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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2017-05-03 13:05:38 -0400
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2017-05-03 13:05:38 -0400
commite5021876c91dc3894b2174cca8fa797f8e29e7b9 (patch)
treecf6cc6591a8421e0f75cfcfbc10312421bd8e9f1 /Documentation/md
parent46f0537b1ecf672052007c97f102a7e6bf0791e4 (diff)
parente265eb3a30543a237b2ebc4e0422ac82e55b07e4 (diff)
Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/shli/md
Pull MD updates from Shaohua Li: - Add Partial Parity Log (ppl) feature found in Intel IMSM raid array by Artur Paszkiewicz. This feature is another way to close RAID5 writehole. The Linux implementation is also available for normal RAID5 array if specific superblock bit is set. - A number of md-cluser fixes and enabling md-cluster array resize from Guoqing Jiang - A bunch of patches from Ming Lei and Neil Brown to rewrite MD bio handling related code. Now MD doesn't directly access bio bvec, bi_phys_segments and uses modern bio API for bio split. - Improve RAID5 IO pattern to improve performance for hard disk based RAID5/6 from me. - Several patches from Song Liu to speed up raid5-cache recovery and allow raid5 cache feature disabling in runtime. - Fix a performance regression in raid1 resync from Xiao Ni. - Other cleanup and fixes from various people. * 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/shli/md: (84 commits) md/raid10: skip spare disk as 'first' disk md/raid1: Use a new variable to count flighting sync requests md: clear WantReplacement once disk is removed md/raid1/10: remove unused queue md: handle read-only member devices better. md/raid10: wait up frozen array in handle_write_completed uapi: fix linux/raid/md_p.h userspace compilation error md-cluster: Fix a memleak in an error handling path md: support disabling of create-on-open semantics. md: allow creation of mdNNN arrays via md_mod/parameters/new_array raid5-ppl: use a single mempool for ppl_io_unit and header_page md/raid0: fix up bio splitting. md/linear: improve bio splitting. md/raid5: make chunk_aligned_read() split bios more cleanly. md/raid10: simplify handle_read_error() md/raid10: simplify the splitting of requests. md/raid1: factor out flush_bio_list() md/raid1: simplify handle_read_error(). Revert "block: introduce bio_copy_data_partial" md/raid1: simplify alloc_behind_master_bio() ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/md')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/md/md-cluster.txt2
-rw-r--r--Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt44
2 files changed, 45 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/md/md-cluster.txt b/Documentation/md/md-cluster.txt
index d22103994aef..82ee51604e9a 100644
--- a/Documentation/md/md-cluster.txt
+++ b/Documentation/md/md-cluster.txt
@@ -321,4 +321,4 @@ The algorithm is:
321 321
322There are somethings which are not supported by cluster MD yet. 322There are somethings which are not supported by cluster MD yet.
323 323
324- update size and change array_sectors. 324- change array_sectors.
diff --git a/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt b/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..127072b09363
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
1Partial Parity Log
2
3Partial Parity Log (PPL) is a feature available for RAID5 arrays. The issue
4addressed by PPL is that after a dirty shutdown, parity of a particular stripe
5may become inconsistent with data on other member disks. If the array is also
6in degraded state, there is no way to recalculate parity, because one of the
7disks is missing. This can lead to silent data corruption when rebuilding the
8array or using it is as degraded - data calculated from parity for array blocks
9that have not been touched by a write request during the unclean shutdown can
10be incorrect. Such condition is known as the RAID5 Write Hole. Because of
11this, md by default does not allow starting a dirty degraded array.
12
13Partial parity for a write operation is the XOR of stripe data chunks not
14modified by this write. It is just enough data needed for recovering from the
15write hole. XORing partial parity with the modified chunks produces parity for
16the stripe, consistent with its state before the write operation, regardless of
17which chunk writes have completed. If one of the not modified data disks of
18this stripe is missing, this updated parity can be used to recover its
19contents. PPL recovery is also performed when starting an array after an
20unclean shutdown and all disks are available, eliminating the need to resync
21the array. Because of this, using write-intent bitmap and PPL together is not
22supported.
23
24When handling a write request PPL writes partial parity before new data and
25parity are dispatched to disks. PPL is a distributed log - it is stored on
26array member drives in the metadata area, on the parity drive of a particular
27stripe. It does not require a dedicated journaling drive. Write performance is
28reduced by up to 30%-40% but it scales with the number of drives in the array
29and the journaling drive does not become a bottleneck or a single point of
30failure.
31
32Unlike raid5-cache, the other solution in md for closing the write hole, PPL is
33not a true journal. It does not protect from losing in-flight data, only from
34silent data corruption. If a dirty disk of a stripe is lost, no PPL recovery is
35performed for this stripe (parity is not updated). So it is possible to have
36arbitrary data in the written part of a stripe if that disk is lost. In such
37case the behavior is the same as in plain raid5.
38
39PPL is available for md version-1 metadata and external (specifically IMSM)
40metadata arrays. It can be enabled using mdadm option --consistency-policy=ppl.
41
42Currently, volatile write-back cache should be disabled on all member drives
43when using PPL. Otherwise it cannot guarantee consistency in case of power
44failure.