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diff --git a/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt b/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..bfa092589 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +Partial Parity Log + +Partial Parity Log (PPL) is a feature available for RAID5 arrays. The issue +addressed by PPL is that after a dirty shutdown, parity of a particular stripe +may become inconsistent with data on other member disks. If the array is also +in degraded state, there is no way to recalculate parity, because one of the +disks is missing. This can lead to silent data corruption when rebuilding the +array or using it is as degraded - data calculated from parity for array blocks +that have not been touched by a write request during the unclean shutdown can +be incorrect. Such condition is known as the RAID5 Write Hole. Because of +this, md by default does not allow starting a dirty degraded array. + +Partial parity for a write operation is the XOR of stripe data chunks not +modified by this write. It is just enough data needed for recovering from the +write hole. XORing partial parity with the modified chunks produces parity for +the stripe, consistent with its state before the write operation, regardless of +which chunk writes have completed. If one of the not modified data disks of +this stripe is missing, this updated parity can be used to recover its +contents. PPL recovery is also performed when starting an array after an +unclean shutdown and all disks are available, eliminating the need to resync +the array. Because of this, using write-intent bitmap and PPL together is not +supported. + +When handling a write request PPL writes partial parity before new data and +parity are dispatched to disks. PPL is a distributed log - it is stored on +array member drives in the metadata area, on the parity drive of a particular +stripe. It does not require a dedicated journaling drive. Write performance is +reduced by up to 30%-40% but it scales with the number of drives in the array +and the journaling drive does not become a bottleneck or a single point of +failure. + +Unlike raid5-cache, the other solution in md for closing the write hole, PPL is +not a true journal. It does not protect from losing in-flight data, only from +silent data corruption. If a dirty disk of a stripe is lost, no PPL recovery is +performed for this stripe (parity is not updated). So it is possible to have +arbitrary data in the written part of a stripe if that disk is lost. In such +case the behavior is the same as in plain raid5. + +PPL is available for md version-1 metadata and external (specifically IMSM) +metadata arrays. It can be enabled using mdadm option --consistency-policy=ppl. + +There is a limitation of maximum 64 disks in the array for PPL. It allows to +keep data structures and implementation simple. RAID5 arrays with so many disks +are not likely due to high risk of multiple disks failure. Such restriction +should not be a real life limitation. |