block: Export I/O topology for block devices and partitions

To support devices with physical block sizes bigger than 512 bytes we
need to ensure proper alignment.  This patch adds support for exposing
I/O topology characteristics as devices are stacked.

  logical_block_size is the smallest unit the device can address.

  physical_block_size indicates the smallest I/O the device can write
  without incurring a read-modify-write penalty.

  The io_min parameter is the smallest preferred I/O size reported by
  the device.  In many cases this is the same as the physical block
  size.  However, the io_min parameter can be scaled up when stacking
  (RAID5 chunk size > physical block size).

  The io_opt characteristic indicates the optimal I/O size reported by
  the device.  This is usually the stripe width for arrays.

  The alignment_offset parameter indicates the number of bytes the start
  of the device/partition is offset from the device's natural alignment.
  Partition tools and MD/DM utilities can use this to pad their offsets
  so filesystems start on proper boundaries.

Signed-off-by: Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@oracle.com>

1 files changed, 59 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block
index 44f52a4f5903..cbbd3e069945 100644
--- a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block
+++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block
@@ -60,3 +60,62 @@ Description:
 		Indicates whether the block layer should automatically
 		generate checksums for write requests bound for
 		devices that support receiving integrity metadata.
+
+What:		/sys/block/<disk>/alignment_offset
+Date:		April 2009
+Contact:	Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
+Description:
+		Storage devices may report a physical block size that is
+		bigger than the logical block size (for instance a drive
+		with 4KB physical sectors exposing 512-byte logical
+		blocks to the operating system).  This parameter
+		indicates how many bytes the beginning of the device is
+		offset from the disk's natural alignment.
+
+What:		/sys/block/<disk>/<partition>/alignment_offset
+Date:		April 2009
+Contact:	Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
+Description:
+		Storage devices may report a physical block size that is
+		bigger than the logical block size (for instance a drive
+		with 4KB physical sectors exposing 512-byte logical
+		blocks to the operating system).  This parameter
+		indicates how many bytes the beginning of the partition
+		is offset from the disk's natural alignment.
+
+What:		/sys/block/<disk>/queue/logical_block_size
+Date:		May 2009
+Contact:	Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
+Description:
+		This is the smallest unit the storage device can
+		address.  It is typically 512 bytes.
+
+What:		/sys/block/<disk>/queue/physical_block_size
+Date:		May 2009
+Contact:	Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
+Description:
+		This is the smallest unit the storage device can write
+		without resorting to read-modify-write operation.  It is
+		usually the same as the logical block size but may be
+		bigger.  One example is SATA drives with 4KB sectors
+		that expose a 512-byte logical block size to the
+		operating system.
+
+What:		/sys/block/<disk>/queue/minimum_io_size
+Date:		April 2009
+Contact:	Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
+Description:
+		Storage devices may report a preferred minimum I/O size,
+		which is the smallest request the device can perform
+		without incurring a read-modify-write penalty.  For disk
+		drives this is often the physical block size.  For RAID
+		arrays it is often the stripe chunk size.
+
+What:		/sys/block/<disk>/queue/optimal_io_size
+Date:		April 2009
+Contact:	Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com>
+Description:
+		Storage devices may report an optimal I/O size, which is
+		the device's preferred unit of receiving I/O.  This is
+		rarely reported for disk drives.  For RAID devices it is
+		usually the stripe width or the internal block size.