diff options
author | Igor Matheus Andrade Torrente <igormtorrente@gmail.com> | 2021-05-31 16:05:15 +0300 |
---|---|---|
committer | Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> | 2021-06-04 20:31:02 +0300 |
commit | acda97acb2e98c97895d81d20494bf6a4bc67c6c (patch) | |
tree | 3865e891064531c7231f549ff1a206973016cd46 /Documentation/filesystems | |
parent | fb7b26a8b1d0b82c79e93deb12d624011c7a4e0e (diff) | |
download | linux-acda97acb2e98c97895d81d20494bf6a4bc67c6c.tar.xz |
docs: convert dax.txt to rst
Change the file extension and add the rst constructs to integrate this
doc to the documentation infrastructure and take advantage of rst
features.
Signed-off-by: Igor Matheus Andrade Torrente <igormtorrente@gmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20210531130515.10309-1-igormtorrente@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/dax.rst | 291 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/dax.txt | 257 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/index.rst | 1 |
3 files changed, 292 insertions, 257 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/dax.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/dax.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..9a1b8fd9e82b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/dax.rst @@ -0,0 +1,291 @@ +======================= +Direct Access for files +======================= + +Motivation +---------- + +The page cache is usually used to buffer reads and writes to files. +It is also used to provide the pages which are mapped into userspace +by a call to mmap. + +For block devices that are memory-like, the page cache pages would be +unnecessary copies of the original storage. The `DAX` code removes the +extra copy by performing reads and writes directly to the storage device. +For file mappings, the storage device is mapped directly into userspace. + + +Usage +----- + +If you have a block device which supports `DAX`, you can make a filesystem +on it as usual. The `DAX` code currently only supports files with a block +size equal to your kernel's `PAGE_SIZE`, so you may need to specify a block +size when creating the filesystem. + +Currently 3 filesystems support `DAX`: ext2, ext4 and xfs. Enabling `DAX` on them +is different. + +Enabling DAX on ext2 +-------------------- + +When mounting the filesystem, use the ``-o dax`` option on the command line or +add 'dax' to the options in ``/etc/fstab``. This works to enable `DAX` on all files +within the filesystem. It is equivalent to the ``-o dax=always`` behavior below. + + +Enabling DAX on xfs and ext4 +---------------------------- + +Summary +------- + + 1. There exists an in-kernel file access mode flag `S_DAX` that corresponds to + the statx flag `STATX_ATTR_DAX`. See the manpage for statx(2) for details + about this access mode. + + 2. There exists a persistent flag `FS_XFLAG_DAX` that can be applied to regular + files and directories. This advisory flag can be set or cleared at any + time, but doing so does not immediately affect the `S_DAX` state. + + 3. If the persistent `FS_XFLAG_DAX` flag is set on a directory, this flag will + be inherited by all regular files and subdirectories that are subsequently + created in this directory. Files and subdirectories that exist at the time + this flag is set or cleared on the parent directory are not modified by + this modification of the parent directory. + + 4. There exist dax mount options which can override `FS_XFLAG_DAX` in the + setting of the `S_DAX` flag. Given underlying storage which supports `DAX` the + following hold: + + ``-o dax=inode`` means "follow `FS_XFLAG_DAX`" and is the default. + + ``-o dax=never`` means "never set `S_DAX`, ignore `FS_XFLAG_DAX`." + + ``-o dax=always`` means "always set `S_DAX` ignore `FS_XFLAG_DAX`." + + ``-o dax`` is a legacy option which is an alias for ``dax=always``. + + .. warning:: + + The option ``-o dax`` may be removed in the future so ``-o dax=always`` is + the preferred method for specifying this behavior. + + .. note:: + + Modifications to and the inheritance behavior of `FS_XFLAG_DAX` remain + the same even when the filesystem is mounted with a dax option. However, + in-core inode state (`S_DAX`) will be overridden until the filesystem is + remounted with dax=inode and the inode is evicted from kernel memory. + + 5. The `S_DAX` policy can be changed via: + + a) Setting the parent directory `FS_XFLAG_DAX` as needed before files are + created + + b) Setting the appropriate dax="foo" mount option + + c) Changing the `FS_XFLAG_DAX` flag on existing regular files and + directories. This has runtime constraints and limitations that are + described in 6) below. + + 6. When changing the `S_DAX` policy via toggling the persistent `FS_XFLAG_DAX` + flag, the change to existing regular files won't take effect until the + files are closed by all processes. + + +Details +------- + +There are 2 per-file dax flags. One is a persistent inode setting (`FS_XFLAG_DAX`) +and the other is a volatile flag indicating the active state of the feature +(`S_DAX`). + +`FS_XFLAG_DAX` is preserved within the filesystem. This persistent config +setting can be set, cleared and/or queried using the `FS_IOC_FS`[`GS`]`ETXATTR` ioctl +(see ioctl_xfs_fsgetxattr(2)) or an utility such as 'xfs_io'. + +New files and directories automatically inherit `FS_XFLAG_DAX` from +their parent directory **when created**. Therefore, setting `FS_XFLAG_DAX` at +directory creation time can be used to set a default behavior for an entire +sub-tree. + +To clarify inheritance, here are 3 examples: + +Example A: + +.. code-block:: shell + + mkdir -p a/b/c + xfs_io -c 'chattr +x' a + mkdir a/b/c/d + mkdir a/e + + ------[outcome]------ + + dax: a,e + no dax: b,c,d + +Example B: + +.. code-block:: shell + + mkdir a + xfs_io -c 'chattr +x' a + mkdir -p a/b/c/d + + ------[outcome]------ + + dax: a,b,c,d + no dax: + +Example C: + +.. code-block:: shell + + mkdir -p a/b/c + xfs_io -c 'chattr +x' c + mkdir a/b/c/d + + ------[outcome]------ + + dax: c,d + no dax: a,b + +The current enabled state (`S_DAX`) is set when a file inode is instantiated in +memory by the kernel. It is set based on the underlying media support, the +value of `FS_XFLAG_DAX` and the filesystem's dax mount option. + +statx can be used to query `S_DAX`. + +.. note:: + + That only regular files will ever have `S_DAX` set and therefore statx + will never indicate that `S_DAX` is set on directories. + +Setting the `FS_XFLAG_DAX` flag (specifically or through inheritance) occurs even +if the underlying media does not support dax and/or the filesystem is +overridden with a mount option. + + +Implementation Tips for Block Driver Writers +-------------------------------------------- + +To support `DAX` in your block driver, implement the 'direct_access' +block device operation. It is used to translate the sector number +(expressed in units of 512-byte sectors) to a page frame number (pfn) +that identifies the physical page for the memory. It also returns a +kernel virtual address that can be used to access the memory. + +The direct_access method takes a 'size' parameter that indicates the +number of bytes being requested. The function should return the number +of bytes that can be contiguously accessed at that offset. It may also +return a negative errno if an error occurs. + +In order to support this method, the storage must be byte-accessible by +the CPU at all times. If your device uses paging techniques to expose +a large amount of memory through a smaller window, then you cannot +implement direct_access. Equally, if your device can occasionally +stall the CPU for an extended period, you should also not attempt to +implement direct_access. + +These block devices may be used for inspiration: +- brd: RAM backed block device driver +- dcssblk: s390 dcss block device driver +- pmem: NVDIMM persistent memory driver + + +Implementation Tips for Filesystem Writers +------------------------------------------ + +Filesystem support consists of: + +* Adding support to mark inodes as being `DAX` by setting the `S_DAX` flag in + i_flags +* Implementing ->read_iter and ->write_iter operations which use + :c:func:`dax_iomap_rw()` when inode has `S_DAX` flag set +* Implementing an mmap file operation for `DAX` files which sets the + `VM_MIXEDMAP` and `VM_HUGEPAGE` flags on the `VMA`, and setting the vm_ops to + include handlers for fault, pmd_fault, page_mkwrite, pfn_mkwrite. These + handlers should probably call :c:func:`dax_iomap_fault()` passing the + appropriate fault size and iomap operations. +* Calling :c:func:`iomap_zero_range()` passing appropriate iomap operations + instead of :c:func:`block_truncate_page()` for `DAX` files +* Ensuring that there is sufficient locking between reads, writes, + truncates and page faults + +The iomap handlers for allocating blocks must make sure that allocated blocks +are zeroed out and converted to written extents before being returned to avoid +exposure of uninitialized data through mmap. + +These filesystems may be used for inspiration: + +.. seealso:: + + ext2: see Documentation/filesystems/ext2.rst + +.. seealso:: + + xfs: see Documentation/admin-guide/xfs.rst + +.. seealso:: + + ext4: see Documentation/filesystems/ext4/ + + +Handling Media Errors +--------------------- + +The libnvdimm subsystem stores a record of known media error locations for +each pmem block device (in gendisk->badblocks). If we fault at such location, +or one with a latent error not yet discovered, the application can expect +to receive a `SIGBUS`. Libnvdimm also allows clearing of these errors by simply +writing the affected sectors (through the pmem driver, and if the underlying +NVDIMM supports the clear_poison DSM defined by ACPI). + +Since `DAX` IO normally doesn't go through the ``driver/bio`` path, applications or +sysadmins have an option to restore the lost data from a prior ``backup/inbuilt`` +redundancy in the following ways: + +1. Delete the affected file, and restore from a backup (sysadmin route): + This will free the filesystem blocks that were being used by the file, + and the next time they're allocated, they will be zeroed first, which + happens through the driver, and will clear bad sectors. + +2. Truncate or hole-punch the part of the file that has a bad-block (at least + an entire aligned sector has to be hole-punched, but not necessarily an + entire filesystem block). + +These are the two basic paths that allow `DAX` filesystems to continue operating +in the presence of media errors. More robust error recovery mechanisms can be +built on top of this in the future, for example, involving redundancy/mirroring +provided at the block layer through DM, or additionally, at the filesystem +level. These would have to rely on the above two tenets, that error clearing +can happen either by sending an IO through the driver, or zeroing (also through +the driver). + + +Shortcomings +------------ + +Even if the kernel or its modules are stored on a filesystem that supports +`DAX` on a block device that supports `DAX`, they will still be copied into RAM. + +The DAX code does not work correctly on architectures which have virtually +mapped caches such as ARM, MIPS and SPARC. + +Calling :c:func:`get_user_pages()` on a range of user memory that has been +mmaped from a `DAX` file will fail when there are no 'struct page' to describe +those pages. This problem has been addressed in some device drivers +by adding optional struct page support for pages under the control of +the driver (see `CONFIG_NVDIMM_PFN` in ``drivers/nvdimm`` for an example of +how to do this). In the non struct page cases `O_DIRECT` reads/writes to +those memory ranges from a non-`DAX` file will fail + + +.. note:: + + `O_DIRECT` reads/writes _of a `DAX` file do work, it is the memory that + is being accessed that is key here). Other things that will not work in + the non struct page case include RDMA, :c:func:`sendfile()` and + :c:func:`splice()`. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/dax.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/dax.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e03c20564f3a..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/dax.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,257 +0,0 @@ -Direct Access for files ------------------------ - -Motivation ----------- - -The page cache is usually used to buffer reads and writes to files. -It is also used to provide the pages which are mapped into userspace -by a call to mmap. - -For block devices that are memory-like, the page cache pages would be -unnecessary copies of the original storage. The DAX code removes the -extra copy by performing reads and writes directly to the storage device. -For file mappings, the storage device is mapped directly into userspace. - - -Usage ------ - -If you have a block device which supports DAX, you can make a filesystem -on it as usual. The DAX code currently only supports files with a block -size equal to your kernel's PAGE_SIZE, so you may need to specify a block -size when creating the filesystem. - -Currently 3 filesystems support DAX: ext2, ext4 and xfs. Enabling DAX on them -is different. - -Enabling DAX on ext2 ------------------------------ - -When mounting the filesystem, use the "-o dax" option on the command line or -add 'dax' to the options in /etc/fstab. This works to enable DAX on all files -within the filesystem. It is equivalent to the '-o dax=always' behavior below. - - -Enabling DAX on xfs and ext4 ----------------------------- - -Summary -------- - - 1. There exists an in-kernel file access mode flag S_DAX that corresponds to - the statx flag STATX_ATTR_DAX. See the manpage for statx(2) for details - about this access mode. - - 2. There exists a persistent flag FS_XFLAG_DAX that can be applied to regular - files and directories. This advisory flag can be set or cleared at any - time, but doing so does not immediately affect the S_DAX state. - - 3. If the persistent FS_XFLAG_DAX flag is set on a directory, this flag will - be inherited by all regular files and subdirectories that are subsequently - created in this directory. Files and subdirectories that exist at the time - this flag is set or cleared on the parent directory are not modified by - this modification of the parent directory. - - 4. There exist dax mount options which can override FS_XFLAG_DAX in the - setting of the S_DAX flag. Given underlying storage which supports DAX the - following hold: - - "-o dax=inode" means "follow FS_XFLAG_DAX" and is the default. - - "-o dax=never" means "never set S_DAX, ignore FS_XFLAG_DAX." - - "-o dax=always" means "always set S_DAX ignore FS_XFLAG_DAX." - - "-o dax" is a legacy option which is an alias for "dax=always". - This may be removed in the future so "-o dax=always" is - the preferred method for specifying this behavior. - - NOTE: Modifications to and the inheritance behavior of FS_XFLAG_DAX remain - the same even when the filesystem is mounted with a dax option. However, - in-core inode state (S_DAX) will be overridden until the filesystem is - remounted with dax=inode and the inode is evicted from kernel memory. - - 5. The S_DAX policy can be changed via: - - a) Setting the parent directory FS_XFLAG_DAX as needed before files are - created - - b) Setting the appropriate dax="foo" mount option - - c) Changing the FS_XFLAG_DAX flag on existing regular files and - directories. This has runtime constraints and limitations that are - described in 6) below. - - 6. When changing the S_DAX policy via toggling the persistent FS_XFLAG_DAX - flag, the change to existing regular files won't take effect until the - files are closed by all processes. - - -Details -------- - -There are 2 per-file dax flags. One is a persistent inode setting (FS_XFLAG_DAX) -and the other is a volatile flag indicating the active state of the feature -(S_DAX). - -FS_XFLAG_DAX is preserved within the filesystem. This persistent config -setting can be set, cleared and/or queried using the FS_IOC_FS[GS]ETXATTR ioctl -(see ioctl_xfs_fsgetxattr(2)) or an utility such as 'xfs_io'. - -New files and directories automatically inherit FS_XFLAG_DAX from -their parent directory _when_ _created_. Therefore, setting FS_XFLAG_DAX at -directory creation time can be used to set a default behavior for an entire -sub-tree. - -To clarify inheritance, here are 3 examples: - -Example A: - -mkdir -p a/b/c -xfs_io -c 'chattr +x' a -mkdir a/b/c/d -mkdir a/e - - dax: a,e - no dax: b,c,d - -Example B: - -mkdir a -xfs_io -c 'chattr +x' a -mkdir -p a/b/c/d - - dax: a,b,c,d - no dax: - -Example C: - -mkdir -p a/b/c -xfs_io -c 'chattr +x' c -mkdir a/b/c/d - - dax: c,d - no dax: a,b - - -The current enabled state (S_DAX) is set when a file inode is instantiated in -memory by the kernel. It is set based on the underlying media support, the -value of FS_XFLAG_DAX and the filesystem's dax mount option. - -statx can be used to query S_DAX. NOTE that only regular files will ever have -S_DAX set and therefore statx will never indicate that S_DAX is set on -directories. - -Setting the FS_XFLAG_DAX flag (specifically or through inheritance) occurs even -if the underlying media does not support dax and/or the filesystem is -overridden with a mount option. - - - -Implementation Tips for Block Driver Writers --------------------------------------------- - -To support DAX in your block driver, implement the 'direct_access' -block device operation. It is used to translate the sector number -(expressed in units of 512-byte sectors) to a page frame number (pfn) -that identifies the physical page for the memory. It also returns a -kernel virtual address that can be used to access the memory. - -The direct_access method takes a 'size' parameter that indicates the -number of bytes being requested. The function should return the number -of bytes that can be contiguously accessed at that offset. It may also -return a negative errno if an error occurs. - -In order to support this method, the storage must be byte-accessible by -the CPU at all times. If your device uses paging techniques to expose -a large amount of memory through a smaller window, then you cannot -implement direct_access. Equally, if your device can occasionally -stall the CPU for an extended period, you should also not attempt to -implement direct_access. - -These block devices may be used for inspiration: -- brd: RAM backed block device driver -- dcssblk: s390 dcss block device driver -- pmem: NVDIMM persistent memory driver - - -Implementation Tips for Filesystem Writers ------------------------------------------- - -Filesystem support consists of -- adding support to mark inodes as being DAX by setting the S_DAX flag in - i_flags -- implementing ->read_iter and ->write_iter operations which use dax_iomap_rw() - when inode has S_DAX flag set -- implementing an mmap file operation for DAX files which sets the - VM_MIXEDMAP and VM_HUGEPAGE flags on the VMA, and setting the vm_ops to - include handlers for fault, pmd_fault, page_mkwrite, pfn_mkwrite. These - handlers should probably call dax_iomap_fault() passing the appropriate - fault size and iomap operations. -- calling iomap_zero_range() passing appropriate iomap operations instead of - block_truncate_page() for DAX files -- ensuring that there is sufficient locking between reads, writes, - truncates and page faults - -The iomap handlers for allocating blocks must make sure that allocated blocks -are zeroed out and converted to written extents before being returned to avoid -exposure of uninitialized data through mmap. - -These filesystems may be used for inspiration: -- ext2: see Documentation/filesystems/ext2.rst -- ext4: see Documentation/filesystems/ext4/ -- xfs: see Documentation/admin-guide/xfs.rst - - -Handling Media Errors ---------------------- - -The libnvdimm subsystem stores a record of known media error locations for -each pmem block device (in gendisk->badblocks). If we fault at such location, -or one with a latent error not yet discovered, the application can expect -to receive a SIGBUS. Libnvdimm also allows clearing of these errors by simply -writing the affected sectors (through the pmem driver, and if the underlying -NVDIMM supports the clear_poison DSM defined by ACPI). - -Since DAX IO normally doesn't go through the driver/bio path, applications or -sysadmins have an option to restore the lost data from a prior backup/inbuilt -redundancy in the following ways: - -1. Delete the affected file, and restore from a backup (sysadmin route): - This will free the filesystem blocks that were being used by the file, - and the next time they're allocated, they will be zeroed first, which - happens through the driver, and will clear bad sectors. - -2. Truncate or hole-punch the part of the file that has a bad-block (at least - an entire aligned sector has to be hole-punched, but not necessarily an - entire filesystem block). - -These are the two basic paths that allow DAX filesystems to continue operating -in the presence of media errors. More robust error recovery mechanisms can be -built on top of this in the future, for example, involving redundancy/mirroring -provided at the block layer through DM, or additionally, at the filesystem -level. These would have to rely on the above two tenets, that error clearing -can happen either by sending an IO through the driver, or zeroing (also through -the driver). - - -Shortcomings ------------- - -Even if the kernel or its modules are stored on a filesystem that supports -DAX on a block device that supports DAX, they will still be copied into RAM. - -The DAX code does not work correctly on architectures which have virtually -mapped caches such as ARM, MIPS and SPARC. - -Calling get_user_pages() on a range of user memory that has been mmaped -from a DAX file will fail when there are no 'struct page' to describe -those pages. This problem has been addressed in some device drivers -by adding optional struct page support for pages under the control of -the driver (see CONFIG_NVDIMM_PFN in drivers/nvdimm for an example of -how to do this). In the non struct page cases O_DIRECT reads/writes to -those memory ranges from a non-DAX file will fail (note that O_DIRECT -reads/writes _of a DAX file_ do work, it is the memory that is being -accessed that is key here). Other things that will not work in the -non struct page case include RDMA, sendfile() and splice(). diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/index.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/index.rst index d4853cb919d2..246af51b277a 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/index.rst @@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ Documentation for filesystem implementations. coda configfs cramfs + dax debugfs dlmfs ecryptfs |