|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | WHAT IS EXOFS? | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | exofs is a file system that uses an OSD and exports the API of a normal Linux | 
|  | file system. Users access exofs like any other local file system, and exofs | 
|  | will in turn issue commands to the local OSD initiator. | 
|  |  | 
|  | OSD is a new T10 command set that views storage devices not as a large/flat | 
|  | array of sectors but as a container of objects, each having a length, quota, | 
|  | time attributes and more. Each object is addressed by a 64bit ID, and is | 
|  | contained in a 64bit ID partition. Each object has associated attributes | 
|  | attached to it, which are integral part of the object and provide metadata about | 
|  | the object. The standard defines some common obligatory attributes, but user | 
|  | attributes can be added as needed. | 
|  |  | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | ENVIRONMENT | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | To use this file system, you need to have an object store to run it on.  You | 
|  | may download a target from: | 
|  | http://open-osd.org | 
|  |  | 
|  | See Documentation/scsi/osd.txt for how to setup a working osd environment. | 
|  |  | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | USAGE | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | 1. Download and compile exofs and open-osd initiator: | 
|  | You need an external Kernel source tree or kernel headers from your | 
|  | distribution. (anything based on 2.6.26 or later). | 
|  |  | 
|  | a. download open-osd including exofs source using: | 
|  | [parent-directory]$ git clone git://git.open-osd.org/open-osd.git | 
|  |  | 
|  | b. Build the library module like this: | 
|  | [parent-directory]$ make -C KSRC=$(KER_DIR) open-osd | 
|  |  | 
|  | This will build both the open-osd initiator as well as the exofs kernel | 
|  | module. Use whatever parameters you compiled your Kernel with and | 
|  | $(KER_DIR) above pointing to the Kernel you compile against. See the file | 
|  | open-osd/top-level-Makefile for an example. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2. Get the OSD initiator and target set up properly, and login to the target. | 
|  | See Documentation/scsi/osd.txt for farther instructions. Also see ./do-osd | 
|  | for example script that does all these steps. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 3. Insmod the exofs.ko module: | 
|  | [exofs]$ insmod exofs.ko | 
|  |  | 
|  | 4. Make sure the directory where you want to mount exists. If not, create it. | 
|  | (For example, mkdir /mnt/exofs) | 
|  |  | 
|  | 5. At first run you will need to invoke the mkfs.exofs application | 
|  |  | 
|  | As an example, this will create the file system on: | 
|  | /dev/osd0 partition ID 65536 | 
|  |  | 
|  | mkfs.exofs --pid=65536 --format /dev/osd0 | 
|  |  | 
|  | The --format is optional. If not specified, no OSD_FORMAT will be | 
|  | performed and a clean file system will be created in the specified pid, | 
|  | in the available space of the target. (Use --format=size_in_meg to limit | 
|  | the total LUN space available) | 
|  |  | 
|  | If pid already exists, it will be deleted and a new one will be created in | 
|  | its place. Be careful. | 
|  |  | 
|  | An exofs lives inside a single OSD partition. You can create multiple exofs | 
|  | filesystems on the same device using multiple pids. | 
|  |  | 
|  | (run mkfs.exofs without any parameters for usage help message) | 
|  |  | 
|  | 6. Mount the file system. | 
|  |  | 
|  | For example, to mount /dev/osd0, partition ID 0x10000 on /mnt/exofs: | 
|  |  | 
|  | mount -t exofs -o pid=65536 /dev/osd0 /mnt/exofs/ | 
|  |  | 
|  | 7. For reference (See do-exofs example script): | 
|  | do-exofs start - an example of how to perform the above steps. | 
|  | do-exofs stop - an example of how to unmount the file system. | 
|  | do-exofs format - an example of how to format and mkfs a new exofs. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 8. Extra compilation flags (uncomment in fs/exofs/Kbuild): | 
|  | CONFIG_EXOFS_DEBUG - for debug messages and extra checks. | 
|  |  | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | exofs mount options | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | Similar to any mount command: | 
|  | mount -t exofs -o exofs_options /dev/osdX mount_exofs_directory | 
|  |  | 
|  | Where: | 
|  | -t exofs: specifies the exofs file system | 
|  |  | 
|  | /dev/osdX: X is a decimal number. /dev/osdX was created after a successful | 
|  | login into an OSD target. | 
|  |  | 
|  | mount_exofs_directory: The directory to mount the file system on | 
|  |  | 
|  | exofs specific options: Options are separated by commas (,) | 
|  | pid=<integer> - The partition number to mount/create as | 
|  | container of the filesystem. | 
|  | This option is mandatory. | 
|  | to=<integer>  - Timeout in ticks for a single command. | 
|  | default is (60 * HZ) [for debugging only] | 
|  |  | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | DESIGN | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | * The file system control block (AKA on-disk superblock) resides in an object | 
|  | with a special ID (defined in common.h). | 
|  | Information included in the file system control block is used to fill the | 
|  | in-memory superblock structure at mount time. This object is created before | 
|  | the file system is used by mkexofs.c. It contains information such as: | 
|  | - The file system's magic number | 
|  | - The next inode number to be allocated | 
|  |  | 
|  | * Each file resides in its own object and contains the data (and it will be | 
|  | possible to extend the file over multiple objects, though this has not been | 
|  | implemented yet). | 
|  |  | 
|  | * A directory is treated as a file, and essentially contains a list of <file | 
|  | name, inode #> pairs for files that are found in that directory. The object | 
|  | IDs correspond to the files' inode numbers and will be allocated according to | 
|  | a bitmap (stored in a separate object). Now they are allocated using a | 
|  | counter. | 
|  |  | 
|  | * Each file's control block (AKA on-disk inode) is stored in its object's | 
|  | attributes. This applies to both regular files and other types (directories, | 
|  | device files, symlinks, etc.). | 
|  |  | 
|  | * Credentials are generated per object (inode and superblock) when they are | 
|  | created in memory (read from disk or created). The credential works for all | 
|  | operations and is used as long as the object remains in memory. | 
|  |  | 
|  | * Async OSD operations are used whenever possible, but the target may execute | 
|  | them out of order. The operations that concern us are create, delete, | 
|  | readpage, writepage, update_inode, and truncate. The following pairs of | 
|  | operations should execute in the order written, and we need to prevent them | 
|  | from executing in reverse order: | 
|  | - The following are handled with the OBJ_CREATED and OBJ_2BCREATED | 
|  | flags. OBJ_CREATED is set when we know the object exists on the OSD - | 
|  | in create's callback function, and when we successfully do a | 
|  | read_inode. | 
|  | OBJ_2BCREATED is set in the beginning of the create function, so we | 
|  | know that we should wait. | 
|  | - create/delete: delete should wait until the object is created | 
|  | on the OSD. | 
|  | - create/readpage: readpage should be able to return a page | 
|  | full of zeroes in this case. If there was a write already | 
|  | en-route (i.e. create, writepage, readpage) then the page | 
|  | would be locked, and so it would really be the same as | 
|  | create/writepage. | 
|  | - create/writepage: if writepage is called for a sync write, it | 
|  | should wait until the object is created on the OSD. | 
|  | Otherwise, it should just return. | 
|  | - create/truncate: truncate should wait until the object is | 
|  | created on the OSD. | 
|  | - create/update_inode: update_inode should wait until the | 
|  | object is created on the OSD. | 
|  | - Handled by VFS locks: | 
|  | - readpage/delete: shouldn't happen because of page lock. | 
|  | - writepage/delete: shouldn't happen because of page lock. | 
|  | - readpage/writepage: shouldn't happen because of page lock. | 
|  |  | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | LICENSE/COPYRIGHT | 
|  | =============================================================================== | 
|  | The exofs file system is based on ext2 v0.5b (distributed with the Linux kernel | 
|  | version 2.6.10).  All files include the original copyrights, and the license | 
|  | is GPL version 2 (only version 2, as is true for the Linux kernel).  The | 
|  | Linux kernel can be downloaded from www.kernel.org. |