Coalescer CFIFO Thread Locking

Summary: Cluster deadlocking from cfifo thread contention

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms

Possible unresponsive isi commands, performance degradation, and client connection may appear to become unresponsive due to locking contention. 

Cause

In some rare cases, the cluster may experience deadlocking due to thread contention.
This can be when multiple threads are performing an insert, while another thread is performing coalescer flush. 

Resolution

This is resolved in 9.4.0.17+, 9.5.0.3 hotfix, 9.5.0.7.

To confirm the issue is occurring live, check for 'cfifo' thread locking on the cluster with the below command--

# isi_for_array ‘sysctl kern.proc.all_stacks |grep cfifo’

If cfifo is shown waiting over 100k ticks, then a panic of the node will be required to release the lock. 

Example--

Waiting on 0xfffff8142b2dd580 with msg "cfifo" for 32619857 ticks     <------ cfifo waiting for over 100k ticks
    Stack: --------------------------------------------------
    kernel:sched_switch+0xbcc
    kernel:mi_switch+0x128
    kernel:sleepq_wait+0x2b
    kernel:_sleep+0x264
    kernel:write_sleep+0x4e
    kernel:coalescer_insert+0x1e26
    kernel:coalescer_write+0x2bfe
    kernel:bam_coal_write+0x64
    kernel:_ifs_write_mbuf+0x6b
    kernel:ifs_vnop_wrapunlocked_write_mbuf+0xdc
    kernel:VOP_UNLOCKED_WRITE_MBUF_APV+0x93
    isi_lwext.ko:lwextsvc_write+0x4ff
    kernel:amd64_syscall+0x380
    --------------------------------------------------

In case there is concern of experiencing the above issue, a case must be raised to support with a full log gather for review. 

Affected Products

PowerScale OneFS
Article Properties
Article Number: 000221351
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 02 Jan 2026
Version:  3
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