diff --git a/fs/ext4/balloc.c b/fs/ext4/balloc.c
index 1ba46d87cdf103a81146358b84765bfa4f6fc311..1e2b1b4093aa92f0a659ac37d249ed327c7afeeb 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/balloc.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/balloc.c
@@ -413,7 +413,8 @@ static int ext4_validate_block_bitmap(struct super_block *sb,
  * Return buffer_head on success or an ERR_PTR in case of failure.
  */
 struct buffer_head *
-ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t block_group)
+ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t block_group,
+			      bool ignore_locked)
 {
 	struct ext4_group_desc *desc;
 	struct ext4_sb_info *sbi = EXT4_SB(sb);
@@ -441,6 +442,12 @@ ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t block_group)
 		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 	}
 
+	if (ignore_locked && buffer_locked(bh)) {
+		/* buffer under IO already, return if called for prefetching */
+		put_bh(bh);
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	if (bitmap_uptodate(bh))
 		goto verify;
 
@@ -490,7 +497,8 @@ ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t block_group)
 	trace_ext4_read_block_bitmap_load(sb, block_group);
 	bh->b_end_io = ext4_end_bitmap_read;
 	get_bh(bh);
-	submit_bh(REQ_OP_READ, REQ_META | REQ_PRIO, bh);
+	submit_bh(REQ_OP_READ, REQ_META | REQ_PRIO |
+		  (ignore_locked ? REQ_RAHEAD : 0), bh);
 	return bh;
 verify:
 	err = ext4_validate_block_bitmap(sb, desc, block_group, bh);
@@ -534,7 +542,7 @@ ext4_read_block_bitmap(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t block_group)
 	struct buffer_head *bh;
 	int err;
 
-	bh = ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(sb, block_group);
+	bh = ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(sb, block_group, false);
 	if (IS_ERR(bh))
 		return bh;
 	err = ext4_wait_block_bitmap(sb, block_group, bh);
diff --git a/fs/ext4/ext4.h b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
index dd5e6c645442065653ba2620f938d21e02b5857f..4fba138b8722da21a60fdd8ab6c19eeac18e36d8 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/ext4.h
+++ b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
@@ -1521,6 +1521,8 @@ struct ext4_sb_info {
 	/* where last allocation was done - for stream allocation */
 	unsigned long s_mb_last_group;
 	unsigned long s_mb_last_start;
+	unsigned int s_mb_prefetch;
+	unsigned int s_mb_prefetch_limit;
 
 	/* stats for buddy allocator */
 	atomic_t s_bal_reqs;	/* number of reqs with len > 1 */
@@ -2462,7 +2464,8 @@ extern struct ext4_group_desc * ext4_get_group_desc(struct super_block * sb,
 extern int ext4_should_retry_alloc(struct super_block *sb, int *retries);
 
 extern struct buffer_head *ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(struct super_block *sb,
-						ext4_group_t block_group);
+						ext4_group_t block_group,
+						bool ignore_locked);
 extern int ext4_wait_block_bitmap(struct super_block *sb,
 				  ext4_group_t block_group,
 				  struct buffer_head *bh);
@@ -3161,6 +3164,7 @@ struct ext4_group_info {
 	(1 << EXT4_GROUP_INFO_BBITMAP_CORRUPT_BIT)
 #define EXT4_GROUP_INFO_IBITMAP_CORRUPT		\
 	(1 << EXT4_GROUP_INFO_IBITMAP_CORRUPT_BIT)
+#define EXT4_GROUP_INFO_BBITMAP_READ_BIT	4
 
 #define EXT4_MB_GRP_NEED_INIT(grp)	\
 	(test_bit(EXT4_GROUP_INFO_NEED_INIT_BIT, &((grp)->bb_state)))
@@ -3175,6 +3179,8 @@ struct ext4_group_info {
 	(set_bit(EXT4_GROUP_INFO_WAS_TRIMMED_BIT, &((grp)->bb_state)))
 #define EXT4_MB_GRP_CLEAR_TRIMMED(grp)	\
 	(clear_bit(EXT4_GROUP_INFO_WAS_TRIMMED_BIT, &((grp)->bb_state)))
+#define EXT4_MB_GRP_TEST_AND_SET_READ(grp)	\
+	(test_and_set_bit(EXT4_GROUP_INFO_BBITMAP_READ_BIT, &((grp)->bb_state)))
 
 #define EXT4_MAX_CONTENTION		8
 #define EXT4_CONTENTION_THRESHOLD	2
diff --git a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
index 6dc2c6c535efe98d6c71649600281e5dbe824fc9..c350ae9cb0d9e12ed9f41a680e561a2264d25a5d 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ static int ext4_mb_init_cache(struct page *page, char *incore, gfp_t gfp)
 			bh[i] = NULL;
 			continue;
 		}
-		bh[i] = ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(sb, group);
+		bh[i] = ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(sb, group, false);
 		if (IS_ERR(bh[i])) {
 			err = PTR_ERR(bh[i]);
 			bh[i] = NULL;
@@ -2209,12 +2209,93 @@ static int ext4_mb_good_group_nolock(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac,
 	return ret;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Start prefetching @nr block bitmaps starting at @group.
+ * Return the next group which needs to be prefetched.
+ */
+static ext4_group_t
+ext4_mb_prefetch(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t group,
+		 unsigned int nr, int *cnt)
+{
+	ext4_group_t ngroups = ext4_get_groups_count(sb);
+	struct buffer_head *bh;
+	struct blk_plug plug;
+
+	blk_start_plug(&plug);
+	while (nr-- > 0) {
+		struct ext4_group_desc *gdp = ext4_get_group_desc(sb, group,
+								  NULL);
+		struct ext4_group_info *grp = ext4_get_group_info(sb, group);
+
+		/*
+		 * Prefetch block groups with free blocks; but don't
+		 * bother if it is marked uninitialized on disk, since
+		 * it won't require I/O to read.  Also only try to
+		 * prefetch once, so we avoid getblk() call, which can
+		 * be expensive.
+		 */
+		if (!EXT4_MB_GRP_TEST_AND_SET_READ(grp) &&
+		    EXT4_MB_GRP_NEED_INIT(grp) &&
+		    ext4_free_group_clusters(sb, gdp) > 0 &&
+		    !(ext4_has_group_desc_csum(sb) &&
+		      (gdp->bg_flags & cpu_to_le16(EXT4_BG_BLOCK_UNINIT)))) {
+			bh = ext4_read_block_bitmap_nowait(sb, group, true);
+			if (bh && !IS_ERR(bh)) {
+				if (!buffer_uptodate(bh) && cnt)
+					(*cnt)++;
+				brelse(bh);
+			}
+		}
+		if (++group >= ngroups)
+			group = 0;
+	}
+	blk_finish_plug(&plug);
+	return group;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Prefetching reads the block bitmap into the buffer cache; but we
+ * need to make sure that the buddy bitmap in the page cache has been
+ * initialized.  Note that ext4_mb_init_group() will block if the I/O
+ * is not yet completed, or indeed if it was not initiated by
+ * ext4_mb_prefetch did not start the I/O.
+ *
+ * TODO: We should actually kick off the buddy bitmap setup in a work
+ * queue when the buffer I/O is completed, so that we don't block
+ * waiting for the block allocation bitmap read to finish when
+ * ext4_mb_prefetch_fini is called from ext4_mb_regular_allocator().
+ */
+static void
+ext4_mb_prefetch_fini(struct super_block *sb, ext4_group_t group,
+		      unsigned int nr)
+{
+	while (nr-- > 0) {
+		struct ext4_group_desc *gdp = ext4_get_group_desc(sb, group,
+								  NULL);
+		struct ext4_group_info *grp = ext4_get_group_info(sb, group);
+
+		if (!group)
+			group = ext4_get_groups_count(sb);
+		group--;
+		grp = ext4_get_group_info(sb, group);
+
+		if (EXT4_MB_GRP_NEED_INIT(grp) &&
+		    ext4_free_group_clusters(sb, gdp) > 0 &&
+		    !(ext4_has_group_desc_csum(sb) &&
+		      (gdp->bg_flags & cpu_to_le16(EXT4_BG_BLOCK_UNINIT)))) {
+			if (ext4_mb_init_group(sb, group, GFP_NOFS))
+				break;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 static noinline_for_stack int
 ext4_mb_regular_allocator(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac)
 {
-	ext4_group_t ngroups, group, i;
+	ext4_group_t prefetch_grp = 0, ngroups, group, i;
 	int cr = -1;
 	int err = 0, first_err = 0;
+	unsigned int nr = 0, prefetch_ios = 0;
 	struct ext4_sb_info *sbi;
 	struct super_block *sb;
 	struct ext4_buddy e4b;
@@ -2282,6 +2363,7 @@ ext4_mb_regular_allocator(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac)
 		 * from the goal value specified
 		 */
 		group = ac->ac_g_ex.fe_group;
+		prefetch_grp = group;
 
 		for (i = 0; i < ngroups; group++, i++) {
 			int ret = 0;
@@ -2293,6 +2375,29 @@ ext4_mb_regular_allocator(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac)
 			if (group >= ngroups)
 				group = 0;
 
+			/*
+			 * Batch reads of the block allocation bitmaps
+			 * to get multiple READs in flight; limit
+			 * prefetching at cr=0/1, otherwise mballoc can
+			 * spend a lot of time loading imperfect groups
+			 */
+			if ((prefetch_grp == group) &&
+			    (cr > 1 ||
+			     prefetch_ios < sbi->s_mb_prefetch_limit)) {
+				unsigned int curr_ios = prefetch_ios;
+
+				nr = sbi->s_mb_prefetch;
+				if (ext4_has_feature_flex_bg(sb)) {
+					nr = (group / sbi->s_mb_prefetch) *
+						sbi->s_mb_prefetch;
+					nr = nr + sbi->s_mb_prefetch - group;
+				}
+				prefetch_grp = ext4_mb_prefetch(sb, group,
+							nr, &prefetch_ios);
+				if (prefetch_ios == curr_ios)
+					nr = 0;
+			}
+
 			/* This now checks without needing the buddy page */
 			ret = ext4_mb_good_group_nolock(ac, group, cr);
 			if (ret <= 0) {
@@ -2367,6 +2472,10 @@ ext4_mb_regular_allocator(struct ext4_allocation_context *ac)
 	mb_debug(sb, "Best len %d, origin len %d, ac_status %u, ac_flags 0x%x, cr %d ret %d\n",
 		 ac->ac_b_ex.fe_len, ac->ac_o_ex.fe_len, ac->ac_status,
 		 ac->ac_flags, cr, err);
+
+	if (nr)
+		ext4_mb_prefetch_fini(sb, prefetch_grp, nr);
+
 	return err;
 }
 
@@ -2613,6 +2722,26 @@ static int ext4_mb_init_backend(struct super_block *sb)
 			goto err_freebuddy;
 	}
 
+	if (ext4_has_feature_flex_bg(sb)) {
+		/* a single flex group is supposed to be read by a single IO */
+		sbi->s_mb_prefetch = 1 << sbi->s_es->s_log_groups_per_flex;
+		sbi->s_mb_prefetch *= 8; /* 8 prefetch IOs in flight at most */
+	} else {
+		sbi->s_mb_prefetch = 32;
+	}
+	if (sbi->s_mb_prefetch > ext4_get_groups_count(sb))
+		sbi->s_mb_prefetch = ext4_get_groups_count(sb);
+	/* now many real IOs to prefetch within a single allocation at cr=0
+	 * given cr=0 is an CPU-related optimization we shouldn't try to
+	 * load too many groups, at some point we should start to use what
+	 * we've got in memory.
+	 * with an average random access time 5ms, it'd take a second to get
+	 * 200 groups (* N with flex_bg), so let's make this limit 4
+	 */
+	sbi->s_mb_prefetch_limit = sbi->s_mb_prefetch * 4;
+	if (sbi->s_mb_prefetch_limit > ext4_get_groups_count(sb))
+		sbi->s_mb_prefetch_limit = ext4_get_groups_count(sb);
+
 	return 0;
 
 err_freebuddy:
diff --git a/fs/ext4/sysfs.c b/fs/ext4/sysfs.c
index 6c9fc9e21c138aded7e3d1fad09349aca1f998e8..31e0db726d2167138e1c7d32814c5e7b7703444c 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/sysfs.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/sysfs.c
@@ -240,6 +240,8 @@ EXT4_RO_ATTR_ES_STRING(last_error_func, s_last_error_func, 32);
 EXT4_ATTR(first_error_time, 0444, first_error_time);
 EXT4_ATTR(last_error_time, 0444, last_error_time);
 EXT4_ATTR(journal_task, 0444, journal_task);
+EXT4_RW_ATTR_SBI_UI(mb_prefetch, s_mb_prefetch);
+EXT4_RW_ATTR_SBI_UI(mb_prefetch_limit, s_mb_prefetch_limit);
 
 static unsigned int old_bump_val = 128;
 EXT4_ATTR_PTR(max_writeback_mb_bump, 0444, pointer_ui, &old_bump_val);
@@ -283,6 +285,8 @@ static struct attribute *ext4_attrs[] = {
 #ifdef CONFIG_EXT4_DEBUG
 	ATTR_LIST(simulate_fail),
 #endif
+	ATTR_LIST(mb_prefetch),
+	ATTR_LIST(mb_prefetch_limit),
 	NULL,
 };
 ATTRIBUTE_GROUPS(ext4);