Move wg increment inside goroutines. Make GC calls less aggressive

pkg/metricstore/archive.go

@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ func CleanUp(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 
 // runWorker takes simple values to configure what it does
 func cleanUpWorker(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context, interval string, mode string, cleanupDir string, delete bool) {
+	wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
 		defer wg.Done()
 

pkg/metricstore/avroHelper.go

@@ -15,15 +15,14 @@ import (
 )
 
 func DataStaging(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
-	// AvroPool is a pool of Avro writers.
+	wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
-		if Keys.Checkpoints.FileFormat == "json" {
-			wg.Done() // Mark this goroutine as done
-			return    // Exit the goroutine
-		}
-
 		defer wg.Done()
 
+		if Keys.Checkpoints.FileFormat == "json" {
+			return
+		}
+
 		ms := GetMemoryStore()
 		var avroLevel *AvroLevel
 		oldSelector := make([]string, 0)

pkg/metricstore/checkpoint.go

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ func Checkpointing(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 	if Keys.Checkpoints.FileFormat == "json" {
 		ms := GetMemoryStore()
 
+		wg.Add(1)
 		go func() {
 			defer wg.Done()
 			d, err := time.ParseDuration(Keys.Checkpoints.Interval)
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ func Checkpointing(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 			}
 		}()
 	} else {
+		wg.Add(1)
 		go func() {
 			defer wg.Done()
 

pkg/metricstore/metricstore.go

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"runtime"
+	"runtime/debug"
 	"slices"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -168,20 +169,6 @@ func Init(rawConfig json.RawMessage, metrics map[string]MetricConfig, wg *sync.W
 
 	ctx, shutdown := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 
-	retentionGoroutines := 1
-	checkpointingGoroutines := 1
-	dataStagingGoroutines := 1
-	archivingGoroutines := 1
-	memoryUsageTracker := 1
-
-	totalGoroutines := retentionGoroutines +
-		checkpointingGoroutines +
-		dataStagingGoroutines +
-		archivingGoroutines +
-		memoryUsageTracker
-
-	wg.Add(totalGoroutines)
-
 	Retention(wg, ctx)
 	Checkpointing(wg, ctx)
 	CleanUp(wg, ctx)
@@ -325,6 +312,7 @@ func Shutdown() {
 func Retention(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 	ms := GetMemoryStore()
 
+	wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
 		defer wg.Done()
 		d, err := time.ParseDuration(Keys.RetentionInMemory)
@@ -370,9 +358,9 @@ func Retention(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 
 // MemoryUsageTracker starts a background goroutine that monitors memory usage.
 //
-// This worker checks memory usage every minute and force-frees buffers if memory
-// exceeds the configured cap. It protects against infinite loops by limiting
-// iterations and forcing garbage collection between attempts.
+// This worker checks memory usage periodically and force-frees buffers if memory
+// exceeds the configured cap. It uses FreeOSMemory() to return memory to the OS
+// after freeing buffers, avoiding aggressive GC that causes performance issues.
 //
 // Parameters:
 //   - wg: WaitGroup to signal completion when context is cancelled
@@ -382,6 +370,7 @@ func Retention(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 func MemoryUsageTracker(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 	ms := GetMemoryStore()
 
+	wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
 		defer wg.Done()
 		d := DefaultMemoryUsageTrackerInterval
@@ -398,62 +387,67 @@ func MemoryUsageTracker(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 			case <-ctx.Done():
 				return
 			case <-ticker.C:
-				state.mu.RLock()
-
 				memoryUsageGB := ms.SizeInGB()
-				cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> current memory usage: %.2f GB\n", memoryUsageGB)
+				cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> current memory usage: %.2f GB", memoryUsageGB)
 
-				freedTotal := 0
+				freedExcluded := 0
+				freedEmergency := 0
 				var err error
 
-				// First force-free all the checkpoints that were
-				if state.lastRetentionTime != 0 && state.selectorsExcluded {
-					freedTotal, err = ms.Free(nil, state.lastRetentionTime)
+				state.mu.RLock()
+				lastRetention := state.lastRetentionTime
+				selectorsExcluded := state.selectorsExcluded
+				state.mu.RUnlock()
+
+				if lastRetention != 0 && selectorsExcluded {
+					freedExcluded, err = ms.Free(nil, lastRetention)
 					if err != nil {
 						cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> error while force-freeing the excluded buffers: %s", err)
 					}
 
-					// Calling runtime.GC() twice in succession tp completely empty a bufferPool (sync.Pool)
-					runtime.GC()
-					runtime.GC()
-
-					cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> done: %d excluded buffers force-freed\n", freedTotal)
+					if freedExcluded > 0 {
+						debug.FreeOSMemory()
+						cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> done: %d excluded buffers force-freed", freedExcluded)
+					}
 				}
 
-				state.mu.RUnlock()
-
 				memoryUsageGB = ms.SizeInGB()
 
 				if memoryUsageGB > float64(Keys.MemoryCap) {
-					cclog.Warnf("[METRICSTORE]> memory usage is still greater than the Memory Cap: %d GB\n", Keys.MemoryCap)
-					cclog.Warnf("[METRICSTORE]> starting to force-free the buffers from the Metric Store\n")
+					cclog.Warnf("[METRICSTORE]> memory usage %.2f GB exceeds cap %d GB, starting emergency buffer freeing", memoryUsageGB, Keys.MemoryCap)
 
 					const maxIterations = 100
 
-					for range maxIterations {
-						memoryUsageGB = ms.SizeInGB()
+					for i := 0; i < maxIterations; i++ {
 						if memoryUsageGB < float64(Keys.MemoryCap) {
 							break
 						}
 
 						freed, err := ms.ForceFree()
 						if err != nil {
-							cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> error while force-freeing the buffers: %s", err)
+							cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> error while force-freeing buffers: %s", err)
 						}
 						if freed == 0 {
-							cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> 0 buffers force-freed in last try, %d total buffers force-freed, memory usage of %.2f GB remains higher than the memory cap of %d GB and there are no buffers left to force-free\n", freedTotal, memoryUsageGB, Keys.MemoryCap)
+							cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> no more buffers to free after %d emergency frees, memory usage %.2f GB still exceeds cap %d GB", freedEmergency, memoryUsageGB, Keys.MemoryCap)
 							break
 						}
-						freedTotal += freed
+						freedEmergency += freed
 
-						runtime.GC()
+						if i%10 == 0 && freedEmergency > 0 {
+							memoryUsageGB = ms.SizeInGB()
+						}
 					}
 
+					if freedEmergency > 0 {
+						debug.FreeOSMemory()
+					}
+
+					memoryUsageGB = ms.SizeInGB()
+
 					if memoryUsageGB >= float64(Keys.MemoryCap) {
-						cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> reached maximum iterations (%d) or no more buffers to free, current memory usage: %.2f GB\n", maxIterations, memoryUsageGB)
+						cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> after %d emergency frees, memory usage %.2f GB still at/above cap %d GB", freedEmergency, memoryUsageGB, Keys.MemoryCap)
 					} else {
-						cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> done: %d buffers force-freed\n", freedTotal)
-						cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> current memory usage after force-freeing the buffers: %.2f GB\n", memoryUsageGB)
+						cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> emergency freeing complete: %d buffers freed, memory now %.2f GB", freedEmergency, memoryUsageGB)
 					}
 				}