Hi all. I suggest the blksnap kernel module for consideration. It allows to create non-persistent snapshots of any block devices. The main purpose of such snapshots is to create a backup of block devices. A snapshot is created simultaneously for several block devices, ensuring their mutual consistency in the backup. A change tracker is implemented in the module. It allows to determine which blocks were changed during the time between the last snapshot created and any of the previous snapshots of the same generation. This allows to implement incremental and differential backups. An arbitrary range of sectors on any block device can be used to store snapshot changes. The size of the storage for changes can be increased after the snapshot is created by adding new sector ranges. This allows to create a storage of differences in individual files on a file system that can occupy the entire space of a block device and increase the storage of differences as needed. To create images of snapshots of block devices, the module stores blocks of the original block device that have been changed since the snapshot was taken. To do this, the module intercepts write requests and reads blocks that need to be overwritten. This algorithm guarantees the safety of the data of the original block device in case of overflow of the snapshot and even in case of unpredictable critical errors. To connect and disconnect the module to the block layer, the concept of a block device filter is introduced. Functions for connecting filters are added to the block layer and the ability to intercept I/O requests is provided. The blksnap module was created specifically for upstream based on the experience of operating the out-of-tree veeamsnap module, which is part of the Veeam Agent for Linux product. I am sure that the module will be in demand by other creators of backup tools and will save them from having to use their out-of-tree kernel modules. A tool, a library for working with blksnap, tests and some documentations can be found at www.github.com/veeam/blksnap. Sergei Shtepa (20): block, blk_filter: enable block device filters block, blksnap: header file of the module interface block, blksnap: module management interface functions block, blksnap: init() and exit() functions block, blksnap: interaction with sysfs block, blksnap: attaching and detaching the filter and handling a bios block, blksnap: map of change block tracking block, blksnap: big buffer in the form of an array of pages block, blksnap: minimum data storage unit of the original block device block, blksnap: buffer in memory for the minimum data storage unit block, blksnap: functions and structures for performing block I/O operations block, blksnap: storage for storing difference blocks block, blksnap: event queue from the difference storage block, blksnap: owner of information about overwritten blocks of the original block device block, blksnap: snapshot image block device block, blksnap: snapshot block, blksnap: debugging mechanism for monitoring memory consumption block, blksnap: Kconfig block, blksnap: Makefile block, blksnap: adds a blksnap to the kernel tree block/Kconfig | 8 + block/bdev.c | 129 +++++ block/blk-core.c | 88 ++++ drivers/block/Kconfig | 2 + drivers/block/Makefile | 1 + drivers/block/blksnap/Kconfig | 101 ++++ drivers/block/blksnap/Makefile | 20 + drivers/block/blksnap/big_buffer.c | 218 ++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/big_buffer.h | 27 + drivers/block/blksnap/cbt_map.c | 280 ++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/cbt_map.h | 112 ++++ drivers/block/blksnap/chunk.c | 352 +++++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/chunk.h | 129 +++++ drivers/block/blksnap/ctrl.c | 445 ++++++++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/ctrl.h | 7 + drivers/block/blksnap/diff_area.c | 602 +++++++++++++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/diff_area.h | 179 +++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/diff_buffer.c | 146 ++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/diff_buffer.h | 78 +++ drivers/block/blksnap/diff_io.c | 204 ++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/diff_io.h | 122 +++++ drivers/block/blksnap/diff_storage.c | 316 +++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/diff_storage.h | 94 ++++ drivers/block/blksnap/event_queue.c | 90 ++++ drivers/block/blksnap/event_queue.h | 64 +++ drivers/block/blksnap/main.c | 109 ++++ drivers/block/blksnap/memory_checker.c | 100 ++++ drivers/block/blksnap/memory_checker.h | 41 ++ drivers/block/blksnap/params.h | 10 + drivers/block/blksnap/snapimage.c | 345 ++++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/snapimage.h | 65 +++ drivers/block/blksnap/snapshot.c | 671 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/snapshot.h | 76 +++ drivers/block/blksnap/sysfs.c | 81 +++ drivers/block/blksnap/sysfs.h | 5 + drivers/block/blksnap/tracker.c | 693 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ drivers/block/blksnap/tracker.h | 71 +++ drivers/block/blksnap/version.h | 8 + include/linux/blk_snap.h | 460 ++++++++++++++++ include/linux/blk_types.h | 22 + include/linux/blkdev.h | 81 +++ 41 files changed, 6652 insertions(+) create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/Kconfig create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/Makefile create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/big_buffer.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/big_buffer.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/cbt_map.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/cbt_map.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/chunk.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/chunk.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/ctrl.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/ctrl.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_area.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_area.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_buffer.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_buffer.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_io.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_io.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_storage.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/diff_storage.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/event_queue.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/event_queue.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/main.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/memory_checker.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/memory_checker.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/params.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/snapimage.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/snapimage.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/snapshot.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/snapshot.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/sysfs.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/sysfs.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/tracker.c create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/tracker.h create mode 100644 drivers/block/blksnap/version.h create mode 100644 include/linux/blk_snap.h -- 2.20.1