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author | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-27 10:05:51 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-27 10:05:51 +0000 |
commit | 5d1646d90e1f2cceb9f0828f4b28318cd0ec7744 (patch) | |
tree | a94efe259b9009378be6d90eb30d2b019d95c194 /Documentation/powerpc/cxlflash.rst | |
parent | Initial commit. (diff) | |
download | linux-upstream/5.10.209.tar.xz linux-upstream/5.10.209.zip |
Adding upstream version 5.10.209.upstream/5.10.209upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
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-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/powerpc/cxlflash.rst | 433 |
1 files changed, 433 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/powerpc/cxlflash.rst b/Documentation/powerpc/cxlflash.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..cea67931b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/powerpc/cxlflash.rst @@ -0,0 +1,433 @@ +================================ +Coherent Accelerator (CXL) Flash +================================ + +Introduction +============ + + The IBM Power architecture provides support for CAPI (Coherent + Accelerator Power Interface), which is available to certain PCIe slots + on Power 8 systems. CAPI can be thought of as a special tunneling + protocol through PCIe that allow PCIe adapters to look like special + purpose co-processors which can read or write an application's + memory and generate page faults. As a result, the host interface to + an adapter running in CAPI mode does not require the data buffers to + be mapped to the device's memory (IOMMU bypass) nor does it require + memory to be pinned. + + On Linux, Coherent Accelerator (CXL) kernel services present CAPI + devices as a PCI device by implementing a virtual PCI host bridge. + This abstraction simplifies the infrastructure and programming + model, allowing for drivers to look similar to other native PCI + device drivers. + + CXL provides a mechanism by which user space applications can + directly talk to a device (network or storage) bypassing the typical + kernel/device driver stack. The CXL Flash Adapter Driver enables a + user space application direct access to Flash storage. + + The CXL Flash Adapter Driver is a kernel module that sits in the + SCSI stack as a low level device driver (below the SCSI disk and + protocol drivers) for the IBM CXL Flash Adapter. This driver is + responsible for the initialization of the adapter, setting up the + special path for user space access, and performing error recovery. It + communicates directly the Flash Accelerator Functional Unit (AFU) + as described in Documentation/powerpc/cxl.rst. + + The cxlflash driver supports two, mutually exclusive, modes of + operation at the device (LUN) level: + + - Any flash device (LUN) can be configured to be accessed as a + regular disk device (i.e.: /dev/sdc). This is the default mode. + + - Any flash device (LUN) can be configured to be accessed from + user space with a special block library. This mode further + specifies the means of accessing the device and provides for + either raw access to the entire LUN (referred to as direct + or physical LUN access) or access to a kernel/AFU-mediated + partition of the LUN (referred to as virtual LUN access). The + segmentation of a disk device into virtual LUNs is assisted + by special translation services provided by the Flash AFU. + +Overview +======== + + The Coherent Accelerator Interface Architecture (CAIA) introduces a + concept of a master context. A master typically has special privileges + granted to it by the kernel or hypervisor allowing it to perform AFU + wide management and control. The master may or may not be involved + directly in each user I/O, but at the minimum is involved in the + initial setup before the user application is allowed to send requests + directly to the AFU. + + The CXL Flash Adapter Driver establishes a master context with the + AFU. It uses memory mapped I/O (MMIO) for this control and setup. The + Adapter Problem Space Memory Map looks like this:: + + +-------------------------------+ + | 512 * 64 KB User MMIO | + | (per context) | + | User Accessible | + +-------------------------------+ + | 512 * 128 B per context | + | Provisioning and Control | + | Trusted Process accessible | + +-------------------------------+ + | 64 KB Global | + | Trusted Process accessible | + +-------------------------------+ + + This driver configures itself into the SCSI software stack as an + adapter driver. The driver is the only entity that is considered a + Trusted Process to program the Provisioning and Control and Global + areas in the MMIO Space shown above. The master context driver + discovers all LUNs attached to the CXL Flash adapter and instantiates + scsi block devices (/dev/sdb, /dev/sdc etc.) for each unique LUN + seen from each path. + + Once these scsi block devices are instantiated, an application + written to a specification provided by the block library may get + access to the Flash from user space (without requiring a system call). + + This master context driver also provides a series of ioctls for this + block library to enable this user space access. The driver supports + two modes for accessing the block device. + + The first mode is called a virtual mode. In this mode a single scsi + block device (/dev/sdb) may be carved up into any number of distinct + virtual LUNs. The virtual LUNs may be resized as long as the sum of + the sizes of all the virtual LUNs, along with the meta-data associated + with it does not exceed the physical capacity. + + The second mode is called the physical mode. In this mode a single + block device (/dev/sdb) may be opened directly by the block library + and the entire space for the LUN is available to the application. + + Only the physical mode provides persistence of the data. i.e. The + data written to the block device will survive application exit and + restart and also reboot. The virtual LUNs do not persist (i.e. do + not survive after the application terminates or the system reboots). + + +Block library API +================= + + Applications intending to get access to the CXL Flash from user + space should use the block library, as it abstracts the details of + interfacing directly with the cxlflash driver that are necessary for + performing administrative actions (i.e.: setup, tear down, resize). + The block library can be thought of as a 'user' of services, + implemented as IOCTLs, that are provided by the cxlflash driver + specifically for devices (LUNs) operating in user space access + mode. While it is not a requirement that applications understand + the interface between the block library and the cxlflash driver, + a high-level overview of each supported service (IOCTL) is provided + below. + + The block library can be found on GitHub: + http://github.com/open-power/capiflash + + +CXL Flash Driver LUN IOCTLs +=========================== + + Users, such as the block library, that wish to interface with a flash + device (LUN) via user space access need to use the services provided + by the cxlflash driver. As these services are implemented as ioctls, + a file descriptor handle must first be obtained in order to establish + the communication channel between a user and the kernel. This file + descriptor is obtained by opening the device special file associated + with the scsi disk device (/dev/sdb) that was created during LUN + discovery. As per the location of the cxlflash driver within the + SCSI protocol stack, this open is actually not seen by the cxlflash + driver. Upon successful open, the user receives a file descriptor + (herein referred to as fd1) that should be used for issuing the + subsequent ioctls listed below. + + The structure definitions for these IOCTLs are available in: + uapi/scsi/cxlflash_ioctl.h + +DK_CXLFLASH_ATTACH +------------------ + + This ioctl obtains, initializes, and starts a context using the CXL + kernel services. These services specify a context id (u16) by which + to uniquely identify the context and its allocated resources. The + services additionally provide a second file descriptor (herein + referred to as fd2) that is used by the block library to initiate + memory mapped I/O (via mmap()) to the CXL flash device and poll for + completion events. This file descriptor is intentionally installed by + this driver and not the CXL kernel services to allow for intermediary + notification and access in the event of a non-user-initiated close(), + such as a killed process. This design point is described in further + detail in the description for the DK_CXLFLASH_DETACH ioctl. + + There are a few important aspects regarding the "tokens" (context id + and fd2) that are provided back to the user: + + - These tokens are only valid for the process under which they + were created. The child of a forked process cannot continue + to use the context id or file descriptor created by its parent + (see DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_CLONE for further details). + + - These tokens are only valid for the lifetime of the context and + the process under which they were created. Once either is + destroyed, the tokens are to be considered stale and subsequent + usage will result in errors. + + - A valid adapter file descriptor (fd2 >= 0) is only returned on + the initial attach for a context. Subsequent attaches to an + existing context (DK_CXLFLASH_ATTACH_REUSE_CONTEXT flag present) + do not provide the adapter file descriptor as it was previously + made known to the application. + + - When a context is no longer needed, the user shall detach from + the context via the DK_CXLFLASH_DETACH ioctl. When this ioctl + returns with a valid adapter file descriptor and the return flag + DK_CXLFLASH_APP_CLOSE_ADAP_FD is present, the application _must_ + close the adapter file descriptor following a successful detach. + + - When this ioctl returns with a valid fd2 and the return flag + DK_CXLFLASH_APP_CLOSE_ADAP_FD is present, the application _must_ + close fd2 in the following circumstances: + + + Following a successful detach of the last user of the context + + Following a successful recovery on the context's original fd2 + + In the child process of a fork(), following a clone ioctl, + on the fd2 associated with the source context + + - At any time, a close on fd2 will invalidate the tokens. Applications + should exercise caution to only close fd2 when appropriate (outlined + in the previous bullet) to avoid premature loss of I/O. + +DK_CXLFLASH_USER_DIRECT +----------------------- + This ioctl is responsible for transitioning the LUN to direct + (physical) mode access and configuring the AFU for direct access from + user space on a per-context basis. Additionally, the block size and + last logical block address (LBA) are returned to the user. + + As mentioned previously, when operating in user space access mode, + LUNs may be accessed in whole or in part. Only one mode is allowed + at a time and if one mode is active (outstanding references exist), + requests to use the LUN in a different mode are denied. + + The AFU is configured for direct access from user space by adding an + entry to the AFU's resource handle table. The index of the entry is + treated as a resource handle that is returned to the user. The user + is then able to use the handle to reference the LUN during I/O. + +DK_CXLFLASH_USER_VIRTUAL +------------------------ + This ioctl is responsible for transitioning the LUN to virtual mode + of access and configuring the AFU for virtual access from user space + on a per-context basis. Additionally, the block size and last logical + block address (LBA) are returned to the user. + + As mentioned previously, when operating in user space access mode, + LUNs may be accessed in whole or in part. Only one mode is allowed + at a time and if one mode is active (outstanding references exist), + requests to use the LUN in a different mode are denied. + + The AFU is configured for virtual access from user space by adding + an entry to the AFU's resource handle table. The index of the entry + is treated as a resource handle that is returned to the user. The + user is then able to use the handle to reference the LUN during I/O. + + By default, the virtual LUN is created with a size of 0. The user + would need to use the DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_RESIZE ioctl to adjust the grow + the virtual LUN to a desired size. To avoid having to perform this + resize for the initial creation of the virtual LUN, the user has the + option of specifying a size as part of the DK_CXLFLASH_USER_VIRTUAL + ioctl, such that when success is returned to the user, the + resource handle that is provided is already referencing provisioned + storage. This is reflected by the last LBA being a non-zero value. + + When a LUN is accessible from more than one port, this ioctl will + return with the DK_CXLFLASH_ALL_PORTS_ACTIVE return flag set. This + provides the user with a hint that I/O can be retried in the event + of an I/O error as the LUN can be reached over multiple paths. + +DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_RESIZE +----------------------- + This ioctl is responsible for resizing a previously created virtual + LUN and will fail if invoked upon a LUN that is not in virtual + mode. Upon success, an updated last LBA is returned to the user + indicating the new size of the virtual LUN associated with the + resource handle. + + The partitioning of virtual LUNs is jointly mediated by the cxlflash + driver and the AFU. An allocation table is kept for each LUN that is + operating in the virtual mode and used to program a LUN translation + table that the AFU references when provided with a resource handle. + + This ioctl can return -EAGAIN if an AFU sync operation takes too long. + In addition to returning a failure to user, cxlflash will also schedule + an asynchronous AFU reset. Should the user choose to retry the operation, + it is expected to succeed. If this ioctl fails with -EAGAIN, the user + can either retry the operation or treat it as a failure. + +DK_CXLFLASH_RELEASE +------------------- + This ioctl is responsible for releasing a previously obtained + reference to either a physical or virtual LUN. This can be + thought of as the inverse of the DK_CXLFLASH_USER_DIRECT or + DK_CXLFLASH_USER_VIRTUAL ioctls. Upon success, the resource handle + is no longer valid and the entry in the resource handle table is + made available to be used again. + + As part of the release process for virtual LUNs, the virtual LUN + is first resized to 0 to clear out and free the translation tables + associated with the virtual LUN reference. + +DK_CXLFLASH_DETACH +------------------ + This ioctl is responsible for unregistering a context with the + cxlflash driver and release outstanding resources that were + not explicitly released via the DK_CXLFLASH_RELEASE ioctl. Upon + success, all "tokens" which had been provided to the user from the + DK_CXLFLASH_ATTACH onward are no longer valid. + + When the DK_CXLFLASH_APP_CLOSE_ADAP_FD flag was returned on a successful + attach, the application _must_ close the fd2 associated with the context + following the detach of the final user of the context. + +DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_CLONE +---------------------- + This ioctl is responsible for cloning a previously created + context to a more recently created context. It exists solely to + support maintaining user space access to storage after a process + forks. Upon success, the child process (which invoked the ioctl) + will have access to the same LUNs via the same resource handle(s) + as the parent, but under a different context. + + Context sharing across processes is not supported with CXL and + therefore each fork must be met with establishing a new context + for the child process. This ioctl simplifies the state management + and playback required by a user in such a scenario. When a process + forks, child process can clone the parents context by first creating + a context (via DK_CXLFLASH_ATTACH) and then using this ioctl to + perform the clone from the parent to the child. + + The clone itself is fairly simple. The resource handle and lun + translation tables are copied from the parent context to the child's + and then synced with the AFU. + + When the DK_CXLFLASH_APP_CLOSE_ADAP_FD flag was returned on a successful + attach, the application _must_ close the fd2 associated with the source + context (still resident/accessible in the parent process) following the + clone. This is to avoid a stale entry in the file descriptor table of the + child process. + + This ioctl can return -EAGAIN if an AFU sync operation takes too long. + In addition to returning a failure to user, cxlflash will also schedule + an asynchronous AFU reset. Should the user choose to retry the operation, + it is expected to succeed. If this ioctl fails with -EAGAIN, the user + can either retry the operation or treat it as a failure. + +DK_CXLFLASH_VERIFY +------------------ + This ioctl is used to detect various changes such as the capacity of + the disk changing, the number of LUNs visible changing, etc. In cases + where the changes affect the application (such as a LUN resize), the + cxlflash driver will report the changed state to the application. + + The user calls in when they want to validate that a LUN hasn't been + changed in response to a check condition. As the user is operating out + of band from the kernel, they will see these types of events without + the kernel's knowledge. When encountered, the user's architected + behavior is to call in to this ioctl, indicating what they want to + verify and passing along any appropriate information. For now, only + verifying a LUN change (ie: size different) with sense data is + supported. + +DK_CXLFLASH_RECOVER_AFU +----------------------- + This ioctl is used to drive recovery (if such an action is warranted) + of a specified user context. Any state associated with the user context + is re-established upon successful recovery. + + User contexts are put into an error condition when the device needs to + be reset or is terminating. Users are notified of this error condition + by seeing all 0xF's on an MMIO read. Upon encountering this, the + architected behavior for a user is to call into this ioctl to recover + their context. A user may also call into this ioctl at any time to + check if the device is operating normally. If a failure is returned + from this ioctl, the user is expected to gracefully clean up their + context via release/detach ioctls. Until they do, the context they + hold is not relinquished. The user may also optionally exit the process + at which time the context/resources they held will be freed as part of + the release fop. + + When the DK_CXLFLASH_APP_CLOSE_ADAP_FD flag was returned on a successful + attach, the application _must_ unmap and close the fd2 associated with the + original context following this ioctl returning success and indicating that + the context was recovered (DK_CXLFLASH_RECOVER_AFU_CONTEXT_RESET). + +DK_CXLFLASH_MANAGE_LUN +---------------------- + This ioctl is used to switch a LUN from a mode where it is available + for file-system access (legacy), to a mode where it is set aside for + exclusive user space access (superpipe). In case a LUN is visible + across multiple ports and adapters, this ioctl is used to uniquely + identify each LUN by its World Wide Node Name (WWNN). + + +CXL Flash Driver Host IOCTLs +============================ + + Each host adapter instance that is supported by the cxlflash driver + has a special character device associated with it to enable a set of + host management function. These character devices are hosted in a + class dedicated for cxlflash and can be accessed via `/dev/cxlflash/*`. + + Applications can be written to perform various functions using the + host ioctl APIs below. + + The structure definitions for these IOCTLs are available in: + uapi/scsi/cxlflash_ioctl.h + +HT_CXLFLASH_LUN_PROVISION +------------------------- + This ioctl is used to create and delete persistent LUNs on cxlflash + devices that lack an external LUN management interface. It is only + valid when used with AFUs that support the LUN provision capability. + + When sufficient space is available, LUNs can be created by specifying + the target port to host the LUN and a desired size in 4K blocks. Upon + success, the LUN ID and WWID of the created LUN will be returned and + the SCSI bus can be scanned to detect the change in LUN topology. Note + that partial allocations are not supported. Should a creation fail due + to a space issue, the target port can be queried for its current LUN + geometry. + + To remove a LUN, the device must first be disassociated from the Linux + SCSI subsystem. The LUN deletion can then be initiated by specifying a + target port and LUN ID. Upon success, the LUN geometry associated with + the port will be updated to reflect new number of provisioned LUNs and + available capacity. + + To query the LUN geometry of a port, the target port is specified and + upon success, the following information is presented: + + - Maximum number of provisioned LUNs allowed for the port + - Current number of provisioned LUNs for the port + - Maximum total capacity of provisioned LUNs for the port (4K blocks) + - Current total capacity of provisioned LUNs for the port (4K blocks) + + With this information, the number of available LUNs and capacity can be + can be calculated. + +HT_CXLFLASH_AFU_DEBUG +--------------------- + This ioctl is used to debug AFUs by supporting a command pass-through + interface. It is only valid when used with AFUs that support the AFU + debug capability. + + With exception of buffer management, AFU debug commands are opaque to + cxlflash and treated as pass-through. For debug commands that do require + data transfer, the user supplies an adequately sized data buffer and must + specify the data transfer direction with respect to the host. There is a + maximum transfer size of 256K imposed. Note that partial read completions + are not supported - when errors are experienced with a host read data + transfer, the data buffer is not copied back to the user. |