync::Semaphore> =
     once_cell::sync::Lazy::new(|| {
-        let total_threads = *task_mgr::BACKGROUND_RUNTIME_WORKER_THREADS;
+        let total_threads = task_mgr::TOKIO_WORKER_THREADS.get();
         let permits = usize::max(
             1,
             // while a lot of the work is done on spawn_blocking, we still do
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn concurrent_background_tasks_rate_limit_permit(
         loop_kind == BackgroundLoopKind::InitialLogicalSizeCalculation
     );
 
+    // TODO: assert that we run on BACKGROUND_RUNTIME; requires tokio_unstable Handle::id();
     match CONCURRENT_BACKGROUND_TASKS.acquire().await {
         Ok(permit) => permit,
         Err(_closed) => unreachable!("we never close the semaphore"),