summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2020-08-11 10:59:19 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2020-08-11 10:59:19 -0700
commit4bf5e3611895ede257d736b7359db669879a109f (patch)
tree4b7c5c5e05390fbd42be18dfd6f3ecbed37a77f9 /Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm
parent00e4db51259a5f936fec1424b884f029479d3981 (diff)
parent7f674025d9f7321dea11b802cc0ab3f09cbe51c5 (diff)
Merge tag 'libnvdimm-for-5.9' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm
Pull libnvdimm updayes from Vishal Verma: "You'd normally receive this pull request from Dan Williams, but he's busy watching a newborn (Congrats Dan!), so I'm watching libnvdimm this cycle. This adds a new feature in libnvdimm - 'Runtime Firmware Activation', and a few small cleanups and fixes in libnvdimm and DAX. I'd originally intended to make separate topic-based pull requests - one for libnvdimm, and one for DAX, but some of the DAX material fell out since it wasn't quite ready. Summary: - add 'Runtime Firmware Activation' support for NVDIMMs that advertise the relevant capability - misc libnvdimm and DAX cleanups" * tag 'libnvdimm-for-5.9' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm: libnvdimm/security: ensure sysfs poll thread woke up and fetch updated attr libnvdimm/security: the 'security' attr never show 'overwrite' state libnvdimm/security: fix a typo ACPI: NFIT: Fix ARS zero-sized allocation dax: Fix incorrect argument passed to xas_set_err() ACPI: NFIT: Add runtime firmware activate support PM, libnvdimm: Add runtime firmware activation support libnvdimm: Convert to DEVICE_ATTR_ADMIN_RO() drivers/dax: Expand lock scope to cover the use of addresses fs/dax: Remove unused size parameter dax: print error message by pr_info() in __generic_fsdax_supported() driver-core: Introduce DEVICE_ATTR_ADMIN_{RO,RW} tools/testing/nvdimm: Emulate firmware activation commands tools/testing/nvdimm: Prepare nfit_ctl_test() for ND_CMD_CALL emulation tools/testing/nvdimm: Add command debug messages tools/testing/nvdimm: Cleanup dimm index passing ACPI: NFIT: Define runtime firmware activation commands ACPI: NFIT: Move bus_dsm_mask out of generic nvdimm_bus_descriptor libnvdimm: Validate command family indices
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm/firmware-activate.rst86
1 files changed, 86 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm/firmware-activate.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm/firmware-activate.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7ee7decbbdc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/nvdimm/firmware-activate.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+==================================
+NVDIMM Runtime Firmware Activation
+==================================
+
+Some persistent memory devices run a firmware locally on the device /
+"DIMM" to perform tasks like media management, capacity provisioning,
+and health monitoring. The process of updating that firmware typically
+involves a reboot because it has implications for in-flight memory
+transactions. However, reboots are disruptive and at least the Intel
+persistent memory platform implementation, described by the Intel ACPI
+DSM specification [1], has added support for activating firmware at
+runtime.
+
+A native sysfs interface is implemented in libnvdimm to allow platform
+to advertise and control their local runtime firmware activation
+capability.
+
+The libnvdimm bus object, ndbusX, implements an ndbusX/firmware/activate
+attribute that shows the state of the firmware activation as one of 'idle',
+'armed', 'overflow', and 'busy'.
+
+- idle:
+ No devices are set / armed to activate firmware
+
+- armed:
+ At least one device is armed
+
+- busy:
+ In the busy state armed devices are in the process of transitioning
+ back to idle and completing an activation cycle.
+
+- overflow:
+ If the platform has a concept of incremental work needed to perform
+ the activation it could be the case that too many DIMMs are armed for
+ activation. In that scenario the potential for firmware activation to
+ timeout is indicated by the 'overflow' state.
+
+The 'ndbusX/firmware/activate' property can be written with a value of
+either 'live', or 'quiesce'. A value of 'quiesce' triggers the kernel to
+run firmware activation from within the equivalent of the hibernation
+'freeze' state where drivers and applications are notified to stop their
+modifications of system memory. A value of 'live' attempts
+firmware activation without this hibernation cycle. The
+'ndbusX/firmware/activate' property will be elided completely if no
+firmware activation capability is detected.
+
+Another property 'ndbusX/firmware/capability' indicates a value of
+'live' or 'quiesce', where 'live' indicates that the firmware
+does not require or inflict any quiesce period on the system to update
+firmware. A capability value of 'quiesce' indicates that firmware does
+expect and injects a quiet period for the memory controller, but 'live'
+may still be written to 'ndbusX/firmware/activate' as an override to
+assume the risk of racing firmware update with in-flight device and
+application activity. The 'ndbusX/firmware/capability' property will be
+elided completely if no firmware activation capability is detected.
+
+The libnvdimm memory-device / DIMM object, nmemX, implements
+'nmemX/firmware/activate' and 'nmemX/firmware/result' attributes to
+communicate the per-device firmware activation state. Similar to the
+'ndbusX/firmware/activate' attribute, the 'nmemX/firmware/activate'
+attribute indicates 'idle', 'armed', or 'busy'. The state transitions
+from 'armed' to 'idle' when the system is prepared to activate firmware,
+firmware staged + state set to armed, and 'ndbusX/firmware/activate' is
+triggered. After that activation event the nmemX/firmware/result
+attribute reflects the state of the last activation as one of:
+
+- none:
+ No runtime activation triggered since the last time the device was reset
+
+- success:
+ The last runtime activation completed successfully.
+
+- fail:
+ The last runtime activation failed for device-specific reasons.
+
+- not_staged:
+ The last runtime activation failed due to a sequencing error of the
+ firmware image not being staged.
+
+- need_reset:
+ Runtime firmware activation failed, but the firmware can still be
+ activated via the legacy method of power-cycling the system.
+
+[1]: https://docs.pmem.io/persistent-memory/