[lvm-devel] [PATCH 20/35] Before committing each mda, arrange mdas so ignored mdas get committed first.

[Dave Wysochanski]

Arrange mdas so mdas that are to be ignored come first.  This is an
optimization that ensures consistency on disk for the longest period of time.
This was noted by agk in review of the v4 patchset of pvchange-based mda
balance.

Note the following example for an explanation of the background:
Assume the initial state on disk is as follows:
PV0 (v1, non-ignored)
PV1 (v1, non-ignored)
PV2 (v1, non-ignored)
PV3 (v1, non-ignored)

If we did not sort the list, we would have a commit sequence something like
this:
PV0 (v2, non-ignored)
PV1 (v2, ignored)
PV2 (v2, ignored)
PV3 (v2, non-ignored)

After the commit of PV0's mdas, we'd have an on-disk state like this:
PV0 (v2, non-ignored)
PV1 (v1, non-ignored)
PV2 (v1, non-ignored)
PV3 (v1, non-ignored)

This is an inconsistent state of the disk. If the machine fails, the next
time it was brought back up, the auto-correct mechanism in vg_read would
update the metadata on PV1-PV3.  However, if possible we try to avoid
inconsistent on-disk states.  Clearly, because we did not sort, we have
a greater chance of on-disk inconsistency - from the time the commit of
PV0 is complete until the time PV3 is complete.

We could improve the amount of time the on-disk state is consistent by simply
sorting the commit order as follows:
PV1 (v2, ignored)
PV2 (v2, ignored)
PV0 (v2, non-ignored)
PV3 (v2, non-ignored)

Thus, after the first PV is committed (in this case PV1), on-disk we would
have:
PV0 (v1, non-ignored)
PV1 (v2, ignored)
PV2 (v1, non-ignored)
PV3 (v1, non-ignored)

This is clearly a consistent state.  PV1 will be read but the mda will be
ignored.  All other PVs contain v1 metadata, and no auto-correct will be
required.  In fact, if we commit all PVs with ignored mdas first, we'll
only have an inconsistent state when we start writing non-ignored PVs,
and thus the chances we'll get an inconsistent state on disk is much
less with the sorted method.

Signed-off-by: Dave Wysochanski <dwysocha at redhat.com>
---
 lib/metadata/metadata.c |   13 ++++++++++++-
 1 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/metadata/metadata.c b/lib/metadata/metadata.c
index 304522d..51356b9 100644
--- a/lib/metadata/metadata.c
+++ b/lib/metadata/metadata.c
@@ -2426,10 +2426,21 @@ int vg_write(struct volume_group *vg)
 
 static int _vg_commit_mdas(struct volume_group *vg)
 {
-	struct metadata_area *mda;
+	struct metadata_area *mda, *tmda;
+	struct dm_list ignored;
 	int failed = 0;
 	int cache_updated = 0;
 
+	/* Rearrange the metadata_areas list so ignored mdas come first */
+	dm_list_init(&ignored);
+	dm_list_iterate_items_safe(mda, tmda, &vg->fid->metadata_areas) {
+		if (mda_is_ignored(mda))
+			dm_list_move(&ignored, &mda->list);
+	}
+	dm_list_iterate_items_safe(mda, tmda, &ignored) {
+		dm_list_move(&vg->fid->metadata_areas, &mda->list);
+	}
+
 	/* Commit to each copy of the metadata area */
 	dm_list_iterate_items(mda, &vg->fid->metadata_areas) {
 		failed = 0;
-- 
1.6.0.6