prometheus / prometheus/client_python

High cpu when using Gunicorn with multiprocess

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Description

I run flask app on Gunicorn 20.0.4 and Kubernetes. My python is v3.7.5. I have a problem with increasing CPU over a time.
image
After investigating stack traces using py-spy I noticed that the issue is caused by prometheus metrics lib.
It doesn't clean up metric files from old workers. Therefore over a time merge process take more and more CPU.

After deleting following files the CPU usages dropped significantly:

ll -lh
total 7.0M
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Jul 24 06:13 ./
drwxrwxrwt 1 root root 4.0K Jul 19 14:14 ../
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 08:14 counter_106.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 23 18:41 counter_112.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 04:07 counter_118.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 04:54 counter_136.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 08:40 counter_142.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 20 16:44 counter_16.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 20 11:24 counter_17.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 21 01:40 counter_18.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 21 20:14 counter_40.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 21 17:17 counter_52.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 21 21:29 counter_58.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 23 07:19 counter_70.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 22 19:49 counter_82.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 22 18:59 counter_88.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 08:43 histogram_106.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 04:15 histogram_112.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 05:02 histogram_118.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 08:43 histogram_136.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 24 08:43 histogram_142.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 20 16:46 histogram_16.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 20 11:45 histogram_17.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 21 01:51 histogram_18.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 21 22:41 histogram_40.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 21 17:45 histogram_52.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 22 01:44 histogram_58.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 23 07:37 histogram_70.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 23 01:01 histogram_82.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.0M Jul 22 23:40 histogram_88.db

image

The issue is related to https://github.com/prometheus/client_python/issues/275

Can we avoid that somehow without periodically restating the k8s pod? Maybe multiprocess should use PID + UUID generated on worker rather than just PID for file names? So master could remove/merge files from dead workes?

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the Gunicorn multiprocess setup described in the issue and inspect how the merge process handles the listed counter_.db and histogram_.db files from old workers. The issue links client_python#275 for related context. Done means preventing obsolete worker files from causing increasing CPU without requiring periodic Kubernetes pod restarts.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
observability
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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