On Thu, 9 Nov 2017, Dan Williams wrote: > On Thu, Nov 9, 2017 at 8:37 AM, Mikulas Patocka <mpatocka@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > > > On Wed, 8 Nov 2017, Dan Williams wrote: > > > >> On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 12:26 PM, Mikulas Patocka <mpatocka@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> > On Wed, 8 Nov 2017, Christoph Hellwig wrote: > >> > > >> >> Can you start by explaining what you actually need the vmap for? > >> > > >> > It is possible to use lvm on persistent memory. You can create linear or > >> > striped logical volumes on persistent memory and these volumes still have > >> > the direct_access method, so they can be mapped with the function > >> > dax_direct_access(). > >> > > >> > If we create logical volumes on persistent memory, the method > >> > dax_direct_access() won't return the whole device, it will return only a > >> > part. When dax_direct_access() returns the whole device, my driver just > >> > uses it without vmap. When dax_direct_access() return only a part of the > >> > device, my driver calls it repeatedly to get all the parts and then > >> > assembles the parts into a linear address space with vmap. > >> > >> I know I proposed "call dax_direct_access() once" as a strawman for an > >> in-kernel driver user, but it's better to call it per access so you > >> can better stay in sync with base driver events like new media errors > >> and unplug / driver-unload. Either that, or at least have a plan how > >> to handle those events. > > > > Calling it on every access would be inacceptable performance overkill. How > > is it supposed to work anyway? - if something intends to move data on > > persistent memory while some driver accesse it, then we need two functions > > - dax_direct_access() and dax_relinquish_direct_access(). The current > > kernel lacks a function dax_relinquish_direct_access() that would mark a > > region of data as moveable, so we can't move the data anyway. > > We take a global reference on the hosting device while pages are > registered, see the percpu_ref usage in kernel/memremap.c, and we hold > the dax_read_lock() over calls to dax_direct_access() to temporarily > hold the device alive for the duration of the call. If would be good if you provided some function that locks down persistent memory in the long-term. Locking it on every access just kills performance unacceptably. For changing mapping, you could provide a callback. When the callback is called, the driver that uses persistent memory could quiesce itself, release the long-term lock and let the system change the mapping. > While pages are pinned for DMA the devm_memremap_pages() mapping is > pinned. Otherwise, an error reading persistent memory is identical to > an error reading DRAM. The question is if storage controllers and their drivers can react to this in a sensible way. Did someone test it? Mikulas -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxx. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx";> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>
