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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2009-04-05 14:06:45 -0400
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2009-04-05 14:06:45 -0400
commit3516c6a8dc0b1153c611c4cf0dc4a51631f052bb (patch)
treec54a5fc916cbe73e43dee20902642f367f44a551 /Documentation/filesystems
parent714f83d5d9f7c785f622259dad1f4fad12d64664 (diff)
parentba0e1ebb7ea0616eebc29d2077355bacea62a9d8 (diff)
Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging-2.6
* git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging-2.6: (714 commits) Staging: sxg: slicoss: Specify the license for Sahara SXG and Slicoss drivers Staging: serqt_usb: fix build due to proc tty changes Staging: serqt_usb: fix checkpatch errors Staging: serqt_usb: add TODO file Staging: serqt_usb: Lindent the code Staging: add USB serial Quatech driver staging: document that the wifi staging drivers a bit better Staging: echo cleanup Staging: BUG to BUG_ON changes Staging: remove some pointless conditionals before kfree_skb() Staging: line6: fix build error, select SND_RAWMIDI Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in variax.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in toneport.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in pcm.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in midibuf.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in midi.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in dumprequest.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in driver.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in audio.c Staging: line6: fix checkpatch errors in pod.c ...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/design_notes.txt70
-rw-r--r--Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/info.txt86
-rw-r--r--Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/network_protocol.txt227
3 files changed, 383 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/design_notes.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/design_notes.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6d6db60d567d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/design_notes.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
1POHMELFS: Parallel Optimized Host Message Exchange Layered File System.
2
3 Evgeniy Polyakov <zbr@ioremap.net>
4
5Homepage: http://www.ioremap.net/projects/pohmelfs
6
7POHMELFS first began as a network filesystem with coherent local data and
8metadata caches but is now evolving into a parallel distributed filesystem.
9
10Main features of this FS include:
11 * Locally coherent cache for data and metadata with (potentially) byte-range locks.
12 Since all Linux filesystems lock the whole inode during writing, algorithm
13 is very simple and does not use byte-ranges, although they are sent in
14 locking messages.
15 * Completely async processing of all events except creation of hard and symbolic
16 links, and rename events.
17 Object creation and data reading and writing are processed asynchronously.
18 * Flexible object architecture optimized for network processing.
19 Ability to create long paths to objects and remove arbitrarily huge
20 directories with a single network command.
21 (like removing the whole kernel tree via a single network command).
22 * Very high performance.
23 * Fast and scalable multithreaded userspace server. Being in userspace it works
24 with any underlying filesystem and still is much faster than async in-kernel NFS one.
25 * Client is able to switch between different servers (if one goes down, client
26 automatically reconnects to second and so on).
27 * Transactions support. Full failover for all operations.
28 Resending transactions to different servers on timeout or error.
29 * Read request (data read, directory listing, lookup requests) balancing between multiple servers.
30 * Write requests are replicated to multiple servers and completed only when all of them are acked.
31 * Ability to add and/or remove servers from the working set at run-time.
32 * Strong authentification and possible data encryption in network channel.
33 * Extended attributes support.
34
35POHMELFS is based on transactions, which are potentially long-standing objects that live
36in the client's memory. Each transaction contains all the information needed to process a given
37command (or set of commands, which is frequently used during data writing: single transactions
38can contain creation and data writing commands). Transactions are committed by all the servers
39to which they are sent and, in case of failures, are eventually resent or dropped with an error.
40For example, reading will return an error if no servers are available.
41
42POHMELFS uses a asynchronous approach to data processing. Courtesy of transactions, it is
43possible to detach replies from requests and, if the command requires data to be received, the
44caller sleeps waiting for it. Thus, it is possible to issue multiple read commands to different
45servers and async threads will pick up replies in parallel, find appropriate transactions in the
46system and put the data where it belongs (like the page or inode cache).
47
48The main feature of POHMELFS is writeback data and the metadata cache.
49Only a few non-performance critical operations use the write-through cache and
50are synchronous: hard and symbolic link creation, and object rename. Creation,
51removal of objects and data writing are asynchronous and are sent to
52the server during system writeback. Only one writer at a time is allowed for any
53given inode, which is guarded by an appropriate locking protocol.
54Because of this feature, POHMELFS is extremely fast at metadata intensive
55workloads and can fully utilize the bandwidth to the servers when doing bulk
56data transfers.
57
58POHMELFS clients operate with a working set of servers and are capable of balancing read-only
59operations (like lookups or directory listings) between them.
60Administrators can add or remove servers from the set at run-time via special commands (described
61in Documentation/pohmelfs/info.txt file). Writes are replicated to all servers.
62
63POHMELFS is capable of full data channel encryption and/or strong crypto hashing.
64One can select any kernel supported cipher, encryption mode, hash type and operation mode
65(hmac or digest). It is also possible to use both or neither (default). Crypto configuration
66is checked during mount time and, if the server does not support it, appropriate capabilities
67will be disabled or mount will fail (if 'crypto_fail_unsupported' mount option is specified).
68Crypto performance heavily depends on the number of crypto threads, which asynchronously perform
69crypto operations and send the resulting data to server or submit it up the stack. This number
70can be controlled via a mount option.
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/info.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/info.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4e3d50157083
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/info.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
1POHMELFS usage information.
2
3Mount options:
4idx=%u
5 Each mountpoint is associated with a special index via this option.
6 Administrator can add or remove servers from the given index, so all mounts,
7 which were attached to it, are updated.
8 Default it is 0.
9
10trans_scan_timeout=%u
11 This timeout, expressed in milliseconds, specifies time to scan transaction
12 trees looking for stale requests, which have to be resent, or if number of
13 retries exceed specified limit, dropped with error.
14 Default is 5 seconds.
15
16drop_scan_timeout=%u
17 Internal timeout, expressed in milliseconds, which specifies how frequently
18 inodes marked to be dropped are freed. It also specifies how frequently
19 the system checks that servers have to be added or removed from current working set.
20 Default is 1 second.
21
22wait_on_page_timeout=%u
23 Number of milliseconds to wait for reply from remote server for data reading command.
24 If this timeout is exceeded, reading returns an error.
25 Default is 5 seconds.
26
27trans_retries=%u
28 This is the number of times that a transaction will be resent to a server that did
29 not answer for the last @trans_scan_timeout milliseconds.
30 When the number of resends exceeds this limit, the transaction is completed with error.
31 Default is 5 resends.
32
33crypto_thread_num=%u
34 Number of crypto processing threads. Threads are used both for RX and TX traffic.
35 Default is 2, or no threads if crypto operations are not supported.
36
37trans_max_pages=%u
38 Maximum number of pages in a single transaction. This parameter also controls
39 the number of pages, allocated for crypto processing (each crypto thread has
40 pool of pages, the number of which is equal to 'trans_max_pages'.
41 Default is 100 pages.
42
43crypto_fail_unsupported
44 If specified, mount will fail if the server does not support requested crypto operations.
45 By default mount will disable non-matching crypto operations.
46
47mcache_timeout=%u
48 Maximum number of milliseconds to wait for the mcache objects to be processed.
49 Mcache includes locks (given lock should be granted by server), attributes (they should be
50 fully received in the given timeframe).
51 Default is 5 seconds.
52
53Usage examples.
54
55Add (or remove if it already exists) server server1.net:1025 into the working set with index $idx
56with appropriate hash algorithm and key file and cipher algorithm, mode and key file:
57$cfg -a server1.net -p 1025 -i $idx -K $hash_key -k $cipher_key
58
59Mount filesystem with given index $idx to /mnt mountpoint.
60Client will connect to all servers specified in the working set via previous command:
61mount -t pohmel -o idx=$idx q /mnt
62
63One can add or remove servers from working set after mounting too.
64
65
66Server installation.
67
68Creating a server, which listens at port 1025 and 0.0.0.0 address.
69Working root directory (note, that server chroots there, so you have to have appropriate permissions)
70is set to /mnt, server will negotiate hash/cipher with client, in case client requested it, there
71are appropriate key files.
72Number of working threads is set to 10.
73
74# ./fserver -a 0.0.0.0 -p 1025 -r /mnt -w 10 -K hash_key -k cipher_key
75
76 -A 6 - listen on ipv6 address. Default: Disabled.
77 -r root - path to root directory. Default: /tmp.
78 -a addr - listen address. Default: 0.0.0.0.
79 -p port - listen port. Default: 1025.
80 -w workers - number of workers per connected client. Default: 1.
81 -K file - hash key size. Default: none.
82 -k file - cipher key size. Default: none.
83 -h - this help.
84
85Number of worker threads specifies how many workers will be created for each client.
86Bulk single-client transafers usually are better handled with smaller number (like 1-3).
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/network_protocol.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/network_protocol.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..40ea6c295afb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/pohmelfs/network_protocol.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
1POHMELFS network protocol.
2
3Basic structure used in network communication is following command:
4
5struct netfs_cmd
6{
7 __u16 cmd; /* Command number */
8 __u16 csize; /* Attached crypto information size */
9 __u16 cpad; /* Attached padding size */
10 __u16 ext; /* External flags */
11 __u32 size; /* Size of the attached data */
12 __u32 trans; /* Transaction id */
13 __u64 id; /* Object ID to operate on. Used for feedback.*/
14 __u64 start; /* Start of the object. */
15 __u64 iv; /* IV sequence */
16 __u8 data[0];
17};
18
19Commands can be embedded into transaction command (which in turn has own command),
20so one can extend protocol as needed without breaking backward compatibility as long
21as old commands are supported. All string lengths include tail 0 byte.
22
23All commans are transfered over the network in big-endian. CPU endianess is used at the end peers.
24
25@cmd - command number, which specifies command to be processed. Following
26 commands are used currently:
27
28 NETFS_READDIR = 1, /* Read directory for given inode number */
29 NETFS_READ_PAGE, /* Read data page from the server */
30 NETFS_WRITE_PAGE, /* Write data page to the server */
31 NETFS_CREATE, /* Create directory entry */
32 NETFS_REMOVE, /* Remove directory entry */
33 NETFS_LOOKUP, /* Lookup single object */
34 NETFS_LINK, /* Create a link */
35 NETFS_TRANS, /* Transaction */
36 NETFS_OPEN, /* Open intent */
37 NETFS_INODE_INFO, /* Metadata cache coherency synchronization message */
38 NETFS_PAGE_CACHE, /* Page cache invalidation message */
39 NETFS_READ_PAGES, /* Read multiple contiguous pages in one go */
40 NETFS_RENAME, /* Rename object */
41 NETFS_CAPABILITIES, /* Capabilities of the client, for example supported crypto */
42 NETFS_LOCK, /* Distributed lock message */
43 NETFS_XATTR_SET, /* Set extended attribute */
44 NETFS_XATTR_GET, /* Get extended attribute */
45
46@ext - external flags. Used by different commands to specify some extra arguments
47 like partial size of the embedded objects or creation flags.
48
49@size - size of the attached data. For NETFS_READ_PAGE and NETFS_READ_PAGES no data is attached,
50 but size of the requested data is incorporated here. It does not include size of the command
51 header (struct netfs_cmd) itself.
52
53@id - id of the object this command operates on. Each command can use it for own purpose.
54
55@start - start of the object this command operates on. Each command can use it for own purpose.
56
57@csize, @cpad - size and padding size of the (attached if needed) crypto information.
58
59Command specifications.
60
61@NETFS_READDIR
62This command is used to sync content of the remote dir to the client.
63
64@ext - length of the path to object.
65@size - the same.
66@id - local inode number of the directory to read.
67@start - zero.
68
69
70@NETFS_READ_PAGE
71This command is used to read data from remote server.
72Data size does not exceed local page cache size.
73
74@id - inode number.
75@start - first byte offset.
76@size - number of bytes to read plus length of the path to object.
77@ext - object path length.
78
79
80@NETFS_CREATE
81Used to create object.
82It does not require that all directories on top of the object were
83already created, it will create them automatically. Each object has
84associated @netfs_path_entry data structure, which contains creation
85mode (permissions and type) and length of the name as long as name itself.
86
87@start - 0
88@size - size of the all data structures needed to create a path
89@id - local inode number
90@ext - 0
91
92
93@NETFS_REMOVE
94Used to remove object.
95
96@ext - length of the path to object.
97@size - the same.
98@id - local inode number.
99@start - zero.
100
101
102@NETFS_LOOKUP
103Lookup information about object on server.
104
105@ext - length of the path to object.
106@size - the same.
107@id - local inode number of the directory to look object in.
108@start - local inode number of the object to look at.
109
110
111@NETFS_LINK
112Create hard of symlink.
113Command is sent as "object_path|target_path".
114
115@size - size of the above string.
116@id - parent local inode number.
117@start - 1 for symlink, 0 for hardlink.
118@ext - size of the "object_path" above.
119
120
121@NETFS_TRANS
122Transaction header.
123
124@size - incorporates all embedded command sizes including theirs header sizes.
125@start - transaction generation number - unique id used to find transaction.
126@ext - transaction flags. Unused at the moment.
127@id - 0.
128
129
130@NETFS_OPEN
131Open intent for given transaction.
132
133@id - local inode number.
134@start - 0.
135@size - path length to the object.
136@ext - open flags (O_RDWR and so on).
137
138
139@NETFS_INODE_INFO
140Metadata update command.
141It is sent to servers when attributes of the object are changed and received
142when data or metadata were updated. It operates with the following structure:
143
144struct netfs_inode_info
145{
146 unsigned int mode;
147 unsigned int nlink;
148 unsigned int uid;
149 unsigned int gid;
150 unsigned int blocksize;
151 unsigned int padding;
152 __u64 ino;
153 __u64 blocks;
154 __u64 rdev;
155 __u64 size;
156 __u64 version;
157};
158
159It effectively mirrors stat(2) returned data.
160
161
162@ext - path length to the object.
163@size - the same plus size of the netfs_inode_info structure.
164@id - local inode number.
165@start - 0.
166
167
168@NETFS_PAGE_CACHE
169Command is only received by clients. It contains information about
170page to be marked as not up-to-date.
171
172@id - client's inode number.
173@start - last byte of the page to be invalidated. If it is not equal to
174 current inode size, it will be vmtruncated().
175@size - 0
176@ext - 0
177
178
179@NETFS_READ_PAGES
180Used to read multiple contiguous pages in one go.
181
182@start - first byte of the contiguous region to read.
183@size - contains of two fields: lower 8 bits are used to represent page cache shift
184 used by client, another 3 bytes are used to get number of pages.
185@id - local inode number.
186@ext - path length to the object.
187
188
189@NETFS_RENAME
190Used to rename object.
191Attached data is formed into following string: "old_path|new_path".
192
193@id - local inode number.
194@start - parent inode number.
195@size - length of the above string.
196@ext - length of the old path part.
197
198
199@NETFS_CAPABILITIES
200Used to exchange crypto capabilities with server.
201If crypto capabilities are not supported by server, then client will disable it
202or fail (if 'crypto_fail_unsupported' mount options was specified).
203
204@id - superblock index. Used to specify crypto information for group of servers.
205@size - size of the attached capabilities structure.
206@start - 0.
207@size - 0.
208@scsize - 0.
209
210@NETFS_LOCK
211Used to send lock request/release messages. Although it sends byte range request
212and is capable of flushing pages based on that, it is not used, since all Linux
213filesystems lock the whole inode.
214
215@id - lock generation number.
216@start - start of the locked range.
217@size - size of the locked range.
218@ext - lock type: read/write. Not used actually. 15'th bit is used to determine,
219 if it is lock request (1) or release (0).
220
221@NETFS_XATTR_SET
222@NETFS_XATTR_GET
223Used to set/get extended attributes for given inode.
224@id - attribute generation number or xattr setting type
225@start - size of the attribute (request or attached)
226@size - name length, path len and data size for given attribute
227@ext - path length for given object