linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/2] Migrate data off physical pages with corrected memory errors (Version 7)

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Message-ID: <20080720175004.GB9409@sgi.com>
Date:	Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:50:04 -0500
From:	Russ Anderson <rja@....com>
To:	Matthew Wilcox <matthew@....cx>
Cc:	Andi Kleen <andi@...stfloor.org>, mingo@...e.hu,
	tglx@...utronix.de, Tony Luck <tony.luck@...el.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-ia64@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/2] Migrate data off physical pages with corrected memory errors (Version 7)

On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 06:13:28AM -0600, Matthew Wilcox wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 12:37:11PM +0200, Andi Kleen wrote:
> > Russ Anderson <rja@....com> writes:
> > 
> > > [PATCH 0/2] Migrate data off physical pages with corrected memory errors (Version 7)
> > 
> > FWIW I discussed this with some hardware people and the general
> > opinion was that it was way too aggressive to disable a page on the
> > first corrected error like this patchkit currently does.  
> 
> I think it's reasonable to take a page out of service on the first error.
> Then a user program needs to be notified of which bit is suspected.
> It can then subject that page to an intense set of tests (I'd start
> by stealing the ones from memtest86+) and if no more errors are found,
> it could return the page to service.

In general I agree with that approach.  One concern is that in the
process of testing the memory the diagnostic may hit an uncorrectable
error.  That is not a problem with Itanium, which is designed to handle
uncorrected/poisoned data going into and out of the processor core, but
can be a system fatal error (requiring a reboot) on other processor types.
Just something to be aware of.

-- 
Russ Anderson, OS RAS/Partitioning Project Lead  
SGI - Silicon Graphics Inc          rja@....com
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