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diff --git a/Documentation/md.txt b/Documentation/md.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d6e2fcf27337..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/md.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,613 +0,0 @@ -Tools that manage md devices can be found at - http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/raid/ - - -Boot time assembly of RAID arrays ---------------------------------- - -You can boot with your md device with the following kernel command -lines: - -for old raid arrays without persistent superblocks: - md=<md device no.>,<raid level>,<chunk size factor>,<fault level>,dev0,dev1,...,devn - -for raid arrays with persistent superblocks - md=<md device no.>,dev0,dev1,...,devn -or, to assemble a partitionable array: - md=d<md device no.>,dev0,dev1,...,devn - -md device no. = the number of the md device ... - 0 means md0, - 1 md1, - 2 md2, - 3 md3, - 4 md4 - -raid level = -1 linear mode - 0 striped mode - other modes are only supported with persistent super blocks - -chunk size factor = (raid-0 and raid-1 only) - Set the chunk size as 4k << n. - -fault level = totally ignored - -dev0-devn: e.g. /dev/hda1,/dev/hdc1,/dev/sda1,/dev/sdb1 - -A possible loadlin line (Harald Hoyer <HarryH@Royal.Net>) looks like this: - -e:\loadlin\loadlin e:\zimage root=/dev/md0 md=0,0,4,0,/dev/hdb2,/dev/hdc3 ro - - -Boot time autodetection of RAID arrays --------------------------------------- - -When md is compiled into the kernel (not as module), partitions of -type 0xfd are scanned and automatically assembled into RAID arrays. -This autodetection may be suppressed with the kernel parameter -"raid=noautodetect". As of kernel 2.6.9, only drives with a type 0 -superblock can be autodetected and run at boot time. - -The kernel parameter "raid=partitionable" (or "raid=part") means -that all auto-detected arrays are assembled as partitionable. - -Boot time assembly of degraded/dirty arrays -------------------------------------------- - -If a raid5 or raid6 array is both dirty and degraded, it could have -undetectable data corruption. This is because the fact that it is -'dirty' means that the parity cannot be trusted, and the fact that it -is degraded means that some datablocks are missing and cannot reliably -be reconstructed (due to no parity). - -For this reason, md will normally refuse to start such an array. This -requires the sysadmin to take action to explicitly start the array -despite possible corruption. This is normally done with - mdadm --assemble --force .... - -This option is not really available if the array has the root -filesystem on it. In order to support this booting from such an -array, md supports a module parameter "start_dirty_degraded" which, -when set to 1, bypassed the checks and will allows dirty degraded -arrays to be started. - -So, to boot with a root filesystem of a dirty degraded raid[56], use - - md-mod.start_dirty_degraded=1 - - -Superblock formats ------------------- - -The md driver can support a variety of different superblock formats. -Currently, it supports superblock formats "0.90.0" and the "md-1" format -introduced in the 2.5 development series. - -The kernel will autodetect which format superblock is being used. - -Superblock format '0' is treated differently to others for legacy -reasons - it is the original superblock format. - - -General Rules - apply for all superblock formats ------------------------------------------------- - -An array is 'created' by writing appropriate superblocks to all -devices. - -It is 'assembled' by associating each of these devices with an -particular md virtual device. Once it is completely assembled, it can -be accessed. - -An array should be created by a user-space tool. This will write -superblocks to all devices. It will usually mark the array as -'unclean', or with some devices missing so that the kernel md driver -can create appropriate redundancy (copying in raid1, parity -calculation in raid4/5). - -When an array is assembled, it is first initialized with the -SET_ARRAY_INFO ioctl. This contains, in particular, a major and minor -version number. The major version number selects which superblock -format is to be used. The minor number might be used to tune handling -of the format, such as suggesting where on each device to look for the -superblock. - -Then each device is added using the ADD_NEW_DISK ioctl. This -provides, in particular, a major and minor number identifying the -device to add. - -The array is started with the RUN_ARRAY ioctl. - -Once started, new devices can be added. They should have an -appropriate superblock written to them, and then be passed in with -ADD_NEW_DISK. - -Devices that have failed or are not yet active can be detached from an -array using HOT_REMOVE_DISK. - - -Specific Rules that apply to format-0 super block arrays, and - arrays with no superblock (non-persistent). -------------------------------------------------------------- - -An array can be 'created' by describing the array (level, chunksize -etc) in a SET_ARRAY_INFO ioctl. This must have major_version==0 and -raid_disks != 0. - -Then uninitialized devices can be added with ADD_NEW_DISK. The -structure passed to ADD_NEW_DISK must specify the state of the device -and its role in the array. - -Once started with RUN_ARRAY, uninitialized spares can be added with -HOT_ADD_DISK. - - - -MD devices in sysfs -------------------- -md devices appear in sysfs (/sys) as regular block devices, -e.g. - /sys/block/md0 - -Each 'md' device will contain a subdirectory called 'md' which -contains further md-specific information about the device. - -All md devices contain: - level - a text file indicating the 'raid level'. e.g. raid0, raid1, - raid5, linear, multipath, faulty. - If no raid level has been set yet (array is still being - assembled), the value will reflect whatever has been written - to it, which may be a name like the above, or may be a number - such as '0', '5', etc. - - raid_disks - a text file with a simple number indicating the number of devices - in a fully functional array. If this is not yet known, the file - will be empty. If an array is being resized this will contain - the new number of devices. - Some raid levels allow this value to be set while the array is - active. This will reconfigure the array. Otherwise it can only - be set while assembling an array. - A change to this attribute will not be permitted if it would - reduce the size of the array. To reduce the number of drives - in an e.g. raid5, the array size must first be reduced by - setting the 'array_size' attribute. - - chunk_size - This is the size in bytes for 'chunks' and is only relevant to - raid levels that involve striping (0,4,5,6,10). The address space - of the array is conceptually divided into chunks and consecutive - chunks are striped onto neighbouring devices. - The size should be at least PAGE_SIZE (4k) and should be a power - of 2. This can only be set while assembling an array - - layout - The "layout" for the array for the particular level. This is - simply a number that is interpretted differently by different - levels. It can be written while assembling an array. - - array_size - This can be used to artificially constrain the available space in - the array to be less than is actually available on the combined - devices. Writing a number (in Kilobytes) which is less than - the available size will set the size. Any reconfiguration of the - array (e.g. adding devices) will not cause the size to change. - Writing the word 'default' will cause the effective size of the - array to be whatever size is actually available based on - 'level', 'chunk_size' and 'component_size'. - - This can be used to reduce the size of the array before reducing - the number of devices in a raid4/5/6, or to support external - metadata formats which mandate such clipping. - - reshape_position - This is either "none" or a sector number within the devices of - the array where "reshape" is up to. If this is set, the three - attributes mentioned above (raid_disks, chunk_size, layout) can - potentially have 2 values, an old and a new value. If these - values differ, reading the attribute returns - new (old) - and writing will effect the 'new' value, leaving the 'old' - unchanged. - - component_size - For arrays with data redundancy (i.e. not raid0, linear, faulty, - multipath), all components must be the same size - or at least - there must a size that they all provide space for. This is a key - part or the geometry of the array. It is measured in sectors - and can be read from here. Writing to this value may resize - the array if the personality supports it (raid1, raid5, raid6), - and if the component drives are large enough. - - metadata_version - This indicates the format that is being used to record metadata - about the array. It can be 0.90 (traditional format), 1.0, 1.1, - 1.2 (newer format in varying locations) or "none" indicating that - the kernel isn't managing metadata at all. - Alternately it can be "external:" followed by a string which - is set by user-space. This indicates that metadata is managed - by a user-space program. Any device failure or other event that - requires a metadata update will cause array activity to be - suspended until the event is acknowledged. - - resync_start - The point at which resync should start. If no resync is needed, - this will be a very large number (or 'none' since 2.6.30-rc1). At - array creation it will default to 0, though starting the array as - 'clean' will set it much larger. - - new_dev - This file can be written but not read. The value written should - be a block device number as major:minor. e.g. 8:0 - This will cause that device to be attached to the array, if it is - available. It will then appear at md/dev-XXX (depending on the - name of the device) and further configuration is then possible. - - safe_mode_delay - When an md array has seen no write requests for a certain period - of time, it will be marked as 'clean'. When another write - request arrives, the array is marked as 'dirty' before the write - commences. This is known as 'safe_mode'. - The 'certain period' is controlled by this file which stores the - period as a number of seconds. The default is 200msec (0.200). - Writing a value of 0 disables safemode. - - array_state - This file contains a single word which describes the current - state of the array. In many cases, the state can be set by - writing the word for the desired state, however some states - cannot be explicitly set, and some transitions are not allowed. - - Select/poll works on this file. All changes except between - active_idle and active (which can be frequent and are not - very interesting) are notified. active->active_idle is - reported if the metadata is externally managed. - - clear - No devices, no size, no level - Writing is equivalent to STOP_ARRAY ioctl - inactive - May have some settings, but array is not active - all IO results in error - When written, doesn't tear down array, but just stops it - suspended (not supported yet) - All IO requests will block. The array can be reconfigured. - Writing this, if accepted, will block until array is quiessent - readonly - no resync can happen. no superblocks get written. - write requests fail - read-auto - like readonly, but behaves like 'clean' on a write request. - - clean - no pending writes, but otherwise active. - When written to inactive array, starts without resync - If a write request arrives then - if metadata is known, mark 'dirty' and switch to 'active'. - if not known, block and switch to write-pending - If written to an active array that has pending writes, then fails. - active - fully active: IO and resync can be happening. - When written to inactive array, starts with resync - - write-pending - clean, but writes are blocked waiting for 'active' to be written. - - active-idle - like active, but no writes have been seen for a while (safe_mode_delay). - - bitmap/location - This indicates where the write-intent bitmap for the array is - stored. - It can be one of "none", "file" or "[+-]N". - "file" may later be extended to "file:/file/name" - "[+-]N" means that many sectors from the start of the metadata. - This is replicated on all devices. For arrays with externally - managed metadata, the offset is from the beginning of the - device. - bitmap/chunksize - The size, in bytes, of the chunk which will be represented by a - single bit. For RAID456, it is a portion of an individual - device. For RAID10, it is a portion of the array. For RAID1, it - is both (they come to the same thing). - bitmap/time_base - The time, in seconds, between looking for bits in the bitmap to - be cleared. In the current implementation, a bit will be cleared - between 2 and 3 times "time_base" after all the covered blocks - are known to be in-sync. - bitmap/backlog - When write-mostly devices are active in a RAID1, write requests - to those devices proceed in the background - the filesystem (or - other user of the device) does not have to wait for them. - 'backlog' sets a limit on the number of concurrent background - writes. If there are more than this, new writes will by - synchronous. - bitmap/metadata - This can be either 'internal' or 'external'. - 'internal' is the default and means the metadata for the bitmap - is stored in the first 256 bytes of the allocated space and is - managed by the md module. - 'external' means that bitmap metadata is managed externally to - the kernel (i.e. by some userspace program) - bitmap/can_clear - This is either 'true' or 'false'. If 'true', then bits in the - bitmap will be cleared when the corresponding blocks are thought - to be in-sync. If 'false', bits will never be cleared. - This is automatically set to 'false' if a write happens on a - degraded array, or if the array becomes degraded during a write. - When metadata is managed externally, it should be set to true - once the array becomes non-degraded, and this fact has been - recorded in the metadata. - - - - -As component devices are added to an md array, they appear in the 'md' -directory as new directories named - dev-XXX -where XXX is a name that the kernel knows for the device, e.g. hdb1. -Each directory contains: - - block - a symlink to the block device in /sys/block, e.g. - /sys/block/md0/md/dev-hdb1/block -> ../../../../block/hdb/hdb1 - - super - A file containing an image of the superblock read from, or - written to, that device. - - state - A file recording the current state of the device in the array - which can be a comma separated list of - faulty - device has been kicked from active use due to - a detected fault, or it has unacknowledged bad - blocks - in_sync - device is a fully in-sync member of the array - writemostly - device will only be subject to read - requests if there are no other options. - This applies only to raid1 arrays. - blocked - device has failed, and the failure hasn't been - acknowledged yet by the metadata handler. - Writes that would write to this device if - it were not faulty are blocked. - spare - device is working, but not a full member. - This includes spares that are in the process - of being recovered to - write_error - device has ever seen a write error. - want_replacement - device is (mostly) working but probably - should be replaced, either due to errors or - due to user request. - replacement - device is a replacement for another active - device with same raid_disk. - - - This list may grow in future. - This can be written to. - Writing "faulty" simulates a failure on the device. - Writing "remove" removes the device from the array. - Writing "writemostly" sets the writemostly flag. - Writing "-writemostly" clears the writemostly flag. - Writing "blocked" sets the "blocked" flag. - Writing "-blocked" clears the "blocked" flags and allows writes - to complete and possibly simulates an error. - Writing "in_sync" sets the in_sync flag. - Writing "write_error" sets writeerrorseen flag. - Writing "-write_error" clears writeerrorseen flag. - Writing "want_replacement" is allowed at any time except to a - replacement device or a spare. It sets the flag. - Writing "-want_replacement" is allowed at any time. It clears - the flag. - Writing "replacement" or "-replacement" is only allowed before - starting the array. It sets or clears the flag. - - - This file responds to select/poll. Any change to 'faulty' - or 'blocked' causes an event. - - errors - An approximate count of read errors that have been detected on - this device but have not caused the device to be evicted from - the array (either because they were corrected or because they - happened while the array was read-only). When using version-1 - metadata, this value persists across restarts of the array. - - This value can be written while assembling an array thus - providing an ongoing count for arrays with metadata managed by - userspace. - - slot - This gives the role that the device has in the array. It will - either be 'none' if the device is not active in the array - (i.e. is a spare or has failed) or an integer less than the - 'raid_disks' number for the array indicating which position - it currently fills. This can only be set while assembling an - array. A device for which this is set is assumed to be working. - - offset - This gives the location in the device (in sectors from the - start) where data from the array will be stored. Any part of - the device before this offset is not touched, unless it is - used for storing metadata (Formats 1.1 and 1.2). - - size - The amount of the device, after the offset, that can be used - for storage of data. This will normally be the same as the - component_size. This can be written while assembling an - array. If a value less than the current component_size is - written, it will be rejected. - - recovery_start - When the device is not 'in_sync', this records the number of - sectors from the start of the device which are known to be - correct. This is normally zero, but during a recovery - operation it will steadily increase, and if the recovery is - interrupted, restoring this value can cause recovery to - avoid repeating the earlier blocks. With v1.x metadata, this - value is saved and restored automatically. - - This can be set whenever the device is not an active member of - the array, either before the array is activated, or before - the 'slot' is set. - - Setting this to 'none' is equivalent to setting 'in_sync'. - Setting to any other value also clears the 'in_sync' flag. - - bad_blocks - This gives the list of all known bad blocks in the form of - start address and length (in sectors respectively). If output - is too big to fit in a page, it will be truncated. Writing - "sector length" to this file adds new acknowledged (i.e. - recorded to disk safely) bad blocks. - - unacknowledged_bad_blocks - This gives the list of known-but-not-yet-saved-to-disk bad - blocks in the same form of 'bad_blocks'. If output is too big - to fit in a page, it will be truncated. Writing to this file - adds bad blocks without acknowledging them. This is largely - for testing. - - - -An active md device will also contain an entry for each active device -in the array. These are named - - rdNN - -where 'NN' is the position in the array, starting from 0. -So for a 3 drive array there will be rd0, rd1, rd2. -These are symbolic links to the appropriate 'dev-XXX' entry. -Thus, for example, - cat /sys/block/md*/md/rd*/state -will show 'in_sync' on every line. - - - -Active md devices for levels that support data redundancy (1,4,5,6,10) -also have - - sync_action - a text file that can be used to monitor and control the rebuild - process. It contains one word which can be one of: - resync - redundancy is being recalculated after unclean - shutdown or creation - recover - a hot spare is being built to replace a - failed/missing device - idle - nothing is happening - check - A full check of redundancy was requested and is - happening. This reads all blocks and checks - them. A repair may also happen for some raid - levels. - repair - A full check and repair is happening. This is - similar to 'resync', but was requested by the - user, and the write-intent bitmap is NOT used to - optimise the process. - - This file is writable, and each of the strings that could be - read are meaningful for writing. - - 'idle' will stop an active resync/recovery etc. There is no - guarantee that another resync/recovery may not be automatically - started again, though some event will be needed to trigger - this. - 'resync' or 'recovery' can be used to restart the - corresponding operation if it was stopped with 'idle'. - 'check' and 'repair' will start the appropriate process - providing the current state is 'idle'. - - This file responds to select/poll. Any important change in the value - triggers a poll event. Sometimes the value will briefly be - "recover" if a recovery seems to be needed, but cannot be - achieved. In that case, the transition to "recover" isn't - notified, but the transition away is. - - degraded - This contains a count of the number of devices by which the - arrays is degraded. So an optimal array will show '0'. A - single failed/missing drive will show '1', etc. - This file responds to select/poll, any increase or decrease - in the count of missing devices will trigger an event. - - mismatch_count - When performing 'check' and 'repair', and possibly when - performing 'resync', md will count the number of errors that are - found. The count in 'mismatch_cnt' is the number of sectors - that were re-written, or (for 'check') would have been - re-written. As most raid levels work in units of pages rather - than sectors, this may be larger than the number of actual errors - by a factor of the number of sectors in a page. - - bitmap_set_bits - If the array has a write-intent bitmap, then writing to this - attribute can set bits in the bitmap, indicating that a resync - would need to check the corresponding blocks. Either individual - numbers or start-end pairs can be written. Multiple numbers - can be separated by a space. - Note that the numbers are 'bit' numbers, not 'block' numbers. - They should be scaled by the bitmap_chunksize. - - sync_speed_min - sync_speed_max - This are similar to /proc/sys/dev/raid/speed_limit_{min,max} - however they only apply to the particular array. - If no value has been written to these, or if the word 'system' - is written, then the system-wide value is used. If a value, - in kibibytes-per-second is written, then it is used. - When the files are read, they show the currently active value - followed by "(local)" or "(system)" depending on whether it is - a locally set or system-wide value. - - sync_completed - This shows the number of sectors that have been completed of - whatever the current sync_action is, followed by the number of - sectors in total that could need to be processed. The two - numbers are separated by a '/' thus effectively showing one - value, a fraction of the process that is complete. - A 'select' on this attribute will return when resync completes, - when it reaches the current sync_max (below) and possibly at - other times. - - sync_speed - This shows the current actual speed, in K/sec, of the current - sync_action. It is averaged over the last 30 seconds. - - suspend_lo - suspend_hi - The two values, given as numbers of sectors, indicate a range - within the array where IO will be blocked. This is currently - only supported for raid4/5/6. - - sync_min - sync_max - The two values, given as numbers of sectors, indicate a range - within the array where 'check'/'repair' will operate. Must be - a multiple of chunk_size. When it reaches "sync_max" it will - pause, rather than complete. - You can use 'select' or 'poll' on "sync_completed" to wait for - that number to reach sync_max. Then you can either increase - "sync_max", or can write 'idle' to "sync_action". - - The value of 'max' for "sync_max" effectively disables the limit. - When a resync is active, the value can only ever be increased, - never decreased. - The value of '0' is the minimum for "sync_min". - - - -Each active md device may also have attributes specific to the -personality module that manages it. -These are specific to the implementation of the module and could -change substantially if the implementation changes. - -These currently include - - stripe_cache_size (currently raid5 only) - number of entries in the stripe cache. This is writable, but - there are upper and lower limits (32768, 17). Default is 256. - strip_cache_active (currently raid5 only) - number of active entries in the stripe cache - preread_bypass_threshold (currently raid5 only) - number of times a stripe requiring preread will be bypassed by - a stripe that does not require preread. For fairness defaults - to 1. Setting this to 0 disables bypass accounting and - requires preread stripes to wait until all full-width stripe- - writes are complete. Valid values are 0 to stripe_cache_size. |