免费注册 查看新帖 |

Chinaunix

  平台 论坛 博客 文库
最近访问板块 发新帖
查看: 1063 | 回复: 0
打印 上一主题 下一主题

The Linux Kernel's SCSI Subsystem(4) [复制链接]

论坛徽章:
0
跳转到指定楼层
1 [收藏(0)] [报告]
发表于 2006-06-30 23:44 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览
Where SCSI and Linux are Going


Dee-Ann LeBlanc
Tuesday, September 3, 2002 12:14:08 PM
A number of fixes are in the works. New approaches to tag command queuing, for example, have already been tested on a limited basis. The solution under development is moving this feature up into the SCSI generic segment, and taking it out of the specific SCSI device drivers. This solution so far is proving robust, and has allowed for some smaller device drivers, which means smaller modules to load and unload as needed.
On the issue of tag starvation, there seem to be a few different options hopping about in people's minds. One idea is to move tag starvation into the error handling code, keeping this problem down in the midlayer so that queuing issues need not go the inefficient route of passing back to the Upper Layer so commands can be re-sent.
The error handler could be used to watch a device's queue, and then "throttle" (block off access to) the queue when it fills or nearly fills. Once the queue has available room then more commands could be sent down in an orderly single file line with none of them ending up lost, or timed out. One of the existing (2.4.x) features that is supposed to help with tag starvation is the "host block driver function," but apparently there are still some bugs that need to be worked out here.
Another issue under discussion is better integrating the Linux kernel SCSI subsystem with the Linux kernel's Virtual Filesystem Switch (VFS) structure. VFS is the portion of the kernel "above" the SCSI subsystem that deals with filesystem actions. All VFS is concerned with is that you tried to take an action within the Linux filesystem, and it doesn't care whether that action was to print somethingwhich requires opening the file that needs to be printed, accessing its data, perhaps converting that data in some fashion, and then sending that data to the appropriate device driver for that printer--or change a filename.
Right now there is overhead with too many issues having to be passed all the way down to the SCSI subsystem, whether into the Upper, Middle, or Lower layers, and the efficiency gained by ensuring that VFS and the SCSI subsystem integrate better would both improve speeds and possibly shrink the kernel and modules slightly: after all, you'd hopefully be removing some redundancies.
Another inefficiency in this area is the way that commands are translated as they pass from VFS to the SCSI subsystem.
There is even talk about merging IDE and SCSI in some ways, especially in the ATAPI area regarding CD-ROMs (and this has already begun).
The most radical issues involve moving the Middle Layer into VFS, which would take the error handler into there as well. This is coming. Enterprise users rejoice!
Useful links
http://gear.torque.net/scsi/SCSI-2.4-HOWTO/

http://www.andante.org/scsidoc/SCSI-4.html

Dee-Ann LeBlanc has written over 10 computer books, over fifty articles, taught classes, and more, mostly involving the Linux operating system and its programs. You can follow her work and share your input through her new mailing list at
http://www.dee-annleblanc.com/mailman/listinfo/general
, or find out more in general at
http://www.Dee-AnnLeBlanc.com/
.



本文来自ChinaUnix博客,如果查看原文请点:http://blog.chinaunix.net/u/21323/showart_135006.html
您需要登录后才可以回帖 登录 | 注册

本版积分规则 发表回复

  

北京盛拓优讯信息技术有限公司. 版权所有 京ICP备16024965号-6 北京市公安局海淀分局网监中心备案编号:11010802020122 niuxiaotong@pcpop.com 17352615567
未成年举报专区
中国互联网协会会员  联系我们:huangweiwei@itpub.net
感谢所有关心和支持过ChinaUnix的朋友们 转载本站内容请注明原作者名及出处

清除 Cookies - ChinaUnix - Archiver - WAP - TOP