X-Git-Url: http://git.onelab.eu/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Ffilesystems%2Fcaching%2Fcachefiles.txt;fp=Documentation%2Ffilesystems%2Fcaching%2Fcachefiles.txt;h=37b6385e0ba07f137409447ba7a9e447468bb120;hb=f05f9504c50ed069377d37f02f22e7a16b5921de;hp=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000;hpb=16c70f8c1b54b61c3b951b6fb220df250fe09b32;p=linux-2.6.git diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/caching/cachefiles.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/cachefiles.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..37b6385e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/caching/cachefiles.txt @@ -0,0 +1,281 @@ + =============================================== + CacheFiles: CACHE ON ALREADY MOUNTED FILESYSTEM + =============================================== + +Contents: + + (*) Overview. + + (*) Requirements. + + (*) Configuration. + + (*) Starting the cache. + + (*) Things to avoid. + + +======== +OVERVIEW +======== + +CacheFiles is a caching backend that's meant to use as a cache a directory on +an already mounted filesystem of a local type (such as Ext3). + +CacheFiles uses a userspace daemon to do some of the cache management - such as +reaping stale nodes and culling. This is called cachefilesd and lives in +/sbin. + +The filesystem and data integrity of the cache are only as good as those of the +filesystem providing the backing services. Note that CacheFiles does not +attempt to journal anything since the journalling interfaces of the various +filesystems are very specific in nature. + +CacheFiles creates a proc-file - "/proc/fs/cachefiles" - that is used for +communication with the daemon. Only one thing may have this open at once, and +whilst it is open, a cache is at least partially in existence. The daemon +opens this and sends commands down it to control the cache. + +CacheFiles is currently limited to a single cache. + +CacheFiles attempts to maintain at least a certain percentage of free space on +the filesystem, shrinking the cache by culling the objects it contains to make +space if necessary - see the "Cache Culling" section. This means it can be +placed on the same medium as a live set of data, and will expand to make use of +spare space and automatically contract when the set of data requires more +space. + + +============ +REQUIREMENTS +============ + +The use of CacheFiles and its daemon requires the following features to be +available in the system and in the cache filesystem: + + - dnotify. + + - extended attributes (xattrs). + + - openat() and friends. + + - bmap() support on files in the filesystem (FIBMAP ioctl). + + - The use of bmap() to detect a partial page at the end of the file. + +It is strongly recommended that the "dir_index" option is enabled on Ext3 +filesystems being used as a cache. + + +============= +CONFIGURATION +============= + +The cache is configured by a script in /etc/cachefilesd.conf. These commands +set up cache ready for use. The following script commands are available: + + (*) brun % + (*) bcull % + (*) bstop % + + Configure the culling limits. Optional. See the section on culling + The defaults are 7%, 5% and 1% respectively. + + (*) dir + + Specify the directory containing the root of the cache. Mandatory. + + (*) tag + + Specify a tag to FS-Cache to use in distinguishing multiple caches. + Optional. The default is "CacheFiles". + + (*) debug + + Specify a numeric bitmask to control debugging in the kernel module. + Optional. The default is zero (all off). The following values can be + OR'd into the mask to collect various information: + + 1 Turn on trace of function entry (_enter() macros) + 2 Turn on trace of function exit (_leave() macros) + 4 Turn on trace of internal debug points (_debug()) + + This mask can also be set through /proc/sys/fs/cachefiles/debug. + + +================== +STARTING THE CACHE +================== + +The cache is started by running the daemon. The daemon opens the cache proc +file, configures the cache and tells it to begin caching. At that point the +cache binds to fscache and the cache becomes live. + +The daemon is run as follows: + + /sbin/cachefilesd [-d]* [-s] [-n] [-f ] + +The flags are: + + (*) -d + + Increase the debugging level. This can be specified multiple times and + is cumulative with itself. + + (*) -s + + Send messages to stderr instead of syslog. + + (*) -n + + Don't daemonise and go into background. + + (*) -f + + Use an alternative configuration file rather than the default one. + + +=============== +THINGS TO AVOID +=============== + +Do not mount other things within the cache as this will cause problems. The +kernel module contains its own very cut-down path walking facility that ignores +mountpoints, but the daemon can't avoid them. + +Do not create, rename or unlink files and directories in the cache whilst the +cache is active, as this may cause the state to become uncertain. + +Renaming files in the cache might make objects appear to be other objects (the +filename is part of the lookup key). + +Do not change or remove the extended attributes attached to cache files by the +cache as this will cause the cache state management to get confused. + +Do not create files or directories in the cache, lest the cache get confused or +serve incorrect data. + +Do not chmod files in the cache. The module creates things with minimal +permissions to prevent random users being able to access them directly. + + +============= +CACHE CULLING +============= + +The cache may need culling occasionally to make space. This involves +discarding objects from the cache that have been used less recently than +anything else. Culling is based on the access time of data objects. Empty +directories are culled if not in use. + +Cache culling is done on the basis of the percentage of blocks available in the +underlying filesystem. There are three "limits": + + (*) brun + + If the amount of available space in the cache rises above this limit, then + culling is turned off. + + (*) bcull + + If the amount of available space in the cache falls below this limit, then + culling is started. + + (*) bstop + + If the amount of available space in the cache falls below this limit, then + no further allocation of disk space is permitted until culling has raised + the amount above this limit again. + +These must be configured thusly: + + 0 <= bstop < bcull < brun < 100 + +Note that these are percentages of available space, and do _not_ appear as 100 +minus the percentage displayed by the "df" program. + +The userspace daemon scans the cache to build up a table of cullable objects. +These are then culled in least recently used order. A new scan of the cache is +started as soon as space is made in the table. Objects will be skipped if +their atimes have changed or if the kernel module says it is still using them. + + +=============== +CACHE STRUCTURE +=============== + +The CacheFiles module will create two directories in the directory it was +given: + + (*) cache/ + + (*) graveyard/ + +The active cache objects all reside in the first directory. The CacheFiles +kernel module moves any retired or culled objects that it can't simply unlink +to the graveyard from which the daemon will actually delete them. + +The daemon uses dnotify to monitor the graveyard directory, and will delete +anything that appears therein. + + +The module represents index objects as directories with the filename "I..." or +"J...". Note that the "cache/" directory is itself a special index. + +Data objects are represented as files if they have no children, or directories +if they do. Their filenames all begin "D..." or "E...". If represented as a +directory, data objects will have a file in the directory called "data" that +actually holds the data. + +Special objects are similar to data objects, except their filenames begin +"S..." or "T...". + + +If an object has children, then it will be represented as a directory. +Immediately in the representative directory are a collection of directories +named for hash values of the child object keys with an '@' prepended. Into +this directory, if possible, will be placed the representations of the child +objects: + + INDEX INDEX INDEX DATA FILES + ========= ========== ================================= ================ + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400 + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400/@75/Es0g000w...DB1ry + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400/@75/Es0g000w...N22ry + cache/@4a/I03nfs/@30/Ji000000000000000--fHg8hi8400/@75/Es0g000w...FP1ry + + +If the key is so long that it exceeds NAME_MAX with the decorations added on to +it, then it will be cut into pieces, the first few of which will be used to +make a nest of directories, and the last one of which will be the objects +inside the last directory. The names of the intermediate directories will have +'+' prepended: + + J1223/@23/+xy...z/+kl...m/Epqr + + +Note that keys are raw data, and not only may they exceed NAME_MAX in size, +they may also contain things like '/' and NUL characters, and so they may not +be suitable for turning directly into a filename. + +To handle this, CacheFiles will use a suitably printable filename directly and +"base-64" encode ones that aren't directly suitable. The two versions of +object filenames indicate the encoding: + + OBJECT TYPE PRINTABLE ENCODED + =============== =============== =============== + Index "I..." "J..." + Data "D..." "E..." + Special "S..." "T..." + +Intermediate directories are always "@" or "+" as appropriate. + + +Each object in the cache has an extended attribute label that holds the object +type ID (required to distinguish special objects) and the auxiliary data from +the netfs. The latter is used to detect stale objects in the cache and update +or retire them. + + +Note that CacheFiles will erase from the cache any file it doesn't recognise or +any file of an incorrect type (such as a FIFO file or a device file).