DA(4) BSD Kernel Interfaces Manual DA(4)NAME
da — SCSI Direct Access device driver
SYNOPSIS
device da
DESCRIPTION
The da driver provides support for all SCSI devices of the direct access
class that are attached to the system through a supported SCSI Host
Adapter. The direct access class includes disk, magneto-optical, and
solid-state devices.
A SCSI Host adapter must also be separately configured into the system
before a SCSI direct access device can be configured.
CACHE EFFECTS
Many direct access devices are equipped with read and/or write caches.
Parameters affecting the device's cache are stored in mode page 8, the
caching control page. Mode pages can be examined and modified via the
camcontrol(8) utility.
The read cache is used to store data from device-initiated read ahead
operations as well as frequently used data. The read cache is transpar‐
ent to the user and can be enabled without any adverse effect. Most
devices with a read cache come from the factory with it enabled. The
read cache can be disabled by setting the RCD (Read Cache Disable) bit in
the caching control mode page.
The write cache can greatly decrease the latency of write operations and
allows the device to reorganize writes to increase efficiency and perfor‐
mance. This performance gain comes at a price. Should the device lose
power while its cache contains uncommitted write operations, these writes
will be lost. The effect of a loss of write transactions on a file sys‐
tem is non-deterministic and can cause corruption. Most devices age
write transactions to limit vulnerability to a few transactions recently
reported as complete, but it is none-the-less recommended that systems
with write cache enabled devices reside on an Uninterruptible Power Sup‐
ply (UPS). The da device driver ensures that the cache and media are
synchronized upon final close of the device or an unexpected shutdown
(panic) event. This ensures that it is safe to disconnect power once the
operating system has reported that it has halted. The write cache can be
enabled by setting the WCE (Write Cache Enable) bit in the caching con‐
trol mode page.
TAGGED QUEUING
The da device driver will take full advantage of the SCSI feature known
as tagged queueing. Tagged queueing allows the device to process multi‐
ple transactions concurrently, often re-ordering them to reduce the num‐
ber and length of seeks. To ensure that transactions to distant portions
of the media, which may be deferred indefinitely by servicing requests
nearer the current head position, are completed in a timely fashion, an
ordered tagged transaction is sent every 15 seconds during continuous
device operation.
BAD BLOCK RECOVERY
Direct Access devices have the capability of mapping out portions of
defective media. Media recovery parameters are located in mode page 1,
the Read-Write Error Recovery mode page. The most important media remap‐
ping features are 'Auto Write Reallocation' and 'Auto Read Reallocation'
which can be enabled via the AWRE and ARRE bits, respectively, of the
Read-Write Error Recovery page. Many devices do not ship from the fac‐
tory with these feature enabled. Mode pages can be examined and modified
via the camcontrol(8) utility.
KERNEL CONFIGURATION
It is only necessary to explicitly configure one da device; data struc‐
tures are dynamically allocated as disks are found on the SCSI bus.
SYSCTL VARIABLES
The following variables are available as both sysctl(8) variables and
loader(8) tunables:
kern.cam.da.retry_count
This variable determines how many times the da driver will retry a
READ or WRITE command. This does not affect the number of retries
used during probe time or for the da driver dump routine. This value
currently defaults to 4.
kern.cam.da.default_timeout
This variable determines how long the da driver will wait before tim‐
ing out an outstanding command. The units for this value are sec‐
onds, and the default is currently 60 seconds.
kern.cam.da.%d.minimum_cmd_size
This variable determines what the minimum READ/WRITE CDB size is for
a given da unit. (The %d above denotes the unit number of the da
driver instance, e.g. 1, 2, 4, 8, etc.) Valid minimum command size
values are 6, 10, 12 and 16 bytes. The default is 6 bytes.
The da driver issues a CAM Path Inquiry CCB at probe time to deter‐
mine whether the protocol the device in question speaks (e.g. ATAPI)
typically does not allow 6 byte commands. If it does not, the da
driver will default to using at least 10 byte CDBs. If a 6 byte READ
or WRITE fails with an ILLEGAL REQUEST error, the da driver will then
increase the default CDB size for the device to 10 bytes and retry
the command. CDB size is always chosen as the smallest READ/WRITE
CDB that will satisfy the specified minimum command size, and the LBA
and length of the READ or WRITE in question. (e.g., a write to an
LBA larger than 2^32 will require a 16 byte CDB.)
NOTES
If a device becomes invalidated (media is removed, device becomes unre‐
sponsive) the disklabel and information held within the kernel about the
device will be invalidated. To avoid corruption of a newly inserted
piece of media or a replacement device, all accesses to the device will
be discarded until the last file descriptor referencing the old device is
closed. During this period, all new open attempts will be rejected.
FILES
/dev/da* SCSI disk device nodes
DIAGNOSTICS
None.
SEE ALSOad(4), cam(4), geom(4), bsdlabel(8), fdisk(8)HISTORY
The da driver was written for the CAM SCSI subsystem by Justin T. Gibbs.
Many ideas were gleaned from the sd device driver written and ported from
Mach 2.5 by Julian Elischer.
BSD September 2, 2003 BSD
