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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/zonefs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/zonefs.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..935bf22031ca --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/zonefs.txt @@ -0,0 +1,404 @@ +ZoneFS - Zone filesystem for Zoned block devices + +Introduction +============ + +zonefs is a very simple file system exposing each zone of a zoned block device +as a file. Unlike a regular POSIX-compliant file system with native zoned block +device support (e.g. f2fs), zonefs does not hide the sequential write +constraint of zoned block devices to the user. Files representing sequential +write zones of the device must be written sequentially starting from the end +of the file (append only writes). + +As such, zonefs is in essence closer to a raw block device access interface +than to a full-featured POSIX file system. The goal of zonefs is to simplify +the implementation of zoned block device support in applications by replacing +raw block device file accesses with a richer file API, avoiding relying on +direct block device file ioctls which may be more obscure to developers. One +example of this approach is the implementation of LSM (log-structured merge) +tree structures (such as used in RocksDB and LevelDB) on zoned block devices +by allowing SSTables to be stored in a zone file similarly to a regular file +system rather than as a range of sectors of the entire disk. The introduction +of the higher level construct "one file is one zone" can help reducing the +amount of changes needed in the application as well as introducing support for +different application programming languages. + +Zoned block devices +------------------- + +Zoned storage devices belong to a class of storage devices with an address +space that is divided into zones. A zone is a group of consecutive LBAs and all +zones are contiguous (there are no LBA gaps). Zones may have different types. +* Conventional zones: there are no access constraints to LBAs belonging to + conventional zones. Any read or write access can be executed, similarly to a + regular block device. +* Sequential zones: these zones accept random reads but must be written + sequentially. Each sequential zone has a write pointer maintained by the + device that keeps track of the mandatory start LBA position of the next write + to the device. As a result of this write constraint, LBAs in a sequential zone + cannot be overwritten. Sequential zones must first be erased using a special + command (zone reset) before rewriting. + +Zoned storage devices can be implemented using various recording and media +technologies. The most common form of zoned storage today uses the SCSI Zoned +Block Commands (ZBC) and Zoned ATA Commands (ZAC) interfaces on Shingled +Magnetic Recording (SMR) HDDs. + +Solid State Disks (SSD) storage devices can also implement a zoned interface +to, for instance, reduce internal write amplification due to garbage collection. +The NVMe Zoned NameSpace (ZNS) is a technical proposal of the NVMe standard +committee aiming at adding a zoned storage interface to the NVMe protocol. + +Zonefs Overview +=============== + +Zonefs exposes the zones of a zoned block device as files. The files +representing zones are grouped by zone type, which are themselves represented +by sub-directories. This file structure is built entirely using zone information +provided by the device and so does not require any complex on-disk metadata +structure. + +On-disk metadata +---------------- + +zonefs on-disk metadata is reduced to an immutable super block which +persistently stores a magic number and optional feature flags and values. On +mount, zonefs uses blkdev_report_zones() to obtain the device zone configuration +and populates the mount point with a static file tree solely based on this +information. File sizes come from the device zone type and write pointer +position managed by the device itself. + +The super block is always written on disk at sector 0. The first zone of the +device storing the super block is never exposed as a zone file by zonefs. If +the zone containing the super block is a sequential zone, the mkzonefs format +tool always "finishes" the zone, that is, it transitions the zone to a full +state to make it read-only, preventing any data write. + +Zone type sub-directories +------------------------- + +Files representing zones of the same type are grouped together under the same +sub-directory automatically created on mount. + +For conventional zones, the sub-directory "cnv" is used. This directory is +however created if and only if the device has usable conventional zones. If +the device only has a single conventional zone at sector 0, the zone will not +be exposed as a file as it will be used to store the zonefs super block. For +such devices, the "cnv" sub-directory will not be created. + +For sequential write zones, the sub-directory "seq" is used. + +These two directories are the only directories that exist in zonefs. Users +cannot create other directories and cannot rename nor delete the "cnv" and +"seq" sub-directories. + +The size of the directories indicated by the st_size field of struct stat, +obtained with the stat() or fstat() system calls, indicates the number of files +existing under the directory. + +Zone files +---------- + +Zone files are named using the number of the zone they represent within the set +of zones of a particular type. That is, both the "cnv" and "seq" directories +contain files named "0", "1", "2", ... The file numbers also represent +increasing zone start sector on the device. + +All read and write operations to zone files are not allowed beyond the file +maximum size, that is, beyond the zone size. Any access exceeding the zone +size is failed with the -EFBIG error. + +Creating, deleting, renaming or modifying any attribute of files and +sub-directories is not allowed. + +The number of blocks of a file as reported by stat() and fstat() indicates the +size of the file zone, or in other words, the maximum file size. + +Conventional zone files +----------------------- + +The size of conventional zone files is fixed to the size of the zone they +represent. Conventional zone files cannot be truncated. + +These files can be randomly read and written using any type of I/O operation: +buffered I/Os, direct I/Os, memory mapped I/Os (mmap), etc. There are no I/O +constraint for these files beyond the file size limit mentioned above. + +Sequential zone files +--------------------- + +The size of sequential zone files grouped in the "seq" sub-directory represents +the file's zone write pointer position relative to the zone start sector. + +Sequential zone files can only be written sequentially, starting from the file +end, that is, write operations can only be append writes. Zonefs makes no +attempt at accepting random writes and will fail any write request that has a +start offset not corresponding to the end of the file, or to the end of the last +write issued and still in-flight (for asynchrnous I/O operations). + +Since dirty page writeback by the page cache does not guarantee a sequential +write pattern, zonefs prevents buffered writes and writeable shared mappings +on sequential files. Only direct I/O writes are accepted for these files. +zonefs relies on the sequential delivery of write I/O requests to the device +implemented by the block layer elevator. An elevator implementing the sequential +write feature for zoned block device (ELEVATOR_F_ZBD_SEQ_WRITE elevator feature) +must be used. This type of elevator (e.g. mq-deadline) is the set by default +for zoned block devices on device initialization. + +There are no restrictions on the type of I/O used for read operations in +sequential zone files. Buffered I/Os, direct I/Os and shared read mappings are +all accepted. + +Truncating sequential zone files is allowed only down to 0, in which case, the +zone is reset to rewind the file zone write pointer position to the start of +the zone, or up to the zone size, in which case the file's zone is transitioned +to the FULL state (finish zone operation). + +Format options +-------------- + +Several optional features of zonefs can be enabled at format time. +* Conventional zone aggregation: ranges of contiguous conventional zones can be + aggregated into a single larger file instead of the default one file per zone. +* File ownership: The owner UID and GID of zone files is by default 0 (root) + but can be changed to any valid UID/GID. +* File access permissions: the default 640 access permissions can be changed. + +IO error handling +----------------- + +Zoned block devices may fail I/O requests for reasons similar to regular block +devices, e.g. due to bad sectors. However, in addition to such known I/O +failure pattern, the standards governing zoned block devices behavior define +additional conditions that result in I/O errors. + +* A zone may transition to the read-only condition (BLK_ZONE_COND_READONLY): + While the data already written in the zone is still readable, the zone can + no longer be written. No user action on the zone (zone management command or + read/write access) can change the zone condition back to a normal read/write + state. While the reasons for the device to transition a zone to read-only + state are not defined by the standards, a typical cause for such transition + would be a defective write head on an HDD (all zones under this head are + changed to read-only). + +* A zone may transition to the offline condition (BLK_ZONE_COND_OFFLINE): + An offline zone cannot be read nor written. No user action can transition an + offline zone back to an operational good state. Similarly to zone read-only + transitions, the reasons for a drive to transition a zone to the offline + condition are undefined. A typical cause would be a defective read-write head + on an HDD causing all zones on the platter under the broken head to be + inaccessible. + +* Unaligned write errors: These errors result from the host issuing write + requests with a start sector that does not correspond to a zone write pointer + position when the write request is executed by the device. Even though zonefs + enforces sequential file write for sequential zones, unaligned write errors + may still happen in the case of a partial failure of a very large direct I/O + operation split into multiple BIOs/requests or asynchronous I/O operations. + If one of the write request within the set of sequential write requests + issued to the device fails, all write requests after queued after it will + become unaligned and fail. + +* Delayed write errors: similarly to regular block devices, if the device side + write cache is enabled, write errors may occur in ranges of previously + completed writes when the device write cache is flushed, e.g. on fsync(). + Similarly to the previous immediate unaligned write error case, delayed write + errors can propagate through a stream of cached sequential data for a zone + causing all data to be dropped after the sector that caused the error. + +All I/O errors detected by zonefs are notified to the user with an error code +return for the system call that trigered or detected the error. The recovery +actions taken by zonefs in response to I/O errors depend on the I/O type (read +vs write) and on the reason for the error (bad sector, unaligned writes or zone +condition change). + +* For read I/O errors, zonefs does not execute any particular recovery action, + but only if the file zone is still in a good condition and there is no + inconsistency between the file inode size and its zone write pointer position. + If a problem is detected, I/O error recovery is executed (see below table). + +* For write I/O errors, zonefs I/O error recovery is always executed. + +* A zone condition change to read-only or offline also always triggers zonefs + I/O error recovery. + +Zonefs minimal I/O error recovery may change a file size and a file access +permissions. + +* File size changes: + Immediate or delayed write errors in a sequential zone file may cause the file + inode size to be inconsistent with the amount of data successfully written in + the file zone. For instance, the partial failure of a multi-BIO large write + operation will cause the zone write pointer to advance partially, even though + the entire write operation will be reported as failed to the user. In such + case, the file inode size must be advanced to reflect the zone write pointer + change and eventually allow the user to restart writing at the end of the + file. + A file size may also be reduced to reflect a delayed write error detected on + fsync(): in this case, the amount of data effectively written in the zone may + be less than originally indicated by the file inode size. After such I/O + error, zonefs always fixes a file inode size to reflect the amount of data + persistently stored in the file zone. + +* Access permission changes: + A zone condition change to read-only is indicated with a change in the file + access permissions to render the file read-only. This disables changes to the + file attributes and data modification. For offline zones, all permissions + (read and write) to the file are disabled. + +Further action taken by zonefs I/O error recovery can be controlled by the user +with the "errors=xxx" mount option. The table below summarizes the result of +zonefs I/O error processing depending on the mount option and on the zone +conditions. + + +--------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+ + | | | Post error state | + | "errors=xxx" | device | access permissions | + | mount | zone | file file device zone | + | option | condition | size read write read write | + +--------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+ + | | good | fixed yes no yes yes | + | remount-ro | read-only | fixed yes no yes no | + | (default) | offline | 0 no no no no | + +--------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+ + | | good | fixed yes no yes yes | + | zone-ro | read-only | fixed yes no yes no | + | | offline | 0 no no no no | + +--------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+ + | | good | 0 no no yes yes | + | zone-offline | read-only | 0 no no yes no | + | | offline | 0 no no no no | + +--------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+ + | | good | fixed yes yes yes yes | + | repair | read-only | fixed yes no yes no | + | | offline | 0 no no no no | + +--------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+ + +Further notes: +* The "errors=remount-ro" mount option is the default behavior of zonefs I/O + error processing if no errors mount option is specified. +* With the "errors=remount-ro" mount option, the change of the file access + permissions to read-only applies to all files. The file system is remounted + read-only. +* Access permission and file size changes due to the device transitioning zones + to the offline condition are permanent. Remounting or reformating the device + with mkfs.zonefs (mkzonefs) will not change back offline zone files to a good + state. +* File access permission changes to read-only due to the device transitioning + zones to the read-only condition are permanent. Remounting or reformating + the device will not re-enable file write access. +* File access permission changes implied by the remount-ro, zone-ro and + zone-offline mount options are temporary for zones in a good condition. + Unmounting and remounting the file system will restore the previous default + (format time values) access rights to the files affected. +* The repair mount option triggers only the minimal set of I/O error recovery + actions, that is, file size fixes for zones in a good condition. Zones + indicated as being read-only or offline by the device still imply changes to + the zone file access permissions as noted in the table above. + +Mount options +------------- + +zonefs define the "errors=<behavior>" mount option to allow the user to specify +zonefs behavior in response to I/O errors, inode size inconsistencies or zone +condition chages. The defined behaviors are as follow: +* remount-ro (default) +* zone-ro +* zone-offline +* repair + +The I/O error actions defined for each behavior is detailed in the previous +section. + +Zonefs User Space Tools +======================= + +The mkzonefs tool is used to format zoned block devices for use with zonefs. +This tool is available on Github at: + +https://github.com/damien-lemoal/zonefs-tools + +zonefs-tools also includes a test suite which can be run against any zoned +block device, including null_blk block device created with zoned mode. + +Examples +-------- + +The following formats a 15TB host-managed SMR HDD with 256 MB zones +with the conventional zones aggregation feature enabled. + +# mkzonefs -o aggr_cnv /dev/sdX +# mount -t zonefs /dev/sdX /mnt +# ls -l /mnt/ +total 0 +dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 1 Nov 25 13:23 cnv +dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 55356 Nov 25 13:23 seq + +The size of the zone files sub-directories indicate the number of files +existing for each type of zones. In this example, there is only one +conventional zone file (all conventional zones are aggregated under a single +file). + +# ls -l /mnt/cnv +total 137101312 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 140391743488 Nov 25 13:23 0 + +This aggregated conventional zone file can be used as a regular file. + +# mkfs.ext4 /mnt/cnv/0 +# mount -o loop /mnt/cnv/0 /data + +The "seq" sub-directory grouping files for sequential write zones has in this +example 55356 zones. + +# ls -lv /mnt/seq +total 14511243264 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Nov 25 13:23 0 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Nov 25 13:23 1 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Nov 25 13:23 2 +... +-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Nov 25 13:23 55354 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Nov 25 13:23 55355 + +For sequential write zone files, the file size changes as data is appended at +the end of the file, similarly to any regular file system. + +# dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/seq/0 bs=4096 count=1 conv=notrunc oflag=direct +1+0 records in +1+0 records out +4096 bytes (4.1 kB, 4.0 KiB) copied, 0.00044121 s, 9.3 MB/s + +# ls -l /mnt/seq/0 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 4096 Nov 25 13:23 /mnt/seq/0 + +The written file can be truncated to the zone size, preventing any further +write operation. + +# truncate -s 268435456 /mnt/seq/0 +# ls -l /mnt/seq/0 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 268435456 Nov 25 13:49 /mnt/seq/0 + +Truncation to 0 size allows freeing the file zone storage space and restart +append-writes to the file. + +# truncate -s 0 /mnt/seq/0 +# ls -l /mnt/seq/0 +-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Nov 25 13:49 /mnt/seq/0 + +Since files are statically mapped to zones on the disk, the number of blocks of +a file as reported by stat() and fstat() indicates the size of the file zone. + +# stat /mnt/seq/0 + File: /mnt/seq/0 + Size: 0 Blocks: 524288 IO Block: 4096 regular empty file +Device: 870h/2160d Inode: 50431 Links: 1 +Access: (0640/-rw-r-----) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root) +Access: 2019-11-25 13:23:57.048971997 +0900 +Modify: 2019-11-25 13:52:25.553805765 +0900 +Change: 2019-11-25 13:52:25.553805765 +0900 + Birth: - + +The number of blocks of the file ("Blocks") in units of 512B blocks gives the +maximum file size of 524288 * 512 B = 256 MB, corresponding to the device zone +size in this example. Of note is that the "IO block" field always indicates the +minimum I/O size for writes and corresponds to the device physical sector size. |