aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/docs/qemu-block-drivers.texi
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorSam Eiderman <shmuel.eiderman@oracle.com>2019-06-20 12:10:57 +0300
committerMax Reitz <mreitz@redhat.com>2019-06-24 15:53:02 +0200
commit98eb9733f4cf2eeab6d12db7e758665d2fd5367b (patch)
tree0d490098f813bbe1fe129f09fccf1d57be90fa19 /docs/qemu-block-drivers.texi
parent59d6ee485020fdc45cb0f9f748d8b8850fad9f8c (diff)
downloadqemu-98eb9733f4cf2eeab6d12db7e758665d2fd5367b.zip
qemu-98eb9733f4cf2eeab6d12db7e758665d2fd5367b.tar.gz
qemu-98eb9733f4cf2eeab6d12db7e758665d2fd5367b.tar.bz2
vmdk: Add read-only support for seSparse snapshots
Until ESXi 6.5 VMware used the vmfsSparse format for snapshots (VMDK3 in QEMU). This format was lacking in the following: * Grain directory (L1) and grain table (L2) entries were 32-bit, allowing access to only 2TB (slightly less) of data. * The grain size (default) was 512 bytes - leading to data fragmentation and many grain tables. * For space reclamation purposes, it was necessary to find all the grains which are not pointed to by any grain table - so a reverse mapping of "offset of grain in vmdk" to "grain table" must be constructed - which takes large amounts of CPU/RAM. The format specification can be found in VMware's documentation: https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vddk/vmdk_50_technote.pdf In ESXi 6.5, to support snapshot files larger than 2TB, a new format was introduced: SESparse (Space Efficient). This format fixes the above issues: * All entries are now 64-bit. * The grain size (default) is 4KB. * Grain directory and grain tables are now located at the beginning of the file. + seSparse format reserves space for all grain tables. + Grain tables can be addressed using an index. + Grains are located in the end of the file and can also be addressed with an index. - seSparse vmdks of large disks (64TB) have huge preallocated headers - mainly due to L2 tables, even for empty snapshots. * The header contains a reverse mapping ("backmap") of "offset of grain in vmdk" to "grain table" and a bitmap ("free bitmap") which specifies for each grain - whether it is allocated or not. Using these data structures we can implement space reclamation efficiently. * Due to the fact that the header now maintains two mappings: * The regular one (grain directory & grain tables) * A reverse one (backmap and free bitmap) These data structures can lose consistency upon crash and result in a corrupted VMDK. Therefore, a journal is also added to the VMDK and is replayed when the VMware reopens the file after a crash. Since ESXi 6.7 - SESparse is the only snapshot format available. Unfortunately, VMware does not provide documentation regarding the new seSparse format. This commit is based on black-box research of the seSparse format. Various in-guest block operations and their effect on the snapshot file were tested. The only VMware provided source of information (regarding the underlying implementation) was a log file on the ESXi: /var/log/hostd.log Whenever an seSparse snapshot is created - the log is being populated with seSparse records. Relevant log records are of the form: [...] Const Header: [...] constMagic = 0xcafebabe [...] version = 2.1 [...] capacity = 204800 [...] grainSize = 8 [...] grainTableSize = 64 [...] flags = 0 [...] Extents: [...] Header : <1 : 1> [...] JournalHdr : <2 : 2> [...] Journal : <2048 : 2048> [...] GrainDirectory : <4096 : 2048> [...] GrainTables : <6144 : 2048> [...] FreeBitmap : <8192 : 2048> [...] BackMap : <10240 : 2048> [...] Grain : <12288 : 204800> [...] Volatile Header: [...] volatileMagic = 0xcafecafe [...] FreeGTNumber = 0 [...] nextTxnSeqNumber = 0 [...] replayJournal = 0 The sizes that are seen in the log file are in sectors. Extents are of the following format: <offset : size> This commit is a strict implementation which enforces: * magics * version number 2.1 * grain size of 8 sectors (4KB) * grain table size of 64 sectors * zero flags * extent locations Additionally, this commit proivdes only a subset of the functionality offered by seSparse's format: * Read-only * No journal replay * No space reclamation * No unmap support Hence, journal header, journal, free bitmap and backmap extents are unused, only the "classic" (L1 -> L2 -> data) grain access is implemented. However there are several differences in the grain access itself. Grain directory (L1): * Grain directory entries are indexes (not offsets) to grain tables. * Valid grain directory entries have their highest nibble set to 0x1. * Since grain tables are always located in the beginning of the file - the index can fit into 32 bits - so we can use its low part if it's valid. Grain table (L2): * Grain table entries are indexes (not offsets) to grains. * If the highest nibble of the entry is: 0x0: The grain in not allocated. The rest of the bytes are 0. 0x1: The grain is unmapped - guest sees a zero grain. The rest of the bits point to the previously mapped grain, see 0x3 case. 0x2: The grain is zero. 0x3: The grain is allocated - to get the index calculate: ((entry & 0x0fff000000000000) >> 48) | ((entry & 0x0000ffffffffffff) << 12) * The difference between 0x1 and 0x2 is that 0x1 is an unallocated grain which results from the guest using sg_unmap to unmap the grain - but the grain itself still exists in the grain extent - a space reclamation procedure should delete it. Unmapping a zero grain has no effect (0x2 will not change to 0x1) but unmapping an unallocated grain will (0x0 to 0x1) - naturally. In order to implement seSparse some fields had to be changed to support both 32-bit and 64-bit entry sizes. Reviewed-by: Karl Heubaum <karl.heubaum@oracle.com> Reviewed-by: Eyal Moscovici <eyal.moscovici@oracle.com> Reviewed-by: Arbel Moshe <arbel.moshe@oracle.com> Signed-off-by: Sam Eiderman <shmuel.eiderman@oracle.com> Message-id: 20190620091057.47441-4-shmuel.eiderman@oracle.com Signed-off-by: Max Reitz <mreitz@redhat.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/qemu-block-drivers.texi')
0 files changed, 0 insertions, 0 deletions