Re: [PATCH 11/18] [GFS2] Glock documentation

From: Randy Dunlap
Date: Mon Jul 14 2008 - 16:52:19 EST


On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:11:12 +0100 swhiteho@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> From: Steven Whitehouse <swhiteho@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> This patch adds a file describing the internals of GFS2's glock
> abstraction.
>
> Signed-off-by: Steven Whitehouse <swhiteho@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/gfs2-glocks.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/gfs2-glocks.txt
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000..4dae9a3
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/gfs2-glocks.txt
> @@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
> + Glock internal locking rules
> + ------------------------------
> +
> +This documents the basic principles of the glock state machine
> +internals. Each glock (struct gfs2_glock in fs/gfs2/incore.h)
> +has two main (internal) locks:
> +
> + 1. A spinlock (gl_spin) which protects the internal state such
> + as gl_state, gl_target and the list of holders (gl_holders)
> + 2. A non-blocking bit lock, GLF_LOCK, which is used to prevent other
> + threads from making calls to the DLM, etc. at the same time. If a
> + thread takes this lock, it must then call run_queue (usually via the
> + workqueue) when it releases it in order to ensure any pending tasks
> + are completed.
> +
> +The gl_holders list contains all the queued lock requests (not
> +just the holders) associated with the glock. If there are any
> +held locks, then they will be contiguous entries at the head
> +of the list. Locks are granted in strictly the order that they
> +are queued, except for those marked LM_FLAG_PRIORITY which are
> +used only during recovery, and even then only for journal locks.
> +
> +There are three lock states that users of the glock layer can request,
> +namely shared (SH), deferred (DF) and exclusive (EX). Those translate
> +to the following DLM lock modes:
> +
> +Glock mode | DLM lock mode
> +------------------------------
> + UN | IV/NL Unlocked (no DLM lock associated with glock) or NL
> + SH | PR (Protected read)
> + DF | CW (Concurrent write)
> + EX | EX (Exclusive)
> +
> +Thus DF is basically a shared mode which is incompatible with the "normal"
> +shared lock mode, SH. In GFS2 the DF mode is used exclusively for direct I/O
> +operations. The glocks are basically a lock plus some routines which deal
> +with cache management. The following rules apply for the cache:
> +
> +Glock mode | Cache data | Cache Metadata | Dirty Data | Dirty Metadata
> +--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> + UN | No | No | No | No
> + SH | Yes | Yes | No | No
> + DF | No | Yes | No | No
> + EX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes
> +
> +These rules are implemented using the various glock operations which
> +are defined for each type of glock. Not all types of glocks use
> +all the modes. Only inode glocks use the DF mode for example.
> +
> +Table of glock operations and per type constants:
> +
> +Field | Purpose
> +----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> +go_xmote_th | Called before remote state change (e.g. to sync dirty data)
> +go_xmote_bh | Called after remote state change (e.g. to refill cache)
> +go_inval | Called if remote state change requires invalidating the cache
> +go_demote_ok | Returns boolean value of whether its ok to demote a glock

it's

> + | (e.g. checks timeout, and that there is no cached data)
> +go_lock | Called for the first local holder of a lock
> +go_unlock | Called on the final local unlock of a lock
> +go_dump | Called to print content of object for debugfs file, or on
> + | error to dump glock to the log.
> +go_type; | The type of the glock, LM_TYPE_.....

^drop ';'

> +go_min_hold_time | The minimum hold time
> +
> +The minimum hold time for each lock is the time after a remote lock
> +grant for which we ignore remote demote requests. This is in order to
> +prevent a situation where locks are being bounced around the cluster
> +from node to node with none of the nodes making any progress. This
> +tends to show up most with shared mmaped files which are being written
> +to by multiple nodes. By delaying the demotion in response to a
> +remote callback, that gives the userspace program time to make
> +some progress before the pages are unmapped.
> +
> +There is a plan to try and remove the go_lock and go_unlock callbacks
> +if possible, in order to try and speed up the fast path though the locking.
> +Also, eventually we hope to make the glock "EX" mode locally shared
> +such that any local locking will be done with the i_mutex as required
> +rather than via the glock.
> +
> +Locking rules for glock operations:
> +
> +Operation | GLF_LOCK bit lock held | gl_spin spinlock held
> +-----------------------------------------------------------------
> +go_xmote_th | Yes | No
> +go_xmote_bh | Yes | No
> +go_inval | Yes | No
> +go_demote_ok | Sometimes | Yes
> +go_lock | Yes | No
> +go_unlock | Yes | No
> +go_dump | Sometimes | Yes
> +
> +N.B. Operations must not drop either the bit lock or the spinlock
> +if its held on entry. go_dump and do_demote_ok must never block.

it's

> +Note that go_dump will only be called if the glock's state
> +indicates that it is caching uptodate data.
> +
> +Glock locking order within GFS2:
> +
> + 1. i_mutex (if required)
> + 2. Rename glock (for rename only)
> + 3. Inode glock(s)
> + (Parents before children, inodes at "same level" with same parent in
> + lock number order)
> + 4. Rgrp glock(s) (for (de)allocation operations)
> + 5. Transaction glock (via gfs2_trans_begin) for non-read operations
> + 6. Page lock (always last, very important!)
> +
> +There are two glocks per inode. One deals with access to the inode
> +itself (locking order as above), and the other, known as the iopen
> +glock is used in conjunction with the i_nlink field in the inode to
> +determine the lifetime of the inode in question. Locking of inodes
> +is on a per-inode basis. Locking of rgrps is on a per rgrp basis.
> +
> --

---
~Randy
Linux Plumbers Conference, 17-19 September 2008, Portland, Oregon USA
http://linuxplumbersconf.org/
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