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diff --git a/Documentation/s390/monreader.rst b/Documentation/s390/monreader.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..1e857575c113 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/s390/monreader.rst @@ -0,0 +1,212 @@ +================================================= +Linux API for read access to z/VM Monitor Records +================================================= + +Date : 2004-Nov-26 + +Author: Gerald Schaefer (geraldsc@de.ibm.com) + + + + +Description +=========== +This item delivers a new Linux API in the form of a misc char device that is +usable from user space and allows read access to the z/VM Monitor Records +collected by the `*MONITOR` System Service of z/VM. + + +User Requirements +================= +The z/VM guest on which you want to access this API needs to be configured in +order to allow IUCV connections to the `*MONITOR` service, i.e. it needs the +IUCV `*MONITOR` statement in its user entry. If the monitor DCSS to be used is +restricted (likely), you also need the NAMESAVE <DCSS NAME> statement. +This item will use the IUCV device driver to access the z/VM services, so you +need a kernel with IUCV support. You also need z/VM version 4.4 or 5.1. + +There are two options for being able to load the monitor DCSS (examples assume +that the monitor DCSS begins at 144 MB and ends at 152 MB). You can query the +location of the monitor DCSS with the Class E privileged CP command Q NSS MAP +(the values BEGPAG and ENDPAG are given in units of 4K pages). + +See also "CP Command and Utility Reference" (SC24-6081-00) for more information +on the DEF STOR and Q NSS MAP commands, as well as "Saved Segments Planning +and Administration" (SC24-6116-00) for more information on DCSSes. + +1st option: +----------- +You can use the CP command DEF STOR CONFIG to define a "memory hole" in your +guest virtual storage around the address range of the DCSS. + +Example: DEF STOR CONFIG 0.140M 200M.200M + +This defines two blocks of storage, the first is 140MB in size an begins at +address 0MB, the second is 200MB in size and begins at address 200MB, +resulting in a total storage of 340MB. Note that the first block should +always start at 0 and be at least 64MB in size. + +2nd option: +----------- +Your guest virtual storage has to end below the starting address of the DCSS +and you have to specify the "mem=" kernel parameter in your parmfile with a +value greater than the ending address of the DCSS. + +Example:: + + DEF STOR 140M + +This defines 140MB storage size for your guest, the parameter "mem=160M" is +added to the parmfile. + + +User Interface +============== +The char device is implemented as a kernel module named "monreader", +which can be loaded via the modprobe command, or it can be compiled into the +kernel instead. There is one optional module (or kernel) parameter, "mondcss", +to specify the name of the monitor DCSS. If the module is compiled into the +kernel, the kernel parameter "monreader.mondcss=<DCSS NAME>" can be specified +in the parmfile. + +The default name for the DCSS is "MONDCSS" if none is specified. In case that +there are other users already connected to the `*MONITOR` service (e.g. +Performance Toolkit), the monitor DCSS is already defined and you have to use +the same DCSS. The CP command Q MONITOR (Class E privileged) shows the name +of the monitor DCSS, if already defined, and the users connected to the +`*MONITOR` service. +Refer to the "z/VM Performance" book (SC24-6109-00) on how to create a monitor +DCSS if your z/VM doesn't have one already, you need Class E privileges to +define and save a DCSS. + +Example: +-------- + +:: + + modprobe monreader mondcss=MYDCSS + +This loads the module and sets the DCSS name to "MYDCSS". + +NOTE: +----- +This API provides no interface to control the `*MONITOR` service, e.g. specify +which data should be collected. This can be done by the CP command MONITOR +(Class E privileged), see "CP Command and Utility Reference". + +Device nodes with udev: +----------------------- +After loading the module, a char device will be created along with the device +node /<udev directory>/monreader. + +Device nodes without udev: +-------------------------- +If your distribution does not support udev, a device node will not be created +automatically and you have to create it manually after loading the module. +Therefore you need to know the major and minor numbers of the device. These +numbers can be found in /sys/class/misc/monreader/dev. + +Typing cat /sys/class/misc/monreader/dev will give an output of the form +<major>:<minor>. The device node can be created via the mknod command, enter +mknod <name> c <major> <minor>, where <name> is the name of the device node +to be created. + +Example: +-------- + +:: + + # modprobe monreader + # cat /sys/class/misc/monreader/dev + 10:63 + # mknod /dev/monreader c 10 63 + +This loads the module with the default monitor DCSS (MONDCSS) and creates a +device node. + +File operations: +---------------- +The following file operations are supported: open, release, read, poll. +There are two alternative methods for reading: either non-blocking read in +conjunction with polling, or blocking read without polling. IOCTLs are not +supported. + +Read: +----- +Reading from the device provides a 12 Byte monitor control element (MCE), +followed by a set of one or more contiguous monitor records (similar to the +output of the CMS utility MONWRITE without the 4K control blocks). The MCE +contains information on the type of the following record set (sample/event +data), the monitor domains contained within it and the start and end address +of the record set in the monitor DCSS. The start and end address can be used +to determine the size of the record set, the end address is the address of the +last byte of data. The start address is needed to handle "end-of-frame" records +correctly (domain 1, record 13), i.e. it can be used to determine the record +start offset relative to a 4K page (frame) boundary. + +See "Appendix A: `*MONITOR`" in the "z/VM Performance" document for a description +of the monitor control element layout. The layout of the monitor records can +be found here (z/VM 5.1): http://www.vm.ibm.com/pubs/mon510/index.html + +The layout of the data stream provided by the monreader device is as follows:: + + ... + <0 byte read> + <first MCE> \ + <first set of records> | + ... |- data set + <last MCE> | + <last set of records> / + <0 byte read> + ... + +There may be more than one combination of MCE and corresponding record set +within one data set and the end of each data set is indicated by a successful +read with a return value of 0 (0 byte read). +Any received data must be considered invalid until a complete set was +read successfully, including the closing 0 byte read. Therefore you should +always read the complete set into a buffer before processing the data. + +The maximum size of a data set can be as large as the size of the +monitor DCSS, so design the buffer adequately or use dynamic memory allocation. +The size of the monitor DCSS will be printed into syslog after loading the +module. You can also use the (Class E privileged) CP command Q NSS MAP to +list all available segments and information about them. + +As with most char devices, error conditions are indicated by returning a +negative value for the number of bytes read. In this case, the errno variable +indicates the error condition: + +EIO: + reply failed, read data is invalid and the application + should discard the data read since the last successful read with 0 size. +EFAULT: + copy_to_user failed, read data is invalid and the application should + discard the data read since the last successful read with 0 size. +EAGAIN: + occurs on a non-blocking read if there is no data available at the + moment. There is no data missing or corrupted, just try again or rather + use polling for non-blocking reads. +EOVERFLOW: + message limit reached, the data read since the last successful + read with 0 size is valid but subsequent records may be missing. + +In the last case (EOVERFLOW) there may be missing data, in the first two cases +(EIO, EFAULT) there will be missing data. It's up to the application if it will +continue reading subsequent data or rather exit. + +Open: +----- +Only one user is allowed to open the char device. If it is already in use, the +open function will fail (return a negative value) and set errno to EBUSY. +The open function may also fail if an IUCV connection to the `*MONITOR` service +cannot be established. In this case errno will be set to EIO and an error +message with an IPUSER SEVER code will be printed into syslog. The IPUSER SEVER +codes are described in the "z/VM Performance" book, Appendix A. + +NOTE: +----- +As soon as the device is opened, incoming messages will be accepted and they +will account for the message limit, i.e. opening the device without reading +from it will provoke the "message limit reached" error (EOVERFLOW error code) +eventually. |