raid5-ppl: PPL support for disks with write-back cache enabled

In order to provide data consistency with PPL for disks with write-back
cache enabled all data has to be flushed to disks before next PPL
entry. The disks to be flushed are marked in the bitmap. It's modified
under a mutex and it's only read after PPL io unit is submitted.

A limitation of 64 disks in the array has been introduced to keep data
structures and implementation simple. RAID5 arrays with so many disks are
not likely due to high risk of multiple disks failure. Such restriction
should not be a real life limitation.

With write-back cache disabled next PPL entry is submitted when data write
for current one completes. Data flush defers next log submission so trigger
it when there are no stripes for handling found.

As PPL assures all data is flushed to disk at request completion, just
acknowledge flush request when PPL is enabled.

Signed-off-by: Tomasz Majchrzak <tomasz.majchrzak@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Shaohua Li <sh.li@alibaba-inc.com>

1 files changed, 4 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt b/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt
index 127072b..bfa0925 100644
--- a/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt
+++ b/Documentation/md/raid5-ppl.txt
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ case the behavior is the same as in plain raid5.
 PPL is available for md version-1 metadata and external (specifically IMSM)
 metadata arrays. It can be enabled using mdadm option --consistency-policy=ppl.
 
-Currently, volatile write-back cache should be disabled on all member drives
-when using PPL. Otherwise it cannot guarantee consistency in case of power
-failure.
+There is a limitation of maximum 64 disks in the array for PPL. It allows to
+keep data structures and implementation simple. RAID5 arrays with so many disks
+are not likely due to high risk of multiple disks failure. Such restriction
+should not be a real life limitation.