Date:	Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:47:06 +0200
From:	Christian Aßfalg <christian.assfalg@...-ulm.de>
To:	Chris Mason <chris.mason@...cle.com>
Cc:	Hugo Mills <hugo@...fax.org.uk>, Ric Wheeler <rwheeler@...hat.com>,
	NeilBrown <neilb@...e.de>, david <david@...g.hm>,
	Nico Schottelius <nico-lkml-20110623@...ottelius.org>,
	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	linux-btrfs <linux-btrfs@...r.kernel.org>,
	Alasdair G Kergon <agk@...hat.com>
Subject: Re: Mis-Design of Btrfs?

Am Freitag, den 15.07.2011, 10:24 -0400 schrieb Chris Mason:
> Excerpts from Hugo Mills's message of 2011-07-15 10:07:24 -0400:
> > On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 10:00:35AM -0400, Chris Mason wrote:
> > > Excerpts from Ric Wheeler's message of 2011-07-15 09:31:37 -0400:
> > > > On 07/15/2011 02:20 PM, Chris Mason wrote:
> > > > > Excerpts from Ric Wheeler's message of 2011-07-15 08:58:04 -0400:
> > > > >> On 07/15/2011 12:34 PM, Chris Mason wrote:
> > > > > [ triggering IO retries on failed crc or other checks ]
> > > > >
> > > > >>> But, maybe the whole btrfs model is backwards for a generic layer.
> > > > >>> Instead of sending down ios and testing when they come back, we could
> > > > >>> just set a verification function (or stack of them?).
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> For metadata, btrfs compares the crc and a few other fields of the
> > > > >>> metadata block, so we can easily add a compare function pointer and a
> > > > >>> void * to pass in.
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> The problem is the crc can take a lot of CPU, so btrfs kicks it off to
> > > > >>> threading pools so saturate all the cpus on the box.  But there's no
> > > > >>> reason we can't make that available lower down.
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> If we pushed the verification down, the retries could bubble up the
> > > > >>> stack instead of the other way around.
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> -chris
> > > > >> I do like the idea of having the ability to do the verification and retries down
> > > > >> the stack where you actually have the most context to figure out what is possible...
> > > > >>
> > > > >> Why would you need to bubble back up anything other than an error when all
> > > > >> retries have failed?
> > > > > By bubble up I mean that if you have multiple layers capable of doing
> > > > > retries, the lowest levels would retry first.  Basically by the time we
> > > > > get an -EIO_ALREADY_RETRIED we know there's nothing that lower level can
> > > > > do to help.
> > > > >
> > > > > -chris
> > > > 
> > > > Absolutely sounds like the most sane way to go to me, thanks!
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > It really seemed like a good idea, but I just realized it doesn't work
> > > well when parts of the stack transform the data.
> > > 
> > > Picture dm-crypt on top of raid1.  If raid1 is responsible for the
> > > crc retries, there's no way to crc the data because it needs to be
> > > decrypted first.
> > > 
> > > I think the raided dm-crypt config is much more common (and interesting)
> > > than multiple layers that can retry for other reasons (raid1 on top of
> > > raid10?)
> > 
> >    Isn't this a case where the transformative mid-layer would replace
> > the validation function before passing it down the stack? So btrfs
> > hands dm-crypt a checksum function; dm-crypt then stores that function
> > for its own purposes and hands off a new function to the DM layer
> > below that which decrypts the data and calls the btrfs checksum
> > function it stored earlier.
> 
> Then we're requiring each transformation layer to have their own crcs,
> and if the higher layers have a stronger crc (or other checks), there's
> no path to ask the lower layers for other copies.
> 
> Here's a concrete example.  In each metadata block, btrfs stores the
> fsid and the transid of the transaction that created it.  In the case of
> a missed write, we'll read a perfect block from the lower layers.  Any
> crcs will be correct and it'll pass through dm-crypt with flying colors.
> 
> But, it won't be the right block.  Btrfs will notice this and EIO.  In
> the current ask-for-another-mirror config we'll go down and grab the
> other copy.
> 
> In the stacked validation function model, dm-crypt replaces our
> verification functions with something that operates on the encrypted
> data, and it won't be able to detect the error or kick down to the
> underlying raid1 for another copy.
> 
> -chris
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I think the point is not to replace the crc function in the dm_crypt
case, but to wrap it with an decrypt function which then calls the crc
function. So even if a lower mirror uses the new dm-crypt crc function,
the btrfs crc function still gets called - at the end of the chain.

Regards,
Christian Aßfalg

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