2015-08-13 20:47:43 -06:00
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Introduction
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============
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The IBM Power architecture provides support for CAPI (Coherent
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Accelerator Power Interface), which is available to certain PCIe slots
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on Power 8 systems. CAPI can be thought of as a special tunneling
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protocol through PCIe that allow PCIe adapters to look like special
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purpose co-processors which can read or write an application's
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memory and generate page faults. As a result, the host interface to
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an adapter running in CAPI mode does not require the data buffers to
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be mapped to the device's memory (IOMMU bypass) nor does it require
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memory to be pinned.
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On Linux, Coherent Accelerator (CXL) kernel services present CAPI
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devices as a PCI device by implementing a virtual PCI host bridge.
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This abstraction simplifies the infrastructure and programming
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model, allowing for drivers to look similar to other native PCI
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device drivers.
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CXL provides a mechanism by which user space applications can
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directly talk to a device (network or storage) bypassing the typical
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kernel/device driver stack. The CXL Flash Adapter Driver enables a
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user space application direct access to Flash storage.
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The CXL Flash Adapter Driver is a kernel module that sits in the
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SCSI stack as a low level device driver (below the SCSI disk and
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protocol drivers) for the IBM CXL Flash Adapter. This driver is
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responsible for the initialization of the adapter, setting up the
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special path for user space access, and performing error recovery. It
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communicates directly the Flash Accelerator Functional Unit (AFU)
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as described in Documentation/powerpc/cxl.txt.
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The cxlflash driver supports two, mutually exclusive, modes of
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operation at the device (LUN) level:
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- Any flash device (LUN) can be configured to be accessed as a
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regular disk device (i.e.: /dev/sdc). This is the default mode.
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- Any flash device (LUN) can be configured to be accessed from
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user space with a special block library. This mode further
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specifies the means of accessing the device and provides for
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either raw access to the entire LUN (referred to as direct
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or physical LUN access) or access to a kernel/AFU-mediated
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partition of the LUN (referred to as virtual LUN access). The
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segmentation of a disk device into virtual LUNs is assisted
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by special translation services provided by the Flash AFU.
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Overview
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========
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The Coherent Accelerator Interface Architecture (CAIA) introduces a
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concept of a master context. A master typically has special privileges
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granted to it by the kernel or hypervisor allowing it to perform AFU
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wide management and control. The master may or may not be involved
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directly in each user I/O, but at the minimum is involved in the
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initial setup before the user application is allowed to send requests
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directly to the AFU.
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The CXL Flash Adapter Driver establishes a master context with the
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AFU. It uses memory mapped I/O (MMIO) for this control and setup. The
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Adapter Problem Space Memory Map looks like this:
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+-------------------------------+
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| 512 * 64 KB User MMIO |
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| (per context) |
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| User Accessible |
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+-------------------------------+
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| 512 * 128 B per context |
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| Provisioning and Control |
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| Trusted Process accessible |
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+-------------------------------+
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| 64 KB Global |
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| Trusted Process accessible |
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+-------------------------------+
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This driver configures itself into the SCSI software stack as an
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adapter driver. The driver is the only entity that is considered a
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Trusted Process to program the Provisioning and Control and Global
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areas in the MMIO Space shown above. The master context driver
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discovers all LUNs attached to the CXL Flash adapter and instantiates
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scsi block devices (/dev/sdb, /dev/sdc etc.) for each unique LUN
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seen from each path.
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Once these scsi block devices are instantiated, an application
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written to a specification provided by the block library may get
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access to the Flash from user space (without requiring a system call).
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This master context driver also provides a series of ioctls for this
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block library to enable this user space access. The driver supports
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two modes for accessing the block device.
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The first mode is called a virtual mode. In this mode a single scsi
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block device (/dev/sdb) may be carved up into any number of distinct
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virtual LUNs. The virtual LUNs may be resized as long as the sum of
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the sizes of all the virtual LUNs, along with the meta-data associated
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with it does not exceed the physical capacity.
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The second mode is called the physical mode. In this mode a single
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block device (/dev/sdb) may be opened directly by the block library
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and the entire space for the LUN is available to the application.
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Only the physical mode provides persistence of the data. i.e. The
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data written to the block device will survive application exit and
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restart and also reboot. The virtual LUNs do not persist (i.e. do
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not survive after the application terminates or the system reboots).
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Block library API
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=================
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Applications intending to get access to the CXL Flash from user
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space should use the block library, as it abstracts the details of
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interfacing directly with the cxlflash driver that are necessary for
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performing administrative actions (i.e.: setup, tear down, resize).
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The block library can be thought of as a 'user' of services,
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implemented as IOCTLs, that are provided by the cxlflash driver
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specifically for devices (LUNs) operating in user space access
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mode. While it is not a requirement that applications understand
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the interface between the block library and the cxlflash driver,
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a high-level overview of each supported service (IOCTL) is provided
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below.
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The block library can be found on GitHub:
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http://www.github.com/mikehollinger/ibmcapikv
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CXL Flash Driver IOCTLs
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=======================
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Users, such as the block library, that wish to interface with a flash
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device (LUN) via user space access need to use the services provided
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by the cxlflash driver. As these services are implemented as ioctls,
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a file descriptor handle must first be obtained in order to establish
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the communication channel between a user and the kernel. This file
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descriptor is obtained by opening the device special file associated
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with the scsi disk device (/dev/sdb) that was created during LUN
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discovery. As per the location of the cxlflash driver within the
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SCSI protocol stack, this open is actually not seen by the cxlflash
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driver. Upon successful open, the user receives a file descriptor
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(herein referred to as fd1) that should be used for issuing the
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subsequent ioctls listed below.
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The structure definitions for these IOCTLs are available in:
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uapi/scsi/cxlflash_ioctl.h
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DK_CXLFLASH_ATTACH
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------------------
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This ioctl obtains, initializes, and starts a context using the CXL
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kernel services. These services specify a context id (u16) by which
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to uniquely identify the context and its allocated resources. The
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services additionally provide a second file descriptor (herein
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referred to as fd2) that is used by the block library to initiate
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memory mapped I/O (via mmap()) to the CXL flash device and poll for
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completion events. This file descriptor is intentionally installed by
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this driver and not the CXL kernel services to allow for intermediary
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notification and access in the event of a non-user-initiated close(),
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such as a killed process. This design point is described in further
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detail in the description for the DK_CXLFLASH_DETACH ioctl.
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There are a few important aspects regarding the "tokens" (context id
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and fd2) that are provided back to the user:
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- These tokens are only valid for the process under which they
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were created. The child of a forked process cannot continue
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2015-08-13 20:47:53 -06:00
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to use the context id or file descriptor created by its parent
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(see DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_CLONE for further details).
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2015-08-13 20:47:43 -06:00
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- These tokens are only valid for the lifetime of the context and
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the process under which they were created. Once either is
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destroyed, the tokens are to be considered stale and subsequent
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usage will result in errors.
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- When a context is no longer needed, the user shall detach from
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the context via the DK_CXLFLASH_DETACH ioctl.
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- A close on fd2 will invalidate the tokens. This operation is not
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required by the user.
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DK_CXLFLASH_USER_DIRECT
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-----------------------
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This ioctl is responsible for transitioning the LUN to direct
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(physical) mode access and configuring the AFU for direct access from
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user space on a per-context basis. Additionally, the block size and
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last logical block address (LBA) are returned to the user.
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As mentioned previously, when operating in user space access mode,
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LUNs may be accessed in whole or in part. Only one mode is allowed
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at a time and if one mode is active (outstanding references exist),
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requests to use the LUN in a different mode are denied.
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The AFU is configured for direct access from user space by adding an
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entry to the AFU's resource handle table. The index of the entry is
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treated as a resource handle that is returned to the user. The user
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is then able to use the handle to reference the LUN during I/O.
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2015-08-13 20:47:53 -06:00
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DK_CXLFLASH_USER_VIRTUAL
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------------------------
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This ioctl is responsible for transitioning the LUN to virtual mode
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of access and configuring the AFU for virtual access from user space
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on a per-context basis. Additionally, the block size and last logical
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block address (LBA) are returned to the user.
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As mentioned previously, when operating in user space access mode,
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LUNs may be accessed in whole or in part. Only one mode is allowed
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at a time and if one mode is active (outstanding references exist),
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requests to use the LUN in a different mode are denied.
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The AFU is configured for virtual access from user space by adding
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an entry to the AFU's resource handle table. The index of the entry
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is treated as a resource handle that is returned to the user. The
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user is then able to use the handle to reference the LUN during I/O.
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By default, the virtual LUN is created with a size of 0. The user
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would need to use the DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_RESIZE ioctl to adjust the grow
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the virtual LUN to a desired size. To avoid having to perform this
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resize for the initial creation of the virtual LUN, the user has the
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option of specifying a size as part of the DK_CXLFLASH_USER_VIRTUAL
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ioctl, such that when success is returned to the user, the
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resource handle that is provided is already referencing provisioned
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storage. This is reflected by the last LBA being a non-zero value.
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DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_RESIZE
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-----------------------
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This ioctl is responsible for resizing a previously created virtual
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LUN and will fail if invoked upon a LUN that is not in virtual
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mode. Upon success, an updated last LBA is returned to the user
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indicating the new size of the virtual LUN associated with the
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resource handle.
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The partitioning of virtual LUNs is jointly mediated by the cxlflash
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driver and the AFU. An allocation table is kept for each LUN that is
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operating in the virtual mode and used to program a LUN translation
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table that the AFU references when provided with a resource handle.
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2015-08-13 20:47:43 -06:00
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DK_CXLFLASH_RELEASE
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-------------------
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This ioctl is responsible for releasing a previously obtained
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reference to either a physical or virtual LUN. This can be
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thought of as the inverse of the DK_CXLFLASH_USER_DIRECT or
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DK_CXLFLASH_USER_VIRTUAL ioctls. Upon success, the resource handle
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is no longer valid and the entry in the resource handle table is
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made available to be used again.
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As part of the release process for virtual LUNs, the virtual LUN
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is first resized to 0 to clear out and free the translation tables
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associated with the virtual LUN reference.
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DK_CXLFLASH_DETACH
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------------------
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This ioctl is responsible for unregistering a context with the
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cxlflash driver and release outstanding resources that were
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not explicitly released via the DK_CXLFLASH_RELEASE ioctl. Upon
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success, all "tokens" which had been provided to the user from the
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DK_CXLFLASH_ATTACH onward are no longer valid.
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2015-08-13 20:47:53 -06:00
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DK_CXLFLASH_VLUN_CLONE
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----------------------
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This ioctl is responsible for cloning a previously created
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context to a more recently created context. It exists solely to
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support maintaining user space access to storage after a process
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forks. Upon success, the child process (which invoked the ioctl)
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will have access to the same LUNs via the same resource handle(s)
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and fd2 as the parent, but under a different context.
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Context sharing across processes is not supported with CXL and
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therefore each fork must be met with establishing a new context
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for the child process. This ioctl simplifies the state management
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and playback required by a user in such a scenario. When a process
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forks, child process can clone the parents context by first creating
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a context (via DK_CXLFLASH_ATTACH) and then using this ioctl to
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perform the clone from the parent to the child.
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The clone itself is fairly simple. The resource handle and lun
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translation tables are copied from the parent context to the child's
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and then synced with the AFU.
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2015-08-13 20:47:43 -06:00
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DK_CXLFLASH_VERIFY
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------------------
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This ioctl is used to detect various changes such as the capacity of
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the disk changing, the number of LUNs visible changing, etc. In cases
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where the changes affect the application (such as a LUN resize), the
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cxlflash driver will report the changed state to the application.
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The user calls in when they want to validate that a LUN hasn't been
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changed in response to a check condition. As the user is operating out
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of band from the kernel, they will see these types of events without
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the kernel's knowledge. When encountered, the user's architected
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behavior is to call in to this ioctl, indicating what they want to
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verify and passing along any appropriate information. For now, only
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verifying a LUN change (ie: size different) with sense data is
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supported.
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DK_CXLFLASH_RECOVER_AFU
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-----------------------
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This ioctl is used to drive recovery (if such an action is warranted)
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of a specified user context. Any state associated with the user context
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is re-established upon successful recovery.
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User contexts are put into an error condition when the device needs to
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be reset or is terminating. Users are notified of this error condition
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by seeing all 0xF's on an MMIO read. Upon encountering this, the
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architected behavior for a user is to call into this ioctl to recover
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their context. A user may also call into this ioctl at any time to
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check if the device is operating normally. If a failure is returned
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from this ioctl, the user is expected to gracefully clean up their
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context via release/detach ioctls. Until they do, the context they
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hold is not relinquished. The user may also optionally exit the process
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at which time the context/resources they held will be freed as part of
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the release fop.
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DK_CXLFLASH_MANAGE_LUN
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----------------------
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This ioctl is used to switch a LUN from a mode where it is available
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for file-system access (legacy), to a mode where it is set aside for
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exclusive user space access (superpipe). In case a LUN is visible
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across multiple ports and adapters, this ioctl is used to uniquely
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identify each LUN by its World Wide Node Name (WWNN).
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