linux-kernel - Re: MD/RAID time out writing superblock

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:	Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:07:11 -0400
From:	Andrei Tanas <andrei@...as.ca>
To:	Mark Lord <liml@....ca>
Cc:	Mark Lord <mlord@...ox.com>, Tejun Heo <tj@...nel.org>,
	Ric Wheeler <rwheeler@...hat.com>, NeilBrown <neilb@...e.de>,
	<linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	IDE/ATA development list <linux-ide@...r.kernel.org>,
	<linux-scsi@...r.kernel.org>, Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@...hat.com>
Subject: Re: MD/RAID time out writing superblock

>>>> The drive might take a longer time like this when doing error handling
>>>> (sector remapping, etc), but then I would expect to see your remapped
>>>> sector count grow.
>>>
>>> Yes, this is a possibility and according to the spec, libata EH should
>>> be retrying flushes a few times before giving up but I'm not sure
>>> whether keeping retrying for several minutes is a good idea either.
>>> Is it?
>> ..
>> 
>> Libata will retry only when the FLUSH returns an error,
>> and the next FLUSH will continue after the point where
>> the first attempt failed.
>> 
>> But if the drive can still auto-relocate sectors, then the
>> first FLUSH won't actually fail.. it will simply take longer
>> than normal.
>> 
>> A couple of those, and we're into the tens of seconds range
>> for time.
>> 
>> Still, it would be good to actually produce an error like that
>> to examine under controlled circumstances.
>> 
>> Hmm.. I had a drive here that gave symptoms like that.
>> Eventually, I discovered that drive had run out of relocatable
>> sectors, too.  Mmm.. I'll see if I can get it back (loaned it out)
>> and perhaps we can recreate this specific scenario on it..
> ..
> 
> I checked today, and that drive is no longer available.

Mine errored out again with exactly the same symptoms, this time after only
few days and with the "tunable" set to 2 sec. I got a warranty replacement
but haven't shipped this one yet. Let me know if you want it.
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/