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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/nfs/rpc-cache.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/nfs/rpc-cache.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/nfs/rpc-cache.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c4dac829db0f..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/nfs/rpc-cache.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,202 +0,0 @@ - This document gives a brief introduction to the caching -mechanisms in the sunrpc layer that is used, in particular, -for NFS authentication. - -CACHES -====== -The caching replaces the old exports table and allows for -a wide variety of values to be caches. - -There are a number of caches that are similar in structure though -quite possibly very different in content and use. There is a corpus -of common code for managing these caches. - -Examples of caches that are likely to be needed are: - - mapping from IP address to client name - - mapping from client name and filesystem to export options - - mapping from UID to list of GIDs, to work around NFS's limitation - of 16 gids. - - mappings between local UID/GID and remote UID/GID for sites that - do not have uniform uid assignment - - mapping from network identify to public key for crypto authentication. - -The common code handles such things as: - - general cache lookup with correct locking - - supporting 'NEGATIVE' as well as positive entries - - allowing an EXPIRED time on cache items, and removing - items after they expire, and are no longer in-use. - - making requests to user-space to fill in cache entries - - allowing user-space to directly set entries in the cache - - delaying RPC requests that depend on as-yet incomplete - cache entries, and replaying those requests when the cache entry - is complete. - - clean out old entries as they expire. - -Creating a Cache ----------------- - -1/ A cache needs a datum to store. This is in the form of a - structure definition that must contain a - struct cache_head - as an element, usually the first. - It will also contain a key and some content. - Each cache element is reference counted and contains - expiry and update times for use in cache management. -2/ A cache needs a "cache_detail" structure that - describes the cache. This stores the hash table, some - parameters for cache management, and some operations detailing how - to work with particular cache items. - The operations requires are: - struct cache_head *alloc(void) - This simply allocates appropriate memory and returns - a pointer to the cache_detail embedded within the - structure - void cache_put(struct kref *) - This is called when the last reference to an item is - dropped. The pointer passed is to the 'ref' field - in the cache_head. cache_put should release any - references create by 'cache_init' and, if CACHE_VALID - is set, any references created by cache_update. - It should then release the memory allocated by - 'alloc'. - int match(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) - test if the keys in the two structures match. Return - 1 if they do, 0 if they don't. - void init(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) - Set the 'key' fields in 'new' from 'orig'. This may - include taking references to shared objects. - void update(struct cache_head *orig, struct cache_head *new) - Set the 'content' fileds in 'new' from 'orig'. - int cache_show(struct seq_file *m, struct cache_detail *cd, - struct cache_head *h) - Optional. Used to provide a /proc file that lists the - contents of a cache. This should show one item, - usually on just one line. - int cache_request(struct cache_detail *cd, struct cache_head *h, - char **bpp, int *blen) - Format a request to be send to user-space for an item - to be instantiated. *bpp is a buffer of size *blen. - bpp should be moved forward over the encoded message, - and *blen should be reduced to show how much free - space remains. Return 0 on success or <0 if not - enough room or other problem. - int cache_parse(struct cache_detail *cd, char *buf, int len) - A message from user space has arrived to fill out a - cache entry. It is in 'buf' of length 'len'. - cache_parse should parse this, find the item in the - cache with sunrpc_cache_lookup_rcu, and update the item - with sunrpc_cache_update. - - -3/ A cache needs to be registered using cache_register(). This - includes it on a list of caches that will be regularly - cleaned to discard old data. - -Using a cache -------------- - -To find a value in a cache, call sunrpc_cache_lookup_rcu passing a pointer -to the cache_head in a sample item with the 'key' fields filled in. -This will be passed to ->match to identify the target entry. If no -entry is found, a new entry will be create, added to the cache, and -marked as not containing valid data. - -The item returned is typically passed to cache_check which will check -if the data is valid, and may initiate an up-call to get fresh data. -cache_check will return -ENOENT in the entry is negative or if an up -call is needed but not possible, -EAGAIN if an upcall is pending, -or 0 if the data is valid; - -cache_check can be passed a "struct cache_req *". This structure is -typically embedded in the actual request and can be used to create a -deferred copy of the request (struct cache_deferred_req). This is -done when the found cache item is not uptodate, but the is reason to -believe that userspace might provide information soon. When the cache -item does become valid, the deferred copy of the request will be -revisited (->revisit). It is expected that this method will -reschedule the request for processing. - -The value returned by sunrpc_cache_lookup_rcu can also be passed to -sunrpc_cache_update to set the content for the item. A second item is -passed which should hold the content. If the item found by _lookup -has valid data, then it is discarded and a new item is created. This -saves any user of an item from worrying about content changing while -it is being inspected. If the item found by _lookup does not contain -valid data, then the content is copied across and CACHE_VALID is set. - -Populating a cache ------------------- - -Each cache has a name, and when the cache is registered, a directory -with that name is created in /proc/net/rpc - -This directory contains a file called 'channel' which is a channel -for communicating between kernel and user for populating the cache. -This directory may later contain other files of interacting -with the cache. - -The 'channel' works a bit like a datagram socket. Each 'write' is -passed as a whole to the cache for parsing and interpretation. -Each cache can treat the write requests differently, but it is -expected that a message written will contain: - - a key - - an expiry time - - a content. -with the intention that an item in the cache with the give key -should be create or updated to have the given content, and the -expiry time should be set on that item. - -Reading from a channel is a bit more interesting. When a cache -lookup fails, or when it succeeds but finds an entry that may soon -expire, a request is lodged for that cache item to be updated by -user-space. These requests appear in the channel file. - -Successive reads will return successive requests. -If there are no more requests to return, read will return EOF, but a -select or poll for read will block waiting for another request to be -added. - -Thus a user-space helper is likely to: - open the channel. - select for readable - read a request - write a response - loop. - -If it dies and needs to be restarted, any requests that have not been -answered will still appear in the file and will be read by the new -instance of the helper. - -Each cache should define a "cache_parse" method which takes a message -written from user-space and processes it. It should return an error -(which propagates back to the write syscall) or 0. - -Each cache should also define a "cache_request" method which -takes a cache item and encodes a request into the buffer -provided. - -Note: If a cache has no active readers on the channel, and has had not -active readers for more than 60 seconds, further requests will not be -added to the channel but instead all lookups that do not find a valid -entry will fail. This is partly for backward compatibility: The -previous nfs exports table was deemed to be authoritative and a -failed lookup meant a definite 'no'. - -request/response format ------------------------ - -While each cache is free to use its own format for requests -and responses over channel, the following is recommended as -appropriate and support routines are available to help: -Each request or response record should be printable ASCII -with precisely one newline character which should be at the end. -Fields within the record should be separated by spaces, normally one. -If spaces, newlines, or nul characters are needed in a field they -much be quoted. two mechanisms are available: -1/ If a field begins '\x' then it must contain an even number of - hex digits, and pairs of these digits provide the bytes in the - field. -2/ otherwise a \ in the field must be followed by 3 octal digits - which give the code for a byte. Other characters are treated - as them selves. At the very least, space, newline, nul, and - '\' must be quoted in this way. |