diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-table.c b/drivers/md/dm-table.c
index 8f8783533ac7e13383aed49eff8a40ba3a0218bf..41d907b58f7e10fba58aab9d01354a6a581c3d9e 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-table.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-table.c
@@ -545,14 +545,28 @@ static int adjoin(struct dm_table *table, struct dm_target *ti)
 
 /*
  * Used to dynamically allocate the arg array.
+ *
+ * We do first allocation with GFP_NOIO because dm-mpath and dm-thin must
+ * process messages even if some device is suspended. These messages have a
+ * small fixed number of arguments.
+ *
+ * On the other hand, dm-switch needs to process bulk data using messages and
+ * excessive use of GFP_NOIO could cause trouble.
  */
 static char **realloc_argv(unsigned *array_size, char **old_argv)
 {
 	char **argv;
 	unsigned new_size;
+	gfp_t gfp;
 
-	new_size = *array_size ? *array_size * 2 : 64;
-	argv = kmalloc(new_size * sizeof(*argv), GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (*array_size) {
+		new_size = *array_size * 2;
+		gfp = GFP_KERNEL;
+	} else {
+		new_size = 8;
+		gfp = GFP_NOIO;
+	}
+	argv = kmalloc(new_size * sizeof(*argv), gfp);
 	if (argv) {
 		memcpy(argv, old_argv, *array_size * sizeof(*argv));
 		*array_size = new_size;