move clientCron onto a separate timer

src/config.c

@@ -453,6 +453,7 @@ void loadServerConfigFromString(char *config) {
         {"list-max-ziplist-value", 2, 2},
         {"lua-replicate-commands", 2, 2},
         {"io-threads-do-reads", 2, 2},
+        {"dynamic-hz", 2, 2},
         {NULL, 0},
     };
     char buf[1024];
@@ -626,8 +627,8 @@ void loadServerConfigFromString(char *config) {
     }
 
     /* To ensure backward compatibility and work while hz is out of range */
-    if (server.config_hz < CONFIG_MIN_HZ) server.config_hz = CONFIG_MIN_HZ;
-    if (server.config_hz > CONFIG_MAX_HZ) server.config_hz = CONFIG_MAX_HZ;
+    if (server.hz < CONFIG_MIN_HZ) server.hz = CONFIG_MIN_HZ;
+    if (server.hz > CONFIG_MAX_HZ) server.hz = CONFIG_MAX_HZ;
 
     sdsfreesplitres(lines, totlines);
     reading_config_file = 0;
@@ -2472,9 +2473,8 @@ static int updateHZ(const char **err) {
     UNUSED(err);
     /* Hz is more a hint from the user, so we accept values out of range
      * but cap them to reasonable values. */
-    if (server.config_hz < CONFIG_MIN_HZ) server.config_hz = CONFIG_MIN_HZ;
-    if (server.config_hz > CONFIG_MAX_HZ) server.config_hz = CONFIG_MAX_HZ;
-    server.hz = server.config_hz;
+    if (server.hz < CONFIG_MIN_HZ) server.hz = CONFIG_MIN_HZ;
+    if (server.hz > CONFIG_MAX_HZ) server.hz = CONFIG_MAX_HZ;
     return 1;
 }
 
@@ -3168,7 +3168,6 @@ standardConfig static_configs[] = {
     createBoolConfig("activerehashing", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.activerehashing, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("stop-writes-on-bgsave-error", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.stop_writes_on_bgsave_err, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("set-proc-title", NULL, IMMUTABLE_CONFIG, server.set_proc_title, 1, NULL, NULL), /* Should setproctitle be used? */
-    createBoolConfig("dynamic-hz", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.dynamic_hz, 1, NULL, NULL),        /* Adapt hz to # of clients.*/
     createBoolConfig("lazyfree-lazy-eviction", NULL, DEBUG_CONFIG | MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.lazyfree_lazy_eviction, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("lazyfree-lazy-expire", NULL, DEBUG_CONFIG | MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.lazyfree_lazy_expire, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("lazyfree-lazy-server-del", NULL, DEBUG_CONFIG | MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.lazyfree_lazy_server_del, 1, NULL, NULL),
@@ -3302,7 +3301,7 @@ standardConfig static_configs[] = {
     createIntConfig("rdb-key-save-delay", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG | HIDDEN_CONFIG, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, server.rdb_key_save_delay, 0, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, NULL),
     createIntConfig("key-load-delay", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG | HIDDEN_CONFIG, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, server.key_load_delay, 0, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, NULL),
     createIntConfig("active-expire-effort", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, 1, 10, server.active_expire_effort, 1, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, NULL), /* From 1 to 10. */
-    createIntConfig("hz", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, 0, INT_MAX, server.config_hz, CONFIG_DEFAULT_HZ, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, updateHZ),
+    createIntConfig("hz", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, 0, INT_MAX, server.hz, CONFIG_DEFAULT_HZ, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, updateHZ),
     createIntConfig("min-replicas-to-write", "min-slaves-to-write", MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, 0, INT_MAX, server.repl_min_replicas_to_write, 0, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, updateGoodReplicas),
     createIntConfig("min-replicas-max-lag", "min-slaves-max-lag", MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, 0, INT_MAX, server.repl_min_replicas_max_lag, 10, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, updateGoodReplicas),
     createIntConfig("watchdog-period", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG | HIDDEN_CONFIG, 0, INT_MAX, server.watchdog_period, 0, INTEGER_CONFIG, NULL, updateWatchdogPeriod),

src/server.c

@@ -913,7 +913,7 @@ int clientsCronResizeOutputBuffer(client *c, mstime_t now_ms) {
 size_t ClientsPeakMemInput[CLIENTS_PEAK_MEM_USAGE_SLOTS] = {0};
 size_t ClientsPeakMemOutput[CLIENTS_PEAK_MEM_USAGE_SLOTS] = {0};
 
-int clientsCronTrackExpansiveClients(client *c, int time_idx) {
+int clientsCronTrackExpensiveClients(client *c, int time_idx) {
     size_t qb_size = c->querybuf ? sdsAllocSize(c->querybuf) : 0;
     size_t argv_size = c->argv ? zmalloc_size(c->argv) : 0;
     size_t in_usage = qb_size + c->argv_len_sum + argv_size;
@@ -1035,8 +1035,8 @@ int updateClientMemUsageAndBucket(client *c) {
 }
 
 /* Return the max samples in the memory usage of clients tracked by
- * the function clientsCronTrackExpansiveClients(). */
-void getExpansiveClientsInfo(size_t *in_usage, size_t *out_usage) {
+ * the function clientsCronTrackExpensiveClients(). */
+void getExpensiveClientsInfo(size_t *in_usage, size_t *out_usage) {
     size_t i = 0, o = 0;
     for (int j = 0; j < CLIENTS_PEAK_MEM_USAGE_SLOTS; j++) {
         if (ClientsPeakMemInput[j] > i) i = ClientsPeakMemInput[j];
@@ -1046,38 +1046,23 @@ void getExpansiveClientsInfo(size_t *in_usage, size_t *out_usage) {
     *out_usage = o;
 }
 
-/* This function is called by serverCron() and is used in order to perform
+/* This function is called by clientsTimerProc() and is used in order to perform
  * operations on clients that are important to perform constantly. For instance
  * we use this function in order to disconnect clients after a timeout, including
  * clients blocked in some blocking command with a non-zero timeout.
  *
  * The function makes some effort to process all the clients every second, even
- * if this cannot be strictly guaranteed, since serverCron() may be called with
- * an actual frequency lower than server.hz in case of latency events like slow
+ * if this cannot be strictly guaranteed, since clientsTimerProc() may be called with
+ * an actual frequency lower than the intended rate in case of latency events like slow
  * commands.
  *
  * It is very important for this function, and the functions it calls, to be
- * very fast: sometimes the server has tens of hundreds of connected clients, and the
- * default server.hz value is 10, so sometimes here we need to process thousands
- * of clients per second, turning this function into a source of latency.
+ * very fast. Sometimes the server has tens of thousands of connected clients, and all
+ * of them need to be processed every second.
  */
-#define CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS 5
-void clientsCron(void) {
-    /* Try to process at least numclients/server.hz of clients
-     * per call. Since normally (if there are no big latency events) this
-     * function is called server.hz times per second, in the average case we
-     * process all the clients in 1 second. */
-    int numclients = listLength(server.clients);
-    int iterations = numclients / server.hz;
+static void clientsCron(int clients_this_cycle) {
     mstime_t now = mstime();
 
-    /* Process at least a few clients while we are at it, even if we need
-     * to process less than CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS to meet our contract
-     * of processing each client once per second. */
-    if (iterations < CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS)
-        iterations = (numclients < CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS) ? numclients : CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS;
-
-
     int curr_peak_mem_usage_slot = server.unixtime % CLIENTS_PEAK_MEM_USAGE_SLOTS;
     /* Always zero the next sample, so that when we switch to that second, we'll
      * only register samples that are greater in that second without considering
@@ -1088,14 +1073,13 @@ void clientsCron(void) {
      * some slow command is called taking multiple seconds to execute. In that
      * case our array may end containing data which is potentially older
      * than CLIENTS_PEAK_MEM_USAGE_SLOTS seconds: however this is not a problem
-     * since here we want just to track if "recently" there were very expansive
+     * since here we want just to track if "recently" there were very expensive
      * clients from the POV of memory usage. */
     int zeroidx = (curr_peak_mem_usage_slot + 1) % CLIENTS_PEAK_MEM_USAGE_SLOTS;
     ClientsPeakMemInput[zeroidx] = 0;
     ClientsPeakMemOutput[zeroidx] = 0;
 
-
-    while (listLength(server.clients) && iterations--) {
+    while (listLength(server.clients) && clients_this_cycle--) {
         client *c;
         listNode *head;
 
@@ -1105,14 +1089,14 @@ void clientsCron(void) {
         c = listNodeValue(head);
         listRotateHeadToTail(server.clients);
         if (c->io_read_state != CLIENT_IDLE || c->io_write_state != CLIENT_IDLE) continue;
+
         /* The following functions do different service checks on the client.
          * The protocol is that they return non-zero if the client was
          * terminated. */
         if (clientsCronHandleTimeout(c, now)) continue;
         if (clientsCronResizeQueryBuffer(c)) continue;
         if (clientsCronResizeOutputBuffer(c, now)) continue;
-
-        if (clientsCronTrackExpansiveClients(c, curr_peak_mem_usage_slot)) continue;
+        if (clientsCronTrackExpensiveClients(c, curr_peak_mem_usage_slot)) continue;
 
         /* Iterating all the clients in getMemoryOverheadData() is too slow and
          * in turn would make the INFO command too slow. So we perform this
@@ -1126,6 +1110,40 @@ void clientsCron(void) {
     }
 }
 
+/* A periodic timer that performs client maintenance.
+ * This cron task follows the following rules:
+ *  - All clients need to be checked (at least) once per second
+ *  - To manage latency, we don't check more than MAX_CLIENTS_PER_CLOCK_TICK at a time
+ *  - The minimum rate will be defined by server.hz
+ *  - At least CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS will be performed each cycle
+ */
+#define CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS 5
+long long clientsTimerProc(struct aeEventLoop *eventLoop, long long id, void *clientData) {
+    UNUSED(eventLoop);
+    UNUSED(id);
+    UNUSED(clientData);
+
+    int numclients = listLength(server.clients);
+    int clients_this_cycle = numclients / server.hz; // Initial computation based on standard hz
+    int delayMs;
+
+    if (clients_this_cycle < CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS) {
+        clients_this_cycle = min(numclients, CLIENTS_CRON_MIN_ITERATIONS);
+    }
+
+    if (clients_this_cycle > MAX_CLIENTS_PER_CLOCK_TICK) {
+        clients_this_cycle = MAX_CLIENTS_PER_CLOCK_TICK;
+        float required_hz = (float)numclients / MAX_CLIENTS_PER_CLOCK_TICK;
+        delayMs = 1000.0 / required_hz;
+    } else {
+        delayMs = 1000 / server.hz;
+    }
+
+    clientsCron(clients_this_cycle);
+
+    return delayMs;
+}
+
 /* This function handles 'background' operations we are required to do
  * incrementally in the databases, such as active key expiring, resizing,
  * rehashing. */
@@ -1346,19 +1364,6 @@ long long serverCron(struct aeEventLoop *eventLoop, long long id, void *clientDa
      * handler if we don't return here fast enough. */
     if (server.watchdog_period) watchdogScheduleSignal(server.watchdog_period);
 
-    server.hz = server.config_hz;
-    /* Adapt the server.hz value to the number of configured clients. If we have
-     * many clients, we want to call serverCron() with an higher frequency. */
-    if (server.dynamic_hz) {
-        while (listLength(server.clients) / server.hz > MAX_CLIENTS_PER_CLOCK_TICK) {
-            server.hz *= 2;
-            if (server.hz > CONFIG_MAX_HZ) {
-                server.hz = CONFIG_MAX_HZ;
-                break;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
     /* for debug purposes: skip actual cron work if pause_cron is on */
     if (server.pause_cron) return 1000 / server.hz;
 
@@ -1444,9 +1449,6 @@ long long serverCron(struct aeEventLoop *eventLoop, long long id, void *clientDa
         }
     }
 
-    /* We need to do a few operations on clients asynchronously. */
-    clientsCron();
-
     /* Handle background operations on databases. */
     databasesCron();
 
@@ -2629,7 +2631,6 @@ void initServer(void) {
     /* Initialization after setting defaults from the config system. */
     server.aof_state = server.aof_enabled ? AOF_ON : AOF_OFF;
     server.fsynced_reploff = server.aof_enabled ? 0 : -1;
-    server.hz = server.config_hz;
     server.in_fork_child = CHILD_TYPE_NONE;
     server.rdb_pipe_read = -1;
     server.rdb_child_exit_pipe = -1;
@@ -2775,10 +2776,15 @@ void initServer(void) {
     server.acl_info.invalid_channel_accesses = 0;
 
     /* Create the timer callback, this is our way to process many background
-     * operations incrementally, like clients timeout, eviction of unaccessed
-     * expired keys and so forth. */
+     * operations incrementally, like eviction of unaccessed expired keys, etc. */
     if (aeCreateTimeEvent(server.el, 1, serverCron, NULL, NULL) == AE_ERR) {
-        serverPanic("Can't create event loop timers.");
+        serverPanic("Can't create serverCron timer.");
+        exit(1);
+    }
+    /* A separate timer for client maintenance.  Runs at a variable speed depending
+     * on the client count. */
+    if (aeCreateTimeEvent(server.el, 1, clientsTimerProc, NULL, NULL) == AE_ERR) {
+        serverPanic("Can't create event clientsTimerProc timer.");
         exit(1);
     }
 
@@ -5549,7 +5555,7 @@ sds genValkeyInfoString(dict *section_dict, int all_sections, int everything) {
                 "uptime_in_seconds:%I\r\n", (int64_t)uptime,
                 "uptime_in_days:%I\r\n", (int64_t)(uptime / (3600 * 24)),
                 "hz:%i\r\n", server.hz,
-                "configured_hz:%i\r\n", server.config_hz,
+                "configured_hz:%i\r\n", server.hz,
                 "lru_clock:%u\r\n", server.lruclock,
                 "executable:%s\r\n", server.executable ? server.executable : "",
                 "config_file:%s\r\n", server.configfile ? server.configfile : "",
@@ -5570,7 +5576,7 @@ sds genValkeyInfoString(dict *section_dict, int all_sections, int everything) {
     if (all_sections || (dictFind(section_dict, "clients") != NULL)) {
         size_t maxin, maxout;
         unsigned long blocking_keys, blocking_keys_on_nokey, watched_keys;
-        getExpansiveClientsInfo(&maxin, &maxout);
+        getExpensiveClientsInfo(&maxin, &maxout);
         totalNumberOfStatefulKeys(&blocking_keys, &blocking_keys_on_nokey, &watched_keys);
         if (sections++) info = sdscat(info, "\r\n");
         info = sdscatprintf(

src/server.h

@@ -1681,10 +1681,6 @@ struct valkeyServer {
     char *configfile;         /* Absolute config file path, or NULL */
     char *executable;         /* Absolute executable file path. */
     char **exec_argv;         /* Executable argv vector (copy). */
-    int dynamic_hz;           /* Change hz value depending on # of clients. */
-    int config_hz;            /* Configured HZ value. May be different than
-                                 the actual 'hz' field value if dynamic-hz
-                                 is enabled. */
     mode_t umask;             /* The umask value of the process on startup */
     int hz;                   /* serverCron() calls frequency in hertz */
     int in_fork_child;        /* indication that this is a fork child */

tests/integration/replication.tcl

@@ -730,8 +730,6 @@ test {diskless loading short read} {
             $replica config set repl-diskless-load swapdb
             $master config set hz 500
             $replica config set hz 500
-            $master config set dynamic-hz no
-            $replica config set dynamic-hz no
             # Try to fill the master with all types of data types / encodings
             set start [clock clicks -milliseconds]
 

tests/unit/moduleapi/hooks.tcl

@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@ tags "modules" {
             }
             # set some configs that will cause many loading progress events during aof loading
             r config set key-load-delay 500
-            r config set dynamic-hz no
             r config set hz 500
             r DEBUG LOADAOF
             assert_equal [r hooks.event_last loading-aof-start] 0
@@ -73,7 +72,6 @@ tags "modules" {
             }
         }
         # undo configs before next test
-        r config set dynamic-hz yes
         r config set key-load-delay 0
 
         test {Test module rdb save hook} {

tests/unit/moduleapi/testrdb.tcl

@@ -113,8 +113,6 @@ tags "modules" {
                     $replica config set repl-diskless-load swapdb
                     $master config set hz 500
                     $replica config set hz 500
-                    $master config set dynamic-hz no
-                    $replica config set dynamic-hz no
                     set start [clock clicks -milliseconds]
                     for {set k 0} {$k < 30} {incr k} {
                         r testrdb.set.key key$k [string repeat A [expr {int(rand()*1000000)}]]

tests/unit/other.tcl

@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ start_server {tags {"other external:skip"}} {
 }
 
 start_cluster 1 0 {tags {"other external:skip cluster slow"}} {
-    r config set dynamic-hz no hz 500
+    r config set hz 500
     test "Server can trigger resizing" {
         r flushall
         # hashslot(foo) is 12182

valkey.conf

@@ -2270,22 +2270,6 @@ client-output-buffer-limit pubsub 32mb 8mb 60
 # 100 only in environments where very low latency is required.
 hz 10
 
-# Normally it is useful to have an HZ value which is proportional to the
-# number of clients connected. This is useful in order, for instance, to
-# avoid too many clients are processed for each background task invocation
-# in order to avoid latency spikes.
-#
-# Since the default HZ value by default is conservatively set to 10, the server
-# offers, and enables by default, the ability to use an adaptive HZ value
-# which will temporarily raise when there are many connected clients.
-#
-# When dynamic HZ is enabled, the actual configured HZ will be used
-# as a baseline, but multiples of the configured HZ value will be actually
-# used as needed once more clients are connected. In this way an idle
-# instance will use very little CPU time while a busy instance will be
-# more responsive.
-dynamic-hz yes
-
 # When a child rewrites the AOF file, if the following option is enabled
 # the file will be fsync-ed every 4 MB of data generated. This is useful
 # in order to commit the file to the disk more incrementally and avoid