RE: [ofa-general] Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-13 Thread Joachim Fenkes
"Caitlin Bestler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 13.12.2007 
22:08:34:

> To clarify, an FMR Work Request is simply posted to the SendQ like
> any other Work Request (of course the QP has to be privileged, or
> it will complete in error). An SQ Post should never block.

This would require hardware support, wouldn't it? eHCA2 doesn't have this 
kind of support, so FMR WRs are not an option here.

J.
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RE: [ofa-general] Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-13 Thread Caitlin Bestler


> -Original Message-
> From: Joachim Fenkes [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:00 PM
> To: Caitlin Bestler
> Cc: Arnd Bergmann; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; OF-General; LKML;
> linuxppc-dev@ozlabs.org; Or Gerlitz; Roland Dreier; Stefan Roscher
> Subject: Re: [ofa-general] Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize
> HCA-related hCalls on POWER5
> 
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 13.12.2007 20:22:49:
> 
> > On Dec 13, 2007 12:30 AM, Or Gerlitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > The current implementation of the open iscsi initiator makes sure
> to
> > > issue commands in thread (sleepable) context, see iscsi_xmitworker
> and
> > > references to it in drivers/scsi/libiscsi.c , so this keeps ehca
> users
> > > safe for the time being.
> 
> > I agree, *some* form of FMR support is important for iSER (and
> probably
> > for NFS over RDMA as well). Rather than adding a crippled NO FMR
> > mode it would make more sense to add support for FMR Work Requests.
> > I'm not certain what, if any, impact that would have on the Power5
> problem,
> > but that's certainly a cleaner path for iWARP.
> 
> Well, FMR WRs wouldn't change the eHCA issue -- the driver would have
> to
> make an hCall in any case, and the architecture says that the hCalls
> used
> in this scenario might return H_LONG_BUSY, causing the driver to
sleep.
> No
> way around that. Because of this, eHCA's FMRs are actually standard
MRs
> with a different API.
> 
> If, as Or said, the iSCSI initiator issues commands in sleepable
> context
> anyway, nothing would be lost by using standard MRs as a fallback
> solution
> if FMRs aren't available, would it?
> 

To clarify, an FMR Work Request is simply posted to the SendQ like
any other Work Request (of course the QP has to be privileged, or
it will complete in error). An SQ Post should never block.

But yes, if the current iSCSI initiator always does all call-based
FMRs in a sleepable context then I would agree then any changes can
wait for the first vendor that wants to support FMR Work Requests.

FMR Work Requests can be pipelined, so anyone with hardware that
supported them would have strong motivation to enable the open
iSCSI initiator to take advantage of this.

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Re: [ofa-general] Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-13 Thread Joachim Fenkes
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 13.12.2007 20:22:49:

> On Dec 13, 2007 12:30 AM, Or Gerlitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > The current implementation of the open iscsi initiator makes sure to
> > issue commands in thread (sleepable) context, see iscsi_xmitworker and
> > references to it in drivers/scsi/libiscsi.c , so this keeps ehca users
> > safe for the time being.

> I agree, *some* form of FMR support is important for iSER (and probably
> for NFS over RDMA as well). Rather than adding a crippled NO FMR
> mode it would make more sense to add support for FMR Work Requests.
> I'm not certain what, if any, impact that would have on the Power5 
problem,
> but that's certainly a cleaner path for iWARP.

Well, FMR WRs wouldn't change the eHCA issue -- the driver would have to 
make an hCall in any case, and the architecture says that the hCalls used 
in this scenario might return H_LONG_BUSY, causing the driver to sleep. No 
way around that. Because of this, eHCA's FMRs are actually standard MRs 
with a different API.

If, as Or said, the iSCSI initiator issues commands in sleepable context 
anyway, nothing would be lost by using standard MRs as a fallback solution 
if FMRs aren't available, would it?

J.

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Re: [ofa-general] Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-13 Thread Caitlin Bestler
On Dec 13, 2007 12:30 AM, Or Gerlitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Roland Dreier wrote:
> > I think the right fix for iSER would be to make iSER work even for
> > devices that don't support FMRs.  For example cxgb3 doesn't implement
> > FMRs so if anyone ever updates iSER to work on iWARP and not just IB,
> > then this is something that has to be tackled anyway.  Then ehca could
> > just get rid of the FMR support it has.
>
> OK, The iSER design took into account the case of many initiators
> running on strong/modern machines talking to possibly lightweight
> embedded target for which the processing cost per I/O at the target side
> should be minimized, that is at most --one-- RDMA operation should be
> issued by the target to serve an I/O request.
>
> For that end, iSER works with one descriptor (called stag in iWARP and
> rkey in IB) per I/O direction sent from the initiator to the target and
> hence can't work without some sort of FMR implementation.
>
> The current implementation of the open iscsi initiator makes sure to
> issue commands in thread (sleepable) context, see iscsi_xmitworker and
> references to it in drivers/scsi/libiscsi.c , so this keeps ehca users
> safe for the time being.
>
> Or.
>

I agree, *some* form of FMR support is important for iSER (and probably
for NFS over RDMA as well). Rather than adding a crippled NO FMR
mode it would make more sense to add support for FMR Work Requests.
I'm not certain what, if any, impact that would have on the Power5 problem,
but that's certainly a cleaner path for iWARP.
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Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-13 Thread Or Gerlitz
Roland Dreier wrote:
> I think the right fix for iSER would be to make iSER work even for
> devices that don't support FMRs.  For example cxgb3 doesn't implement
> FMRs so if anyone ever updates iSER to work on iWARP and not just IB,
> then this is something that has to be tackled anyway.  Then ehca could
> just get rid of the FMR support it has.

OK, The iSER design took into account the case of many initiators 
running on strong/modern machines talking to possibly lightweight 
embedded target for which the processing cost per I/O at the target side 
should be minimized, that is at most --one-- RDMA operation should be 
issued by the target to serve an I/O request.

For that end, iSER works with one descriptor (called stag in iWARP and 
rkey in IB) per I/O direction sent from the initiator to the target and 
hence can't work without some sort of FMR implementation.

The current implementation of the open iscsi initiator makes sure to 
issue commands in thread (sleepable) context, see iscsi_xmitworker and 
references to it in drivers/scsi/libiscsi.c , so this keeps ehca users 
safe for the time being.

Or.



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Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-12 Thread Roland Dreier
 > What is the fix you suggest, to add a device query that tells you for 
 > which verbs the documentation does not apply? or enhance the code of the 
 >   map_phys_fmr verb within the ehca driver to return error if called 
 > from non-sleepable context?

I think the right fix for iSER would be to make iSER work even for
devices that don't support FMRs.  For example cxgb3 doesn't implement
FMRs so if anyone ever updates iSER to work on iWARP and not just IB,
then this is something that has to be tackled anyway.  Then ehca could
just get rid of the FMR support it has.
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Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-12 Thread Or Gerlitz
Joachim Fenkes wrote:
> Roland Dreier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 10.12.2007 22:47:37:

>> It's an optional device feature, so this should be OK
>> (although the iSER driver currently seems to depend on a device
>> supporting FMRs, which is probably going to be a problem with iWARP
>> support in the future anyway).

> I don't feel very well with removing code from the driver that iSER seems 
> to depend on. Are there plans to fix this in iSER?

What is the fix you suggest, to add a device query that tells you for 
which verbs the documentation does not apply? or enhance the code of the 
  map_phys_fmr verb within the ehca driver to return error if called 
from non-sleepable context?

Or.

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Re: [ewg] Re: [PATCH] IB/ehca: Serialize HCA-related hCalls on POWER5

2007-12-12 Thread Christoph Raisch
Or Gerlitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 12.12.2007 13:14:25:

> Joachim Fenkes wrote:
> > Roland Dreier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 10.12.2007 22:47:37:
>
> >> It's an optional device feature, so this should be OK
> >> (although the iSER driver currently seems to depend on a device
> >> supporting FMRs, which is probably going to be a problem with iWARP
> >> support in the future anyway).
>
> > I don't feel very well with removing code from the driver that iSER
seems
> > to depend on. Are there plans to fix this in iSER?
>
> What is the fix you suggest, to add a device query that tells you for
> which verbs the documentation does not apply? or enhance the code of the
>   map_phys_fmr verb within the ehca driver to return error if called
> from non-sleepable context?

Roland,
what is your suggestion here?

We could implement both versions Or is proposing, but having both
at the same time sound like overkill.

Christoph R.

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