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diff --git a/Documentation/powerpc/firmware-assisted-dump.rst b/Documentation/powerpc/firmware-assisted-dump.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..20ea8cdee --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/powerpc/firmware-assisted-dump.rst @@ -0,0 +1,381 @@ +====================== +Firmware-Assisted Dump +====================== + +July 2011 + +The goal of firmware-assisted dump is to enable the dump of +a crashed system, and to do so from a fully-reset system, and +to minimize the total elapsed time until the system is back +in production use. + +- Firmware-Assisted Dump (FADump) infrastructure is intended to replace + the existing phyp assisted dump. +- Fadump uses the same firmware interfaces and memory reservation model + as phyp assisted dump. +- Unlike phyp dump, FADump exports the memory dump through /proc/vmcore + in the ELF format in the same way as kdump. This helps us reuse the + kdump infrastructure for dump capture and filtering. +- Unlike phyp dump, userspace tool does not need to refer any sysfs + interface while reading /proc/vmcore. +- Unlike phyp dump, FADump allows user to release all the memory reserved + for dump, with a single operation of echo 1 > /sys/kernel/fadump_release_mem. +- Once enabled through kernel boot parameter, FADump can be + started/stopped through /sys/kernel/fadump_registered interface (see + sysfs files section below) and can be easily integrated with kdump + service start/stop init scripts. + +Comparing with kdump or other strategies, firmware-assisted +dump offers several strong, practical advantages: + +- Unlike kdump, the system has been reset, and loaded + with a fresh copy of the kernel. In particular, + PCI and I/O devices have been reinitialized and are + in a clean, consistent state. +- Once the dump is copied out, the memory that held the dump + is immediately available to the running kernel. And therefore, + unlike kdump, FADump doesn't need a 2nd reboot to get back + the system to the production configuration. + +The above can only be accomplished by coordination with, +and assistance from the Power firmware. The procedure is +as follows: + +- The first kernel registers the sections of memory with the + Power firmware for dump preservation during OS initialization. + These registered sections of memory are reserved by the first + kernel during early boot. + +- When system crashes, the Power firmware will copy the registered + low memory regions (boot memory) from source to destination area. + It will also save hardware PTE's. + + NOTE: + The term 'boot memory' means size of the low memory chunk + that is required for a kernel to boot successfully when + booted with restricted memory. By default, the boot memory + size will be the larger of 5% of system RAM or 256MB. + Alternatively, user can also specify boot memory size + through boot parameter 'crashkernel=' which will override + the default calculated size. Use this option if default + boot memory size is not sufficient for second kernel to + boot successfully. For syntax of crashkernel= parameter, + refer to Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/kdump.rst. If any + offset is provided in crashkernel= parameter, it will be + ignored as FADump uses a predefined offset to reserve memory + for boot memory dump preservation in case of a crash. + +- After the low memory (boot memory) area has been saved, the + firmware will reset PCI and other hardware state. It will + *not* clear the RAM. It will then launch the bootloader, as + normal. + +- The freshly booted kernel will notice that there is a new node + (rtas/ibm,kernel-dump on pSeries or ibm,opal/dump/mpipl-boot + on OPAL platform) in the device tree, indicating that + there is crash data available from a previous boot. During + the early boot OS will reserve rest of the memory above + boot memory size effectively booting with restricted memory + size. This will make sure that this kernel (also, referred + to as second kernel or capture kernel) will not touch any + of the dump memory area. + +- User-space tools will read /proc/vmcore to obtain the contents + of memory, which holds the previous crashed kernel dump in ELF + format. The userspace tools may copy this info to disk, or + network, nas, san, iscsi, etc. as desired. + +- Once the userspace tool is done saving dump, it will echo + '1' to /sys/kernel/fadump_release_mem to release the reserved + memory back to general use, except the memory required for + next firmware-assisted dump registration. + + e.g.:: + + # echo 1 > /sys/kernel/fadump_release_mem + +Please note that the firmware-assisted dump feature +is only available on POWER6 and above systems on pSeries +(PowerVM) platform and POWER9 and above systems with OP940 +or later firmware versions on PowerNV (OPAL) platform. +Note that, OPAL firmware exports ibm,opal/dump node when +FADump is supported on PowerNV platform. + +On OPAL based machines, system first boots into an intermittent +kernel (referred to as petitboot kernel) before booting into the +capture kernel. This kernel would have minimal kernel and/or +userspace support to process crash data. Such kernel needs to +preserve previously crash'ed kernel's memory for the subsequent +capture kernel boot to process this crash data. Kernel config +option CONFIG_PRESERVE_FA_DUMP has to be enabled on such kernel +to ensure that crash data is preserved to process later. + +-- On OPAL based machines (PowerNV), if the kernel is build with + CONFIG_OPAL_CORE=y, OPAL memory at the time of crash is also + exported as /sys/firmware/opal/mpipl/core file. This procfs file is + helpful in debugging OPAL crashes with GDB. The kernel memory + used for exporting this procfs file can be released by echo'ing + '1' to /sys/firmware/opal/mpipl/release_core node. + + e.g. + # echo 1 > /sys/firmware/opal/mpipl/release_core + +Implementation details: +----------------------- + +During boot, a check is made to see if firmware supports +this feature on that particular machine. If it does, then +we check to see if an active dump is waiting for us. If yes +then everything but boot memory size of RAM is reserved during +early boot (See Fig. 2). This area is released once we finish +collecting the dump from user land scripts (e.g. kdump scripts) +that are run. If there is dump data, then the +/sys/kernel/fadump_release_mem file is created, and the reserved +memory is held. + +If there is no waiting dump data, then only the memory required to +hold CPU state, HPTE region, boot memory dump, FADump header and +elfcore header, is usually reserved at an offset greater than boot +memory size (see Fig. 1). This area is *not* released: this region +will be kept permanently reserved, so that it can act as a receptacle +for a copy of the boot memory content in addition to CPU state and +HPTE region, in the case a crash does occur. + +Since this reserved memory area is used only after the system crash, +there is no point in blocking this significant chunk of memory from +production kernel. Hence, the implementation uses the Linux kernel's +Contiguous Memory Allocator (CMA) for memory reservation if CMA is +configured for kernel. With CMA reservation this memory will be +available for applications to use it, while kernel is prevented from +using it. With this FADump will still be able to capture all of the +kernel memory and most of the user space memory except the user pages +that were present in CMA region:: + + o Memory Reservation during first kernel + + Low memory Top of memory + 0 boot memory size |<--- Reserved dump area --->| | + | | | Permanent Reservation | | + V V | | V + +-----------+-----/ /---+---+----+-------+-----+-----+----+--+ + | | |///|////| DUMP | HDR | ELF |////| | + +-----------+-----/ /---+---+----+-------+-----+-----+----+--+ + | ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ + | | | | | | + \ CPU HPTE / | | + ------------------------------ | | + Boot memory content gets transferred | | + to reserved area by firmware at the | | + time of crash. | | + FADump Header | + (meta area) | + | + | + Metadata: This area holds a metadata struture whose + address is registered with f/w and retrieved in the + second kernel after crash, on platforms that support + tags (OPAL). Having such structure with info needed + to process the crashdump eases dump capture process. + + Fig. 1 + + + o Memory Reservation during second kernel after crash + + Low memory Top of memory + 0 boot memory size | + | |<------------ Crash preserved area ------------>| + V V |<--- Reserved dump area --->| | + +-----------+-----/ /---+---+----+-------+-----+-----+----+--+ + | | |///|////| DUMP | HDR | ELF |////| | + +-----------+-----/ /---+---+----+-------+-----+-----+----+--+ + | | + V V + Used by second /proc/vmcore + kernel to boot + + +---+ + |///| -> Regions (CPU, HPTE & Metadata) marked like this in the above + +---+ figures are not always present. For example, OPAL platform + does not have CPU & HPTE regions while Metadata region is + not supported on pSeries currently. + + Fig. 2 + + +Currently the dump will be copied from /proc/vmcore to a new file upon +user intervention. The dump data available through /proc/vmcore will be +in ELF format. Hence the existing kdump infrastructure (kdump scripts) +to save the dump works fine with minor modifications. KDump scripts on +major Distro releases have already been modified to work seemlessly (no +user intervention in saving the dump) when FADump is used, instead of +KDump, as dump mechanism. + +The tools to examine the dump will be same as the ones +used for kdump. + +How to enable firmware-assisted dump (FADump): +---------------------------------------------- + +1. Set config option CONFIG_FA_DUMP=y and build kernel. +2. Boot into linux kernel with 'fadump=on' kernel cmdline option. + By default, FADump reserved memory will be initialized as CMA area. + Alternatively, user can boot linux kernel with 'fadump=nocma' to + prevent FADump to use CMA. +3. Optionally, user can also set 'crashkernel=' kernel cmdline + to specify size of the memory to reserve for boot memory dump + preservation. + +NOTE: + 1. 'fadump_reserve_mem=' parameter has been deprecated. Instead + use 'crashkernel=' to specify size of the memory to reserve + for boot memory dump preservation. + 2. If firmware-assisted dump fails to reserve memory then it + will fallback to existing kdump mechanism if 'crashkernel=' + option is set at kernel cmdline. + 3. if user wants to capture all of user space memory and ok with + reserved memory not available to production system, then + 'fadump=nocma' kernel parameter can be used to fallback to + old behaviour. + +Sysfs/debugfs files: +-------------------- + +Firmware-assisted dump feature uses sysfs file system to hold +the control files and debugfs file to display memory reserved region. + +Here is the list of files under kernel sysfs: + + /sys/kernel/fadump_enabled + This is used to display the FADump status. + + - 0 = FADump is disabled + - 1 = FADump is enabled + + This interface can be used by kdump init scripts to identify if + FADump is enabled in the kernel and act accordingly. + + /sys/kernel/fadump_registered + This is used to display the FADump registration status as well + as to control (start/stop) the FADump registration. + + - 0 = FADump is not registered. + - 1 = FADump is registered and ready to handle system crash. + + To register FADump echo 1 > /sys/kernel/fadump_registered and + echo 0 > /sys/kernel/fadump_registered for un-register and stop the + FADump. Once the FADump is un-registered, the system crash will not + be handled and vmcore will not be captured. This interface can be + easily integrated with kdump service start/stop. + + /sys/kernel/fadump/mem_reserved + + This is used to display the memory reserved by FADump for saving the + crash dump. + + /sys/kernel/fadump_release_mem + This file is available only when FADump is active during + second kernel. This is used to release the reserved memory + region that are held for saving crash dump. To release the + reserved memory echo 1 to it:: + + echo 1 > /sys/kernel/fadump_release_mem + + After echo 1, the content of the /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/fadump_region + file will change to reflect the new memory reservations. + + The existing userspace tools (kdump infrastructure) can be easily + enhanced to use this interface to release the memory reserved for + dump and continue without 2nd reboot. + +Note: /sys/kernel/fadump_release_opalcore sysfs has moved to + /sys/firmware/opal/mpipl/release_core + + /sys/firmware/opal/mpipl/release_core + + This file is available only on OPAL based machines when FADump is + active during capture kernel. This is used to release the memory + used by the kernel to export /sys/firmware/opal/mpipl/core file. To + release this memory, echo '1' to it: + + echo 1 > /sys/firmware/opal/mpipl/release_core + +Note: The following FADump sysfs files are deprecated. + ++----------------------------------+--------------------------------+ +| Deprecated | Alternative | ++----------------------------------+--------------------------------+ +| /sys/kernel/fadump_enabled | /sys/kernel/fadump/enabled | ++----------------------------------+--------------------------------+ +| /sys/kernel/fadump_registered | /sys/kernel/fadump/registered | ++----------------------------------+--------------------------------+ +| /sys/kernel/fadump_release_mem | /sys/kernel/fadump/release_mem | ++----------------------------------+--------------------------------+ + +Here is the list of files under powerpc debugfs: +(Assuming debugfs is mounted on /sys/kernel/debug directory.) + + /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/fadump_region + This file shows the reserved memory regions if FADump is + enabled otherwise this file is empty. The output format + is:: + + <region>: [<start>-<end>] <reserved-size> bytes, Dumped: <dump-size> + + and for kernel DUMP region is: + + DUMP: Src: <src-addr>, Dest: <dest-addr>, Size: <size>, Dumped: # bytes + + e.g. + Contents when FADump is registered during first kernel:: + + # cat /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/fadump_region + CPU : [0x0000006ffb0000-0x0000006fff001f] 0x40020 bytes, Dumped: 0x0 + HPTE: [0x0000006fff0020-0x0000006fff101f] 0x1000 bytes, Dumped: 0x0 + DUMP: [0x0000006fff1020-0x0000007fff101f] 0x10000000 bytes, Dumped: 0x0 + + Contents when FADump is active during second kernel:: + + # cat /sys/kernel/debug/powerpc/fadump_region + CPU : [0x0000006ffb0000-0x0000006fff001f] 0x40020 bytes, Dumped: 0x40020 + HPTE: [0x0000006fff0020-0x0000006fff101f] 0x1000 bytes, Dumped: 0x1000 + DUMP: [0x0000006fff1020-0x0000007fff101f] 0x10000000 bytes, Dumped: 0x10000000 + : [0x00000010000000-0x0000006ffaffff] 0x5ffb0000 bytes, Dumped: 0x5ffb0000 + + +NOTE: + Please refer to Documentation/filesystems/debugfs.rst on + how to mount the debugfs filesystem. + + +TODO: +----- + - Need to come up with the better approach to find out more + accurate boot memory size that is required for a kernel to + boot successfully when booted with restricted memory. + - The FADump implementation introduces a FADump crash info structure + in the scratch area before the ELF core header. The idea of introducing + this structure is to pass some important crash info data to the second + kernel which will help second kernel to populate ELF core header with + correct data before it gets exported through /proc/vmcore. The current + design implementation does not address a possibility of introducing + additional fields (in future) to this structure without affecting + compatibility. Need to come up with the better approach to address this. + + The possible approaches are: + + 1. Introduce version field for version tracking, bump up the version + whenever a new field is added to the structure in future. The version + field can be used to find out what fields are valid for the current + version of the structure. + 2. Reserve the area of predefined size (say PAGE_SIZE) for this + structure and have unused area as reserved (initialized to zero) + for future field additions. + + The advantage of approach 1 over 2 is we don't need to reserve extra space. + +Author: Mahesh Salgaonkar <mahesh@linux.vnet.ibm.com> + +This document is based on the original documentation written for phyp + +assisted dump by Linas Vepstas and Manish Ahuja. |