From: Ayhan Aydin <nsd.project.dev@gmail.com>
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-mm@kvack.org
Cc: nsd.project.dev@gmail.com
Subject: [RFC PATCH 3/3] Documentation: Add NSD filesystem documentation
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:26:28 +0300 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260725182628.221603-4-nsd.project.dev@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260725182628.221603-1-nsd.project.dev@gmail.com>
Add initial documentation for the Neural Storage Driver
covering architecture, sysfs interface, and performance.
Signed-off-by: Ayhan Aydin <nsd.project.dev@gmail.com>
---
Documentation/filesystems/nsd.rst | 77 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 77 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Documentation/filesystems/nsd.rst
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/nsd.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/nsd.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a78018a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/nsd.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+========================================
+Neural Storage Driver (NSD) - v1.0.0
+========================================
+
+Overview
+========
+NSD is a learning prefetcher for the Linux kernel page cache. It monitors
+I/O patterns via a hook in :c:func:`filemap_read` and prefetches pages
+ahead of the application using :c:func:`page_cache_sync_readahead`.
+
+Unlike the kernel existing readahead (fixed window), NSD builds
+a synaptic Markov chain model of access patterns at 4 KB region
+granularity. It detects sequential strides, repeating patterns, and
+learned transitions.
+
+Architecture
+============::
+
+ Application
+ |
+ v
+ filemap_read() <-- NSD hook
+ |
+ +---> nsd_notify_read()
+ |
+ +---> Synaptic Table (Markov chain)
+ | |
+ | +---> Region hash + stride predictor
+ |
+ +---> Prefetch Worker
+ |
+ +---> page_cache_sync_readahead(WILLNEED)
+
+Sysfs Interface
+===============
+/sys/kernel/nsd/::
+
+ stats Current statistics (hit rate, prefetch count, etc.)
+ observe_only 0=active, 1=observe-only (no prefetch)
+ penalty Enable penalty weakening on waste
+ waste_track Enable waste tracking
+
+Statistics fields::
+
+ prefetched Total pages prefetched
+ used Prefetched pages that were actually accessed
+ wasted Prefetched pages never accessed
+ hit_rate_real Used / Prefetched ratio
+ stride_preds Stride predictions made
+ chain_depth Average chain prediction depth
+ synapse_ents Current synapse table entries
+ ring_events Pending ring buffer events
+
+Module Parameters
+=================
+ observe_only Start in observe-only mode (default: false)
+ penalty Enable penalty on waste (default: true)
+ waste_track Enable waste tracking (default: false)
+
+Performance
+===========
+Tested on: x86_64, SATA SSD, kernel 7.0.0::
+
+ Workload Improvement
+ --------------------------- -----------
+ SQLite FTS (4 GB table) -18.8% query time
+ Sequential 64K buffered +22.6% throughput
+ Random 4K buffered +1.1% (noise)
+
+The prefetcher achieves 98% real hit rate on SSD workloads.
+
+See Also
+========
+Documentation/filesystems/fscache.rst
+Documentation/filesystems/squashfs.rst
\ No newline at end of file
--
2.43.0
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-07-25 18:26 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-07-25 18:26 [RFC PATCH 0/3] Neural Storage Driver - learning page cache prefetcher Ayhan Aydin
2026-07-25 18:26 ` [RFC PATCH 1/3] mm/filemap: Add NSD prefetch hook point Ayhan Aydin
2026-07-25 18:26 ` [RFC PATCH 2/3] nsd: Core prediction engine Ayhan Aydin
2026-07-25 18:26 ` Ayhan Aydin [this message]
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260725182628.221603-4-nsd.project.dev@gmail.com \
--to=nsd.project.dev@gmail.com \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-mm@kvack.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.