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diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm/nvdimm.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm/nvdimm.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..ca16b5acbf --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm/nvdimm.rst @@ -0,0 +1,657 @@ +=============================== +LIBNVDIMM: Non-Volatile Devices +=============================== + +libnvdimm - kernel / libndctl - userspace helper library + +nvdimm@lists.linux.dev + +Version 13 + +.. contents: + + Glossary + Overview + Supporting Documents + Git Trees + LIBNVDIMM PMEM + PMEM-REGIONs, Atomic Sectors, and DAX + Example NVDIMM Platform + LIBNVDIMM Kernel Device Model and LIBNDCTL Userspace API + LIBNDCTL: Context + libndctl: instantiate a new library context example + LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Bus + libnvdimm: control class device in /sys/class + libnvdimm: bus + libndctl: bus enumeration example + LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: DIMM (NMEM) + libnvdimm: DIMM (NMEM) + libndctl: DIMM enumeration example + LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Region + libnvdimm: region + libndctl: region enumeration example + Why Not Encode the Region Type into the Region Name? + How Do I Determine the Major Type of a Region? + LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Namespace + libnvdimm: namespace + libndctl: namespace enumeration example + libndctl: namespace creation example + Why the Term "namespace"? + LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Block Translation Table "btt" + libnvdimm: btt layout + libndctl: btt creation example + Summary LIBNDCTL Diagram + + +Glossary +======== + +PMEM: + A system-physical-address range where writes are persistent. A + block device composed of PMEM is capable of DAX. A PMEM address range + may span an interleave of several DIMMs. + +DPA: + DIMM Physical Address, is a DIMM-relative offset. With one DIMM in + the system there would be a 1:1 system-physical-address:DPA association. + Once more DIMMs are added a memory controller interleave must be + decoded to determine the DPA associated with a given + system-physical-address. + +DAX: + File system extensions to bypass the page cache and block layer to + mmap persistent memory, from a PMEM block device, directly into a + process address space. + +DSM: + Device Specific Method: ACPI method to control specific + device - in this case the firmware. + +DCR: + NVDIMM Control Region Structure defined in ACPI 6 Section 5.2.25.5. + It defines a vendor-id, device-id, and interface format for a given DIMM. + +BTT: + Block Translation Table: Persistent memory is byte addressable. + Existing software may have an expectation that the power-fail-atomicity + of writes is at least one sector, 512 bytes. The BTT is an indirection + table with atomic update semantics to front a PMEM block device + driver and present arbitrary atomic sector sizes. + +LABEL: + Metadata stored on a DIMM device that partitions and identifies + (persistently names) capacity allocated to different PMEM namespaces. It + also indicates whether an address abstraction like a BTT is applied to + the namespace. Note that traditional partition tables, GPT/MBR, are + layered on top of a PMEM namespace, or an address abstraction like BTT + if present, but partition support is deprecated going forward. + + +Overview +======== + +The LIBNVDIMM subsystem provides support for PMEM described by platform +firmware or a device driver. On ACPI based systems the platform firmware +conveys persistent memory resource via the ACPI NFIT "NVDIMM Firmware +Interface Table" in ACPI 6. While the LIBNVDIMM subsystem implementation +is generic and supports pre-NFIT platforms, it was guided by the +superset of capabilities need to support this ACPI 6 definition for +NVDIMM resources. The original implementation supported the +block-window-aperture capability described in the NFIT, but that support +has since been abandoned and never shipped in a product. + +Supporting Documents +-------------------- + +ACPI 6: + https://www.uefi.org/sites/default/files/resources/ACPI_6.0.pdf +NVDIMM Namespace: + https://pmem.io/documents/NVDIMM_Namespace_Spec.pdf +DSM Interface Example: + https://pmem.io/documents/NVDIMM_DSM_Interface_Example.pdf +Driver Writer's Guide: + https://pmem.io/documents/NVDIMM_Driver_Writers_Guide.pdf + +Git Trees +--------- + +LIBNVDIMM: + https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm.git +LIBNDCTL: + https://github.com/pmem/ndctl.git + + +LIBNVDIMM PMEM +============== + +Prior to the arrival of the NFIT, non-volatile memory was described to a +system in various ad-hoc ways. Usually only the bare minimum was +provided, namely, a single system-physical-address range where writes +are expected to be durable after a system power loss. Now, the NFIT +specification standardizes not only the description of PMEM, but also +platform message-passing entry points for control and configuration. + +PMEM (nd_pmem.ko): Drives a system-physical-address range. This range is +contiguous in system memory and may be interleaved (hardware memory controller +striped) across multiple DIMMs. When interleaved the platform may optionally +provide details of which DIMMs are participating in the interleave. + +It is worth noting that when the labeling capability is detected (a EFI +namespace label index block is found), then no block device is created +by default as userspace needs to do at least one allocation of DPA to +the PMEM range. In contrast ND_NAMESPACE_IO ranges, once registered, +can be immediately attached to nd_pmem. This latter mode is called +label-less or "legacy". + +PMEM-REGIONs, Atomic Sectors, and DAX +------------------------------------- + +For the cases where an application or filesystem still needs atomic sector +update guarantees it can register a BTT on a PMEM device or partition. See +LIBNVDIMM/NDCTL: Block Translation Table "btt" + + +Example NVDIMM Platform +======================= + +For the remainder of this document the following diagram will be +referenced for any example sysfs layouts:: + + + (a) (b) DIMM + +-------------------+--------+--------+--------+ + +------+ | pm0.0 | free | pm1.0 | free | 0 + | imc0 +--+- - - region0- - - +--------+ +--------+ + +--+---+ | pm0.0 | free | pm1.0 | free | 1 + | +-------------------+--------v v--------+ + +--+---+ | | + | cpu0 | region1 + +--+---+ | | + | +----------------------------^ ^--------+ + +--+---+ | free | pm1.0 | free | 2 + | imc1 +--+----------------------------| +--------+ + +------+ | free | pm1.0 | free | 3 + +----------------------------+--------+--------+ + +In this platform we have four DIMMs and two memory controllers in one +socket. Each PMEM interleave set is identified by a region device with +a dynamically assigned id. + + 1. The first portion of DIMM0 and DIMM1 are interleaved as REGION0. A + single PMEM namespace is created in the REGION0-SPA-range that spans most + of DIMM0 and DIMM1 with a user-specified name of "pm0.0". Some of that + interleaved system-physical-address range is left free for + another PMEM namespace to be defined. + + 2. In the last portion of DIMM0 and DIMM1 we have an interleaved + system-physical-address range, REGION1, that spans those two DIMMs as + well as DIMM2 and DIMM3. Some of REGION1 is allocated to a PMEM namespace + named "pm1.0". + + This bus is provided by the kernel under the device + /sys/devices/platform/nfit_test.0 when the nfit_test.ko module from + tools/testing/nvdimm is loaded. This module is a unit test for + LIBNVDIMM and the acpi_nfit.ko driver. + + +LIBNVDIMM Kernel Device Model and LIBNDCTL Userspace API +======================================================== + +What follows is a description of the LIBNVDIMM sysfs layout and a +corresponding object hierarchy diagram as viewed through the LIBNDCTL +API. The example sysfs paths and diagrams are relative to the Example +NVDIMM Platform which is also the LIBNVDIMM bus used in the LIBNDCTL unit +test. + +LIBNDCTL: Context +----------------- + +Every API call in the LIBNDCTL library requires a context that holds the +logging parameters and other library instance state. The library is +based on the libabc template: + + https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/kay/libabc.git + +LIBNDCTL: instantiate a new library context example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +:: + + struct ndctl_ctx *ctx; + + if (ndctl_new(&ctx) == 0) + return ctx; + else + return NULL; + +LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Bus +----------------------- + +A bus has a 1:1 relationship with an NFIT. The current expectation for +ACPI based systems is that there is only ever one platform-global NFIT. +That said, it is trivial to register multiple NFITs, the specification +does not preclude it. The infrastructure supports multiple busses and +we use this capability to test multiple NFIT configurations in the unit +test. + +LIBNVDIMM: control class device in /sys/class +--------------------------------------------- + +This character device accepts DSM messages to be passed to DIMM +identified by its NFIT handle:: + + /sys/class/nd/ndctl0 + |-- dev + |-- device -> ../../../ndbus0 + |-- subsystem -> ../../../../../../../class/nd + + + +LIBNVDIMM: bus +-------------- + +:: + + struct nvdimm_bus *nvdimm_bus_register(struct device *parent, + struct nvdimm_bus_descriptor *nfit_desc); + +:: + + /sys/devices/platform/nfit_test.0/ndbus0 + |-- commands + |-- nd + |-- nfit + |-- nmem0 + |-- nmem1 + |-- nmem2 + |-- nmem3 + |-- power + |-- provider + |-- region0 + |-- region1 + |-- region2 + |-- region3 + |-- region4 + |-- region5 + |-- uevent + `-- wait_probe + +LIBNDCTL: bus enumeration example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Find the bus handle that describes the bus from Example NVDIMM Platform:: + + static struct ndctl_bus *get_bus_by_provider(struct ndctl_ctx *ctx, + const char *provider) + { + struct ndctl_bus *bus; + + ndctl_bus_foreach(ctx, bus) + if (strcmp(provider, ndctl_bus_get_provider(bus)) == 0) + return bus; + + return NULL; + } + + bus = get_bus_by_provider(ctx, "nfit_test.0"); + + +LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: DIMM (NMEM) +------------------------------- + +The DIMM device provides a character device for sending commands to +hardware, and it is a container for LABELs. If the DIMM is defined by +NFIT then an optional 'nfit' attribute sub-directory is available to add +NFIT-specifics. + +Note that the kernel device name for "DIMMs" is "nmemX". The NFIT +describes these devices via "Memory Device to System Physical Address +Range Mapping Structure", and there is no requirement that they actually +be physical DIMMs, so we use a more generic name. + +LIBNVDIMM: DIMM (NMEM) +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +:: + + struct nvdimm *nvdimm_create(struct nvdimm_bus *nvdimm_bus, void *provider_data, + const struct attribute_group **groups, unsigned long flags, + unsigned long *dsm_mask); + +:: + + /sys/devices/platform/nfit_test.0/ndbus0 + |-- nmem0 + | |-- available_slots + | |-- commands + | |-- dev + | |-- devtype + | |-- driver -> ../../../../../bus/nd/drivers/nvdimm + | |-- modalias + | |-- nfit + | | |-- device + | | |-- format + | | |-- handle + | | |-- phys_id + | | |-- rev_id + | | |-- serial + | | `-- vendor + | |-- state + | |-- subsystem -> ../../../../../bus/nd + | `-- uevent + |-- nmem1 + [..] + + +LIBNDCTL: DIMM enumeration example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Note, in this example we are assuming NFIT-defined DIMMs which are +identified by an "nfit_handle" a 32-bit value where: + + - Bit 3:0 DIMM number within the memory channel + - Bit 7:4 memory channel number + - Bit 11:8 memory controller ID + - Bit 15:12 socket ID (within scope of a Node controller if node + controller is present) + - Bit 27:16 Node Controller ID + - Bit 31:28 Reserved + +:: + + static struct ndctl_dimm *get_dimm_by_handle(struct ndctl_bus *bus, + unsigned int handle) + { + struct ndctl_dimm *dimm; + + ndctl_dimm_foreach(bus, dimm) + if (ndctl_dimm_get_handle(dimm) == handle) + return dimm; + + return NULL; + } + + #define DIMM_HANDLE(n, s, i, c, d) \ + (((n & 0xfff) << 16) | ((s & 0xf) << 12) | ((i & 0xf) << 8) \ + | ((c & 0xf) << 4) | (d & 0xf)) + + dimm = get_dimm_by_handle(bus, DIMM_HANDLE(0, 0, 0, 0, 0)); + +LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Region +-------------------------- + +A generic REGION device is registered for each PMEM interleave-set / +range. Per the example there are 2 PMEM regions on the "nfit_test.0" +bus. The primary role of regions are to be a container of "mappings". A +mapping is a tuple of <DIMM, DPA-start-offset, length>. + +LIBNVDIMM provides a built-in driver for REGION devices. This driver +is responsible for all parsing LABELs, if present, and then emitting NAMESPACE +devices for the nd_pmem driver to consume. + +In addition to the generic attributes of "mapping"s, "interleave_ways" +and "size" the REGION device also exports some convenience attributes. +"nstype" indicates the integer type of namespace-device this region +emits, "devtype" duplicates the DEVTYPE variable stored by udev at the +'add' event, "modalias" duplicates the MODALIAS variable stored by udev +at the 'add' event, and finally, the optional "spa_index" is provided in +the case where the region is defined by a SPA. + +LIBNVDIMM: region:: + + struct nd_region *nvdimm_pmem_region_create(struct nvdimm_bus *nvdimm_bus, + struct nd_region_desc *ndr_desc); + +:: + + /sys/devices/platform/nfit_test.0/ndbus0 + |-- region0 + | |-- available_size + | |-- btt0 + | |-- btt_seed + | |-- devtype + | |-- driver -> ../../../../../bus/nd/drivers/nd_region + | |-- init_namespaces + | |-- mapping0 + | |-- mapping1 + | |-- mappings + | |-- modalias + | |-- namespace0.0 + | |-- namespace_seed + | |-- numa_node + | |-- nfit + | | `-- spa_index + | |-- nstype + | |-- set_cookie + | |-- size + | |-- subsystem -> ../../../../../bus/nd + | `-- uevent + |-- region1 + [..] + +LIBNDCTL: region enumeration example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Sample region retrieval routines based on NFIT-unique data like +"spa_index" (interleave set id). + +:: + + static struct ndctl_region *get_pmem_region_by_spa_index(struct ndctl_bus *bus, + unsigned int spa_index) + { + struct ndctl_region *region; + + ndctl_region_foreach(bus, region) { + if (ndctl_region_get_type(region) != ND_DEVICE_REGION_PMEM) + continue; + if (ndctl_region_get_spa_index(region) == spa_index) + return region; + } + return NULL; + } + + +LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Namespace +----------------------------- + +A REGION, after resolving DPA aliasing and LABEL specified boundaries, surfaces +one or more "namespace" devices. The arrival of a "namespace" device currently +triggers the nd_pmem driver to load and register a disk/block device. + +LIBNVDIMM: namespace +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Here is a sample layout from the 2 major types of NAMESPACE where namespace0.0 +represents DIMM-info-backed PMEM (note that it has a 'uuid' attribute), and +namespace1.0 represents an anonymous PMEM namespace (note that has no 'uuid' +attribute due to not support a LABEL) + +:: + + /sys/devices/platform/nfit_test.0/ndbus0/region0/namespace0.0 + |-- alt_name + |-- devtype + |-- dpa_extents + |-- force_raw + |-- modalias + |-- numa_node + |-- resource + |-- size + |-- subsystem -> ../../../../../../bus/nd + |-- type + |-- uevent + `-- uuid + /sys/devices/platform/nfit_test.1/ndbus1/region1/namespace1.0 + |-- block + | `-- pmem0 + |-- devtype + |-- driver -> ../../../../../../bus/nd/drivers/pmem + |-- force_raw + |-- modalias + |-- numa_node + |-- resource + |-- size + |-- subsystem -> ../../../../../../bus/nd + |-- type + `-- uevent + +LIBNDCTL: namespace enumeration example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +Namespaces are indexed relative to their parent region, example below. +These indexes are mostly static from boot to boot, but subsystem makes +no guarantees in this regard. For a static namespace identifier use its +'uuid' attribute. + +:: + + static struct ndctl_namespace + *get_namespace_by_id(struct ndctl_region *region, unsigned int id) + { + struct ndctl_namespace *ndns; + + ndctl_namespace_foreach(region, ndns) + if (ndctl_namespace_get_id(ndns) == id) + return ndns; + + return NULL; + } + +LIBNDCTL: namespace creation example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Idle namespaces are automatically created by the kernel if a given +region has enough available capacity to create a new namespace. +Namespace instantiation involves finding an idle namespace and +configuring it. For the most part the setting of namespace attributes +can occur in any order, the only constraint is that 'uuid' must be set +before 'size'. This enables the kernel to track DPA allocations +internally with a static identifier:: + + static int configure_namespace(struct ndctl_region *region, + struct ndctl_namespace *ndns, + struct namespace_parameters *parameters) + { + char devname[50]; + + snprintf(devname, sizeof(devname), "namespace%d.%d", + ndctl_region_get_id(region), paramaters->id); + + ndctl_namespace_set_alt_name(ndns, devname); + /* 'uuid' must be set prior to setting size! */ + ndctl_namespace_set_uuid(ndns, paramaters->uuid); + ndctl_namespace_set_size(ndns, paramaters->size); + /* unlike pmem namespaces, blk namespaces have a sector size */ + if (parameters->lbasize) + ndctl_namespace_set_sector_size(ndns, parameters->lbasize); + ndctl_namespace_enable(ndns); + } + + +Why the Term "namespace"? +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + 1. Why not "volume" for instance? "volume" ran the risk of confusing + ND (libnvdimm subsystem) to a volume manager like device-mapper. + + 2. The term originated to describe the sub-devices that can be created + within a NVME controller (see the nvme specification: + https://www.nvmexpress.org/specifications/), and NFIT namespaces are + meant to parallel the capabilities and configurability of + NVME-namespaces. + + +LIBNVDIMM/LIBNDCTL: Block Translation Table "btt" +------------------------------------------------- + +A BTT (design document: https://pmem.io/2014/09/23/btt.html) is a +personality driver for a namespace that fronts entire namespace as an +'address abstraction'. + +LIBNVDIMM: btt layout +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Every region will start out with at least one BTT device which is the +seed device. To activate it set the "namespace", "uuid", and +"sector_size" attributes and then bind the device to the nd_pmem or +nd_blk driver depending on the region type:: + + /sys/devices/platform/nfit_test.1/ndbus0/region0/btt0/ + |-- namespace + |-- delete + |-- devtype + |-- modalias + |-- numa_node + |-- sector_size + |-- subsystem -> ../../../../../bus/nd + |-- uevent + `-- uuid + +LIBNDCTL: btt creation example +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Similar to namespaces an idle BTT device is automatically created per +region. Each time this "seed" btt device is configured and enabled a new +seed is created. Creating a BTT configuration involves two steps of +finding and idle BTT and assigning it to consume a namespace. + +:: + + static struct ndctl_btt *get_idle_btt(struct ndctl_region *region) + { + struct ndctl_btt *btt; + + ndctl_btt_foreach(region, btt) + if (!ndctl_btt_is_enabled(btt) + && !ndctl_btt_is_configured(btt)) + return btt; + + return NULL; + } + + static int configure_btt(struct ndctl_region *region, + struct btt_parameters *parameters) + { + btt = get_idle_btt(region); + + ndctl_btt_set_uuid(btt, parameters->uuid); + ndctl_btt_set_sector_size(btt, parameters->sector_size); + ndctl_btt_set_namespace(btt, parameters->ndns); + /* turn off raw mode device */ + ndctl_namespace_disable(parameters->ndns); + /* turn on btt access */ + ndctl_btt_enable(btt); + } + +Once instantiated a new inactive btt seed device will appear underneath +the region. + +Once a "namespace" is removed from a BTT that instance of the BTT device +will be deleted or otherwise reset to default values. This deletion is +only at the device model level. In order to destroy a BTT the "info +block" needs to be destroyed. Note, that to destroy a BTT the media +needs to be written in raw mode. By default, the kernel will autodetect +the presence of a BTT and disable raw mode. This autodetect behavior +can be suppressed by enabling raw mode for the namespace via the +ndctl_namespace_set_raw_mode() API. + + +Summary LIBNDCTL Diagram +------------------------ + +For the given example above, here is the view of the objects as seen by the +LIBNDCTL API:: + + +---+ + |CTX| + +-+-+ + | + +-------+ | + | DIMM0 <-+ | +---------+ +--------------+ +---------------+ + +-------+ | | +-> REGION0 +---> NAMESPACE0.0 +--> PMEM8 "pm0.0" | + | DIMM1 <-+ +-v--+ | +---------+ +--------------+ +---------------+ + +-------+ +-+BUS0+-| +---------+ +--------------+ +----------------------+ + | DIMM2 <-+ +----+ +-> REGION1 +---> NAMESPACE1.0 +--> PMEM6 "pm1.0" | BTT1 | + +-------+ | | +---------+ +--------------+ +---------------+------+ + | DIMM3 <-+ + +-------+ |