ublk: document auto buffer registration(UBLK_F_AUTO_BUF_REG)

Document recently merged feature auto buffer registration(UBLK_F_AUTO_BUF_REG).

Cc: Caleb Sander Mateos <csander@purestorage.com>
Signed-off-by: Ming Lei <ming.lei@redhat.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250611085632.109719-1-ming.lei@redhat.com
Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>
This commit is contained in:
Ming Lei 2025-06-11 16:56:32 +08:00 committed by Jens Axboe
parent 4bb08cf974
commit ff20c51648

View file

@ -352,6 +352,81 @@ For reaching best IO performance, ublk server should align its segment
parameter of `struct ublk_param_segment` with backend for avoiding
unnecessary IO split, which usually hurts io_uring performance.
Auto Buffer Registration
------------------------
The ``UBLK_F_AUTO_BUF_REG`` feature automatically handles buffer registration
and unregistration for I/O requests, which simplifies the buffer management
process and reduces overhead in the ublk server implementation.
This is another feature flag for using zero copy, and it is compatible with
``UBLK_F_SUPPORT_ZERO_COPY``.
Feature Overview
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This feature automatically registers request buffers to the io_uring context
before delivering I/O commands to the ublk server and unregisters them when
completing I/O commands. This eliminates the need for manual buffer
registration/unregistration via ``UBLK_IO_REGISTER_IO_BUF`` and
``UBLK_IO_UNREGISTER_IO_BUF`` commands, then IO handling in ublk server
can avoid dependency on the two uring_cmd operations.
IOs can't be issued concurrently to io_uring if there is any dependency
among these IOs. So this way not only simplifies ublk server implementation,
but also makes concurrent IO handling becomes possible by removing the
dependency on buffer registration & unregistration commands.
Usage Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. The ublk server must create a sparse buffer table on the same ``io_ring_ctx``
used for ``UBLK_IO_FETCH_REQ`` and ``UBLK_IO_COMMIT_AND_FETCH_REQ``. If
uring_cmd is issued on a different ``io_ring_ctx``, manual buffer
unregistration is required.
2. Buffer registration data must be passed via uring_cmd's ``sqe->addr`` with the
following structure::
struct ublk_auto_buf_reg {
__u16 index; /* Buffer index for registration */
__u8 flags; /* Registration flags */
__u8 reserved0; /* Reserved for future use */
__u32 reserved1; /* Reserved for future use */
};
ublk_auto_buf_reg_to_sqe_addr() is for converting the above structure into
``sqe->addr``.
3. All reserved fields in ``ublk_auto_buf_reg`` must be zeroed.
4. Optional flags can be passed via ``ublk_auto_buf_reg.flags``.
Fallback Behavior
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If auto buffer registration fails:
1. When ``UBLK_AUTO_BUF_REG_FALLBACK`` is enabled:
- The uring_cmd is completed
- ``UBLK_IO_F_NEED_REG_BUF`` is set in ``ublksrv_io_desc.op_flags``
- The ublk server must manually deal with the failure, such as, register
the buffer manually, or using user copy feature for retrieving the data
for handling ublk IO
2. If fallback is not enabled:
- The ublk I/O request fails silently
- The uring_cmd won't be completed
Limitations
~~~~~~~~~~~
- Requires same ``io_ring_ctx`` for all operations
- May require manual buffer management in fallback cases
- io_ring_ctx buffer table has a max size of 16K, which may not be enough
in case that too many ublk devices are handled by this single io_ring_ctx
and each one has very large queue depth
References
==========