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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/autofs4-mount-control.txt | 393 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/autofs4-mount-control.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/autofs4-mount-control.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..c6341745df3 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/autofs4-mount-control.txt @@ -0,0 +1,393 @@ + +Miscellaneous Device control operations for the autofs4 kernel module +==================================================================== + +The problem +=========== + +There is a problem with active restarts in autofs (that is to say +restarting autofs when there are busy mounts). + +During normal operation autofs uses a file descriptor opened on the +directory that is being managed in order to be able to issue control +operations. Using a file descriptor gives ioctl operations access to +autofs specific information stored in the super block. The operations +are things such as setting an autofs mount catatonic, setting the +expire timeout and requesting expire checks. As is explained below, +certain types of autofs triggered mounts can end up covering an autofs +mount itself which prevents us being able to use open(2) to obtain a +file descriptor for these operations if we don't already have one open. + +Currently autofs uses "umount -l" (lazy umount) to clear active mounts +at restart. While using lazy umount works for most cases, anything that +needs to walk back up the mount tree to construct a path, such as +getcwd(2) and the proc file system /proc/<pid>/cwd, no longer works +because the point from which the path is constructed has been detached +from the mount tree. + +The actual problem with autofs is that it can't reconnect to existing +mounts. Immediately one thinks of just adding the ability to remount +autofs file systems would solve it, but alas, that can't work. This is +because autofs direct mounts and the implementation of "on demand mount +and expire" of nested mount trees have the file system mounted directly +on top of the mount trigger directory dentry. + +For example, there are two types of automount maps, direct (in the kernel +module source you will see a third type called an offset, which is just +a direct mount in disguise) and indirect. + +Here is a master map with direct and indirect map entries: + +/- /etc/auto.direct +/test /etc/auto.indirect + +and the corresponding map files: + +/etc/auto.direct: + +/automount/dparse/g6 budgie:/autofs/export1 +/automount/dparse/g1 shark:/autofs/export1 +and so on. + +/etc/auto.indirect: + +g1 shark:/autofs/export1 +g6 budgie:/autofs/export1 +and so on. + +For the above indirect map an autofs file system is mounted on /test and +mounts are triggered for each sub-directory key by the inode lookup +operation. So we see a mount of shark:/autofs/export1 on /test/g1, for +example. + +The way that direct mounts are handled is by making an autofs mount on +each full path, such as /automount/dparse/g1, and using it as a mount +trigger. So when we walk on the path we mount shark:/autofs/export1 "on +top of this mount point". Since these are always directories we can +use the follow_link inode operation to trigger the mount. + +But, each entry in direct and indirect maps can have offsets (making +them multi-mount map entries). + +For example, an indirect mount map entry could also be: + +g1 \ + / shark:/autofs/export5/testing/test \ + /s1 shark:/autofs/export/testing/test/s1 \ + /s2 shark:/autofs/export5/testing/test/s2 \ + /s1/ss1 shark:/autofs/export1 \ + /s2/ss2 shark:/autofs/export2 + +and a similarly a direct mount map entry could also be: + +/automount/dparse/g1 \ + / shark:/autofs/export5/testing/test \ + /s1 shark:/autofs/export/testing/test/s1 \ + /s2 shark:/autofs/export5/testing/test/s2 \ + /s1/ss1 shark:/autofs/export2 \ + /s2/ss2 shark:/autofs/export2 + +One of the issues with version 4 of autofs was that, when mounting an +entry with a large number of offsets, possibly with nesting, we needed +to mount and umount all of the offsets as a single unit. Not really a +problem, except for people with a large number of offsets in map entries. +This mechanism is used for the well known "hosts" map and we have seen +cases (in 2.4) where the available number of mounts are exhausted or +where the number of privileged ports available is exhausted. + +In version 5 we mount only as we go down the tree of offsets and +similarly for expiring them which resolves the above problem. There is +somewhat more detail to the implementation but it isn't needed for the +sake of the problem explanation. The one important detail is that these +offsets are implemented using the same mechanism as the direct mounts +above and so the mount points can be covered by a mount. + +The current autofs implementation uses an ioctl file descriptor opened +on the mount point for control operations. The references held by the +descriptor are accounted for in checks made to determine if a mount is +in use and is also used to access autofs file system information held +in the mount super block. So the use of a file handle needs to be +retained. + + +The Solution +============ + +To be able to restart autofs leaving existing direct, indirect and +offset mounts in place we need to be able to obtain a file handle +for these potentially covered autofs mount points. Rather than just +implement an isolated operation it was decided to re-implement the +existing ioctl interface and add new operations to provide this +functionality. + +In addition, to be able to reconstruct a mount tree that has busy mounts, +the uid and gid of the last user that triggered the mount needs to be +available because these can be used as macro substitution variables in +autofs maps. They are recorded at mount request time and an operation +has been added to retrieve them. + +Since we're re-implementing the control interface, a couple of other +problems with the existing interface have been addressed. First, when +a mount or expire operation completes a status is returned to the +kernel by either a "send ready" or a "send fail" operation. The +"send fail" operation of the ioctl interface could only ever send +ENOENT so the re-implementation allows user space to send an actual +status. Another expensive operation in user space, for those using +very large maps, is discovering if a mount is present. Usually this +involves scanning /proc/mounts and since it needs to be done quite +often it can introduce significant overhead when there are many entries +in the mount table. An operation to lookup the mount status of a mount +point dentry (covered or not) has also been added. + +Current kernel development policy recommends avoiding the use of the +ioctl mechanism in favor of systems such as Netlink. An implementation +using this system was attempted to evaluate its suitability and it was +found to be inadequate, in this case. The Generic Netlink system was +used for this as raw Netlink would lead to a significant increase in +complexity. There's no question that the Generic Netlink system is an +elegant solution for common case ioctl functions but it's not a complete +replacement probably because it's primary purpose in life is to be a +message bus implementation rather than specifically an ioctl replacement. +While it would be possible to work around this there is one concern +that lead to the decision to not use it. This is that the autofs +expire in the daemon has become far to complex because umount +candidates are enumerated, almost for no other reason than to "count" +the number of times to call the expire ioctl. This involves scanning +the mount table which has proved to be a big overhead for users with +large maps. The best way to improve this is try and get back to the +way the expire was done long ago. That is, when an expire request is +issued for a mount (file handle) we should continually call back to +the daemon until we can't umount any more mounts, then return the +appropriate status to the daemon. At the moment we just expire one +mount at a time. A Generic Netlink implementation would exclude this +possibility for future development due to the requirements of the +message bus architecture. + + +autofs4 Miscellaneous Device mount control interface +==================================================== + +The control interface is opening a device node, typically /dev/autofs. + +All the ioctls use a common structure to pass the needed parameter +information and return operation results: + +struct autofs_dev_ioctl { + __u32 ver_major; + __u32 ver_minor; + __u32 size; /* total size of data passed in + * including this struct */ + __s32 ioctlfd; /* automount command fd */ + + __u32 arg1; /* Command parameters */ + __u32 arg2; + + char path[0]; +}; + +The ioctlfd field is a mount point file descriptor of an autofs mount +point. It is returned by the open call and is used by all calls except +the check for whether a given path is a mount point, where it may +optionally be used to check a specific mount corresponding to a given +mount point file descriptor, and when requesting the uid and gid of the +last successful mount on a directory within the autofs file system. + +The fields arg1 and arg2 are used to communicate parameters and results of +calls made as described below. + +The path field is used to pass a path where it is needed and the size field +is used account for the increased structure length when translating the +structure sent from user space. + +This structure can be initialized before setting specific fields by using +the void function call init_autofs_dev_ioctl(struct autofs_dev_ioctl *). + +All of the ioctls perform a copy of this structure from user space to +kernel space and return -EINVAL if the size parameter is smaller than +the structure size itself, -ENOMEM if the kernel memory allocation fails +or -EFAULT if the copy itself fails. Other checks include a version check +of the compiled in user space version against the module version and a +mismatch results in a -EINVAL return. If the size field is greater than +the structure size then a path is assumed to be present and is checked to +ensure it begins with a "/" and is NULL terminated, otherwise -EINVAL is +returned. Following these checks, for all ioctl commands except +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_VERSION_CMD, AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_OPENMOUNT_CMD and +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_CLOSEMOUNT_CMD the ioctlfd is validated and if it is +not a valid descriptor or doesn't correspond to an autofs mount point +an error of -EBADF, -ENOTTY or -EINVAL (not an autofs descriptor) is +returned. + + +The ioctls +========== + +An example of an implementation which uses this interface can be seen +in autofs version 5.0.4 and later in file lib/dev-ioctl-lib.c of the +distribution tar available for download from kernel.org in directory +/pub/linux/daemons/autofs/v5. + +The device node ioctl operations implemented by this interface are: + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_VERSION +------------------------ + +Get the major and minor version of the autofs4 device ioctl kernel module +implementation. It requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl as an +input parameter and sets the version information in the passed in structure. +It returns 0 on success or the error -EINVAL if a version mismatch is +detected. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_PROTOVER_CMD and AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_PROTOSUBVER_CMD +------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Get the major and minor version of the autofs4 protocol version understood +by loaded module. This call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl +with the ioctlfd field set to a valid autofs mount point descriptor +and sets the requested version number in structure field arg1. These +commands return 0 on success or one of the negative error codes if +validation fails. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_OPENMOUNT and AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_CLOSEMOUNT +---------------------------------------------------------- + +Obtain and release a file descriptor for an autofs managed mount point +path. The open call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl with +the the path field set and the size field adjusted appropriately as well +as the arg1 field set to the device number of the autofs mount. The +device number can be obtained from the mount options shown in +/proc/mounts. The close call requires an initialized struct +autofs_dev_ioct with the ioctlfd field set to the descriptor obtained +from the open call. The release of the file descriptor can also be done +with close(2) so any open descriptors will also be closed at process exit. +The close call is included in the implemented operations largely for +completeness and to provide for a consistent user space implementation. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_READY_CMD and AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_FAIL_CMD +-------------------------------------------------------- + +Return mount and expire result status from user space to the kernel. +Both of these calls require an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl +with the ioctlfd field set to the descriptor obtained from the open +call and the arg1 field set to the wait queue token number, received +by user space in the foregoing mount or expire request. The arg2 field +is set to the status to be returned. For the ready call this is always +0 and for the fail call it is set to the errno of the operation. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_SETPIPEFD_CMD +------------------------------ + +Set the pipe file descriptor used for kernel communication to the daemon. +Normally this is set at mount time using an option but when reconnecting +to a existing mount we need to use this to tell the autofs mount about +the new kernel pipe descriptor. In order to protect mounts against +incorrectly setting the pipe descriptor we also require that the autofs +mount be catatonic (see next call). + +The call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl with the +ioctlfd field set to the descriptor obtained from the open call and +the arg1 field set to descriptor of the pipe. On success the call +also sets the process group id used to identify the controlling process +(eg. the owning automount(8) daemon) to the process group of the caller. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_CATATONIC_CMD +------------------------------ + +Make the autofs mount point catatonic. The autofs mount will no longer +issue mount requests, the kernel communication pipe descriptor is released +and any remaining waits in the queue released. + +The call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl with the +ioctlfd field set to the descriptor obtained from the open call. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_TIMEOUT_CMD +---------------------------- + +Set the expire timeout for mounts withing an autofs mount point. + +The call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl with the +ioctlfd field set to the descriptor obtained from the open call. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_REQUESTER_CMD +------------------------------ + +Return the uid and gid of the last process to successfully trigger a the +mount on the given path dentry. + +The call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl with the path +field set to the mount point in question and the size field adjusted +appropriately as well as the arg1 field set to the device number of the +containing autofs mount. Upon return the struct field arg1 contains the +uid and arg2 the gid. + +When reconstructing an autofs mount tree with active mounts we need to +re-connect to mounts that may have used the original process uid and +gid (or string variations of them) for mount lookups within the map entry. +This call provides the ability to obtain this uid and gid so they may be +used by user space for the mount map lookups. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_EXPIRE_CMD +--------------------------- + +Issue an expire request to the kernel for an autofs mount. Typically +this ioctl is called until no further expire candidates are found. + +The call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl with the +ioctlfd field set to the descriptor obtained from the open call. In +addition an immediate expire, independent of the mount timeout, can be +requested by setting the arg1 field to 1. If no expire candidates can +be found the ioctl returns -1 with errno set to EAGAIN. + +This call causes the kernel module to check the mount corresponding +to the given ioctlfd for mounts that can be expired, issues an expire +request back to the daemon and waits for completion. + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_ASKUMOUNT_CMD +------------------------------ + +Checks if an autofs mount point is in use. + +The call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl with the +ioctlfd field set to the descriptor obtained from the open call and +it returns the result in the arg1 field, 1 for busy and 0 otherwise. + + +AUTOFS_DEV_IOCTL_ISMOUNTPOINT_CMD +--------------------------------- + +Check if the given path is a mountpoint. + +The call requires an initialized struct autofs_dev_ioctl. There are two +possible variations. Both use the path field set to the path of the mount +point to check and the size field adjusted appropriately. One uses the +ioctlfd field to identify a specific mount point to check while the other +variation uses the path and optionaly arg1 set to an autofs mount type. +The call returns 1 if this is a mount point and sets arg1 to the device +number of the mount and field arg2 to the relevant super block magic +number (described below) or 0 if it isn't a mountpoint. In both cases +the the device number (as returned by new_encode_dev()) is returned +in field arg1. + +If supplied with a file descriptor we're looking for a specific mount, +not necessarily at the top of the mounted stack. In this case the path +the descriptor corresponds to is considered a mountpoint if it is itself +a mountpoint or contains a mount, such as a multi-mount without a root +mount. In this case we return 1 if the descriptor corresponds to a mount +point and and also returns the super magic of the covering mount if there +is one or 0 if it isn't a mountpoint. + +If a path is supplied (and the ioctlfd field is set to -1) then the path +is looked up and is checked to see if it is the root of a mount. If a +type is also given we are looking for a particular autofs mount and if +a match isn't found a fail is returned. If the the located path is the +root of a mount 1 is returned along with the super magic of the mount +or 0 otherwise. + |