diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_trans.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_trans.c
index c83f63b33aae..efc147f0e9b6 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_trans.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_trans.c
@@ -1426,6 +1426,7 @@ xfs_trans_committed(
 static inline void
 xfs_log_item_batch_insert(
 	struct xfs_ail		*ailp,
+	struct xfs_ail_cursor	*cur,
 	struct xfs_log_item	**log_items,
 	int			nr_items,
 	xfs_lsn_t		commit_lsn)
@@ -1434,7 +1435,7 @@ xfs_log_item_batch_insert(
 
 	spin_lock(&ailp->xa_lock);
 	/* xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk drops ailp->xa_lock */
-	xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk(ailp, log_items, nr_items, commit_lsn);
+	xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk(ailp, cur, log_items, nr_items, commit_lsn);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < nr_items; i++)
 		IOP_UNPIN(log_items[i], 0);
@@ -1452,6 +1453,13 @@ xfs_log_item_batch_insert(
  * as an iclog write error even though we haven't started any IO yet. Hence in
  * this case all we need to do is IOP_COMMITTED processing, followed by an
  * IOP_UNPIN(aborted) call.
+ *
+ * The AIL cursor is used to optimise the insert process. If commit_lsn is not
+ * at the end of the AIL, the insert cursor avoids the need to walk
+ * the AIL to find the insertion point on every xfs_log_item_batch_insert()
+ * call. This saves a lot of needless list walking and is a net win, even
+ * though it slightly increases that amount of AIL lock traffic to set it up
+ * and tear it down.
  */
 void
 xfs_trans_committed_bulk(
@@ -1463,8 +1471,13 @@ xfs_trans_committed_bulk(
 #define LOG_ITEM_BATCH_SIZE	32
 	struct xfs_log_item	*log_items[LOG_ITEM_BATCH_SIZE];
 	struct xfs_log_vec	*lv;
+	struct xfs_ail_cursor	cur;
 	int			i = 0;
 
+	spin_lock(&ailp->xa_lock);
+	xfs_trans_ail_cursor_last(ailp, &cur, commit_lsn);
+	spin_unlock(&ailp->xa_lock);
+
 	/* unpin all the log items */
 	for (lv = log_vector; lv; lv = lv->lv_next ) {
 		struct xfs_log_item	*lip = lv->lv_item;
@@ -1493,7 +1506,9 @@ xfs_trans_committed_bulk(
 			/*
 			 * Not a bulk update option due to unusual item_lsn.
 			 * Push into AIL immediately, rechecking the lsn once
-			 * we have the ail lock. Then unpin the item.
+			 * we have the ail lock. Then unpin the item. This does
+			 * not affect the AIL cursor the bulk insert path is
+			 * using.
 			 */
 			spin_lock(&ailp->xa_lock);
 			if (XFS_LSN_CMP(item_lsn, lip->li_lsn) > 0)
@@ -1507,7 +1522,7 @@ xfs_trans_committed_bulk(
 		/* Item is a candidate for bulk AIL insert.  */
 		log_items[i++] = lv->lv_item;
 		if (i >= LOG_ITEM_BATCH_SIZE) {
-			xfs_log_item_batch_insert(ailp, log_items,
+			xfs_log_item_batch_insert(ailp, &cur, log_items,
 					LOG_ITEM_BATCH_SIZE, commit_lsn);
 			i = 0;
 		}
@@ -1515,7 +1530,11 @@ xfs_trans_committed_bulk(
 
 	/* make sure we insert the remainder! */
 	if (i)
-		xfs_log_item_batch_insert(ailp, log_items, i, commit_lsn);
+		xfs_log_item_batch_insert(ailp, &cur, log_items, i, commit_lsn);
+
+	spin_lock(&ailp->xa_lock);
+	xfs_trans_ail_cursor_done(ailp, &cur);
+	spin_unlock(&ailp->xa_lock);
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_ail.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_ail.c
index 5fc2380092c8..9a69dc06ea86 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_ail.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_ail.c
@@ -272,9 +272,9 @@ xfs_trans_ail_cursor_clear(
 }
 
 /*
- * Return the item in the AIL with the current lsn.
- * Return the current tree generation number for use
- * in calls to xfs_trans_next_ail().
+ * Initialise the cursor to the first item in the AIL with the given @lsn.
+ * This searches the list from lowest LSN to highest. Pass a @lsn of zero
+ * to initialise the cursor to the first item in the AIL.
  */
 xfs_log_item_t *
 xfs_trans_ail_cursor_first(
@@ -300,31 +300,97 @@ xfs_trans_ail_cursor_first(
 }
 
 /*
- * splice the log item list into the AIL at the given LSN.
+ * Initialise the cursor to the last item in the AIL with the given @lsn.
+ * This searches the list from highest LSN to lowest. If there is no item with
+ * the value of @lsn, then it sets the cursor to the last item with an LSN lower
+ * than @lsn.
+ */
+static struct xfs_log_item *
+__xfs_trans_ail_cursor_last(
+	struct xfs_ail		*ailp,
+	xfs_lsn_t		lsn)
+{
+	xfs_log_item_t		*lip;
+
+	list_for_each_entry_reverse(lip, &ailp->xa_ail, li_ail) {
+		if (XFS_LSN_CMP(lip->li_lsn, lsn) <= 0)
+			return lip;
+	}
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Initialise the cursor to the last item in the AIL with the given @lsn.
+ * This searches the list from highest LSN to lowest.
+ */
+struct xfs_log_item *
+xfs_trans_ail_cursor_last(
+	struct xfs_ail		*ailp,
+	struct xfs_ail_cursor	*cur,
+	xfs_lsn_t		lsn)
+{
+	xfs_trans_ail_cursor_init(ailp, cur);
+	cur->item = __xfs_trans_ail_cursor_last(ailp, lsn);
+	return cur->item;
+}
+
+/*
+ * splice the log item list into the AIL at the given LSN. We splice to the
+ * tail of the given LSN to maintain insert order for push traversals. The
+ * cursor is optional, allowing repeated updates to the same LSN to avoid
+ * repeated traversals.
  */
 static void
 xfs_ail_splice(
-	struct xfs_ail  *ailp,
-	struct list_head *list,
-	xfs_lsn_t       lsn)
+	struct xfs_ail		*ailp,
+	struct xfs_ail_cursor	*cur,
+	struct list_head	*list,
+	xfs_lsn_t		lsn)
 {
-	xfs_log_item_t  *next_lip;
+	struct xfs_log_item	*lip = cur ? cur->item : NULL;
+	struct xfs_log_item	*next_lip;
 
-	/* If the list is empty, just insert the item.  */
-	if (list_empty(&ailp->xa_ail)) {
-		list_splice(list, &ailp->xa_ail);
-		return;
+	/*
+	 * Get a new cursor if we don't have a placeholder or the existing one
+	 * has been invalidated.
+	 */
+	if (!lip || (__psint_t)lip & 1) {
+		lip = __xfs_trans_ail_cursor_last(ailp, lsn);
+
+		if (!lip) {
+			/* The list is empty, so just splice and return.  */
+			if (cur)
+				cur->item = NULL;
+			list_splice(list, &ailp->xa_ail);
+			return;
+		}
 	}
 
-	list_for_each_entry_reverse(next_lip, &ailp->xa_ail, li_ail) {
-		if (XFS_LSN_CMP(next_lip->li_lsn, lsn) <= 0)
-			break;
+	/*
+	 * Our cursor points to the item we want to insert _after_, so we have
+	 * to update the cursor to point to the end of the list we are splicing
+	 * in so that it points to the correct location for the next splice.
+	 * i.e. before the splice
+	 *
+	 *  lsn -> lsn -> lsn + x -> lsn + x ...
+	 *          ^
+	 *          | cursor points here
+	 *
+	 * After the splice we have:
+	 *
+	 *  lsn -> lsn -> lsn -> lsn -> .... -> lsn -> lsn + x -> lsn + x ...
+	 *          ^                            ^
+	 *          | cursor points here         | needs to move here
+	 *
+	 * So we set the cursor to the last item in the list to be spliced
+	 * before we execute the splice, resulting in the cursor pointing to
+	 * the correct item after the splice occurs.
+	 */
+	if (cur) {
+		next_lip = list_entry(list->prev, struct xfs_log_item, li_ail);
+		cur->item = next_lip;
 	}
-
-	ASSERT(&next_lip->li_ail == &ailp->xa_ail ||
-	       XFS_LSN_CMP(next_lip->li_lsn, lsn) <= 0);
-
-	list_splice_init(list, &next_lip->li_ail);
+	list_splice(list, &lip->li_ail);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -645,6 +711,7 @@ xfs_trans_unlocked_item(
 void
 xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk(
 	struct xfs_ail		*ailp,
+	struct xfs_ail_cursor	*cur,
 	struct xfs_log_item	**log_items,
 	int			nr_items,
 	xfs_lsn_t		lsn) __releases(ailp->xa_lock)
@@ -674,7 +741,7 @@ xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk(
 		list_add(&lip->li_ail, &tmp);
 	}
 
-	xfs_ail_splice(ailp, &tmp, lsn);
+	xfs_ail_splice(ailp, cur, &tmp, lsn);
 
 	if (!mlip_changed) {
 		spin_unlock(&ailp->xa_lock);
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_priv.h b/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_priv.h
index 6b164e9e9a1f..c0cb40890329 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_priv.h
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_trans_priv.h
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ struct xfs_ail {
 extern struct workqueue_struct	*xfs_ail_wq;	/* AIL workqueue */
 
 void	xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
+				struct xfs_ail_cursor *cur,
 				struct xfs_log_item **log_items, int nr_items,
 				xfs_lsn_t lsn) __releases(ailp->xa_lock);
 static inline void
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ xfs_trans_ail_update(
 	struct xfs_log_item	*lip,
 	xfs_lsn_t		lsn) __releases(ailp->xa_lock)
 {
-	xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk(ailp, &lip, 1, lsn);
+	xfs_trans_ail_update_bulk(ailp, NULL, &lip, 1, lsn);
 }
 
 void	xfs_trans_ail_delete_bulk(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
@@ -111,10 +112,13 @@ xfs_lsn_t		xfs_ail_min_lsn(struct xfs_ail *ailp);
 void			xfs_trans_unlocked_item(struct xfs_ail *,
 					xfs_log_item_t *);
 
-struct xfs_log_item	*xfs_trans_ail_cursor_first(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
+struct xfs_log_item *	xfs_trans_ail_cursor_first(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
 					struct xfs_ail_cursor *cur,
 					xfs_lsn_t lsn);
-struct xfs_log_item	*xfs_trans_ail_cursor_next(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
+struct xfs_log_item *	xfs_trans_ail_cursor_last(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
+					struct xfs_ail_cursor *cur,
+					xfs_lsn_t lsn);
+struct xfs_log_item *	xfs_trans_ail_cursor_next(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
 					struct xfs_ail_cursor *cur);
 void			xfs_trans_ail_cursor_done(struct xfs_ail *ailp,
 					struct xfs_ail_cursor *cur);