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diff --git a/Documentation/block/writeback_cache_control.rst b/Documentation/block/writeback_cache_control.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b208488d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/block/writeback_cache_control.rst @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +========================================== +Explicit volatile write back cache control +========================================== + +Introduction +------------ + +Many storage devices, especially in the consumer market, come with volatile +write back caches. That means the devices signal I/O completion to the +operating system before data actually has hit the non-volatile storage. This +behavior obviously speeds up various workloads, but it means the operating +system needs to force data out to the non-volatile storage when it performs +a data integrity operation like fsync, sync or an unmount. + +The Linux block layer provides two simple mechanisms that let filesystems +control the caching behavior of the storage device. These mechanisms are +a forced cache flush, and the Force Unit Access (FUA) flag for requests. + + +Explicit cache flushes +---------------------- + +The REQ_PREFLUSH flag can be OR ed into the r/w flags of a bio submitted from +the filesystem and will make sure the volatile cache of the storage device +has been flushed before the actual I/O operation is started. This explicitly +guarantees that previously completed write requests are on non-volatile +storage before the flagged bio starts. In addition the REQ_PREFLUSH flag can be +set on an otherwise empty bio structure, which causes only an explicit cache +flush without any dependent I/O. It is recommend to use +the blkdev_issue_flush() helper for a pure cache flush. + + +Forced Unit Access +------------------ + +The REQ_FUA flag can be OR ed into the r/w flags of a bio submitted from the +filesystem and will make sure that I/O completion for this request is only +signaled after the data has been committed to non-volatile storage. + + +Implementation details for filesystems +-------------------------------------- + +Filesystems can simply set the REQ_PREFLUSH and REQ_FUA bits and do not have to +worry if the underlying devices need any explicit cache flushing and how +the Forced Unit Access is implemented. The REQ_PREFLUSH and REQ_FUA flags +may both be set on a single bio. + + +Implementation details for bio based block drivers +-------------------------------------------------------------- + +These drivers will always see the REQ_PREFLUSH and REQ_FUA bits as they sit +directly below the submit_bio interface. For remapping drivers the REQ_FUA +bits need to be propagated to underlying devices, and a global flush needs +to be implemented for bios with the REQ_PREFLUSH bit set. For real device +drivers that do not have a volatile cache the REQ_PREFLUSH and REQ_FUA bits +on non-empty bios can simply be ignored, and REQ_PREFLUSH requests without +data can be completed successfully without doing any work. Drivers for +devices with volatile caches need to implement the support for these +flags themselves without any help from the block layer. + + +Implementation details for request_fn based block drivers +--------------------------------------------------------- + +For devices that do not support volatile write caches there is no driver +support required, the block layer completes empty REQ_PREFLUSH requests before +entering the driver and strips off the REQ_PREFLUSH and REQ_FUA bits from +requests that have a payload. For devices with volatile write caches the +driver needs to tell the block layer that it supports flushing caches by +doing:: + + blk_queue_write_cache(sdkp->disk->queue, true, false); + +and handle empty REQ_OP_FLUSH requests in its prep_fn/request_fn. Note that +REQ_PREFLUSH requests with a payload are automatically turned into a sequence +of an empty REQ_OP_FLUSH request followed by the actual write by the block +layer. For devices that also support the FUA bit the block layer needs +to be told to pass through the REQ_FUA bit using:: + + blk_queue_write_cache(sdkp->disk->queue, true, true); + +and the driver must handle write requests that have the REQ_FUA bit set +in prep_fn/request_fn. If the FUA bit is not natively supported the block +layer turns it into an empty REQ_OP_FLUSH request after the actual write. |