[dm-devel] [RFC PATCH] blk-mq: fixup RESTART when queue becomes idle

[Jens Axboe]

On 1/19/18 9:47 AM, Mike Snitzer wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 19 2018 at 11:41am -0500,
> Jens Axboe <axboe at kernel.dk> wrote:
> 
>> On 1/19/18 9:37 AM, Ming Lei wrote:
>>> On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 09:27:46AM -0700, Jens Axboe wrote:
>>>> On 1/19/18 9:26 AM, Ming Lei wrote:
>>>>> On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 09:19:24AM -0700, Jens Axboe wrote:
>>>>
>>>> There are no pending requests for this case, nothing to restart the
>>>> queue. When you fail that blk_get_request(), you are idle, nothing
>>>> is pending.
>>>
>>> I think we needn't worry about that, once a device is attached to
>>> dm-rq, it can't be mounted any more, and usually user don't use the device
>>> directly and by dm-mpath at the same time.
>>
>> Even if it doesn't happen for a normal dm setup, it is a case that
>> needs to be handled. The request allocation is just one example of
>> a wider scope resource that can be unavailable. If the driver returns
>> NO_DEV_RESOURCE (or whatever name), it will be a possibility that
>> the device itself is currently idle.
> 
> How would a driver's resources be exhausted yet the device is idle (so
> as not to be able to benefit from RESTART)?

I've outlined a number of these examples already. Another case might be:

1) Device is idle
2) Device gets request
3) Device attempts to DMA map
4) DMA map fails because the IOMMU is out of space (nic is using it all)
5) Device returns STS_RESOURCE
6) Queue is marked as needing a restart

All's well, except there is no IO on this device that will notice the
restart bit and retry the operation.

Replace IOMMU failure with any other resource that the driver might need
for an IO, which isn't tied to a device specific resource.
blk_get_request() on dm is an example, as is any allocation failure
occurring in the queue IO path for the driver.

-- 
Jens Axboe