[PATCH 05/13] nvme-multipath: round-robin support for marginal paths

From: Jesse Taube

Date: Wed Aug 12 2026 - 14:17:14 EST


Exclude marginal paths from round-robin io policy. In the case where all
paths are marginal and no optimized or non-optimized path is found, we
fall back and perform round-robin on the marginal paths.

Signed-off-by: Jesse Taube <jtaubepe@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
V10 -> V11:
- New commit
---
drivers/nvme/host/multipath.c | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
1 file changed, 42 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/multipath.c b/drivers/nvme/host/multipath.c
index dc34634842be..11f474704fdd 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/multipath.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/multipath.c
@@ -405,6 +405,7 @@ static struct nvme_ns *nvme_next_ns(struct nvme_ns_head *head,
static struct nvme_ns *nvme_round_robin_path(struct nvme_ns_head *head)
{
struct nvme_ns *ns, *found = NULL;
+ bool found_is_marginal = true;
int node = numa_node_id();
struct nvme_ns *old = srcu_dereference(head->current_path[node],
&head->srcu);
@@ -425,22 +426,58 @@ static struct nvme_ns *nvme_round_robin_path(struct nvme_ns_head *head)
continue;

if (ns->ana_state == NVME_ANA_OPTIMIZED) {
+ if (found_is_marginal && nvme_ctrl_is_marginal(ns->ctrl)) {
+ /*
+ * A marginal path has already found,
+ * or this is the first path found.
+ * This one is also marginal, but optimized,
+ * so prefer it.
+ */
+ found = ns;
+ found_is_marginal = 1;
+ continue;
+ }
+
+
+ /*
+ * A non-marginal path has already found.
+ * This one is marginal, so skip it.
+ */
+ if (nvme_ctrl_is_marginal(ns->ctrl))
+ continue;
+
+ /* Found a non-marginal, optimized path use it. */
found = ns;
goto out;
}
- if (ns->ana_state == NVME_ANA_NONOPTIMIZED)
+ if (ns->ana_state == NVME_ANA_NONOPTIMIZED) {
+ /*
+ * A path has already found. This one is marginal,
+ * so skip it.
+ */
+ if (found && nvme_ctrl_is_marginal(ns->ctrl))
+ continue;
found = ns;
+ found_is_marginal = nvme_ctrl_is_marginal(ns->ctrl);
+ }
}

/*
* The loop above skips the current path for round-robin semantics.
* Fall back to the current path if either:
- * - no other optimized path found and current is optimized,
+ * - no other non-marginal optimized path found and current is,
+ * optimized and not marginal.
* - no other usable path found and current is usable.
*/
- if (!nvme_path_is_disabled(old) &&
- (old->ana_state == NVME_ANA_OPTIMIZED ||
- (!found && old->ana_state == NVME_ANA_NONOPTIMIZED)))
+ /* no other usable path found and current is usable. */
+ if (!nvme_path_is_disabled(old) && !found)
+ return old;
+ /*
+ * no other non-marginal optimized path found and current is,
+ * optimized and not marginal.
+ */
+ if (!nvme_path_is_disabled(old) && !nvme_ctrl_is_marginal(old->ctrl) &&
+ (old->ana_state == NVME_ANA_OPTIMIZED || found_is_marginal))
return old;

if (!found)
--
2.54.0