diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/caching/backend-api.txt | 658 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/caching/cachefiles.txt | 501 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/caching/fscache.txt | 333 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/caching/netfs-api.txt | 778 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/caching/object.txt | 313 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/caching/operations.txt | 213 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/slow-work.txt | 174 |
7 files changed, 2970 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/caching/backend-api.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/backend-api.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..382d52cdaf2 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/backend-api.txt @@ -0,0 +1,658 @@ + ========================== + FS-CACHE CACHE BACKEND API + ========================== + +The FS-Cache system provides an API by which actual caches can be supplied to +FS-Cache for it to then serve out to network filesystems and other interested +parties. + +This API is declared in <linux/fscache-cache.h>. + + +==================================== +INITIALISING AND REGISTERING A CACHE +==================================== + +To start off, a cache definition must be initialised and registered for each +cache the backend wants to make available. For instance, CacheFS does this in +the fill_super() operation on mounting. + +The cache definition (struct fscache_cache) should be initialised by calling: + + void fscache_init_cache(struct fscache_cache *cache, + struct fscache_cache_ops *ops, + const char *idfmt, + ...); + +Where: + + (*) "cache" is a pointer to the cache definition; + + (*) "ops" is a pointer to the table of operations that the backend supports on + this cache; and + + (*) "idfmt" is a format and printf-style arguments for constructing a label + for the cache. + + +The cache should then be registered with FS-Cache by passing a pointer to the +previously initialised cache definition to: + + int fscache_add_cache(struct fscache_cache *cache, + struct fscache_object *fsdef, + const char *tagname); + +Two extra arguments should also be supplied: + + (*) "fsdef" which should point to the object representation for the FS-Cache + master index in this cache. Netfs primary index entries will be created + here. FS-Cache keeps the caller's reference to the index object if + successful and will release it upon withdrawal of the cache. + + (*) "tagname" which, if given, should be a text string naming this cache. If + this is NULL, the identifier will be used instead. For CacheFS, the + identifier is set to name the underlying block device and the tag can be + supplied by mount. + +This function may return -ENOMEM if it ran out of memory or -EEXIST if the tag +is already in use. 0 will be returned on success. + + +===================== +UNREGISTERING A CACHE +===================== + +A cache can be withdrawn from the system by calling this function with a +pointer to the cache definition: + + void fscache_withdraw_cache(struct fscache_cache *cache); + +In CacheFS's case, this is called by put_super(). + + +======== +SECURITY +======== + +The cache methods are executed one of two contexts: + + (1) that of the userspace process that issued the netfs operation that caused + the cache method to be invoked, or + + (2) that of one of the processes in the FS-Cache thread pool. + +In either case, this may not be an appropriate context in which to access the +cache. + +The calling process's fsuid, fsgid and SELinux security identities may need to +be masqueraded for the duration of the cache driver's access to the cache. +This is left to the cache to handle; FS-Cache makes no effort in this regard. + + +=================================== +CONTROL AND STATISTICS PRESENTATION +=================================== + +The cache may present data to the outside world through FS-Cache's interfaces +in sysfs and procfs - the former for control and the latter for statistics. + +A sysfs directory called /sys/fs/fscache/<cachetag>/ is created if CONFIG_SYSFS +is enabled. This is accessible through the kobject struct fscache_cache::kobj +and is for use by the cache as it sees fit. + + +======================== +RELEVANT DATA STRUCTURES +======================== + + (*) Index/Data file FS-Cache representation cookie: + + struct fscache_cookie { + struct fscache_object_def *def; + struct fscache_netfs *netfs; + void *netfs_data; + ... + }; + + The fields that might be of use to the backend describe the object + definition, the netfs definition and the netfs's data for this cookie. + The object definition contain functions supplied by the netfs for loading + and matching index entries; these are required to provide some of the + cache operations. + + + (*) In-cache object representation: + + struct fscache_object { + int debug_id; + enum { + FSCACHE_OBJECT_RECYCLING, + ... + } state; + spinlock_t lock + struct fscache_cache *cache; + struct fscache_cookie *cookie; + ... + }; + + Structures of this type should be allocated by the cache backend and + passed to FS-Cache when requested by the appropriate cache operation. In + the case of CacheFS, they're embedded in CacheFS's internal object + structures. + + The debug_id is a simple integer that can be used in debugging messages + that refer to a particular object. In such a case it should be printed + using "OBJ%x" to be consistent with FS-Cache. + + Each object contains a pointer to the cookie that represents the object it + is backing. An object should retired when put_object() is called if it is + in state FSCACHE_OBJECT_RECYCLING. The fscache_object struct should be + initialised by calling fscache_object_init(object). + + + (*) FS-Cache operation record: + + struct fscache_operation { + atomic_t usage; + struct fscache_object *object; + unsigned long flags; + #define FSCACHE_OP_EXCLUSIVE + void (*processor)(struct fscache_operation *op); + void (*release)(struct fscache_operation *op); + ... + }; + + FS-Cache has a pool of threads that it uses to give CPU time to the + various asynchronous operations that need to be done as part of driving + the cache. These are represented by the above structure. The processor + method is called to give the op CPU time, and the release method to get + rid of it when its usage count reaches 0. + + An operation can be made exclusive upon an object by setting the + appropriate flag before enqueuing it with fscache_enqueue_operation(). If + an operation needs more processing time, it should be enqueued again. + + + (*) FS-Cache retrieval operation record: + + struct fscache_retrieval { + struct fscache_operation op; + struct address_space *mapping; + struct list_head *to_do; + ... + }; + + A structure of this type is allocated by FS-Cache to record retrieval and + allocation requests made by the netfs. This struct is then passed to the + backend to do the operation. The backend may get extra refs to it by + calling fscache_get_retrieval() and refs may be discarded by calling + fscache_put_retrieval(). + + A retrieval operation can be used by the backend to do retrieval work. To + do this, the retrieval->op.processor method pointer should be set + appropriately by the backend and fscache_enqueue_retrieval() called to + submit it to the thread pool. CacheFiles, for example, uses this to queue + page examination when it detects PG_lock being cleared. + + The to_do field is an empty list available for the cache backend to use as + it sees fit. + + + (*) FS-Cache storage operation record: + + struct fscache_storage { + struct fscache_operation op; + pgoff_t store_limit; + ... + }; + + A structure of this type is allocated by FS-Cache to record outstanding + writes to be made. FS-Cache itself enqueues this operation and invokes + the write_page() method on the object at appropriate times to effect + storage. + + +================ +CACHE OPERATIONS +================ + +The cache backend provides FS-Cache with a table of operations that can be +performed on the denizens of the cache. These are held in a structure of type: + + struct fscache_cache_ops + + (*) Name of cache provider [mandatory]: + + const char *name + + This isn't strictly an operation, but should be pointed at a string naming + the backend. + + + (*) Allocate a new object [mandatory]: + + struct fscache_object *(*alloc_object)(struct fscache_cache *cache, + struct fscache_cookie *cookie) + + This method is used to allocate a cache object representation to back a + cookie in a particular cache. fscache_object_init() should be called on + the object to initialise it prior to returning. + + This function may also be used to parse the index key to be used for + multiple lookup calls to turn it into a more convenient form. FS-Cache + will call the lookup_complete() method to allow the cache to release the + form once lookup is complete or aborted. + + + (*) Look up and create object [mandatory]: + + void (*lookup_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + + This method is used to look up an object, given that the object is already + allocated and attached to the cookie. This should instantiate that object + in the cache if it can. + + The method should call fscache_object_lookup_negative() as soon as + possible if it determines the object doesn't exist in the cache. If the + object is found to exist and the netfs indicates that it is valid then + fscache_obtained_object() should be called once the object is in a + position to have data stored in it. Similarly, fscache_obtained_object() + should also be called once a non-present object has been created. + + If a lookup error occurs, fscache_object_lookup_error() should be called + to abort the lookup of that object. + + + (*) Release lookup data [mandatory]: + + void (*lookup_complete)(struct fscache_object *object) + + This method is called to ask the cache to release any resources it was + using to perform a lookup. + + + (*) Increment object refcount [mandatory]: + + struct fscache_object *(*grab_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + + This method is called to increment the reference count on an object. It + may fail (for instance if the cache is being withdrawn) by returning NULL. + It should return the object pointer if successful. + + + (*) Lock/Unlock object [mandatory]: + + void (*lock_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + void (*unlock_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + + These methods are used to exclusively lock an object. It must be possible + to schedule with the lock held, so a spinlock isn't sufficient. + + + (*) Pin/Unpin object [optional]: + + int (*pin_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + void (*unpin_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + + These methods are used to pin an object into the cache. Once pinned an + object cannot be reclaimed to make space. Return -ENOSPC if there's not + enough space in the cache to permit this. + + + (*) Update object [mandatory]: + + int (*update_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + + This is called to update the index entry for the specified object. The + new information should be in object->cookie->netfs_data. This can be + obtained by calling object->cookie->def->get_aux()/get_attr(). + + + (*) Discard object [mandatory]: + + void (*drop_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + + This method is called to indicate that an object has been unbound from its + cookie, and that the cache should release the object's resources and + retire it if it's in state FSCACHE_OBJECT_RECYCLING. + + This method should not attempt to release any references held by the + caller. The caller will invoke the put_object() method as appropriate. + + + (*) Release object reference [mandatory]: + + void (*put_object)(struct fscache_object *object) + + This method is used to discard a reference to an object. The object may + be freed when all the references to it are released. + + + (*) Synchronise a cache [mandatory]: + + void (*sync)(struct fscache_cache *cache) + + This is called to ask the backend to synchronise a cache with its backing + device. + + + (*) Dissociate a cache [mandatory]: + + void (*dissociate_pages)(struct fscache_cache *cache) + + This is called to ask a cache to perform any page dissociations as part of + cache withdrawal. + + + (*) Notification that the attributes on a netfs file changed [mandatory]: + + int (*attr_changed)(struct fscache_object *object); + + This is called to indicate to the cache that certain attributes on a netfs + file have changed (for example the maximum size a file may reach). The + cache can read these from the netfs by calling the cookie's get_attr() + method. + + The cache may use the file size information to reserve space on the cache. + It should also call fscache_set_store_limit() to indicate to FS-Cache the + highest byte it's willing to store for an object. + + This method may return -ve if an error occurred or the cache object cannot + be expanded. In such a case, the object will be withdrawn from service. + + This operation is run asynchronously from FS-Cache's thread pool, and + storage and retrieval operations from the netfs are excluded during the + execution of this operation. + + + (*) Reserve cache space for an object's data [optional]: + + int (*reserve_space)(struct fscache_object *object, loff_t size); + + This is called to request that cache space be reserved to hold the data + for an object and the metadata used to track it. Zero size should be + taken as request to cancel a reservation. + + This should return 0 if successful, -ENOSPC if there isn't enough space + available, or -ENOMEM or -EIO on other errors. + + The reservation may exceed the current size of the object, thus permitting + future expansion. If the amount of space consumed by an object would + exceed the reservation, it's permitted to refuse requests to allocate + pages, but not required. An object may be pruned down to its reservation + size if larger than that already. + + + (*) Request page be read from cache [mandatory]: + + int (*read_or_alloc_page)(struct fscache_retrieval *op, + struct page *page, + gfp_t gfp) + + This is called to attempt to read a netfs page from the cache, or to + reserve a backing block if not. FS-Cache will have done as much checking + as it can before calling, but most of the work belongs to the backend. + + If there's no page in the cache, then -ENODATA should be returned if the + backend managed to reserve a backing block; -ENOBUFS or -ENOMEM if it + didn't. + + If there is suitable data in the cache, then a read operation should be + queued and 0 returned. When the read finishes, fscache_end_io() should be + called. + + The fscache_mark_pages_cached() should be called for the page if any cache + metadata is retained. This will indicate to the netfs that the page needs + explicit uncaching. This operation takes a pagevec, thus allowing several + pages to be marked at once. + + The retrieval record pointed to by op should be retained for each page + queued and released when I/O on the page has been formally ended. + fscache_get/put_retrieval() are available for this purpose. + + The retrieval record may be used to get CPU time via the FS-Cache thread + pool. If this is desired, the op->op.processor should be set to point to + the appropriate processing routine, and fscache_enqueue_retrieval() should + be called at an appropriate point to request CPU time. For instance, the + retrieval routine could be enqueued upon the completion of a disk read. + The to_do field in the retrieval record is provided to aid in this. + + If an I/O error occurs, fscache_io_error() should be called and -ENOBUFS + returned if possible or fscache_end_io() called with a suitable error + code.. + + + (*) Request pages be read from cache [mandatory]: + + int (*read_or_alloc_pages)(struct fscache_retrieval *op, + struct list_head *pages, + unsigned *nr_pages, + gfp_t gfp) + + This is like the read_or_alloc_page() method, except it is handed a list + of pages instead of one page. Any pages on which a read operation is + started must be added to the page cache for the specified mapping and also + to the LRU. Such pages must also be removed from the pages list and + *nr_pages decremented per page. + + If there was an error such as -ENOMEM, then that should be returned; else + if one or more pages couldn't be read or allocated, then -ENOBUFS should + be returned; else if one or more pages couldn't be read, then -ENODATA + should be returned. If all the pages are dispatched then 0 should be + returned. + + + (*) Request page be allocated in the cache [mandatory]: + + int (*allocate_page)(struct fscache_retrieval *op, + struct page *page, + gfp_t gfp) + + This is like the read_or_alloc_page() method, except that it shouldn't + read from the cache, even if there's data there that could be retrieved. + It should, however, set up any internal metadata required such that + the write_page() method can write to the cache. + + If there's no backing block available, then -ENOBUFS should be returned + (or -ENOMEM if there were other problems). If a block is successfully + allocated, then the netfs page should be marked and 0 returned. + + + (*) Request pages be allocated in the cache [mandatory]: + + int (*allocate_pages)(struct fscache_retrieval *op, + struct list_head *pages, + unsigned *nr_pages, + gfp_t gfp) + + This is an multiple page version of the allocate_page() method. pages and + nr_pages should be treated as for the read_or_alloc_pages() method. + + + (*) Request page be written to cache [mandatory]: + + int (*write_page)(struct fscache_storage *op, + struct page *page); + + This is called to write from a page on which there was a previously + successful read_or_alloc_page() call or similar. FS-Cache filters out + pages that don't have mappings. + + This method is called asynchronously from the FS-Cache thread pool. It is + not required to actually store anything, provided -ENODATA is then + returned to the next read of this page. + + If an error occurred, then a negative error code should be returned, + otherwise zero should be returned. FS-Cache will take appropriate action + in response to an error, such as withdrawing this object. + + If this method returns success then FS-Cache will inform the netfs + appropriately. + + + (*) Discard retained per-page metadata [mandatory]: + + void (*uncache_page)(struct fscache_object *object, struct page *page) + + This is called when a netfs page is being evicted from the pagecache. The + cache backend should tear down any internal representation or tracking it + maintains for this page. + + +================== +FS-CACHE UTILITIES +================== + +FS-Cache provides some utilities that a cache backend may make use of: + + (*) Note occurrence of an I/O error in a cache: + + void fscache_io_error(struct fscache_cache *cache) + + This tells FS-Cache that an I/O error occurred in the cache. After this + has been called, only resource dissociation operations (object and page + release) will be passed from the netfs to the cache backend for the + specified cache. + + This does not actually withdraw the cache. That must be done separately. + + + (*) Invoke the retrieval I/O completion function: + + void fscache_end_io(struct fscache_retrieval *op, struct page *page, + int error); + + This is called to note the end of an attempt to retrieve a page. The + error value should be 0 if successful and an error otherwise. + + + (*) Set highest store limit: + + void fscache_set_store_limit(struct fscache_object *object, + loff_t i_size); + + This sets the limit FS-Cache imposes on the highest byte it's willing to + try and store for a netfs. Any page over this limit is automatically + rejected by fscache_read_alloc_page() and co with -ENOBUFS. + + + (*) Mark pages as being cached: + + void fscache_mark_pages_cached(struct fscache_retrieval *op, + struct pagevec *pagevec); + + This marks a set of pages as being cached. After this has been called, + the netfs must call fscache_uncache_page() to unmark the pages. + + + (*) Perform coherency check on an object: + + enum fscache_checkaux fscache_check_aux(struct fscache_object *object, + const void *data, + uint16_t datalen); + + This asks the netfs to perform a coherency check on an object that has + just been looked up. The cookie attached to the object will determine the + netfs to use. data and datalen should specify where the auxiliary data + retrieved from the cache can be found. + + One of three values will be returned: + + (*) FSCACHE_CHECKAUX_OKAY + + The coherency data indicates the object is valid as is. + + (*) FSCACHE_CHECKAUX_NEEDS_UPDATE + + The coherency data needs updating, but otherwise the object is + valid. + + (*) FSCACHE_CHECKAUX_OBSOLETE + + The coherency data indicates that the object is obsolete and should + be discarded. + + + (*) Initialise a freshly allocated object: + + void fscache_object_init(struct fscache_object *object); + + This initialises all the fields in an object representation. + + + (*) Indicate the destruction of an object: + + void fscache_object_destroyed(struct fscache_cache *cache); + + This must be called to inform FS-Cache that an object that belonged to a + cache has been destroyed and deallocated. This will allow continuation + of the cache withdrawal process when it is stopped pending destruction of + all the objects. + + + (*) Indicate negative lookup on an object: + + void fscache_object_lookup_negative(struct fscache_object *object); + + This is called to indicate to FS-Cache that a lookup process for an object + found a negative result. + + This changes the state of an object to permit reads pending on lookup + completion to go off and start fetching data from the netfs server as it's + known at this point that there can't be any data in the cache. + + This may be called multiple times on an object. Only the first call is + significant - all subsequent calls are ignored. + + + (*) Indicate an object has been obtained: + + void fscache_obtained_object(struct fscache_object *object); + + This is called to indicate to FS-Cache that a lookup process for an object + produced a positive result, or that an object was created. This should + only be called once for any particular object. + + This changes the state of an object to indicate: + + (1) if no call to fscache_object_lookup_negative() has been made on + this object, that there may be data available, and that reads can + now go and look for it; and + + (2) that writes may now proceed against this object. + + + (*) Indicate that object lookup failed: + + void fscache_object_lookup_error(struct fscache_object *object); + + This marks an object as having encountered a fatal error (usually EIO) + and causes it to move into a state whereby it will be withdrawn as soon + as possible. + + + (*) Get and release references on a retrieval record: + + void fscache_get_retrieval(struct fscache_retrieval *op); + void fscache_put_retrieval(struct fscache_retrieval *op); + + These two functions are used to retain a retrieval record whilst doing + asynchronous data retrieval and block allocation. + + + (*) Enqueue a retrieval record for processing. + + void fscache_enqueue_retrieval(struct fscache_retrieval *op); + + This enqueues a retrieval record for processing by the FS-Cache thread + pool. One of the threads in the pool will invoke the retrieval record's + op->op.processor callback function. This function may be called from + within the callback function. + + + (*) List of object state names: + + const char *fscache_object_states[]; + + For debugging purposes, this may be used to turn the state that an object + is in into a text string for display purposes. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/caching/cachefiles.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/cachefiles.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..c78a49b7bba --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/cachefiles.txt @@ -0,0 +1,501 @@ + =============================================== + CacheFiles: CACHE ON ALREADY MOUNTED FILESYSTEM + =============================================== + +Contents: + + (*) Overview. + + (*) Requirements. + + (*) Configuration. + + (*) Starting the cache. + + (*) Things to avoid. + + (*) Cache culling. + + (*) Cache structure. + + (*) Security model and SELinux. + + (*) A note on security. + + (*) Statistical information. + + (*) Debugging. + + +======== +OVERVIEW +======== + +CacheFiles is a caching backend that's meant to use as a cache a directory on +an already mounted filesystem of a local type (such as Ext3). + +CacheFiles uses a userspace daemon to do some of the cache management - such as +reaping stale nodes and culling. This is called cachefilesd and lives in +/sbin. + +The filesystem and data integrity of the cache are only as good as those of the +filesystem providing the backing services. Note that CacheFiles does not +attempt to journal anything since the journalling interfaces of the various +filesystems are very specific in nature. + +CacheFiles creates a misc character device - "/dev/cachefiles" - that is used +to communication with the daemon. Only one thing may have this open at once, +and whilst it is open, a cache is at least partially in existence. The daemon +opens this and sends commands down it to control the cache. + +CacheFiles is currently limited to a single cache. + +CacheFiles attempts to maintain at least a certain percentage of free space on +the filesystem, shrinking the cache by culling the objects it contains to make +space if necessary - see the "Cache Culling" section. This means it can be +placed on the same medium as a live set of data, and will expand to make use of +spare space and automatically contract when the set of data requires more +space. + + +============ +REQUIREMENTS +============ + +The use of CacheFiles and its daemon requires the following features to be +available in the system and in the cache filesystem: + + - dnotify. + + - extended attributes (xattrs). + + - openat() and friends. + + - bmap() support on files in the filesystem (FIBMAP ioctl). + + - The use of bmap() to detect a partial page at the end of the file. + +It is strongly recommended that the "dir_index" option is enabled on Ext3 +filesystems being used as a cache. + + +============= +CONFIGURATION +============= + +The cache is configured by a script in /etc/cachefilesd.conf. These commands +set up cache ready for use. The following script commands are available: + + (*) brun <N>% + (*) bcull <N>% + (*) bstop <N>% + (*) frun <N>% + (*) fcull <N>% + (*) fstop <N>% + + Configure the culling limits. Optional. See the section on culling + The defaults are 7% (run), 5% (cull) and 1% (stop) respectively. + + The commands beginning with a 'b' are file space (block) limits, those + beginning with an 'f' are file count limits. + + (*) dir <path> + + Specify the directory containing the root of the cache. Mandatory. + + (*) tag <name> + + Specify a tag to FS-Cache to use in distinguishing multiple caches. + Optional. The default is "CacheFiles". + + (*) debug <mask> + + Specify a numeric bitmask to control debugging in the kernel module. + Optional. The default is zero (all off). The following values can be + OR'd into the mask to collect various information: + + 1 Turn on trace of function entry (_enter() macros) + 2 Turn on trace of function exit (_leave() macros) + 4 Turn on trace of internal debug points (_debug()) + + This mask can also be set through sysfs, eg: + + echo 5 >/sys/modules/cachefiles/parameters/debug + + +================== +STARTING THE CACHE +================== + +The cache is started by running the daemon. The daemon opens the cache device, +configures the cache and tells it to begin caching. At that point the cache +binds to fscache and the cache becomes live. + +The daemon is run as follows: + + /sbin/cachefilesd [-d]* [-s] [-n] [-f <configfile>] + +The flags are: + + (*) -d + + Increase the debugging level. This can be specified multiple times and + is cumulative with itself. + + (*) -s + + Send messages to stderr instead of syslog. + + (*) -n + + Don't daemonise and go into background. + + (*) -f <configfile> + + Use an alternative configuration file rather than the default one. + + +=============== +THINGS TO AVOID +=============== + +Do not mount other things within the cache as this will cause problems. The +kernel module contains its own very cut-down path walking facility that ignores +mountpoints, but the daemon can't avoid them. + +Do not create, rename or unlink files and directories in the cache whilst the +cache is active, as this may cause the state to become uncertain. + +Renaming files in the cache might make objects appear to be other objects (the +filename is part of the lookup key). + +Do not change or remove the extended attributes attached to cache files by the +cache as this will cause the cache state management to get confused. + +Do not create files or directories in the cache, lest the cache get confused or +serve incorrect data. + +Do not chmod files in the cache. The module creates things with minimal +permissions to prevent random users being able to access them directly. + + +============= +CACHE CULLING +============= + +The cache may need culling occasionally to make space. This involves +discarding objects from the cache that have been used less recently than +anything else. Culling is based on the access time of data objects. Empty +directories are culled if not in use. + +Cache culling is done on the basis of the percentage of blocks and the +percentage of files available in the underlying filesystem. There are six +"limits": + + (*) brun + (*) frun + + If the amount of free space and the number of available files in the cache + rises above both these limits, then culling is turned off. + + (*) bcull + (*) fcull + + If the amount of available space or the number of available files in the + cache falls below either of these limits, then culling is started. + + (*) bstop + (*) fstop + + If the amount of available space or the number of available files in the + cache falls below either of these limits, then no further allocation of + disk space or files is permitted until culling has raised things above + these limits again. + +These must be configured thusly: + + 0 <= bstop < bcull < brun < 100 + 0 <= fstop < fcull < frun < 100 + +Note that these are percentages of available space and available files, and do +_not_ appear as 100 minus the percentage displayed by the "df" program. + +The userspace daemon scans the cache to build up a table of cullable objects. +These are then culled in least recently used order. A new scan of the cache is +started as soon as space is made in the table. Objects will be skipped if +their atimes have changed or if the kernel module says it is still using them. + + +=============== +CACHE STRUCTURE +=============== + +The CacheFiles module will create two directories in the directory it was +given: + + (*) cache/ + + (*) graveyard/ + +The active cache objects all reside in the first directory. The CacheFiles +kernel module moves any retired or culled objects that it can't simply unlink +to the graveyard from which the daemon will actually delete them. + +The daemon uses dnotify to monitor the graveyard directory, and will delete +anything that appears therein. + + +The module represents index objects as directories with the filename "I..." or +"J...". Note that the "cache/" directory is itself a special index. + +Data objects are represented as files if they have no children, or directories +if they do. Their filenames all begin "D..." or "E...". If represented as a +directory, data objects will have a file in the directory called "data" that +actually holds the data. + +Special objects are similar to data objects, except their filenames begin +"S..." or "T...". + + +If an object has children, then it will be represented as a directory. +Immediately in the representative directory are a collection of directories +named for hash values of the child object keys with an '@' prepended. Into +this directory, if possible, will be placed the representations of the child +objects: + + INDEX INDEX INDEX DATA FILES + ========= ========== ================================= ================ + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400 + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400/@75/Es0g000w...DB1ry + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400/@75/Es0g000w...N22ry + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400/@75/Es0g000w...FP1ry + + +If the key is so long that it exceeds NAME_MAX with the decorations added on to +it, then it will be cut into pieces, the first few of which will be used to +make a nest of directories, and the last one of which will be the objects +inside the last directory. The names of the intermediate directories will have +'+' prepended: + + J1223/@23/+xy...z/+kl...m/Epqr + + +Note that keys are raw data, and not only may they exceed NAME_MAX in size, +they may also contain things like '/' and NUL characters, and so they may not +be suitable for turning directly into a filename. + +To handle this, CacheFiles will use a suitably printable filename directly and +"base-64" encode ones that aren't directly suitable. The two versions of +object filenames indicate the encoding: + + OBJECT TYPE PRINTABLE ENCODED + =============== =============== =============== + Index "I..." "J..." + Data "D..." "E..." + Special "S..." "T..." + +Intermediate directories are always "@" or "+" as appropriate. + + +Each object in the cache has an extended attribute label that holds the object +type ID (required to distinguish special objects) and the auxiliary data from +the netfs. The latter is used to detect stale objects in the cache and update +or retire them. + + +Note that CacheFiles will erase from the cache any file it doesn't recognise or +any file of an incorrect type (such as a FIFO file or a device file). + + +========================== +SECURITY MODEL AND SELINUX +========================== + +CacheFiles is implemented to deal properly with the LSM security features of +the Linux kernel and the SELinux facility. + +One of the problems that CacheFiles faces is that it is generally acting on +behalf of a process, and running in that process's context, and that includes a +security context that is not appropriate for accessing the cache - either +because the files in the cache are inaccessible to that process, or because if +the process creates a file in the cache, that file may be inaccessible to other +processes. + +The way CacheFiles works is to temporarily change the security context (fsuid, +fsgid and actor security label) that the process acts as - without changing the +security context of the process when it the target of an operation performed by +some other process (so signalling and suchlike still work correctly). + + +When the CacheFiles module is asked to bind to its cache, it: + + (1) Finds the security label attached to the root cache directory and uses + that as the security label with which it will create files. By default, + this is: + + cachefiles_var_t + + (2) Finds the security label of the process which issued the bind request + (presumed to be the cachefilesd daemon), which by default will be: + + cachefilesd_t + + and asks LSM to supply a security ID as which it should act given the + daemon's label. By default, this will be: + + cachefiles_kernel_t + + SELinux transitions the daemon's security ID to the module's security ID + based on a rule of this form in the policy. + + type_transition <daemon's-ID> kernel_t : process <module's-ID>; + + For instance: + + type_transition cachefilesd_t kernel_t : process cachefiles_kernel_t; + + +The module's security ID gives it permission to create, move and remove files +and directories in the cache, to find and access directories and files in the +cache, to set and access extended attributes on cache objects, and to read and +write files in the cache. + +The daemon's security ID gives it only a very restricted set of permissions: it +may scan directories, stat files and erase files and directories. It may +not read or write files in the cache, and so it is precluded from accessing the +data cached therein; nor is it permitted to create new files in the cache. + + +There are policy source files available in: + + http://people.redhat.com/~dhowells/fscache/cachefilesd-0.8.tar.bz2 + +and later versions. In that tarball, see the files: + + cachefilesd.te + cachefilesd.fc + cachefilesd.if + +They are built and installed directly by the RPM. + +If a non-RPM based system is being used, then copy the above files to their own +directory and run: + + make -f /usr/share/selinux/devel/Makefile + semodule -i cachefilesd.pp + +You will need checkpolicy and selinux-policy-devel installed prior to the +build. + + +By default, the cache is located in /var/fscache, but if it is desirable that +it should be elsewhere, than either the above policy files must be altered, or +an auxiliary policy must be installed to label the alternate location of the +cache. + +For instructions on how to add an auxiliary policy to enable the cache to be +located elsewhere when SELinux is in enforcing mode, please see: + + /usr/share/doc/cachefilesd-*/move-cache.txt + +When the cachefilesd rpm is installed; alternatively, the document can be found +in the sources. + + +================== +A NOTE ON SECURITY +================== + +CacheFiles makes use of the split security in the task_struct. It allocates +its own task_security structure, and redirects current->act_as to point to it +when it acts on behalf of another process, in that process's context. + +The reason it does this is that it calls vfs_mkdir() and suchlike rather than +bypassing security and calling inode ops directly. Therefore the VFS and LSM +may deny the CacheFiles access to the cache data because under some +circumstances the caching code is running in the security context of whatever +process issued the original syscall on the netfs. + +Furthermore, should CacheFiles create a file or directory, the security +parameters with that object is created (UID, GID, security label) would be +derived from that process that issued the system call, thus potentially +preventing other processes from accessing the cache - including CacheFiles's +cache management daemon (cachefilesd). + +What is required is to temporarily override the security of the process that +issued the system call. We can't, however, just do an in-place change of the +security data as that affects the process as an object, not just as a subject. +This means it may lose signals or ptrace events for example, and affects what +the process looks like in /proc. + +So CacheFiles makes use of a logical split in the security between the +objective security (task->sec) and the subjective security (task->act_as). The +objective security holds the intrinsic security properties of a process and is +never overridden. This is what appears in /proc, and is what is used when a +process is the target of an operation by some other process (SIGKILL for +example). + +The subjective security holds the active security properties of a process, and +may be overridden. This is not seen externally, and is used whan a process +acts upon another object, for example SIGKILLing another process or opening a +file. + +LSM hooks exist that allow SELinux (or Smack or whatever) to reject a request +for CacheFiles to run in a context of a specific security label, or to create +files and directories with another security label. + + +======================= +STATISTICAL INFORMATION +======================= + +If FS-Cache is compiled with the following option enabled: + + CONFIG_CACHEFILES_HISTOGRAM=y + +then it will gather certain statistics and display them through a proc file. + + (*) /proc/fs/cachefiles/histogram + + cat /proc/fs/cachefiles/histogram + JIFS SECS LOOKUPS MKDIRS CREATES + ===== ===== ========= ========= ========= + + This shows the breakdown of the number of times each amount of time + between 0 jiffies and HZ-1 jiffies a variety of tasks took to run. The + columns are as follows: + + COLUMN TIME MEASUREMENT + ======= ======================================================= + LOOKUPS Length of time to perform a lookup on the backing fs + MKDIRS Length of time to perform a mkdir on the backing fs + CREATES Length of time to perform a create on the backing fs + + Each row shows the number of events that took a particular range of times. + Each step is 1 jiffy in size. The JIFS column indicates the particular + jiffy range covered, and the SECS field the equivalent number of seconds. + + +========= +DEBUGGING +========= + +If CONFIG_CACHEFILES_DEBUG is enabled, the CacheFiles facility can have runtime +debugging enabled by adjusting the value in: + + /sys/module/cachefiles/parameters/debug + +This is a bitmask of debugging streams to enable: + + BIT VALUE STREAM POINT + ======= ======= =============================== ======================= + 0 1 General Function entry trace + 1 2 Function exit trace + 2 4 General + +The appropriate set of values should be OR'd together and the result written to +the control file. For example: + + echo $((1|4|8)) >/sys/module/cachefiles/parameters/debug + +will turn on all function entry debugging. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/caching/fscache.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/fscache.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..9e94b9491d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/fscache.txt @@ -0,0 +1,333 @@ + ========================== + General Filesystem Caching + ========================== + +======== +OVERVIEW +======== + +This facility is a general purpose cache for network filesystems, though it +could be used for caching other things such as ISO9660 filesystems too. + +FS-Cache mediates between cache backends (such as CacheFS) and network +filesystems: + + +---------+ + | | +--------------+ + | NFS |--+ | | + | | | +-->| CacheFS | + +---------+ | +----------+ | | /dev/hda5 | + | | | | +--------------+ + +---------+ +-->| | | + | | | |--+ + | AFS |----->| FS-Cache | + | | | |--+ + +---------+ +-->| | | + | | | | +--------------+ + +---------+ | +----------+ | | | + | | | +-->| CacheFiles | + | ISOFS |--+ | /var/cache | + | | +--------------+ + +---------+ + +Or to look at it another way, FS-Cache is a module that provides a caching +facility to a network filesystem such that the cache is transparent to the +user: + + +---------+ + | | + | Server | + | | + +---------+ + | NETWORK + ~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + | + | +----------+ + V | | + +---------+ | | + | | | | + | NFS |----->| FS-Cache | + | | | |--+ + +---------+ | | | +--------------+ +--------------+ + | | | | | | | | + V +----------+ +-->| CacheFiles |-->| Ext3 | + +---------+ | /var/cache | | /dev/sda6 | + | | +--------------+ +--------------+ + | VFS | ^ ^ + | | | | + +---------+ +--------------+ | + | KERNEL SPACE | | + ~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~|~~~~ + | USER SPACE | | + V | | + +---------+ +--------------+ + | | | | + | Process | | cachefilesd | + | | | | + +---------+ +--------------+ + + +FS-Cache does not follow the idea of completely loading every netfs file +opened in its entirety into a cache before permitting it to be accessed and +then serving the pages out of that cache rather than the netfs inode because: + + (1) It must be practical to operate without a cache. + + (2) The size of any accessible file must not be limited to the size of the + cache. + + (3) The combined size of all opened files (this includes mapped libraries) + must not be limited to the size of the cache. + + (4) The user should not be forced to download an entire file just to do a + one-off access of a small portion of it (such as might be done with the + "file" program). + +It instead serves the cache out in PAGE_SIZE chunks as and when requested by +the netfs('s) using it. + + +FS-Cache provides the following facilities: + + (1) More than one cache can be used at once. Caches can be selected + explicitly by use of tags. + + (2) Caches can be added / removed at any time. + + (3) The netfs is provided with an interface that allows either party to + withdraw caching facilities from a file (required for (2)). + + (4) The interface to the netfs returns as few errors as possible, preferring + rather to let the netfs remain oblivious. + + (5) Cookies are used to represent indices, files and other objects to the + netfs. The simplest cookie is just a NULL pointer - indicating nothing + cached there. + + (6) The netfs is allowed to propose - dynamically - any index hierarchy it + desires, though it must be aware that the index search function is + recursive, stack space is limited, and indices can only be children of + indices. + + (7) Data I/O is done direct to and from the netfs's pages. The netfs + indicates that page A is at index B of the data-file represented by cookie + C, and that it should be read or written. The cache backend may or may + not start I/O on that page, but if it does, a netfs callback will be + invoked to indicate completion. The I/O may be either synchronous or + asynchronous. + + (8) Cookies can be "retired" upon release. At this point FS-Cache will mark + them as obsolete and the index hierarchy rooted at that point will get + recycled. + + (9) The netfs provides a "match" function for index searches. In addition to + saying whether a match was made or not, this can also specify that an + entry should be updated or deleted. + +(10) As much as possible is done asynchronously. + + +FS-Cache maintains a virtual indexing tree in which all indices, files, objects +and pages are kept. Bits of this tree may actually reside in one or more +caches. + + FSDEF + | + +------------------------------------+ + | | + NFS AFS + | | + +--------------------------+ +-----------+ + | | | | + homedir mirror afs.org redhat.com + | | | + +------------+ +---------------+ +----------+ + | | | | | | + 00001 00002 00007 00125 vol00001 vol00002 + | | | | | + +---+---+ +-----+ +---+ +------+------+ +-----+----+ + | | | | | | | | | | | | | +PG0 PG1 PG2 PG0 XATTR PG0 PG1 DIRENT DIRENT DIRENT R/W R/O Bak + | | + PG0 +-------+ + | | + 00001 00003 + | + +---+---+ + | | | + PG0 PG1 PG2 + +In the example above, you can see two netfs's being backed: NFS and AFS. These +have different index hierarchies: + + (*) The NFS primary index contains per-server indices. Each server index is + indexed by NFS file handles to get data file objects. Each data file + objects can have an array of pages, but may also have further child + objects, such as extended attributes and directory entries. Extended + attribute objects themselves have page-array contents. + + (*) The AFS primary index contains per-cell indices. Each cell index contains + per-logical-volume indices. Each of volume index contains up to three + indices for the read-write, read-only and backup mirrors of those volumes. + Each of these contains vnode data file objects, each of which contains an + array of pages. + +The very top index is the FS-Cache master index in which individual netfs's +have entries. + +Any index object may reside in more than one cache, provided it only has index +children. Any index with non-index object children will be assumed to only +reside in one cache. + + +The netfs API to FS-Cache can be found in: + + Documentation/filesystems/caching/netfs-api.txt + +The cache backend API to FS-Cache can be found in: + + Documentation/filesystems/caching/backend-api.txt + +A description of the internal representations and object state machine can be +found in: + + Documentation/filesystems/caching/object.txt + + +======================= +STATISTICAL INFORMATION +======================= + +If FS-Cache is compiled with the following options enabled: + + CONFIG_FSCACHE_STATS=y + CONFIG_FSCACHE_HISTOGRAM=y + +then it will gather certain statistics and display them through a number of +proc files. + + (*) /proc/fs/fscache/stats + + This shows counts of a number of events that can happen in FS-Cache: + + CLASS EVENT MEANING + ======= ======= ======================================================= + Cookies idx=N Number of index cookies allocated + dat=N Number of data storage cookies allocated + spc=N Number of special cookies allocated + Objects alc=N Number of objects allocated + nal=N Number of object allocation failures + avl=N Number of objects that reached the available state + ded=N Number of objects that reached the dead state + ChkAux non=N Number of objects that didn't have a coherency check + ok=N Number of objects that passed a coherency check + upd=N Number of objects that needed a coherency data update + obs=N Number of objects that were declared obsolete + Pages mrk=N Number of pages marked as being cached + unc=N Number of uncache page requests seen + Acquire n=N Number of acquire cookie requests seen + nul=N Number of acq reqs given a NULL parent + noc=N Number of acq reqs rejected due to no cache available + ok=N Number of acq reqs succeeded + nbf=N Number of acq reqs rejected due to error + oom=N Number of acq reqs failed on ENOMEM + Lookups n=N Number of lookup calls made on cache backends + neg=N Number of negative lookups made + pos=N Number of positive lookups made + crt=N Number of objects created by lookup + Updates n=N Number of update cookie requests seen + nul=N Number of upd reqs given a NULL parent + run=N Number of upd reqs granted CPU time + Relinqs n=N Number of relinquish cookie requests seen + nul=N Number of rlq reqs given a NULL parent + wcr=N Number of rlq reqs waited on completion of creation + AttrChg n=N Number of attribute changed requests seen + ok=N Number of attr changed requests queued + nbf=N Number of attr changed rejected -ENOBUFS + oom=N Number of attr changed failed -ENOMEM + run=N Number of attr changed ops given CPU time + Allocs n=N Number of allocation requests seen + ok=N Number of successful alloc reqs + wt=N Number of alloc reqs that waited on lookup completion + nbf=N Number of alloc reqs rejected -ENOBUFS + ops=N Number of alloc reqs submitted + owt=N Number of alloc reqs waited for CPU time + Retrvls n=N Number of retrieval (read) requests seen + ok=N Number of successful retr reqs + wt=N Number of retr reqs that waited on lookup completion + nod=N Number of retr reqs returned -ENODATA + nbf=N Number of retr reqs rejected -ENOBUFS + int=N Number of retr reqs aborted -ERESTARTSYS + oom=N Number of retr reqs failed -ENOMEM + ops=N Number of retr reqs submitted + owt=N Number of retr reqs waited for CPU time + Stores n=N Number of storage (write) requests seen + ok=N Number of successful store reqs + agn=N Number of store reqs on a page already pending storage + nbf=N Number of store reqs rejected -ENOBUFS + oom=N Number of store reqs failed -ENOMEM + ops=N Number of store reqs submitted + run=N Number of store reqs granted CPU time + Ops pend=N Number of times async ops added to pending queues + run=N Number of times async ops given CPU time + enq=N Number of times async ops queued for processing + dfr=N Number of async ops queued for deferred release + rel=N Number of async ops released + gc=N Number of deferred-release async ops garbage collected + + + (*) /proc/fs/fscache/histogram + + cat /proc/fs/fscache/histogram + JIFS SECS OBJ INST OP RUNS OBJ RUNS RETRV DLY RETRIEVLS + ===== ===== ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= + + This shows the breakdown of the number of times each amount of time + between 0 jiffies and HZ-1 jiffies a variety of tasks took to run. The + columns are as follows: + + COLUMN TIME MEASUREMENT + ======= ======================================================= + OBJ INST Length of time to instantiate an object + OP RUNS Length of time a call to process an operation took + OBJ RUNS Length of time a call to process an object event took + RETRV DLY Time between an requesting a read and lookup completing + RETRIEVLS Time between beginning and end of a retrieval + + Each row shows the number of events that took a particular range of times. + Each step is 1 jiffy in size. The JIFS column indicates the particular + jiffy range covered, and the SECS field the equivalent number of seconds. + + +========= +DEBUGGING +========= + +If CONFIG_FSCACHE_DEBUG is enabled, the FS-Cache facility can have runtime +debugging enabled by adjusting the value in: + + /sys/module/fscache/parameters/debug + +This is a bitmask of debugging streams to enable: + + BIT VALUE STREAM POINT + ======= ======= =============================== ======================= + 0 1 Cache management Function entry trace + 1 2 Function exit trace + 2 4 General + 3 8 Cookie management Function entry trace + 4 16 Function exit trace + 5 32 General + 6 64 Page handling Function entry trace + 7 128 Function exit trace + 8 256 General + 9 512 Operation management Function entry trace + 10 1024 Function exit trace + 11 2048 General + +The appropriate set of values should be OR'd together and the result written to +the control file. For example: + + echo $((1|8|64)) >/sys/module/fscache/parameters/debug + +will turn on all function entry debugging. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/caching/netfs-api.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/netfs-api.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..4db125b3a5c --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/netfs-api.txt @@ -0,0 +1,778 @@ + =============================== + FS-CACHE NETWORK FILESYSTEM API + =============================== + +There's an API by which a network filesystem can make use of the FS-Cache +facilities. This is based around a number of principles: + + (1) Caches can store a number of different object types. There are two main + object types: indices and files. The first is a special type used by + FS-Cache to make finding objects faster and to make retiring of groups of + objects easier. + + (2) Every index, file or other object is represented by a cookie. This cookie + may or may not have anything associated with it, but the netfs doesn't + need to care. + + (3) Barring the top-level index (one entry per cached netfs), the index + hierarchy for each netfs is structured according the whim of the netfs. + +This API is declared in <linux/fscache.h>. + +This document contains the following sections: + + (1) Network filesystem definition + (2) Index definition + (3) Object definition + (4) Network filesystem (un)registration + (5) Cache tag lookup + (6) Index registration + (7) Data file registration + (8) Miscellaneous object registration + (9) Setting the data file size + (10) Page alloc/read/write + (11) Page uncaching + (12) Index and data file update + (13) Miscellaneous cookie operations + (14) Cookie unregistration + (15) Index and data file invalidation + (16) FS-Cache specific page flags. + + +============================= +NETWORK FILESYSTEM DEFINITION +============================= + +FS-Cache needs a description of the network filesystem. This is specified +using a record of the following structure: + + struct fscache_netfs { + uint32_t version; + const char *name; + struct fscache_cookie *primary_index; + ... + }; + +This first two fields should be filled in before registration, and the third +will be filled in by the registration function; any other fields should just be +ignored and are for internal use only. + +The fields are: + + (1) The name of the netfs (used as the key in the toplevel index). + + (2) The version of the netfs (if the name matches but the version doesn't, the + entire in-cache hierarchy for this netfs will be scrapped and begun + afresh). + + (3) The cookie representing the primary index will be allocated according to + another parameter passed into the registration function. + +For example, kAFS (linux/fs/afs/) uses the following definitions to describe +itself: + + struct fscache_netfs afs_cache_netfs = { + .version = 0, + .name = "afs", + }; + + +================ +INDEX DEFINITION +================ + +Indices are used for two purposes: + + (1) To aid the finding of a file based on a series of keys (such as AFS's + "cell", "volume ID", "vnode ID"). + + (2) To make it easier to discard a subset of all the files cached based around + a particular key - for instance to mirror the removal of an AFS volume. + +However, since it's unlikely that any two netfs's are going to want to define +their index hierarchies in quite the same way, FS-Cache tries to impose as few +restraints as possible on how an index is structured and where it is placed in +the tree. The netfs can even mix indices and data files at the same level, but +it's not recommended. + +Each index entry consists of a key of indeterminate length plus some auxilliary +data, also of indeterminate length. + +There are some limits on indices: + + (1) Any index containing non-index objects should be restricted to a single + cache. Any such objects created within an index will be created in the + first cache only. The cache in which an index is created can be + controlled by cache tags (see below). + + (2) The entry data must be atomically journallable, so it is limited to about + 400 bytes at present. At least 400 bytes will be available. + + (3) The depth of the index tree should be judged with care as the search + function is recursive. Too many layers will run the kernel out of stack. + + +================= +OBJECT DEFINITION +================= + +To define an object, a structure of the following type should be filled out: + + struct fscache_cookie_def + { + uint8_t name[16]; + uint8_t type; + + struct fscache_cache_tag *(*select_cache)( + const void *parent_netfs_data, + const void *cookie_netfs_data); + + uint16_t (*get_key)(const void *cookie_netfs_data, + void *buffer, + uint16_t bufmax); + + void (*get_attr)(const void *cookie_netfs_data, + uint64_t *size); + + uint16_t (*get_aux)(const void *cookie_netfs_data, + void *buffer, + uint16_t bufmax); + + enum fscache_checkaux (*check_aux)(void *cookie_netfs_data, + const void *data, + uint16_t datalen); + + void (*get_context)(void *cookie_netfs_data, void *context); + + void (*put_context)(void *cookie_netfs_data, void *context); + + void (*mark_pages_cached)(void *cookie_netfs_data, + struct address_space *mapping, + struct pagevec *cached_pvec); + + void (*now_uncached)(void *cookie_netfs_data); + }; + +This has the following fields: + + (1) The type of the object [mandatory]. + + This is one of the following values: + + (*) FSCACHE_COOKIE_TYPE_INDEX + + This defines an index, which is a special FS-Cache type. + + (*) FSCACHE_COOKIE_TYPE_DATAFILE + + This defines an ordinary data file. + + (*) Any other value between 2 and 255 + + This defines an extraordinary object such as an XATTR. + + (2) The name of the object type (NUL terminated unless all 16 chars are used) + [optional]. + + (3) A function to select the cache in which to store an index [optional]. + + This function is invoked when an index needs to be instantiated in a cache + during the instantiation of a non-index object. Only the immediate index + parent for the non-index object will be queried. Any indices above that + in the hierarchy may be stored in multiple caches. This function does not + need to be supplied for any non-index object or any index that will only + have index children. + + If this function is not supplied or if it returns NULL then the first + cache in the parent's list will be chosed, or failing that, the first + cache in the master list. + + (4) A function to retrieve an object's key from the netfs [mandatory]. + + This function will be called with the netfs data that was passed to the + cookie acquisition function and the maximum length of key data that it may + provide. It should write the required key data into the given buffer and + return the quantity it wrote. + + (5) A function to retrieve attribute data from the netfs [optional]. + + This function will be called with the netfs data that was passed to the + cookie acquisition function. It should return the size of the file if + this is a data file. The size may be used to govern how much cache must + be reserved for this file in the cache. + + If the function is absent, a file size of 0 is assumed. + + (6) A function to retrieve auxilliary data from the netfs [optional]. + + This function will be called with the netfs data that was passed to the + cookie acquisition function and the maximum length of auxilliary data that + it may provide. It should write the auxilliary data into the given buffer + and return the quantity it wrote. + + If this function is absent, the auxilliary data length will be set to 0. + + The length of the auxilliary data buffer may be dependent on the key + length. A netfs mustn't rely on being able to provide more than 400 bytes + for both. + + (7) A function to check the auxilliary data [optional]. + + This function will be called to check that a match found in the cache for + this object is valid. For instance with AFS it could check the auxilliary + data against the data version number returned by the server to determine + whether the index entry in a cache is still valid. + + If this function is absent, it will be assumed that matching objects in a + cache are always valid. + + If present, the function should return one of the following values: + + (*) FSCACHE_CHECKAUX_OKAY - the entry is okay as is + (*) FSCACHE_CHECKAUX_NEEDS_UPDATE - the entry requires update + (*) FSCACHE_CHECKAUX_OBSOLETE - the entry should be deleted + + This function can also be used to extract data from the auxilliary data in + the cache and copy it into the netfs's structures. + + (8) A pair of functions to manage contexts for the completion callback + [optional]. + + The cache read/write functions are passed a context which is then passed + to the I/O completion callback function. To ensure this context remains + valid until after the I/O completion is called, two functions may be + provided: one to get an extra reference on the context, and one to drop a + reference to it. + + If the context is not used or is a type of object that won't go out of + scope, then these functions are not required. These functions are not + required for indices as indices may not contain data. These functions may + be called in interrupt context and so may not sleep. + + (9) A function to mark a page as retaining cache metadata [optional]. + + This is called by the cache to indicate that it is retaining in-memory + information for this page and that the netfs should uncache the page when + it has finished. This does not indicate whether there's data on the disk + or not. Note that several pages at once may be presented for marking. + + The PG_fscache bit is set on the pages before this function would be + called, so the function need not be provided if this is sufficient. + + This function is not required for indices as they're not permitted data. + +(10) A function to unmark all the pages retaining cache metadata [mandatory]. + + This is called by FS-Cache to indicate that a backing store is being + unbound from a cookie and that all the marks on the pages should be + cleared to prevent confusion. Note that the cache will have torn down all + its tracking information so that the pages don't need to be explicitly + uncached. + + This function is not required for indices as they're not permitted data. + + +=================================== +NETWORK FILESYSTEM (UN)REGISTRATION +=================================== + +The first step is to declare the network filesystem to the cache. This also +involves specifying the layout of the primary index (for AFS, this would be the +"cell" level). + +The registration function is: + + int fscache_register_netfs(struct fscache_netfs *netfs); + +It just takes a pointer to the netfs definition. It returns 0 or an error as +appropriate. + +For kAFS, registration is done as follows: + + ret = fscache_register_netfs(&afs_cache_netfs); + +The last step is, of course, unregistration: + + void fscache_unregister_netfs(struct fscache_netfs *netfs); + + +================ +CACHE TAG LOOKUP +================ + +FS-Cache permits the use of more than one cache. To permit particular index +subtrees to be bound to particular caches, the second step is to look up cache +representation tags. This step is optional; it can be left entirely up to +FS-Cache as to which cache should be used. The problem with doing that is that +FS-Cache will always pick the first cache that was registered. + +To get the representation for a named tag: + + struct fscache_cache_tag *fscache_lookup_cache_tag(const char *name); + +This takes a text string as the name and returns a representation of a tag. It +will never return an error. It may return a dummy tag, however, if it runs out +of memory; this will inhibit caching with this tag. + +Any representation so obtained must be released by passing it to this function: + + void fscache_release_cache_tag(struct fscache_cache_tag *tag); + +The tag will be retrieved by FS-Cache when it calls the object definition +operation select_cache(). + + +================== +INDEX REGISTRATION +================== + +The third step is to inform FS-Cache about part of an index hierarchy that can +be used to locate files. This is done by requesting a cookie for each index in +the path to the file: + + struct fscache_cookie * + fscache_acquire_cookie(struct fscache_cookie *parent, + const struct fscache_object_def *def, + void *netfs_data); + +This function creates an index entry in the index represented by parent, +filling in the index entry by calling the operations pointed to by def. + +Note that this function never returns an error - all errors are handled +internally. It may, however, return NULL to indicate no cookie. It is quite +acceptable to pass this token back to this function as the parent to another +acquisition (or even to the relinquish cookie, read page and write page +functions - see below). + +Note also that no indices are actually created in a cache until a non-index +object needs to be created somewhere down the hierarchy. Furthermore, an index +may be created in several different caches independently at different times. +This is all handled transparently, and the netfs doesn't see any of it. + +For example, with AFS, a cell would be added to the primary index. This index +entry would have a dependent inode containing a volume location index for the +volume mappings within this cell: + + cell->cache = + fscache_acquire_cookie(afs_cache_netfs.primary_index, + &afs_cell_cache_index_def, + cell); + +Then when a volume location was accessed, it would be entered into the cell's +index and an inode would be allocated that acts as a volume type and hash chain +combination: + + vlocation->cache = + fscache_acquire_cookie(cell->cache, + &afs_vlocation_cache_index_def, + vlocation); + +And then a particular flavour of volume (R/O for example) could be added to +that index, creating another index for vnodes (AFS inode equivalents): + + volume->cache = + fscache_acquire_cookie(vlocation->cache, + &afs_volume_cache_index_def, + volume); + + +====================== +DATA FILE REGISTRATION +====================== + +The fourth step is to request a data file be created in the cache. This is +identical to index cookie acquisition. The only difference is that the type in +the object definition should be something other than index type. + + vnode->cache = + fscache_acquire_cookie(volume->cache, + &afs_vnode_cache_object_def, + vnode); + + +================================= +MISCELLANEOUS OBJECT REGISTRATION +================================= + +An optional step is to request an object of miscellaneous type be created in +the cache. This is almost identical to index cookie acquisition. The only +difference is that the type in the object definition should be something other +than index type. Whilst the parent object could be an index, it's more likely +it would be some other type of object such as a data file. + + xattr->cache = + fscache_acquire_cookie(vnode->cache, + &afs_xattr_cache_object_def, + xattr); + +Miscellaneous objects might be used to store extended attributes or directory +entries for example. + + +========================== +SETTING THE DATA FILE SIZE +========================== + +The fifth step is to set the physical attributes of the file, such as its size. +This doesn't automatically reserve any space in the cache, but permits the +cache to adjust its metadata for data tracking appropriately: + + int fscache_attr_changed(struct fscache_cookie *cookie); + +The cache will return -ENOBUFS if there is no backing cache or if there is no +space to allocate any extra metadata required in the cache. The attributes +will be accessed with the get_attr() cookie definition operation. + +Note that attempts to read or write data pages in the cache over this size may +be rebuffed with -ENOBUFS. + +This operation schedules an attribute adjustment to happen asynchronously at +some point in the future, and as such, it may happen after the function returns +to the caller. The attribute adjustment excludes read and write operations. + + +===================== +PAGE READ/ALLOC/WRITE +===================== + +And the sixth step is to store and retrieve pages in the cache. There are +three functions that are used to do this. + +Note: + + (1) A page should not be re-read or re-allocated without uncaching it first. + + (2) A read or allocated page must be uncached when the netfs page is released + from the pagecache. + + (3) A page should only be written to the cache if previous read or allocated. + +This permits the cache to maintain its page tracking in proper order. + + +PAGE READ +--------- + +Firstly, the netfs should ask FS-Cache to examine the caches and read the +contents cached for a particular page of a particular file if present, or else +allocate space to store the contents if not: + + typedef + void (*fscache_rw_complete_t)(struct page *page, + void *context, + int error); + + int fscache_read_or_alloc_page(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + struct page *page, + fscache_rw_complete_t end_io_func, + void *context, + gfp_t gfp); + +The cookie argument must specify a cookie for an object that isn't an index, +the page specified will have the data loaded into it (and is also used to +specify the page number), and the gfp argument is used to control how any +memory allocations made are satisfied. + +If the cookie indicates the inode is not cached: + + (1) The function will return -ENOBUFS. + +Else if there's a copy of the page resident in the cache: + + (1) The mark_pages_cached() cookie operation will be called on that page. + + (2) The function will submit a request to read the data from the cache's + backing device directly into the page specified. + + (3) The function will return 0. + + (4) When the read is complete, end_io_func() will be invoked with: + + (*) The netfs data supplied when the cookie was created. + + (*) The page descriptor. + + (*) The context argument passed to the above function. This will be + maintained with the get_context/put_context functions mentioned above. + + (*) An argument that's 0 on success or negative for an error code. + + If an error occurs, it should be assumed that the page contains no usable + data. + + end_io_func() will be called in process context if the read is results in + an error, but it might be called in interrupt context if the read is + successful. + +Otherwise, if there's not a copy available in cache, but the cache may be able +to store the page: + + (1) The mark_pages_cached() cookie operation will be called on that page. + + (2) A block may be reserved in the cache and attached to the object at the + appropriate place. + + (3) The function will return -ENODATA. + +This function may also return -ENOMEM or -EINTR, in which case it won't have +read any data from the cache. + + +PAGE ALLOCATE +------------- + +Alternatively, if there's not expected to be any data in the cache for a page +because the file has been extended, a block can simply be allocated instead: + + int fscache_alloc_page(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + struct page *page, + gfp_t gfp); + +This is similar to the fscache_read_or_alloc_page() function, except that it +never reads from the cache. It will return 0 if a block has been allocated, +rather than -ENODATA as the other would. One or the other must be performed +before writing to the cache. + +The mark_pages_cached() cookie operation will be called on the page if +successful. + + +PAGE WRITE +---------- + +Secondly, if the netfs changes the contents of the page (either due to an +initial download or if a user performs a write), then the page should be +written back to the cache: + + int fscache_write_page(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + struct page *page, + gfp_t gfp); + +The cookie argument must specify a data file cookie, the page specified should +contain the data to be written (and is also used to specify the page number), +and the gfp argument is used to control how any memory allocations made are +satisfied. + +The page must have first been read or allocated successfully and must not have +been uncached before writing is performed. + +If the cookie indicates the inode is not cached then: + + (1) The function will return -ENOBUFS. + +Else if space can be allocated in the cache to hold this page: + + (1) PG_fscache_write will be set on the page. + + (2) The function will submit a request to write the data to cache's backing + device directly from the page specified. + + (3) The function will return 0. + + (4) When the write is complete PG_fscache_write is cleared on the page and + anyone waiting for that bit will be woken up. + +Else if there's no space available in the cache, -ENOBUFS will be returned. It +is also possible for the PG_fscache_write bit to be cleared when no write took +place if unforeseen circumstances arose (such as a disk error). + +Writing takes place asynchronously. + + +MULTIPLE PAGE READ +------------------ + +A facility is provided to read several pages at once, as requested by the +readpages() address space operation: + + int fscache_read_or_alloc_pages(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + struct address_space *mapping, + struct list_head *pages, + int *nr_pages, + fscache_rw_complete_t end_io_func, + void *context, + gfp_t gfp); + +This works in a similar way to fscache_read_or_alloc_page(), except: + + (1) Any page it can retrieve data for is removed from pages and nr_pages and + dispatched for reading to the disk. Reads of adjacent pages on disk may + be merged for greater efficiency. + + (2) The mark_pages_cached() cookie operation will be called on several pages + at once if they're being read or allocated. + + (3) If there was an general error, then that error will be returned. + + Else if some pages couldn't be allocated or read, then -ENOBUFS will be + returned. + + Else if some pages couldn't be read but were allocated, then -ENODATA will + be returned. + + Otherwise, if all pages had reads dispatched, then 0 will be returned, the + list will be empty and *nr_pages will be 0. + + (4) end_io_func will be called once for each page being read as the reads + complete. It will be called in process context if error != 0, but it may + be called in interrupt context if there is no error. + +Note that a return of -ENODATA, -ENOBUFS or any other error does not preclude +some of the pages being read and some being allocated. Those pages will have +been marked appropriately and will need uncaching. + + +============== +PAGE UNCACHING +============== + +To uncache a page, this function should be called: + + void fscache_uncache_page(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + struct page *page); + +This function permits the cache to release any in-memory representation it +might be holding for this netfs page. This function must be called once for +each page on which the read or write page functions above have been called to +make sure the cache's in-memory tracking information gets torn down. + +Note that pages can't be explicitly deleted from the a data file. The whole +data file must be retired (see the relinquish cookie function below). + +Furthermore, note that this does not cancel the asynchronous read or write +operation started by the read/alloc and write functions, so the page +invalidation and release functions must use: + + bool fscache_check_page_write(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + struct page *page); + +to see if a page is being written to the cache, and: + + void fscache_wait_on_page_write(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + struct page *page); + +to wait for it to finish if it is. + + +========================== +INDEX AND DATA FILE UPDATE +========================== + +To request an update of the index data for an index or other object, the +following function should be called: + + void fscache_update_cookie(struct fscache_cookie *cookie); + +This function will refer back to the netfs_data pointer stored in the cookie by +the acquisition function to obtain the data to write into each revised index +entry. The update method in the parent index definition will be called to +transfer the data. + +Note that partial updates may happen automatically at other times, such as when +data blocks are added to a data file object. + + +=============================== +MISCELLANEOUS COOKIE OPERATIONS +=============================== + +There are a number of operations that can be used to control cookies: + + (*) Cookie pinning: + + int fscache_pin_cookie(struct fscache_cookie *cookie); + void fscache_unpin_cookie(struct fscache_cookie *cookie); + + These operations permit data cookies to be pinned into the cache and to + have the pinning removed. They are not permitted on index cookies. + + The pinning function will return 0 if successful, -ENOBUFS in the cookie + isn't backed by a cache, -EOPNOTSUPP if the cache doesn't support pinning, + -ENOSPC if there isn't enough space to honour the operation, -ENOMEM or + -EIO if there's any other problem. + + (*) Data space reservation: + + int fscache_reserve_space(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, loff_t size); + + This permits a netfs to request cache space be reserved to store up to the + given amount of a file. It is permitted to ask for more than the current + size of the file to allow for future file expansion. + + If size is given as zero then the reservation will be cancelled. + + The function will return 0 if successful, -ENOBUFS in the cookie isn't + backed by a cache, -EOPNOTSUPP if the cache doesn't support reservations, + -ENOSPC if there isn't enough space to honour the operation, -ENOMEM or + -EIO if there's any other problem. + + Note that this doesn't pin an object in a cache; it can still be culled to + make space if it's not in use. + + +===================== +COOKIE UNREGISTRATION +===================== + +To get rid of a cookie, this function should be called. + + void fscache_relinquish_cookie(struct fscache_cookie *cookie, + int retire); + +If retire is non-zero, then the object will be marked for recycling, and all +copies of it will be removed from all active caches in which it is present. +Not only that but all child objects will also be retired. + +If retire is zero, then the object may be available again when next the +acquisition function is called. Retirement here will overrule the pinning on a +cookie. + +One very important note - relinquish must NOT be called for a cookie unless all +the cookies for "child" indices, objects and pages have been relinquished +first. + + +================================ +INDEX AND DATA FILE INVALIDATION +================================ + +There is no direct way to invalidate an index subtree or a data file. To do +this, the caller should relinquish and retire the cookie they have, and then +acquire a new one. + + +=========================== +FS-CACHE SPECIFIC PAGE FLAG +=========================== + +FS-Cache makes use of a page flag, PG_private_2, for its own purpose. This is +given the alternative name PG_fscache. + +PG_fscache is used to indicate that the page is known by the cache, and that +the cache must be informed if the page is going to go away. It's an indication +to the netfs that the cache has an interest in this page, where an interest may +be a pointer to it, resources allocated or reserved for it, or I/O in progress +upon it. + +The netfs can use this information in methods such as releasepage() to +determine whether it needs to uncache a page or update it. + +Furthermore, if this bit is set, releasepage() and invalidatepage() operations +will be called on a page to get rid of it, even if PG_private is not set. This +allows caching to attempted on a page before read_cache_pages() to be called +after fscache_read_or_alloc_pages() as the former will try and release pages it +was given under certain circumstances. + +This bit does not overlap with such as PG_private. This means that FS-Cache +can be used with a filesystem that uses the block buffering code. + +There are a number of operations defined on this flag: + + int PageFsCache(struct page *page); + void SetPageFsCache(struct page *page) + void ClearPageFsCache(struct page *page) + int TestSetPageFsCache(struct page *page) + int TestClearPageFsCache(struct page *page) + +These functions are bit test, bit set, bit clear, bit test and set and bit +test and clear operations on PG_fscache. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/caching/object.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/object.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..e8b0a35d8fe --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/object.txt @@ -0,0 +1,313 @@ + ==================================================== + IN-KERNEL CACHE OBJECT REPRESENTATION AND MANAGEMENT + ==================================================== + +By: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com> + +Contents: + + (*) Representation + + (*) Object management state machine. + + - Provision of cpu time. + - Locking simplification. + + (*) The set of states. + + (*) The set of events. + + +============== +REPRESENTATION +============== + +FS-Cache maintains an in-kernel representation of each object that a netfs is +currently interested in. Such objects are represented by the fscache_cookie +struct and are referred to as cookies. + +FS-Cache also maintains a separate in-kernel representation of the objects that +a cache backend is currently actively caching. Such objects are represented by +the fscache_object struct. The cache backends allocate these upon request, and +are expected to embed them in their own representations. These are referred to +as objects. + +There is a 1:N relationship between cookies and objects. A cookie may be +represented by multiple objects - an index may exist in more than one cache - +or even by no objects (it may not be cached). + +Furthermore, both cookies and objects are hierarchical. The two hierarchies +correspond, but the cookies tree is a superset of the union of the object trees +of multiple caches: + + NETFS INDEX TREE : CACHE 1 : CACHE 2 + : : + : +-----------+ : + +----------->| IObject | : + +-----------+ | : +-----------+ : + | ICookie |-------+ : | : + +-----------+ | : | : +-----------+ + | +------------------------------>| IObject | + | : | : +-----------+ + | : V : | + | : +-----------+ : | + V +----------->| IObject | : | + +-----------+ | : +-----------+ : | + | ICookie |-------+ : | : V + +-----------+ | : | : +-----------+ + | +------------------------------>| IObject | + +-----+-----+ : | : +-----------+ + | | : | : | + V | : V : | + +-----------+ | : +-----------+ : | + | ICookie |------------------------->| IObject | : | + +-----------+ | : +-----------+ : | + | V : | : V + | +-----------+ : | : +-----------+ + | | ICookie |-------------------------------->| IObject | + | +-----------+ : | : +-----------+ + V | : V : | + +-----------+ | : +-----------+ : | + | DCookie |------------------------->| DObject | : | + +-----------+ | : +-----------+ : | + | : : | + +-------+-------+ : : | + | | : : | + V V : : V + +-----------+ +-----------+ : : +-----------+ + | DCookie | | DCookie |------------------------>| DObject | + +-----------+ +-----------+ : : +-----------+ + : : + +In the above illustration, ICookie and IObject represent indices and DCookie +and DObject represent data storage objects. Indices may have representation in +multiple caches, but currently, non-index objects may not. Objects of any type +may also be entirely unrepresented. + +As far as the netfs API goes, the netfs is only actually permitted to see +pointers to the cookies. The cookies themselves and any objects attached to +those cookies are hidden from it. + + +=============================== +OBJECT MANAGEMENT STATE MACHINE +=============================== + +Within FS-Cache, each active object is managed by its own individual state +machine. The state for an object is kept in the fscache_object struct, in +object->state. A cookie may point to a set of objects that are in different +states. + +Each state has an action associated with it that is invoked when the machine +wakes up in that state. There are four logical sets of states: + + (1) Preparation: states that wait for the parent objects to become ready. The + representations are hierarchical, and it is expected that an object must + be created or accessed with respect to its parent object. + + (2) Initialisation: states that perform lookups in the cache and validate + what's found and that create on disk any missing metadata. + + (3) Normal running: states that allow netfs operations on objects to proceed + and that update the state of objects. + + (4) Termination: states that detach objects from their netfs cookies, that + delete objects from disk, that handle disk and system errors and that free + up in-memory resources. + + +In most cases, transitioning between states is in response to signalled events. +When a state has finished processing, it will usually set the mask of events in +which it is interested (object->event_mask) and relinquish the worker thread. +Then when an event is raised (by calling fscache_raise_event()), if the event +is not masked, the object will be queued for processing (by calling +fscache_enqueue_object()). + + +PROVISION OF CPU TIME +--------------------- + +The work to be done by the various states is given CPU time by the threads of +the slow work facility (see Documentation/slow-work.txt). This is used in +preference to the workqueue facility because: + + (1) Threads may be completely occupied for very long periods of time by a + particular work item. These state actions may be doing sequences of + synchronous, journalled disk accesses (lookup, mkdir, create, setxattr, + getxattr, truncate, unlink, rmdir, rename). + + (2) Threads may do little actual work, but may rather spend a lot of time + sleeping on I/O. This means that single-threaded and 1-per-CPU-threaded + workqueues don't necessarily have the right numbers of threads. + + +LOCKING SIMPLIFICATION +---------------------- + +Because only one worker thread may be operating on any particular object's +state machine at once, this simplifies the locking, particularly with respect +to disconnecting the netfs's representation of a cache object (fscache_cookie) +from the cache backend's representation (fscache_object) - which may be +requested from either end. + + +================= +THE SET OF STATES +================= + +The object state machine has a set of states that it can be in. There are +preparation states in which the object sets itself up and waits for its parent +object to transit to a state that allows access to its children: + + (1) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_INIT. + + Initialise the object and wait for the parent object to become active. In + the cache, it is expected that it will not be possible to look an object + up from the parent object, until that parent object itself has been looked + up. + +There are initialisation states in which the object sets itself up and accesses +disk for the object metadata: + + (2) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_LOOKING_UP. + + Look up the object on disk, using the parent as a starting point. + FS-Cache expects the cache backend to probe the cache to see whether this + object is represented there, and if it is, to see if it's valid (coherency + management). + + The cache should call fscache_object_lookup_negative() to indicate lookup + failure for whatever reason, and should call fscache_obtained_object() to + indicate success. + + At the completion of lookup, FS-Cache will let the netfs go ahead with + read operations, no matter whether the file is yet cached. If not yet + cached, read operations will be immediately rejected with ENODATA until + the first known page is uncached - as to that point there can be no data + to be read out of the cache for that file that isn't currently also held + in the pagecache. + + (3) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_CREATING. + + Create an object on disk, using the parent as a starting point. This + happens if the lookup failed to find the object, or if the object's + coherency data indicated what's on disk is out of date. In this state, + FS-Cache expects the cache to create + + The cache should call fscache_obtained_object() if creation completes + successfully, fscache_object_lookup_negative() otherwise. + + At the completion of creation, FS-Cache will start processing write + operations the netfs has queued for an object. If creation failed, the + write ops will be transparently discarded, and nothing recorded in the + cache. + +There are some normal running states in which the object spends its time +servicing netfs requests: + + (4) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_AVAILABLE. + + A transient state in which pending operations are started, child objects + are permitted to advance from FSCACHE_OBJECT_INIT state, and temporary + lookup data is freed. + + (5) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_ACTIVE. + + The normal running state. In this state, requests the netfs makes will be + passed on to the cache. + + (6) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_UPDATING. + + The state machine comes here to update the object in the cache from the + netfs's records. This involves updating the auxiliary data that is used + to maintain coherency. + +And there are terminal states in which an object cleans itself up, deallocates +memory and potentially deletes stuff from disk: + + (7) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_LC_DYING. + + The object comes here if it is dying because of a lookup or creation + error. This would be due to a disk error or system error of some sort. + Temporary data is cleaned up, and the parent is released. + + (8) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_DYING. + + The object comes here if it is dying due to an error, because its parent + cookie has been relinquished by the netfs or because the cache is being + withdrawn. + + Any child objects waiting on this one are given CPU time so that they too + can destroy themselves. This object waits for all its children to go away + before advancing to the next state. + + (9) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_ABORT_INIT. + + The object comes to this state if it was waiting on its parent in + FSCACHE_OBJECT_INIT, but its parent died. The object will destroy itself + so that the parent may proceed from the FSCACHE_OBJECT_DYING state. + +(10) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_RELEASING. +(11) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_RECYCLING. + + The object comes to one of these two states when dying once it is rid of + all its children, if it is dying because the netfs relinquished its + cookie. In the first state, the cached data is expected to persist, and + in the second it will be deleted. + +(12) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_WITHDRAWING. + + The object transits to this state if the cache decides it wants to + withdraw the object from service, perhaps to make space, but also due to + error or just because the whole cache is being withdrawn. + +(13) State FSCACHE_OBJECT_DEAD. + + The object transits to this state when the in-memory object record is + ready to be deleted. The object processor shouldn't ever see an object in + this state. + + +THE SET OF EVENTS +----------------- + +There are a number of events that can be raised to an object state machine: + + (*) FSCACHE_OBJECT_EV_UPDATE + + The netfs requested that an object be updated. The state machine will ask + the cache backend to update the object, and the cache backend will ask the + netfs for details of the change through its cookie definition ops. + + (*) FSCACHE_OBJECT_EV_CLEARED + + This is signalled in two circumstances: + + (a) when an object's last child object is dropped and + + (b) when the last operation outstanding on an object is completed. + + This is used to proceed from the dying state. + + (*) FSCACHE_OBJECT_EV_ERROR + + This is signalled when an I/O error occurs during the processing of some + object. + + (*) FSCACHE_OBJECT_EV_RELEASE + (*) FSCACHE_OBJECT_EV_RETIRE + + These are signalled when the netfs relinquishes a cookie it was using. + The event selected depends on whether the netfs asks for the backing + object to be retired (deleted) or retained. + + (*) FSCACHE_OBJECT_EV_WITHDRAW + + This is signalled when the cache backend wants to withdraw an object. + This means that the object will have to be detached from the netfs's + cookie. + +Because the withdrawing releasing/retiring events are all handled by the object +state machine, it doesn't matter if there's a collision with both ends trying +to sever the connection at the same time. The state machine can just pick +which one it wants to honour, and that effects the other. diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/caching/operations.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/operations.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..b6b070c57cb --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/operations.txt @@ -0,0 +1,213 @@ + ================================ + ASYNCHRONOUS OPERATIONS HANDLING + ================================ + +By: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com> + +Contents: + + (*) Overview. + + (*) Operation record initialisation. + + (*) Parameters. + + (*) Procedure. + + (*) Asynchronous callback. + + +======== +OVERVIEW +======== + +FS-Cache has an asynchronous operations handling facility that it uses for its +data storage and retrieval routines. Its operations are represented by +fscache_operation structs, though these are usually embedded into some other +structure. + +This facility is available to and expected to be be used by the cache backends, +and FS-Cache will create operations and pass them off to the appropriate cache +backend for completion. + +To make use of this facility, <linux/fscache-cache.h> should be #included. + + +=============================== +OPERATION RECORD INITIALISATION +=============================== + +An operation is recorded in an fscache_operation struct: + + struct fscache_operation { + union { + struct work_struct fast_work; + struct slow_work slow_work; + }; + unsigned long flags; + fscache_operation_processor_t processor; + ... + }; + +Someone wanting to issue an operation should allocate something with this +struct embedded in it. They should initialise it by calling: + + void fscache_operation_init(struct fscache_operation *op, + fscache_operation_release_t release); + +with the operation to be initialised and the release function to use. + +The op->flags parameter should be set to indicate the CPU time provision and +the exclusivity (see the Parameters section). + +The op->fast_work, op->slow_work and op->processor flags should be set as +appropriate for the CPU time provision (see the Parameters section). + +FSCACHE_OP_WAITING may be set in op->flags prior to each submission of the +operation and waited for afterwards. + + +========== +PARAMETERS +========== + +There are a number of parameters that can be set in the operation record's flag +parameter. There are three options for the provision of CPU time in these +operations: + + (1) The operation may be done synchronously (FSCACHE_OP_MYTHREAD). A thread + may decide it wants to handle an operation itself without deferring it to + another thread. + + This is, for example, used in read operations for calling readpages() on + the backing filesystem in CacheFiles. Although readpages() does an + asynchronous data fetch, the determination of whether pages exist is done + synchronously - and the netfs does not proceed until this has been + determined. + + If this option is to be used, FSCACHE_OP_WAITING must be set in op->flags + before submitting the operation, and the operating thread must wait for it + to be cleared before proceeding: + + wait_on_bit(&op->flags, FSCACHE_OP_WAITING, + fscache_wait_bit, TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE); + + + (2) The operation may be fast asynchronous (FSCACHE_OP_FAST), in which case it + will be given to keventd to process. Such an operation is not permitted + to sleep on I/O. + + This is, for example, used by CacheFiles to copy data from a backing fs + page to a netfs page after the backing fs has read the page in. + + If this option is used, op->fast_work and op->processor must be + initialised before submitting the operation: + + INIT_WORK(&op->fast_work, do_some_work); + + + (3) The operation may be slow asynchronous (FSCACHE_OP_SLOW), in which case it + will be given to the slow work facility to process. Such an operation is + permitted to sleep on I/O. + + This is, for example, used by FS-Cache to handle background writes of + pages that have just been fetched from a remote server. + + If this option is used, op->slow_work and op->processor must be + initialised before submitting the operation: + + fscache_operation_init_slow(op, processor) + + +Furthermore, operations may be one of two types: + + (1) Exclusive (FSCACHE_OP_EXCLUSIVE). Operations of this type may not run in + conjunction with any other operation on the object being operated upon. + + An example of this is the attribute change operation, in which the file + being written to may need truncation. + + (2) Shareable. Operations of this type may be running simultaneously. It's + up to the operation implementation to prevent interference between other + operations running at the same time. + + +========= +PROCEDURE +========= + +Operations are used through the following procedure: + + (1) The submitting thread must allocate the operation and initialise it + itself. Normally this would be part of a more specific structure with the + generic op embedded within. + + (2) The submitting thread must then submit the operation for processing using + one of the following two functions: + + int fscache_submit_op(struct fscache_object *object, + struct fscache_operation *op); + + int fscache_submit_exclusive_op(struct fscache_object *object, + struct fscache_operation *op); + + The first function should be used to submit non-exclusive ops and the + second to submit exclusive ones. The caller must still set the + FSCACHE_OP_EXCLUSIVE flag. + + If successful, both functions will assign the operation to the specified + object and return 0. -ENOBUFS will be returned if the object specified is + permanently unavailable. + + The operation manager will defer operations on an object that is still + undergoing lookup or creation. The operation will also be deferred if an + operation of conflicting exclusivity is in progress on the object. + + If the operation is asynchronous, the manager will retain a reference to + it, so the caller should put their reference to it by passing it to: + + void fscache_put_operation(struct fscache_operation *op); + + (3) If the submitting thread wants to do the work itself, and has marked the + operation with FSCACHE_OP_MYTHREAD, then it should monitor + FSCACHE_OP_WAITING as described above and check the state of the object if + necessary (the object might have died whilst the thread was waiting). + + When it has finished doing its processing, it should call + fscache_put_operation() on it. + + (4) The operation holds an effective lock upon the object, preventing other + exclusive ops conflicting until it is released. The operation can be + enqueued for further immediate asynchronous processing by adjusting the + CPU time provisioning option if necessary, eg: + + op->flags &= ~FSCACHE_OP_TYPE; + op->flags |= ~FSCACHE_OP_FAST; + + and calling: + + void fscache_enqueue_operation(struct fscache_operation *op) + + This can be used to allow other things to have use of the worker thread + pools. + + +===================== +ASYNCHRONOUS CALLBACK +===================== + +When used in asynchronous mode, the worker thread pool will invoke the +processor method with a pointer to the operation. This should then get at the +container struct by using container_of(): + + static void fscache_write_op(struct fscache_operation *_op) + { + struct fscache_storage *op = + container_of(_op, struct fscache_storage, op); + ... + } + +The caller holds a reference on the operation, and will invoke +fscache_put_operation() when the processor function returns. The processor +function is at liberty to call fscache_enqueue_operation() or to take extra +references. diff --git a/Documentation/slow-work.txt b/Documentation/slow-work.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..ebc50f808ea --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/slow-work.txt @@ -0,0 +1,174 @@ + ==================================== + SLOW WORK ITEM EXECUTION THREAD POOL + ==================================== + +By: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com> + +The slow work item execution thread pool is a pool of threads for performing +things that take a relatively long time, such as making mkdir calls. +Typically, when processing something, these items will spend a lot of time +blocking a thread on I/O, thus making that thread unavailable for doing other +work. + +The standard workqueue model is unsuitable for this class of work item as that +limits the owner to a single thread or a single thread per CPU. For some +tasks, however, more threads - or fewer - are required. + +There is just one pool per system. It contains no threads unless something +wants to use it - and that something must register its interest first. When +the pool is active, the number of threads it contains is dynamic, varying +between a maximum and minimum setting, depending on the load. + + +==================== +CLASSES OF WORK ITEM +==================== + +This pool support two classes of work items: + + (*) Slow work items. + + (*) Very slow work items. + +The former are expected to finish much quicker than the latter. + +An operation of the very slow class may do a batch combination of several +lookups, mkdirs, and a create for instance. + +An operation of the ordinarily slow class may, for example, write stuff or +expand files, provided the time taken to do so isn't too long. + +Operations of both types may sleep during execution, thus tying up the thread +loaned to it. + + +THREAD-TO-CLASS ALLOCATION +-------------------------- + +Not all the threads in the pool are available to work on very slow work items. +The number will be between one and one fewer than the number of active threads. +This is configurable (see the "Pool Configuration" section). + +All the threads are available to work on ordinarily slow work items, but a +percentage of the threads will prefer to work on very slow work items. + +The configuration ensures that at least one thread will be available to work on +very slow work items, and at least one thread will be available that won't work +on very slow work items at all. + + +===================== +USING SLOW WORK ITEMS +===================== + +Firstly, a module or subsystem wanting to make use of slow work items must +register its interest: + + int ret = slow_work_register_user(); + +This will return 0 if successful, or a -ve error upon failure. + + +Slow work items may then be set up by: + + (1) Declaring a slow_work struct type variable: + + #include <linux/slow-work.h> + + struct slow_work myitem; + + (2) Declaring the operations to be used for this item: + + struct slow_work_ops myitem_ops = { + .get_ref = myitem_get_ref, + .put_ref = myitem_put_ref, + .execute = myitem_execute, + }; + + [*] For a description of the ops, see section "Item Operations". + + (3) Initialising the item: + + slow_work_init(&myitem, &myitem_ops); + + or: + + vslow_work_init(&myitem, &myitem_ops); + + depending on its class. + +A suitably set up work item can then be enqueued for processing: + + int ret = slow_work_enqueue(&myitem); + +This will return a -ve error if the thread pool is unable to gain a reference +on the item, 0 otherwise. + + +The items are reference counted, so there ought to be no need for a flush +operation. When all a module's slow work items have been processed, and the +module has no further interest in the facility, it should unregister its +interest: + + slow_work_unregister_user(); + + +=============== +ITEM OPERATIONS +=============== + +Each work item requires a table of operations of type struct slow_work_ops. +All members are required: + + (*) Get a reference on an item: + + int (*get_ref)(struct slow_work *work); + + This allows the thread pool to attempt to pin an item by getting a + reference on it. This function should return 0 if the reference was + granted, or a -ve error otherwise. If an error is returned, + slow_work_enqueue() will fail. + + The reference is held whilst the item is queued and whilst it is being + executed. The item may then be requeued with the same reference held, or + the reference will be released. + + (*) Release a reference on an item: + + void (*put_ref)(struct slow_work *work); + + This allows the thread pool to unpin an item by releasing the reference on + it. The thread pool will not touch the item again once this has been + called. + + (*) Execute an item: + + void (*execute)(struct slow_work *work); + + This should perform the work required of the item. It may sleep, it may + perform disk I/O and it may wait for locks. + + +================== +POOL CONFIGURATION +================== + +The slow-work thread pool has a number of configurables: + + (*) /proc/sys/kernel/slow-work/min-threads + + The minimum number of threads that should be in the pool whilst it is in + use. This may be anywhere between 2 and max-threads. + + (*) /proc/sys/kernel/slow-work/max-threads + + The maximum number of threads that should in the pool. This may be + anywhere between min-threads and 255 or NR_CPUS * 2, whichever is greater. + + (*) /proc/sys/kernel/slow-work/vslow-percentage + + The percentage of active threads in the pool that may be used to execute + very slow work items. This may be between 1 and 99. The resultant number + is bounded to between 1 and one fewer than the number of active threads. + This ensures there is always at least one thread that can process very + slow work items, and always at least one thread that won't. |