aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorBorislav Petkov <bbpetkov@yahoo.de>2008-02-02 19:56:48 +0100
committerBartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz <bzolnier@gmail.com>2008-02-02 19:56:48 +0100
commit5ce78af4beeca6c80d8a4834f74297a8fa2e2253 (patch)
treeca3af7db59981109475ba2dec4d0ea7e8250c742 /Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt
parentdcb425f557eb01e73614f2292f0a92ce02e40e2a (diff)
ide-tape: move historical changelog to Documentation/ide/ChangeLog.ide-tape.1995-2002
Also, cleanup whitespace and update comments. Bart: - remove reference to drivers/block/ide.c - move driver documentation to Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov <bbpetkov@yahoo.de> Signed-off-by: Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz <bzolnier@gmail.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt146
1 files changed, 146 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt b/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..658f271a373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+/*
+ * IDE ATAPI streaming tape driver.
+ *
+ * This driver is a part of the Linux ide driver.
+ *
+ * The driver, in co-operation with ide.c, basically traverses the
+ * request-list for the block device interface. The character device
+ * interface, on the other hand, creates new requests, adds them
+ * to the request-list of the block device, and waits for their completion.
+ *
+ * Pipelined operation mode is now supported on both reads and writes.
+ *
+ * The block device major and minor numbers are determined from the
+ * tape's relative position in the ide interfaces, as explained in ide.c.
+ *
+ * The character device interface consists of the following devices:
+ *
+ * ht0 major 37, minor 0 first IDE tape, rewind on close.
+ * ht1 major 37, minor 1 second IDE tape, rewind on close.
+ * ...
+ * nht0 major 37, minor 128 first IDE tape, no rewind on close.
+ * nht1 major 37, minor 129 second IDE tape, no rewind on close.
+ * ...
+ *
+ * The general magnetic tape commands compatible interface, as defined by
+ * include/linux/mtio.h, is accessible through the character device.
+ *
+ * General ide driver configuration options, such as the interrupt-unmask
+ * flag, can be configured by issuing an ioctl to the block device interface,
+ * as any other ide device.
+ *
+ * Our own ide-tape ioctl's can be issued to either the block device or
+ * the character device interface.
+ *
+ * Maximal throughput with minimal bus load will usually be achieved in the
+ * following scenario:
+ *
+ * 1. ide-tape is operating in the pipelined operation mode.
+ * 2. No buffering is performed by the user backup program.
+ *
+ * Testing was done with a 2 GB CONNER CTMA 4000 IDE ATAPI Streaming Tape Drive.
+ *
+ * Here are some words from the first releases of hd.c, which are quoted
+ * in ide.c and apply here as well:
+ *
+ * | Special care is recommended. Have Fun!
+ *
+ *
+ * An overview of the pipelined operation mode.
+ *
+ * In the pipelined write mode, we will usually just add requests to our
+ * pipeline and return immediately, before we even start to service them. The
+ * user program will then have enough time to prepare the next request while
+ * we are still busy servicing previous requests. In the pipelined read mode,
+ * the situation is similar - we add read-ahead requests into the pipeline,
+ * before the user even requested them.
+ *
+ * The pipeline can be viewed as a "safety net" which will be activated when
+ * the system load is high and prevents the user backup program from keeping up
+ * with the current tape speed. At this point, the pipeline will get
+ * shorter and shorter but the tape will still be streaming at the same speed.
+ * Assuming we have enough pipeline stages, the system load will hopefully
+ * decrease before the pipeline is completely empty, and the backup program
+ * will be able to "catch up" and refill the pipeline again.
+ *
+ * When using the pipelined mode, it would be best to disable any type of
+ * buffering done by the user program, as ide-tape already provides all the
+ * benefits in the kernel, where it can be done in a more efficient way.
+ * As we will usually not block the user program on a request, the most
+ * efficient user code will then be a simple read-write-read-... cycle.
+ * Any additional logic will usually just slow down the backup process.
+ *
+ * Using the pipelined mode, I get a constant over 400 KBps throughput,
+ * which seems to be the maximum throughput supported by my tape.
+ *
+ * However, there are some downfalls:
+ *
+ * 1. We use memory (for data buffers) in proportional to the number
+ * of pipeline stages (each stage is about 26 KB with my tape).
+ * 2. In the pipelined write mode, we cheat and postpone error codes
+ * to the user task. In read mode, the actual tape position
+ * will be a bit further than the last requested block.
+ *
+ * Concerning (1):
+ *
+ * 1. We allocate stages dynamically only when we need them. When
+ * we don't need them, we don't consume additional memory. In
+ * case we can't allocate stages, we just manage without them
+ * (at the expense of decreased throughput) so when Linux is
+ * tight in memory, we will not pose additional difficulties.
+ *
+ * 2. The maximum number of stages (which is, in fact, the maximum
+ * amount of memory) which we allocate is limited by the compile
+ * time parameter IDETAPE_MAX_PIPELINE_STAGES.
+ *
+ * 3. The maximum number of stages is a controlled parameter - We
+ * don't start from the user defined maximum number of stages
+ * but from the lower IDETAPE_MIN_PIPELINE_STAGES (again, we
+ * will not even allocate this amount of stages if the user
+ * program can't handle the speed). We then implement a feedback
+ * loop which checks if the pipeline is empty, and if it is, we
+ * increase the maximum number of stages as necessary until we
+ * reach the optimum value which just manages to keep the tape
+ * busy with minimum allocated memory or until we reach
+ * IDETAPE_MAX_PIPELINE_STAGES.
+ *
+ * Concerning (2):
+ *
+ * In pipelined write mode, ide-tape can not return accurate error codes
+ * to the user program since we usually just add the request to the
+ * pipeline without waiting for it to be serviced. In case an error
+ * occurs, I will report it on the next user request.
+ *
+ * In the pipelined read mode, subsequent read requests or forward
+ * filemark spacing will perform correctly, as we preserve all blocks
+ * and filemarks which we encountered during our excess read-ahead.
+ *
+ * For accurate tape positioning and error reporting, disabling
+ * pipelined mode might be the best option.
+ *
+ * You can enable/disable/tune the pipelined operation mode by adjusting
+ * the compile time parameters below.
+ *
+ *
+ * Possible improvements.
+ *
+ * 1. Support for the ATAPI overlap protocol.
+ *
+ * In order to maximize bus throughput, we currently use the DSC
+ * overlap method which enables ide.c to service requests from the
+ * other device while the tape is busy executing a command. The
+ * DSC overlap method involves polling the tape's status register
+ * for the DSC bit, and servicing the other device while the tape
+ * isn't ready.
+ *
+ * In the current QIC development standard (December 1995),
+ * it is recommended that new tape drives will *in addition*
+ * implement the ATAPI overlap protocol, which is used for the
+ * same purpose - efficient use of the IDE bus, but is interrupt
+ * driven and thus has much less CPU overhead.
+ *
+ * ATAPI overlap is likely to be supported in most new ATAPI
+ * devices, including new ATAPI cdroms, and thus provides us
+ * a method by which we can achieve higher throughput when
+ * sharing a (fast) ATA-2 disk with any (slow) new ATAPI device.
+ */