From: Damien Le Moal <dlemoal@kernel.org>
To: linux-ide@vger.kernel.org, Niklas Cassel <cassel@kernel.org>
Cc: Igor Pylypiv <ipylypiv@google.com>,
Xingui Yang <yangxingui@huawei.com>,
John Garry <john.g.garry@oracle.com>
Subject: [PATCH v3 2/2] ata: libata-scsi: avoid passthrough command starvation
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2025 09:21:40 +0900 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20251220002140.148854-3-dlemoal@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20251220002140.148854-1-dlemoal@kernel.org>
When a non-NCQ passthrough command is issued while NCQ commands are
being executed, ata_scsi_defer() indicates to ata_scsi_translate() that
ata_qc_issue() should not be called for the passthrough command, and
instead returns SCSI_MLQUEUE_XXX_BUSY to defer the command execution.
This command deferring is correct and as mandated by the ACS
specifications since NCQ and non-NCQ commands cannot be mixed.
However, in the case of a host adapter using multiple submission queues,
when the target device is under a constant load of NCQ read or write
commands, there are no guarantees that requeueing the non-NCQ command
will lead to it not being deferred again repeatedly, since other
submission queues can constantly issue NCQ commands from different CPUs
ahead of the non-NCQ command. This can lead to very long delays for the
execution of non-NCQ passthrough commands, and even complete starvation
in the worst case scenario.
Since the block layer and the SCSI layer do not distinguish between
queuable (NCQ) and non queueable (non-NCQ) commands, libata-scsi SAT
implementation must ensure forward progress for non-NCQ commands in the
presence of NCQ command traffic. This is similar to what SAS HBAs with a
hardware/firmware based implementation do.
Implement such forward progress guarantee by limiting requeueing of
non-NCQ commands: when a non-NCQ command is received and NCQ commands
are in-flight, do not force a requeue of the non-NCQ command by
returning SCSI_MLQUEUE_XXX_BUSY in ata_scsi_translate() and instead
hold on to the qc using the new deferred_qc field of struct ata_port.
This deferred qc will be issued using the work item deferred_qc_work
running the function ata_scsi_deferred_qc_work() once all in-flight
commands complete, which is checked with the port qc_defer() callback
indicating that no further delay is necessary. This check is done using
the helper function ata_scsi_schedule_deferred_qc() which is called from
ata_scsi_qc_complete(). This thus excludes this mechanism from all
internal non-NCQ commands issued by ATA EH.
When a port deferred_qc is non NULL, that is, the port has a command
waiting for the device queue to drain, the issuing of all incoming
commands (both NCQ and non-NCQ) is deferred using the regular busy
mechanism. This simplifies the code and also avoids potential denial of
service problems if a user issues too many non-NCQ passthrough commands.
Finally, whenever ata EH is scheduled, regardless of the reason, a
deferred qc is always requeued so that it can be retried once EH
completes. This is done by calling the function
ata_scsi_requeue_deferred_qc() from ata_eh_set_pending(). This avoids
the need for any special processing for the deferred qc in case of NCQ
error, link or device reset, or device timeout.
Reported-by: Xingui Yang <yangxingui@huawei.com>
Reported-by: Igor Pylypiv <ipylypiv@google.com>
Fixes: 42f22fe36d51 ("scsi: pm8001: Expose hardware queues for pm80xx")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Damien Le Moal <dlemoal@kernel.org>
---
drivers/ata/libata-core.c | 1 +
drivers/ata/libata-eh.c | 6 +++
drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c | 93 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
drivers/ata/libata.h | 2 +
include/linux/libata.h | 3 ++
5 files changed, 104 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-core.c b/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
index 0b24bd169d61..121f35115d33 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
+++ b/drivers/ata/libata-core.c
@@ -5558,6 +5558,7 @@ struct ata_port *ata_port_alloc(struct ata_host *host)
mutex_init(&ap->scsi_scan_mutex);
INIT_DELAYED_WORK(&ap->hotplug_task, ata_scsi_hotplug);
INIT_DELAYED_WORK(&ap->scsi_rescan_task, ata_scsi_dev_rescan);
+ INIT_WORK(&ap->deferred_qc_work, ata_scsi_deferred_qc_work);
INIT_LIST_HEAD(&ap->eh_done_q);
init_waitqueue_head(&ap->eh_wait_q);
init_completion(&ap->park_req_pending);
diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c b/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c
index 2586e77ebf45..b90b17f680f8 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c
+++ b/drivers/ata/libata-eh.c
@@ -917,6 +917,12 @@ static void ata_eh_set_pending(struct ata_port *ap, bool fastdrain)
ap->pflags |= ATA_PFLAG_EH_PENDING;
+ /*
+ * If we have a deferred qc, requeue it so that it is retried once EH
+ * completes.
+ */
+ ata_scsi_requeue_deferred_qc(ap);
+
if (!fastdrain)
return;
diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c b/drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c
index 8e04fc173ea3..e39837846566 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c
+++ b/drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c
@@ -1658,8 +1658,73 @@ static void ata_qc_done(struct ata_queued_cmd *qc)
done(cmd);
}
+void ata_scsi_deferred_qc_work(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+ struct ata_port *ap =
+ container_of(work, struct ata_port, deferred_qc_work);
+ struct ata_queued_cmd *qc;
+ unsigned long flags;
+
+ spin_lock_irqsave(ap->lock, flags);
+
+ /*
+ * If we still have a deferred qc and we are not in EH, issue it. In
+ * such case, we should not need any more deferring the qc, so warn if
+ * qc_defer() says otherwise.
+ */
+ qc = ap->deferred_qc;
+ if (qc && !ata_port_eh_scheduled(ap)) {
+ WARN_ON_ONCE(ap->ops->qc_defer(qc));
+ ap->deferred_qc = NULL;
+ ata_qc_issue(qc);
+ }
+
+ spin_unlock_irqrestore(ap->lock, flags);
+}
+
+void ata_scsi_requeue_deferred_qc(struct ata_port *ap)
+{
+ struct ata_queued_cmd *qc = ap->deferred_qc;
+ struct scsi_cmnd *scmd;
+
+ /*
+ * If we have a deferred qc when a reset occurs or NCQ commands fail,
+ * do not try to be smart about what to do with this deferred command
+ * and simply retry it by completing it with DID_SOFT_ERROR.
+ */
+ if (!qc)
+ return;
+
+ scmd = qc->scsicmd;
+ ap->deferred_qc = NULL;
+ ata_qc_free(qc);
+ scmd->result = (DID_SOFT_ERROR << 16);
+ scsi_done(scmd);
+}
+
+static void ata_scsi_schedule_deferred_qc(struct ata_port *ap)
+{
+ struct ata_queued_cmd *qc = ap->deferred_qc;
+
+ /*
+ * If we have a deferred qc, then qc_defer() is defined and we can use
+ * this callback to determine if this qc is good to go, unless EH has
+ * been scheduled.
+ */
+ if (!qc)
+ return;
+
+ if (ata_port_eh_scheduled(ap)) {
+ ata_scsi_requeue_deferred_qc(ap);
+ return;
+ }
+ if (!ap->ops->qc_defer(qc))
+ queue_work(system_highpri_wq, &ap->deferred_qc_work);
+}
+
static void ata_scsi_qc_complete(struct ata_queued_cmd *qc)
{
+ struct ata_port *ap = qc->ap;
struct scsi_cmnd *cmd = qc->scsicmd;
u8 *cdb = cmd->cmnd;
bool have_sense = qc->flags & ATA_QCFLAG_SENSE_VALID;
@@ -1689,12 +1754,24 @@ static void ata_scsi_qc_complete(struct ata_queued_cmd *qc)
}
ata_qc_done(qc);
+
+ ata_scsi_schedule_deferred_qc(ap);
}
static int ata_scsi_defer(struct ata_port *ap, struct ata_queued_cmd *qc)
{
int ret;
+ /*
+ * If we already have a deferred qc, then rely on the SCSI layer to
+ * requeue and defer all incoming commands until the deferred qc is
+ * processed, once all on-going commands are completed.
+ */
+ if (ap->deferred_qc) {
+ ata_qc_free(qc);
+ return SCSI_MLQUEUE_DEVICE_BUSY;
+ }
+
if (!ap->ops->qc_defer)
return 0;
@@ -1702,6 +1779,17 @@ static int ata_scsi_defer(struct ata_port *ap, struct ata_queued_cmd *qc)
if (!ret)
return 0;
+ /*
+ * We must defer this qc: if this is not an NCQ command, keep this qc
+ * as a deferred one and wait for all on-going NCQ commands to complete
+ * before issuing it with the deferred qc work.
+ */
+ if (!ata_is_ncq(qc->tf.protocol)) {
+ ap->deferred_qc = qc;
+ return SCSI_MLQUEUE_DEVICE_BUSY;
+ }
+
+ /* Use the SCSI layer to requeue and defer the command. */
ata_qc_free(qc);
switch (ret) {
@@ -1777,8 +1865,11 @@ static int ata_scsi_translate(struct ata_device *dev, struct scsi_cmnd *cmd,
goto done;
rc = ata_scsi_defer(ap, qc);
- if (rc)
+ if (rc) {
+ if (qc == ap->deferred_qc)
+ return 0;
return rc;
+ }
ata_qc_issue(qc);
diff --git a/drivers/ata/libata.h b/drivers/ata/libata.h
index 0e7ecac73680..60a675df61dc 100644
--- a/drivers/ata/libata.h
+++ b/drivers/ata/libata.h
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ void ata_scsi_sdev_config(struct scsi_device *sdev);
int ata_scsi_dev_config(struct scsi_device *sdev, struct queue_limits *lim,
struct ata_device *dev);
int __ata_scsi_queuecmd(struct scsi_cmnd *scmd, struct ata_device *dev);
+void ata_scsi_deferred_qc_work(struct work_struct *work);
+void ata_scsi_requeue_deferred_qc(struct ata_port *ap);
/* libata-eh.c */
extern unsigned int ata_internal_cmd_timeout(struct ata_device *dev, u8 cmd);
diff --git a/include/linux/libata.h b/include/linux/libata.h
index 39534fafa36a..c5b27d97dfaf 100644
--- a/include/linux/libata.h
+++ b/include/linux/libata.h
@@ -903,6 +903,9 @@ struct ata_port {
u64 qc_active;
int nr_active_links; /* #links with active qcs */
+ struct work_struct deferred_qc_work;
+ struct ata_queued_cmd *deferred_qc;
+
struct ata_link link; /* host default link */
struct ata_link *slave_link; /* see ata_slave_link_init() */
--
2.52.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-12-20 0:26 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 18+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-12-20 0:21 [PATCH v3 0/2] Prevent non-NCQ command starvation Damien Le Moal
2025-12-20 0:21 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] ata: libata-scsi: refactor ata_scsi_translate() Damien Le Moal
2025-12-22 21:19 ` Igor Pylypiv
2025-12-30 13:40 ` Niklas Cassel
2025-12-20 0:21 ` Damien Le Moal [this message]
2025-12-22 21:28 ` [PATCH v3 2/2] ata: libata-scsi: avoid passthrough command starvation Igor Pylypiv
2025-12-28 2:25 ` Damien Le Moal
2025-12-23 11:17 ` yangxingui
2025-12-31 11:17 ` Niklas Cassel
2026-01-02 0:47 ` Damien Le Moal
2026-01-02 10:24 ` Niklas Cassel
2026-01-02 11:00 ` Damien Le Moal
2025-12-31 11:39 ` Niklas Cassel
2026-01-02 1:10 ` Damien Le Moal
2026-01-02 9:46 ` Niklas Cassel
2026-01-02 11:01 ` Damien Le Moal
2025-12-31 10:04 ` [PATCH v3 0/2] Prevent non-NCQ " Niklas Cassel
2026-01-02 1:14 ` Damien Le Moal
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