From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Hannes Reinecke Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] SCSI: Add a SCSI option for persistent device names in Kernel. Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:33:53 -0700 Message-ID: <4D9F1CD1.2020600@suse.de> References: <20110405124946.7969.66796.stgit@ltc233.sdl.hitachi.co.jp> <20110405161400.GA885@kroah.com> <4D9F17DF.5030601@hitachi.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Return-path: In-Reply-To: <4D9F17DF.5030601@hitachi.com> Sender: linux-hotplug-owner@vger.kernel.org To: Nao Nishijima Cc: Greg KH , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-scsi@vger.kernel.org, linux-hotplug@vger.kernel.org, Kay Sievers , James Bottomley , Jon Masters , 2nddept-manager@sdl.hitachi.co.jp List-Id: linux-scsi@vger.kernel.org On 04/08/2011 07:12 AM, Nao Nishijima wrote: > Hi, >=20 > (2011/04/06 1:14), Greg KH wrote: >> On Tue, Apr 05, 2011 at 09:49:46PM +0900, Nao Nishijima wrote: >>> This patch series provides a SCSI option for persistent device >>> names in kernel. With this option, user can always assign a >>> same device name (e.g. sda) to a specific device according to >>> udev rules and device id. >>> >>> Issue: >>> Recently, kernel registers block devices in parallel. As a result, >>> different device names will be assigned at each boot time. This >>> will confuse file-system mounter, thus we usually use persistent >>> symbolic links provided by udev. >> >> Yes, that is what you should use if you care about this. >> >>> However, dmesg and procfs outputs >>> show device names instead of the symbolic link names. This causes >>> a serious problem when managing multiple devices (e.g. on a >>> large-scale storage), because usually, device errors are output >>> with device names on dmesg. >> >> Then fix your tools that read the output of these files to point to = the >> proper persistent name instead of trying to get the kernel to solve = the >> problem. >> >=20 > Yes, the tools should be revised if users get a device name using the= m. >=20 > The problem I would like to discuss here is that users can not identi= fy > a disk from kernel messages when they DIRECTLY refer to these message= s. > For example, a device name is used instead of a symbolic link names i= n > bootup messages, I/O devices errors and /proc/partitions =E2=80=A6etc= =2E >=20 > In particular, users can not identify an appropriate device from a > device name in syslog since different device name may be assigned to = it > at each boot time. >=20 > My idea is able to fix this issue with small changes in scsi subsyste= m. > Also, it is implemented as an option. Therefore, it does not affect > users who do not select this option. >=20 We have been discussing this problem several times in the past, and indeed on these very mailing list. The conclusion we arrived at is that the kernel-provided device node name is inherently unstable and impossible to fix within the existing 'sdX' naming scheme. So the choices have been to either move to a totally different naming scheme or keep the naming scheme and provide the required information by other means. We have decided on the latter, and agreed on using udev to provide persistent device names. We are fully aware that any kernel related messages are subject to chance after reboot, but then most kernel related messages are (PID number, timestamps, login tty etc). And also we are aware that any kernel messages need to be matched against the current system layout to figure out any hardware-related issue. But then basically all products requiring to filter out information from kernel messages already do so I don't see a problem with that. Just adding an in-kernel identifier to the LUN will only be an incomplete solution, as other identifiers will still be volatile. So I would prefer by keeping the in-kernel information as small as possible to reduce memory consumption and rely on out-of-band programs to provide the required mapping. Cheers, Hannes -- Dr. Hannes Reinecke zSeries & Storage hare@suse.de +49 911 74053 688 SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 N=C3=BCrnberg GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG N=C3=BCrnberg) -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-hotplug= " in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html