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CONTAP-694455: Optimize SpinCE for GDD and non-GDD enabled copy operations

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Issue

  • When SpinCE is used for copy operations (especially with internode copies), performance may be significantly slower compared to copies with VAAI disabled.
  • This behavior has been observed during copies between node-local NFSv4 FlexGroup volumes.
  • Large, mostly empty files (e.g., multi-terabyte virtual disks with minimal actual data) can highlight the performance gap more prominently.
  • In some cases, copies with VAAI disabled completes such copies substantially faster, while SpinCE may take many times longer.
  • Performance analysis during slower SpinCE operations has shown elevated WAFL suspend activity, including events such as:

 
SERIAL_FRANGE_MAX_TRIES
WIL_WAIT_FRANGE

 
  • Increased WAFL suspend counts suggest inefficiencies in how SpinCE handles certain write or file layout patterns during copy operations.
  • Known architectural or implementation challenges (e.g., handling of sparse or disjoint writes) may contribute to the discrepancy in performance.
  • These challenges are not limited to a single workload and may affect any environment with similar characteristics (e.g., sparse large files, specific copy paths, or offload behavior).
  • Overall, there is an opportunity to optimize and modernize SpinCE to improve efficiency and align performance more closely with alternative data movement methods.

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