linux/Documentation/device-mapper/writecache.txt
Mikulas Patocka d284f8248c dm writecache: support optional offset for start of device
Add an optional parameter "start_sector" to allow the start of the
device to be offset by the specified number of 512-byte sectors.  The
sectors below this offset are not used by the writecache device and are
left to be used for disk labels and/or userspace metadata (e.g. lvm).

Signed-off-by: Mikulas Patocka <mpatocka@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Mike Snitzer <snitzer@redhat.com>
2018-07-02 16:14:02 -04:00

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The writecache target caches writes on persistent memory or on SSD. It
doesn't cache reads because reads are supposed to be cached in page cache
in normal RAM.
When the device is constructed, the first sector should be zeroed or the
first sector should contain valid superblock from previous invocation.
Constructor parameters:
1. type of the cache device - "p" or "s"
p - persistent memory
s - SSD
2. the underlying device that will be cached
3. the cache device
4. block size (4096 is recommended; the maximum block size is the page
size)
5. the number of optional parameters (the parameters with an argument
count as two)
start_sector n (default: 0)
offset from the start of cache device in 512-byte sectors
high_watermark n (default: 50)
start writeback when the number of used blocks reach this
watermark
low_watermark x (default: 45)
stop writeback when the number of used blocks drops below
this watermark
writeback_jobs n (default: unlimited)
limit the number of blocks that are in flight during
writeback. Setting this value reduces writeback
throughput, but it may improve latency of read requests
autocommit_blocks n (default: 64 for pmem, 65536 for ssd)
when the application writes this amount of blocks without
issuing the FLUSH request, the blocks are automatically
commited
autocommit_time ms (default: 1000)
autocommit time in milliseconds. The data is automatically
commited if this time passes and no FLUSH request is
received
fua (by default on)
applicable only to persistent memory - use the FUA flag
when writing data from persistent memory back to the
underlying device
nofua
applicable only to persistent memory - don't use the FUA
flag when writing back data and send the FLUSH request
afterwards
- some underlying devices perform better with fua, some
with nofua. The user should test it
Status:
1. error indicator - 0 if there was no error, otherwise error number
2. the number of blocks
3. the number of free blocks
4. the number of blocks under writeback
Messages:
flush
flush the cache device. The message returns successfully
if the cache device was flushed without an error
flush_on_suspend
flush the cache device on next suspend. Use this message
when you are going to remove the cache device. The proper
sequence for removing the cache device is:
1. send the "flush_on_suspend" message
2. load an inactive table with a linear target that maps
to the underlying device
3. suspend the device
4. ask for status and verify that there are no errors
5. resume the device, so that it will use the linear
target
6. the cache device is now inactive and it can be deleted