dect
/
linux-2.6
Archived
13
0
Fork 0
Code Releases Activity

[PATCH] Documentation: Updated PCI Error Recovery 

This patch is a cleanup/restructuring/clarification of the PCI error
handling doc.  It should look rather professional at this point.

Signed-off-by: Linas Vepstas <linas@austin.ibm.com>
Cc: Greg KH <greg@kroah.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
This commit is contained in:
Linas Vepstas 2006-02-03 03:03:45 -08:00 committed by Linus Torvalds
parent c0c1633bdb
commit c9ab8b68e2
1 changed files with 296 additions and 146 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

442
Documentation/pci-error-recovery.txt
View File

@ -1,246 +1,396 @@
PCI Error Recovery
------------------
May 31, 2005
February 2, 2006
Current document maintainer:
Linas Vepstas <linas@austin.ibm.com>
Current document maintainer:
Linas Vepstas <linas@austin.ibm.com>
Some PCI bus controllers are able to detect certain "hard" PCI errors
on the bus, such as parity errors on the data and address busses, as
well as SERR and PERR errors. These chipsets are then able to disable
I/O to/from the affected device, so that, for example, a bad DMA
address doesn't end up corrupting system memory. These same chipsets
are also able to reset the affected PCI device, and return it to
working condition. This document describes a generic API form
performing error recovery.
Many PCI bus controllers are able to detect a variety of hardware
PCI errors on the bus, such as parity errors on the data and address
busses, as well as SERR and PERR errors. Some of the more advanced
chipsets are able to deal with these errors; these include PCI-E chipsets,
and the PCI-host bridges found on IBM Power4 and Power5-based pSeries
boxes. A typical action taken is to disconnect the affected device,
halting all I/O to it. The goal of a disconnection is to avoid system
corruption; for example, to halt system memory corruption due to DMA's
to "wild" addresses. Typically, a reconnection mechanism is also
offered, so that the affected PCI device(s) are reset and put back
into working condition. The reset phase requires coordination
between the affected device drivers and the PCI controller chip.
This document describes a generic API for notifying device drivers
of a bus disconnection, and then performing error recovery.
This API is currently implemented in the 2.6.16 and later kernels.
The core idea is that after a PCI error has been detected, there must
be a way for the kernel to coordinate with all affected device drivers
so that the pci card can be made operational again, possibly after
performing a full electrical #RST of the PCI card. The API below
provides a generic API for device drivers to be notified of PCI
errors, and to be notified of, and respond to, a reset sequence.
Reporting and recovery is performed in several steps. First, when
a PCI hardware error has resulted in a bus disconnect, that event
is reported as soon as possible to all affected device drivers,
including multiple instances of a device driver on multi-function
cards. This allows device drivers to avoid deadlocking in spinloops,
waiting for some i/o-space register to change, when it never will.
It also gives the drivers a chance to defer incoming I/O as
needed.
Preliminary sketch of API, cut-n-pasted-n-modified email from
Ben Herrenschmidt, circa 5 april 2005
Next, recovery is performed in several stages. Most of the complexity
is forced by the need to handle multi-function devices, that is,
devices that have multiple device drivers associated with them.
In the first stage, each driver is allowed to indicate what type
of reset it desires, the choices being a simple re-enabling of I/O
or requesting a hard reset (a full electrical #RST of the PCI card).
If any driver requests a full reset, that is what will be done.
After a full reset and/or a re-enabling of I/O, all drivers are
again notified, so that they may then perform any device setup/config
that may be required. After these have all completed, a final
"resume normal operations" event is sent out.
The biggest reason for choosing a kernel-based implementation rather
than a user-space implementation was the need to deal with bus
disconnects of PCI devices attached to storage media, and, in particular,
disconnects from devices holding the root file system. If the root
file system is disconnected, a user-space mechanism would have to go
through a large number of contortions to complete recovery. Almost all
of the current Linux file systems are not tolerant of disconnection
from/reconnection to their underlying block device. By contrast,
bus errors are easy to manage in the device driver. Indeed, most
device drivers already handle very similar recovery procedures;
for example, the SCSI-generic layer already provides significant
mechanisms for dealing with SCSI bus errors and SCSI bus resets.
Detailed Design
---------------
Design and implementation details below, based on a chain of
public email discussions with Ben Herrenschmidt, circa 5 April 2005.
The error recovery API support is exposed to the driver in the form of
a structure of function pointers pointed to by a new field in struct
pci_driver. The absence of this pointer in pci_driver denotes an
"non-aware" driver, behaviour on these is platform dependant.
Platforms like ppc64 can try to simulate pci hotplug remove/add.
The definition of "pci_error_token" is not covered here. It is based on
Seto's work on the synchronous error detection. We still need to define
functions for extracting infos out of an opaque error token. This is
separate from this API.
pci_driver. A driver that fails to provide the structure is "non-aware",
and the actual recovery steps taken are platform dependent. The
arch/powerpc implementation will simulate a PCI hotplug remove/add.
This structure has the form:
struct pci_error_handlers
{
int (*error_detected)(struct pci_dev *dev, pci_error_token error);
int (*error_detected)(struct pci_dev *dev, enum pci_channel_state);
int (*mmio_enabled)(struct pci_dev *dev);
int (*resume)(struct pci_dev *dev);
int (*link_reset)(struct pci_dev *dev);
int (*slot_reset)(struct pci_dev *dev);
void (*resume)(struct pci_dev *dev);
};
A driver doesn't have to implement all of these callbacks. The
only mandatory one is error_detected(). If a callback is not
implemented, the corresponding feature is considered unsupported.
For example, if mmio_enabled() and resume() aren't there, then the
driver is assumed as not doing any direct recovery and requires
The possible channel states are:
enum pci_channel_state {
pci_channel_io_normal, /* I/O channel is in normal state */
pci_channel_io_frozen, /* I/O to channel is blocked */
pci_channel_io_perm_failure, /* PCI card is dead */
};
Possible return values are:
enum pci_ers_result {
PCI_ERS_RESULT_NONE, /* no result/none/not supported in device driver */
PCI_ERS_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER, /* Device driver can recover without slot reset */
PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET, /* Device driver wants slot to be reset. */
PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT, /* Device has completely failed, is unrecoverable */
PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED, /* Device driver is fully recovered and operational */
};
A driver does not have to implement all of these callbacks; however,
if it implements any, it must implement error_detected(). If a callback
is not implemented, the corresponding feature is considered unsupported.
For example, if mmio_enabled() and resume() aren't there, then it
is assumed that the driver is not doing any direct recovery and requires
a reset. If link_reset() is not implemented, the card is assumed as
not caring about link resets, in which case, if recover is supported,
the core can try recover (but not slot_reset() unless it really did
reset the slot). If slot_reset() is not supported, link_reset() can
be called instead on a slot reset.
not care about link resets. Typically a driver will want to know about
a slot_reset().
At first, the call will always be :
The actual steps taken by a platform to recover from a PCI error
event will be platform-dependent, but will follow the general
sequence described below.
1) error_detected()
STEP 0: Error Event
-------------------
PCI bus error is detect by the PCI hardware. On powerpc, the slot
is isolated, in that all I/O is blocked: all reads return 0xffffffff,
all writes are ignored.
Error detected. This is sent once after an error has been detected. At
this point, the device might not be accessible anymore depending on the
platform (the slot will be isolated on ppc64). The driver may already
have "noticed" the error because of a failing IO, but this is the proper
"synchronisation point", that is, it gives a chance to the driver to
cleanup, waiting for pending stuff (timers, whatever, etc...) to
complete; it can take semaphores, schedule, etc... everything but touch
the device. Within this function and after it returns, the driver
STEP 1: Notification
--------------------
Platform calls the error_detected() callback on every instance of
every driver affected by the error.
At this point, the device might not be accessible anymore, depending on
the platform (the slot will be isolated on powerpc). The driver may
already have "noticed" the error because of a failing I/O, but this
is the proper "synchronization point", that is, it gives the driver
a chance to cleanup, waiting for pending stuff (timers, whatever, etc...)
to complete; it can take semaphores, schedule, etc... everything but
touch the device. Within this function and after it returns, the driver
shouldn't do any new IOs. Called in task context. This is sort of a
"quiesce" point. See note about interrupts at the end of this doc.
Result codes:
- PCIERR_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER:
Driever returns this if it thinks it might be able to recover
All drivers participating in this system must implement this call.
The driver must return one of the following result codes:
- PCI_ERS_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER:
Driver returns this if it thinks it might be able to recover
the HW by just banging IOs or if it wants to be given
a chance to extract some diagnostic informations (see
below).
- PCIERR_RESULT_NEED_RESET:
Driver returns this if it thinks it can't recover unless the
slot is reset.
- PCIERR_RESULT_DISCONNECT:
Return this if driver thinks it won't recover at all,
(this will detach the driver ? or just leave it
dangling ? to be decided)
a chance to extract some diagnostic information (see
mmio_enable, below).
- PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET:
Driver returns this if it can't recover without a hard
slot reset.
- PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT:
Driver returns this if it doesn't want to recover at all.
So at this point, we have called error_detected() for all drivers
on the segment that had the error. On ppc64, the slot is isolated. What
happens now typically depends on the result from the drivers. If all
drivers on the segment/slot return PCIERR_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER, we would
re-enable IOs on the slot (or do nothing special if the platform doesn't
isolate slots) and call 2). If not and we can reset slots, we go to 4),
if neither, we have a dead slot. If it's an hotplug slot, we might
"simulate" reset by triggering HW unplug/replug though.
The next step taken will depend on the result codes returned by the
drivers.
>>> Current ppc64 implementation assumes that a device driver will
>>> *not* schedule or semaphore in this routine; the current ppc64
If all drivers on the segment/slot return PCI_ERS_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER,
then the platform should re-enable IOs on the slot (or do nothing in
particular, if the platform doesn't isolate slots), and recovery
proceeds to STEP 2 (MMIO Enable).
If any driver requested a slot reset (by returning PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET),
then recovery proceeds to STEP 4 (Slot Reset).
If the platform is unable to recover the slot, the next step
is STEP 6 (Permanent Failure).
>>> The current powerpc implementation assumes that a device driver will
>>> *not* schedule or semaphore in this routine; the current powerpc
>>> implementation uses one kernel thread to notify all devices;
>>> thus, of one device sleeps/schedules, all devices are affected.
>>> thus, if one device sleeps/schedules, all devices are affected.
>>> Doing better requires complex multi-threaded logic in the error
>>> recovery implementation (e.g. waiting for all notification threads
>>> to "join" before proceeding with recovery.) This seems excessively
>>> complex and not worth implementing.
>>> The current ppc64 implementation doesn't much care if the device
>>> attempts i/o at this point, or not. I/O's will fail, returning
>>> The current powerpc implementation doesn't much care if the device
>>> attempts I/O at this point, or not. I/O's will fail, returning
>>> a value of 0xff on read, and writes will be dropped. If the device
>>> driver attempts more than 10K I/O's to a frozen adapter, it will
>>> assume that the device driver has gone into an infinite loop, and
>>> it will panic the the kernel.
>>> it will panic the the kernel. There doesn't seem to be any other
>>> way of stopping a device driver that insists on spinning on I/O.
2) mmio_enabled()
STEP 2: MMIO Enabled
-------------------
The platform re-enables MMIO to the device (but typically not the
DMA), and then calls the mmio_enabled() callback on all affected
device drivers.
This is the "early recovery" call. IOs are allowed again, but DMA is
This is the "early recovery" call. IOs are allowed again, but DMA is
not (hrm... to be discussed, I prefer not), with some restrictions. This
is NOT a callback for the driver to start operations again, only to
peek/poke at the device, extract diagnostic information, if any, and
eventually do things like trigger a device local reset or some such,
but not restart operations. This is sent if all drivers on a segment
agree that they can try to recover and no automatic link reset was
performed by the HW. If the platform can't just re-enable IOs without
a slot reset or a link reset, it doesn't call this callback and goes
directly to 3) or 4). All IOs should be done _synchronously_ from
within this callback, errors triggered by them will be returned via
the normal pci_check_whatever() api, no new error_detected() callback
will be issued due to an error happening here. However, such an error
might cause IOs to be re-blocked for the whole segment, and thus
invalidate the recovery that other devices on the same segment might
have done, forcing the whole segment into one of the next states,
that is link reset or slot reset.
but not restart operations. This is callback is made if all drivers on
a segment agree that they can try to recover and if no automatic link reset
was performed by the HW. If the platform can't just re-enable IOs without
a slot reset or a link reset, it wont call this callback, and instead
will have gone directly to STEP 3 (Link Reset) or STEP 4 (Slot Reset)
Result codes:
- PCIERR_RESULT_RECOVERED
>>> The following is proposed; no platform implements this yet:
>>> Proposal: All I/O's should be done _synchronously_ from within
>>> this callback, errors triggered by them will be returned via
>>> the normal pci_check_whatever() API, no new error_detected()
>>> callback will be issued due to an error happening here. However,
>>> such an error might cause IOs to be re-blocked for the whole
>>> segment, and thus invalidate the recovery that other devices
>>> on the same segment might have done, forcing the whole segment
>>> into one of the next states, that is, link reset or slot reset.
The driver should return one of the following result codes:
- PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED
Driver returns this if it thinks the device is fully
functionnal and thinks it is ready to start
functional and thinks it is ready to start
normal driver operations again. There is no
guarantee that the driver will actually be
allowed to proceed, as another driver on the
same segment might have failed and thus triggered a
slot reset on platforms that support it.
- PCIERR_RESULT_NEED_RESET
- PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET
Driver returns this if it thinks the device is not
recoverable in it's current state and it needs a slot
reset to proceed.
- PCIERR_RESULT_DISCONNECT
- PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT
Same as above. Total failure, no recovery even after
reset driver dead. (To be defined more precisely)
>>> The current ppc64 implementation does not implement this callback.
The next step taken depends on the results returned by the drivers.
If all drivers returned PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED, then the platform
proceeds to either STEP3 (Link Reset) or to STEP 5 (Resume Operations).
3) link_reset()
If any driver returned PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET, then the platform
proceeds to STEP 4 (Slot Reset)
This is called after the link has been reset. This is typically
a PCI Express specific state at this point and is done whenever a
non-fatal error has been detected that can be "solved" by resetting
the link. This call informs the driver of the reset and the driver
should check if the device appears to be in working condition.
This function acts a bit like 2) mmio_enabled(), in that the driver
is not supposed to restart normal driver I/O operations right away.
Instead, it should just "probe" the device to check it's recoverability
status. If all is right, then the core will call resume() once all
drivers have ack'd link_reset().
>>> The current powerpc implementation does not implement this callback.
STEP 3: Link Reset
------------------
The platform resets the link, and then calls the link_reset() callback
on all affected device drivers. This is a PCI-Express specific state
and is done whenever a non-fatal error has been detected that can be
"solved" by resetting the link. This call informs the driver of the
reset and the driver should check to see if the device appears to be
in working condition.
The driver is not supposed to restart normal driver I/O operations
at this point. It should limit itself to "probing" the device to
check it's recoverability status. If all is right, then the platform
will call resume() once all drivers have ack'd link_reset().
Result codes:
(identical to mmio_enabled)
(identical to STEP 3 (MMIO Enabled)
>>> The current ppc64 implementation does not implement this callback.
The platform then proceeds to either STEP 4 (Slot Reset) or STEP 5
(Resume Operations).
4) slot_reset()
>>> The current powerpc implementation does not implement this callback.
This is called after the slot has been soft or hard reset by the
platform. A soft reset consists of asserting the adapter #RST line
and then restoring the PCI BARs and PCI configuration header. If the
platform supports PCI hotplug, then it might instead perform a hard
reset by toggling power on the slot off/on. This call gives drivers
the chance to re-initialize the hardware (re-download firmware, etc.),
but drivers shouldn't restart normal I/O processing operations at
this point. (See note about interrupts; interrupts aren't guaranteed
to be delivered until the resume() callback has been called). If all
device drivers report success on this callback, the patform will call
resume() to complete the error handling and let the driver restart
normal I/O processing.
STEP 4: Slot Reset
------------------
The platform performs a soft or hard reset of the device, and then
calls the slot_reset() callback.
A soft reset consists of asserting the adapter #RST line and then
restoring the PCI BAR's and PCI configuration header to a state
that is equivalent to what it would be after a fresh system
power-on followed by power-on BIOS/system firmware initialization.
If the platform supports PCI hotplug, then the reset might be
performed by toggling the slot electrical power off/on.
It is important for the platform to restore the PCI config space
to the "fresh poweron" state, rather than the "last state". After
a slot reset, the device driver will almost always use its standard
device initialization routines, and an unusual config space setup
may result in hung devices, kernel panics, or silent data corruption.
This call gives drivers the chance to re-initialize the hardware
(re-download firmware, etc.). At this point, the driver may assume
that he card is in a fresh state and is fully functional. In
particular, interrupt generation should work normally.
Drivers should not yet restart normal I/O processing operations
at this point. If all device drivers report success on this
callback, the platform will call resume() to complete the sequence,
and let the driver restart normal I/O processing.
A driver can still return a critical failure for this function if
it can't get the device operational after reset. If the platform
previously tried a soft reset, it migh now try a hard reset (power
previously tried a soft reset, it might now try a hard reset (power
cycle) and then call slot_reset() again. It the device still can't
be recovered, there is nothing more that can be done; the platform
will typically report a "permanent failure" in such a case. The
device will be considered "dead" in this case.
Drivers for multi-function cards will need to coordinate among
themselves as to which driver instance will perform any "one-shot"
or global device initialization. For example, the Symbios sym53cxx2
driver performs device init only from PCI function 0:
+ if (PCI_FUNC(pdev->devfn) == 0)
+ sym_reset_scsi_bus(np, 0);
Result codes:
- PCIERR_RESULT_DISCONNECT
- PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT
Same as above.
>>> The current ppc64 implementation does not try a power-cycle reset
>>> if the driver returned PCIERR_RESULT_DISCONNECT. However, it should.
Platform proceeds either to STEP 5 (Resume Operations) or STEP 6 (Permanent
Failure).
5) resume()
>>> The current powerpc implementation does not currently try a
>>> power-cycle reset if the driver returned PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT.
>>> However, it probably should.
This is called if all drivers on the segment have returned
PCIERR_RESULT_RECOVERED from one of the 3 prevous callbacks.
That basically tells the driver to restart activity, tht everything
is back and running. No result code is taken into account here. If
a new error happens, it will restart a new error handling process.
That's it. I think this covers all the possibilities. The way those
callbacks are called is platform policy. A platform with no slot reset
capability for example may want to just "ignore" drivers that can't
STEP 5: Resume Operations
-------------------------
The platform will call the resume() callback on all affected device
drivers if all drivers on the segment have returned
PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED from one of the 3 previous callbacks.
The goal of this callback is to tell the driver to restart activity,
that everything is back and running. This callback does not return
a result code.
At this point, if a new error happens, the platform will restart
a new error recovery sequence.
STEP 6: Permanent Failure
-------------------------
A "permanent failure" has occurred, and the platform cannot recover
the device. The platform will call error_detected() with a
pci_channel_state value of pci_channel_io_perm_failure.
The device driver should, at this point, assume the worst. It should
cancel all pending I/O, refuse all new I/O, returning -EIO to
higher layers. The device driver should then clean up all of its
memory and remove itself from kernel operations, much as it would
during system shutdown.
The platform will typically notify the system operator of the
permanent failure in some way. If the device is hotplug-capable,
the operator will probably want to remove and replace the device.
Note, however, not all failures are truly "permanent". Some are
caused by over-heating, some by a poorly seated card. Many
PCI error events are caused by software bugs, e.g. DMA's to
wild addresses or bogus split transactions due to programming
errors. See the discussion in powerpc/eeh-pci-error-recovery.txt
for additional detail on real-life experience of the causes of
software errors.
Conclusion; General Remarks
---------------------------
The way those callbacks are called is platform policy. A platform with
no slot reset capability may want to just "ignore" drivers that can't
recover (disconnect them) and try to let other cards on the same segment
recover. Keep in mind that in most real life cases, though, there will
be only one driver per segment.
Now, there is a note about interrupts. If you get an interrupt and your
Now, a note about interrupts. If you get an interrupt and your
device is dead or has been isolated, there is a problem :)
After much thinking, I decided to leave that to the platform. That is,
the recovery API only precies that:
The current policy is to turn this into a platform policy.
That is, the recovery API only requires that:
- There is no guarantee that interrupt delivery can proceed from any
device on the segment starting from the error detection and until the
restart callback is sent, at which point interrupts are expected to be
resume callback is sent, at which point interrupts are expected to be
fully operational.
- There is no guarantee that interrupt delivery is stopped, that is, ad
river that gets an interrupts after detecting an error, or that detects
and error within the interrupt handler such that it prevents proper
- There is no guarantee that interrupt delivery is stopped, that is,
a driver that gets an interrupt after detecting an error, or that detects
an error within the interrupt handler such that it prevents proper
ack'ing of the interrupt (and thus removal of the source) should just
return IRQ_NOTHANDLED. It's up to the platform to deal with taht
condition, typically by masking the irq source during the duration of
return IRQ_NOTHANDLED. It's up to the platform to deal with that
condition, typically by masking the IRQ source during the duration of
the error handling. It is expected that the platform "knows" which
interrupts are routed to error-management capable slots and can deal
with temporarily disabling that irq number during error processing (this
with temporarily disabling that IRQ number during error processing (this
isn't terribly complex). That means some IRQ latency for other devices
sharing the interrupt, but there is simply no other way. High end
platforms aren't supposed to share interrupts between many devices
anyway :)
>>> Implementation details for the powerpc platform are discussed in
>>> the file Documentation/powerpc/eeh-pci-error-recovery.txt
Revised: 31 May 2005 Linas Vepstas <linas@austin.ibm.com>
>>> As of this writing, there are six device drivers with patches
>>> implementing error recovery. Not all of these patches are in
>>> mainline yet. These may be used as "examples":
>>>
>>> drivers/scsi/ipr.c
>>> drivers/scsi/sym53cxx_2
>>> drivers/next/e100.c
>>> drivers/net/e1000
>>> drivers/net/ixgb
>>> drivers/net/s2io.c
The End
-------