2013-03-01 15:45:51 -07:00
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Guidance for writing policies
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=============================
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Try to keep transactionality out of it. The core is careful to
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avoid asking about anything that is migrating. This is a pain, but
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makes it easier to write the policies.
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Mappings are loaded into the policy at construction time.
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Every bio that is mapped by the target is referred to the policy.
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The policy can return a simple HIT or MISS or issue a migration.
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Currently there's no way for the policy to issue background work,
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e.g. to start writing back dirty blocks that are going to be evicte
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soon.
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Because we map bios, rather than requests it's easy for the policy
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to get fooled by many small bios. For this reason the core target
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issues periodic ticks to the policy. It's suggested that the policy
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doesn't update states (eg, hit counts) for a block more than once
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for each tick. The core ticks by watching bios complete, and so
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trying to see when the io scheduler has let the ios run.
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Overview of supplied cache replacement policies
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===============================================
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multiqueue
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----------
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This policy is the default.
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2013-10-24 12:10:28 -06:00
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The multiqueue policy has three sets of 16 queues: one set for entries
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waiting for the cache and another two for those in the cache (a set for
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clean entries and a set for dirty entries).
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2013-03-01 15:45:51 -07:00
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Cache entries in the queues are aged based on logical time. Entry into
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the cache is based on variable thresholds and queue selection is based
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on hit count on entry. The policy aims to take different cache miss
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costs into account and to adjust to varying load patterns automatically.
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Message and constructor argument pairs are:
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2013-12-09 05:53:05 -07:00
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'sequential_threshold <#nr_sequential_ios>'
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'random_threshold <#nr_random_ios>'
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'read_promote_adjustment <value>'
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'write_promote_adjustment <value>'
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'discard_promote_adjustment <value>'
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2013-03-01 15:45:51 -07:00
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The sequential threshold indicates the number of contiguous I/Os
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required before a stream is treated as sequential. The random threshold
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is the number of intervening non-contiguous I/Os that must be seen
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before the stream is treated as random again.
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The sequential and random thresholds default to 512 and 4 respectively.
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Large, sequential ios are probably better left on the origin device
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since spindles tend to have good bandwidth. The io_tracker counts
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contiguous I/Os to try to spot when the io is in one of these sequential
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modes.
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2013-12-09 05:53:05 -07:00
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Internally the mq policy maintains a promotion threshold variable. If
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the hit count of a block not in the cache goes above this threshold it
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gets promoted to the cache. The read, write and discard promote adjustment
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tunables allow you to tweak the promotion threshold by adding a small
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value based on the io type. They default to 4, 8 and 1 respectively.
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If you're trying to quickly warm a new cache device you may wish to
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reduce these to encourage promotion. Remember to switch them back to
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their defaults after the cache fills though.
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2013-03-01 15:45:52 -07:00
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cleaner
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-------
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The cleaner writes back all dirty blocks in a cache to decommission it.
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2013-03-01 15:45:51 -07:00
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Examples
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========
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The syntax for a table is:
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cache <metadata dev> <cache dev> <origin dev> <block size>
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<#feature_args> [<feature arg>]*
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<policy> <#policy_args> [<policy arg>]*
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The syntax to send a message using the dmsetup command is:
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dmsetup message <mapped device> 0 sequential_threshold 1024
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dmsetup message <mapped device> 0 random_threshold 8
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Using dmsetup:
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dmsetup create blah --table "0 268435456 cache /dev/sdb /dev/sdc \
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/dev/sdd 512 0 mq 4 sequential_threshold 1024 random_threshold 8"
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creates a 128GB large mapped device named 'blah' with the
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sequential threshold set to 1024 and the random_threshold set to 8.
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