|  | 
 |                        PCI Error Recovery | 
 |                        ------------------ | 
 |                         February 2, 2006 | 
 |  | 
 |                  Current document maintainer: | 
 |              Linas Vepstas <linas@austin.ibm.com> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Many PCI bus controllers are able to detect a variety of hardware | 
 | PCI errors on the bus, such as parity errors on the data and address | 
 | busses, as well as SERR and PERR errors.  Some of the more advanced | 
 | chipsets are able to deal with these errors; these include PCI-E chipsets, | 
 | and the PCI-host bridges found on IBM Power4 and Power5-based pSeries | 
 | boxes. A typical action taken is to disconnect the affected device, | 
 | halting all I/O to it.  The goal of a disconnection is to avoid system | 
 | corruption; for example, to halt system memory corruption due to DMA's | 
 | to "wild" addresses. Typically, a reconnection mechanism is also | 
 | offered, so that the affected PCI device(s) are reset and put back | 
 | into working condition. The reset phase requires coordination | 
 | between the affected device drivers and the PCI controller chip. | 
 | This document describes a generic API for notifying device drivers | 
 | of a bus disconnection, and then performing error recovery. | 
 | This API is currently implemented in the 2.6.16 and later kernels. | 
 |  | 
 | Reporting and recovery is performed in several steps. First, when | 
 | a PCI hardware error has resulted in a bus disconnect, that event | 
 | is reported as soon as possible to all affected device drivers, | 
 | including multiple instances of a device driver on multi-function | 
 | cards. This allows device drivers to avoid deadlocking in spinloops, | 
 | waiting for some i/o-space register to change, when it never will. | 
 | It also gives the drivers a chance to defer incoming I/O as | 
 | needed. | 
 |  | 
 | Next, recovery is performed in several stages. Most of the complexity | 
 | is forced by the need to handle multi-function devices, that is, | 
 | devices that have multiple device drivers associated with them. | 
 | In the first stage, each driver is allowed to indicate what type | 
 | of reset it desires, the choices being a simple re-enabling of I/O | 
 | or requesting a hard reset (a full electrical #RST of the PCI card). | 
 | If any driver requests a full reset, that is what will be done. | 
 |  | 
 | After a full reset and/or a re-enabling of I/O, all drivers are | 
 | again notified, so that they may then perform any device setup/config | 
 | that may be required.  After these have all completed, a final | 
 | "resume normal operations" event is sent out. | 
 |  | 
 | The biggest reason for choosing a kernel-based implementation rather | 
 | than a user-space implementation was the need to deal with bus | 
 | disconnects of PCI devices attached to storage media, and, in particular, | 
 | disconnects from devices holding the root file system.  If the root | 
 | file system is disconnected, a user-space mechanism would have to go | 
 | through a large number of contortions to complete recovery. Almost all | 
 | of the current Linux file systems are not tolerant of disconnection | 
 | from/reconnection to their underlying block device. By contrast, | 
 | bus errors are easy to manage in the device driver. Indeed, most | 
 | device drivers already handle very similar recovery procedures; | 
 | for example, the SCSI-generic layer already provides significant | 
 | mechanisms for dealing with SCSI bus errors and SCSI bus resets. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Detailed Design | 
 | --------------- | 
 | Design and implementation details below, based on a chain of | 
 | public email discussions with Ben Herrenschmidt, circa 5 April 2005. | 
 |  | 
 | The error recovery API support is exposed to the driver in the form of | 
 | a structure of function pointers pointed to by a new field in struct | 
 | pci_driver. A driver that fails to provide the structure is "non-aware", | 
 | and the actual recovery steps taken are platform dependent.  The | 
 | arch/powerpc implementation will simulate a PCI hotplug remove/add. | 
 |  | 
 | This structure has the form: | 
 | struct pci_error_handlers | 
 | { | 
 | 	int (*error_detected)(struct pci_dev *dev, enum pci_channel_state); | 
 | 	int (*mmio_enabled)(struct pci_dev *dev); | 
 | 	int (*link_reset)(struct pci_dev *dev); | 
 | 	int (*slot_reset)(struct pci_dev *dev); | 
 | 	void (*resume)(struct pci_dev *dev); | 
 | }; | 
 |  | 
 | The possible channel states are: | 
 | enum pci_channel_state { | 
 | 	pci_channel_io_normal,  /* I/O channel is in normal state */ | 
 | 	pci_channel_io_frozen,  /* I/O to channel is blocked */ | 
 | 	pci_channel_io_perm_failure, /* PCI card is dead */ | 
 | }; | 
 |  | 
 | Possible return values are: | 
 | enum pci_ers_result { | 
 | 	PCI_ERS_RESULT_NONE,        /* no result/none/not supported in device driver */ | 
 | 	PCI_ERS_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER, /* Device driver can recover without slot reset */ | 
 | 	PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET,  /* Device driver wants slot to be reset. */ | 
 | 	PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT,  /* Device has completely failed, is unrecoverable */ | 
 | 	PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED,   /* Device driver is fully recovered and operational */ | 
 | }; | 
 |  | 
 | A driver does not have to implement all of these callbacks; however, | 
 | if it implements any, it must implement error_detected(). If a callback | 
 | is not implemented, the corresponding feature is considered unsupported. | 
 | For example, if mmio_enabled() and resume() aren't there, then it | 
 | is assumed that the driver is not doing any direct recovery and requires | 
 | a reset. If link_reset() is not implemented, the card is assumed as | 
 | not care about link resets. Typically a driver will want to know about | 
 | a slot_reset(). | 
 |  | 
 | The actual steps taken by a platform to recover from a PCI error | 
 | event will be platform-dependent, but will follow the general | 
 | sequence described below. | 
 |  | 
 | STEP 0: Error Event | 
 | ------------------- | 
 | PCI bus error is detect by the PCI hardware.  On powerpc, the slot | 
 | is isolated, in that all I/O is blocked: all reads return 0xffffffff, | 
 | all writes are ignored. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | STEP 1: Notification | 
 | -------------------- | 
 | Platform calls the error_detected() callback on every instance of | 
 | every driver affected by the error. | 
 |  | 
 | At this point, the device might not be accessible anymore, depending on | 
 | the platform (the slot will be isolated on powerpc). The driver may | 
 | already have "noticed" the error because of a failing I/O, but this | 
 | is the proper "synchronization point", that is, it gives the driver | 
 | a chance to cleanup, waiting for pending stuff (timers, whatever, etc...) | 
 | to complete; it can take semaphores, schedule, etc... everything but | 
 | touch the device. Within this function and after it returns, the driver | 
 | shouldn't do any new IOs. Called in task context. This is sort of a | 
 | "quiesce" point. See note about interrupts at the end of this doc. | 
 |  | 
 | All drivers participating in this system must implement this call. | 
 | The driver must return one of the following result codes: | 
 | 		- PCI_ERS_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER: | 
 | 		  Driver returns this if it thinks it might be able to recover | 
 | 		  the HW by just banging IOs or if it wants to be given | 
 | 		  a chance to extract some diagnostic information (see | 
 | 		  mmio_enable, below). | 
 | 		- PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET: | 
 | 		  Driver returns this if it can't recover without a hard | 
 | 		  slot reset. | 
 | 		- PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT: | 
 | 		  Driver returns this if it doesn't want to recover at all. | 
 |  | 
 | The next step taken will depend on the result codes returned by the | 
 | drivers. | 
 |  | 
 | If all drivers on the segment/slot return PCI_ERS_RESULT_CAN_RECOVER, | 
 | then the platform should re-enable IOs on the slot (or do nothing in | 
 | particular, if the platform doesn't isolate slots), and recovery | 
 | proceeds to STEP 2 (MMIO Enable). | 
 |  | 
 | If any driver requested a slot reset (by returning PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET), | 
 | then recovery proceeds to STEP 4 (Slot Reset). | 
 |  | 
 | If the platform is unable to recover the slot, the next step | 
 | is STEP 6 (Permanent Failure). | 
 |  | 
 | >>> The current powerpc implementation assumes that a device driver will | 
 | >>> *not* schedule or semaphore in this routine; the current powerpc | 
 | >>> implementation uses one kernel thread to notify all devices; | 
 | >>> thus, if one device sleeps/schedules, all devices are affected. | 
 | >>> Doing better requires complex multi-threaded logic in the error | 
 | >>> recovery implementation (e.g. waiting for all notification threads | 
 | >>> to "join" before proceeding with recovery.)  This seems excessively | 
 | >>> complex and not worth implementing. | 
 |  | 
 | >>> The current powerpc implementation doesn't much care if the device | 
 | >>> attempts I/O at this point, or not.  I/O's will fail, returning | 
 | >>> a value of 0xff on read, and writes will be dropped. If the device | 
 | >>> driver attempts more than 10K I/O's to a frozen adapter, it will | 
 | >>> assume that the device driver has gone into an infinite loop, and | 
 | >>> it will panic the the kernel. There doesn't seem to be any other | 
 | >>> way of stopping a device driver that insists on spinning on I/O. | 
 |  | 
 | STEP 2: MMIO Enabled | 
 | ------------------- | 
 | The platform re-enables MMIO to the device (but typically not the | 
 | DMA), and then calls the mmio_enabled() callback on all affected | 
 | device drivers. | 
 |  | 
 | This is the "early recovery" call. IOs are allowed again, but DMA is | 
 | not (hrm... to be discussed, I prefer not), with some restrictions. This | 
 | is NOT a callback for the driver to start operations again, only to | 
 | peek/poke at the device, extract diagnostic information, if any, and | 
 | eventually do things like trigger a device local reset or some such, | 
 | but not restart operations. This is callback is made if all drivers on | 
 | a segment agree that they can try to recover and if no automatic link reset | 
 | was performed by the HW. If the platform can't just re-enable IOs without | 
 | a slot reset or a link reset, it wont call this callback, and instead | 
 | will have gone directly to STEP 3 (Link Reset) or STEP 4 (Slot Reset) | 
 |  | 
 | >>> The following is proposed; no platform implements this yet: | 
 | >>> Proposal: All I/O's should be done _synchronously_ from within | 
 | >>> this callback, errors triggered by them will be returned via | 
 | >>> the normal pci_check_whatever() API, no new error_detected() | 
 | >>> callback will be issued due to an error happening here. However, | 
 | >>> such an error might cause IOs to be re-blocked for the whole | 
 | >>> segment, and thus invalidate the recovery that other devices | 
 | >>> on the same segment might have done, forcing the whole segment | 
 | >>> into one of the next states, that is, link reset or slot reset. | 
 |  | 
 | The driver should return one of the following result codes: | 
 | 		- PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED | 
 | 		  Driver returns this if it thinks the device is fully | 
 | 		  functional and thinks it is ready to start | 
 | 		  normal driver operations again. There is no | 
 | 		  guarantee that the driver will actually be | 
 | 		  allowed to proceed, as another driver on the | 
 | 		  same segment might have failed and thus triggered a | 
 | 		  slot reset on platforms that support it. | 
 |  | 
 | 		- PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET | 
 | 		  Driver returns this if it thinks the device is not | 
 | 		  recoverable in it's current state and it needs a slot | 
 | 		  reset to proceed. | 
 |  | 
 | 		- PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT | 
 | 		  Same as above. Total failure, no recovery even after | 
 | 		  reset driver dead. (To be defined more precisely) | 
 |  | 
 | The next step taken depends on the results returned by the drivers. | 
 | If all drivers returned PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED, then the platform | 
 | proceeds to either STEP3 (Link Reset) or to STEP 5 (Resume Operations). | 
 |  | 
 | If any driver returned PCI_ERS_RESULT_NEED_RESET, then the platform | 
 | proceeds to STEP 4 (Slot Reset) | 
 |  | 
 | >>> The current powerpc implementation does not implement this callback. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | STEP 3: Link Reset | 
 | ------------------ | 
 | The platform resets the link, and then calls the link_reset() callback | 
 | on all affected device drivers.  This is a PCI-Express specific state | 
 | and is done whenever a non-fatal error has been detected that can be | 
 | "solved" by resetting the link. This call informs the driver of the | 
 | reset and the driver should check to see if the device appears to be | 
 | in working condition. | 
 |  | 
 | The driver is not supposed to restart normal driver I/O operations | 
 | at this point.  It should limit itself to "probing" the device to | 
 | check it's recoverability status. If all is right, then the platform | 
 | will call resume() once all drivers have ack'd link_reset(). | 
 |  | 
 | 	Result codes: | 
 | 		(identical to STEP 3 (MMIO Enabled) | 
 |  | 
 | The platform then proceeds to either STEP 4 (Slot Reset) or STEP 5 | 
 | (Resume Operations). | 
 |  | 
 | >>> The current powerpc implementation does not implement this callback. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | STEP 4: Slot Reset | 
 | ------------------ | 
 | The platform performs a soft or hard reset of the device, and then | 
 | calls the slot_reset() callback. | 
 |  | 
 | A soft reset consists of asserting the adapter #RST line and then | 
 | restoring the PCI BAR's and PCI configuration header to a state | 
 | that is equivalent to what it would be after a fresh system | 
 | power-on followed by power-on BIOS/system firmware initialization. | 
 | If the platform supports PCI hotplug, then the reset might be | 
 | performed by toggling the slot electrical power off/on. | 
 |  | 
 | It is important for the platform to restore the PCI config space | 
 | to the "fresh poweron" state, rather than the "last state". After | 
 | a slot reset, the device driver will almost always use its standard | 
 | device initialization routines, and an unusual config space setup | 
 | may result in hung devices, kernel panics, or silent data corruption. | 
 |  | 
 | This call gives drivers the chance to re-initialize the hardware | 
 | (re-download firmware, etc.).  At this point, the driver may assume | 
 | that he card is in a fresh state and is fully functional. In | 
 | particular, interrupt generation should work normally. | 
 |  | 
 | Drivers should not yet restart normal I/O processing operations | 
 | at this point.  If all device drivers report success on this | 
 | callback, the platform will call resume() to complete the sequence, | 
 | and let the driver restart normal I/O processing. | 
 |  | 
 | A driver can still return a critical failure for this function if | 
 | it can't get the device operational after reset.  If the platform | 
 | previously tried a soft reset, it might now try a hard reset (power | 
 | cycle) and then call slot_reset() again.  It the device still can't | 
 | be recovered, there is nothing more that can be done;  the platform | 
 | will typically report a "permanent failure" in such a case.  The | 
 | device will be considered "dead" in this case. | 
 |  | 
 | Drivers for multi-function cards will need to coordinate among | 
 | themselves as to which driver instance will perform any "one-shot" | 
 | or global device initialization. For example, the Symbios sym53cxx2 | 
 | driver performs device init only from PCI function 0: | 
 |  | 
 | +       if (PCI_FUNC(pdev->devfn) == 0) | 
 | +               sym_reset_scsi_bus(np, 0); | 
 |  | 
 | 	Result codes: | 
 | 		- PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT | 
 | 		Same as above. | 
 |  | 
 | Platform proceeds either to STEP 5 (Resume Operations) or STEP 6 (Permanent | 
 | Failure). | 
 |  | 
 | >>> The current powerpc implementation does not currently try a | 
 | >>> power-cycle reset if the driver returned PCI_ERS_RESULT_DISCONNECT. | 
 | >>> However, it probably should. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | STEP 5: Resume Operations | 
 | ------------------------- | 
 | The platform will call the resume() callback on all affected device | 
 | drivers if all drivers on the segment have returned | 
 | PCI_ERS_RESULT_RECOVERED from one of the 3 previous callbacks. | 
 | The goal of this callback is to tell the driver to restart activity, | 
 | that everything is back and running. This callback does not return | 
 | a result code. | 
 |  | 
 | At this point, if a new error happens, the platform will restart | 
 | a new error recovery sequence. | 
 |  | 
 | STEP 6: Permanent Failure | 
 | ------------------------- | 
 | A "permanent failure" has occurred, and the platform cannot recover | 
 | the device.  The platform will call error_detected() with a | 
 | pci_channel_state value of pci_channel_io_perm_failure. | 
 |  | 
 | The device driver should, at this point, assume the worst. It should | 
 | cancel all pending I/O, refuse all new I/O, returning -EIO to | 
 | higher layers. The device driver should then clean up all of its | 
 | memory and remove itself from kernel operations, much as it would | 
 | during system shutdown. | 
 |  | 
 | The platform will typically notify the system operator of the | 
 | permanent failure in some way.  If the device is hotplug-capable, | 
 | the operator will probably want to remove and replace the device. | 
 | Note, however, not all failures are truly "permanent". Some are | 
 | caused by over-heating, some by a poorly seated card. Many | 
 | PCI error events are caused by software bugs, e.g. DMA's to | 
 | wild addresses or bogus split transactions due to programming | 
 | errors. See the discussion in powerpc/eeh-pci-error-recovery.txt | 
 | for additional detail on real-life experience of the causes of | 
 | software errors. | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | Conclusion; General Remarks | 
 | --------------------------- | 
 | The way those callbacks are called is platform policy. A platform with | 
 | no slot reset capability may want to just "ignore" drivers that can't | 
 | recover (disconnect them) and try to let other cards on the same segment | 
 | recover. Keep in mind that in most real life cases, though, there will | 
 | be only one driver per segment. | 
 |  | 
 | Now, a note about interrupts. If you get an interrupt and your | 
 | device is dead or has been isolated, there is a problem :) | 
 | The current policy is to turn this into a platform policy. | 
 | That is, the recovery API only requires that: | 
 |  | 
 |  - There is no guarantee that interrupt delivery can proceed from any | 
 | device on the segment starting from the error detection and until the | 
 | resume callback is sent, at which point interrupts are expected to be | 
 | fully operational. | 
 |  | 
 |  - There is no guarantee that interrupt delivery is stopped, that is, | 
 | a driver that gets an interrupt after detecting an error, or that detects | 
 | an error within the interrupt handler such that it prevents proper | 
 | ack'ing of the interrupt (and thus removal of the source) should just | 
 | return IRQ_NOTHANDLED. It's up to the platform to deal with that | 
 | condition, typically by masking the IRQ source during the duration of | 
 | the error handling. It is expected that the platform "knows" which | 
 | interrupts are routed to error-management capable slots and can deal | 
 | with temporarily disabling that IRQ number during error processing (this | 
 | isn't terribly complex). That means some IRQ latency for other devices | 
 | sharing the interrupt, but there is simply no other way. High end | 
 | platforms aren't supposed to share interrupts between many devices | 
 | anyway :) | 
 |  | 
 | >>> Implementation details for the powerpc platform are discussed in | 
 | >>> the file Documentation/powerpc/eeh-pci-error-recovery.txt | 
 |  | 
 | >>> As of this writing, there are six device drivers with patches | 
 | >>> implementing error recovery. Not all of these patches are in | 
 | >>> mainline yet. These may be used as "examples": | 
 | >>> | 
 | >>> drivers/scsi/ipr.c | 
 | >>> drivers/scsi/sym53cxx_2 | 
 | >>> drivers/next/e100.c | 
 | >>> drivers/net/e1000 | 
 | >>> drivers/net/ixgb | 
 | >>> drivers/net/s2io.c | 
 |  | 
 | The End | 
 | ------- |