In order to issue a BLKRRPART the drive needs to be unmounted first, this
is not always possible on a machine. There is another way though:
'echo 1 /sys/block/sda/device/rescan'. This rescans all the mode pages
so that the kernel is in sync.
Writing to cache_type does seem to be a better idea than using sdparm, but
this is erroring out on one of our drives, whereas sdparm sets it without
an error.
$echo write through /sys/class/scsi_disk/6\:0\:0\:0/cache_type
-bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
$dmesg | tail -4
[1667272.378024] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda]
[1667272.378547] Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
[1667272.379254] sd 6:0:0:0: [sda]
[1667272.379758] Add. Sense: Invalid field in parameter list
I can think of a scenario where the kernel thinks that WCE is not set and issue
wrong flush commands and assume that the cache has been cleared. I think we
should find a better way to keep the kernel in sync, or inform the kernel of
this change.
- Vishwanath
On 06/06/2014 09:49 PM, Douglas Gilbert wrote:
On 14-06-06 06:55 PM, James Bottomley wrote:
On Fri, 2014-06-06 at 17:14 -0400, Pai wrote:
Hi All,
I noticed that the sysfs file cache_type is not is sync with the
information in the mode page. If we change the WCE attribute in the mode
page (sdparm --set=WCE /dev/sda and sdparm --clear=WCE /dev/sda) it does
not reflect this in the sysfs file.
$ cat /sys/block/sda/device/scsi_disk/6\:0\:0\:0/cache_type
write back
$ sdparm --clear=WCE /dev/sda
/dev/sda: TOSHIBA AL13SEB6000101
$ cat /sys/block/sda/device/scsi_disk/6\:0\:0\:0/cache_type
write back
Ideally cache_type should have changed to 'write through' or 'none'. I have
a small one line change that can fix this one. This patch applies against
the latest branch linux-3.15-rc8.
Few things to note:
1. revalidate_disk() also reads a whole bunch of other things from the mode
page and I don't know if this will have any side effects. This call is made
on store_cache_type as well, so I think it should be OK.
2. This is extra work which is not needed in most cases (mode pages hardly
change). Is there an event that we can subscribe to when the modpages
change?
Please review.
diff --git a/drivers/scsi/sd.c b/drivers/scsi/sd.c
index efcbcd1..5b65ccc 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/sd.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/sd.c
@@ -256,6 +256,7 @@ static ssize_t
cache_type_show(struct device *dev, struct device_attribute *attr, char
*buf)
{
struct scsi_disk *sdkp = to_scsi_disk(dev);
+ revalidate_disk(sdkp-disk);
int ct = sdkp-RCD + 2*sdkp-WCE;
return snprintf(buf, 40, %s\n, sd_cache_types[ct]);
The behaviour you describe is correct. The cache type is probed once at
init. If you change the cache behind the back of the linux code, you
have to expect that we won't see it. We're definitely not doing a
revalidate on every write just in case, so by extension we expect that
to see it via sysfs either you change it through the provided interface
(writing to the cache_type file) or you inform the kernel if you change
it via other means by issuing the BLKRRPART ioctl.
Have a look at
echo write through /sys/class/scsi_disk/6\:0\:0\:0/cache_type
and/or
echo write back /sys/class/scsi_disk/6\:0\:0\:0/cache_type
and those strings can be prefixed by temporary . The explanation
and mapping to T10 terms is in drivers/scsi/sd.c cache_type_store(),
or at least should be.
Doug Gilbert
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-scsi in
the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html