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diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/ext4/ondisk/blockgroup.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4/ondisk/blockgroup.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..baf888e4c06a --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/ext4/ondisk/blockgroup.rst @@ -0,0 +1,135 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +Layout +------ + +The layout of a standard block group is approximately as follows (each +of these fields is discussed in a separate section below): + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 + :header-rows: 1 + + * - Group 0 Padding + - ext4 Super Block + - Group Descriptors + - Reserved GDT Blocks + - Data Block Bitmap + - inode Bitmap + - inode Table + - Data Blocks + * - 1024 bytes + - 1 block + - many blocks + - many blocks + - 1 block + - 1 block + - many blocks + - many more blocks + +For the special case of block group 0, the first 1024 bytes are unused, +to allow for the installation of x86 boot sectors and other oddities. +The superblock will start at offset 1024 bytes, whichever block that +happens to be (usually 0). However, if for some reason the block size = +1024, then block 0 is marked in use and the superblock goes in block 1. +For all other block groups, there is no padding. + +The ext4 driver primarily works with the superblock and the group +descriptors that are found in block group 0. Redundant copies of the +superblock and group descriptors are written to some of the block groups +across the disk in case the beginning of the disk gets trashed, though +not all block groups necessarily host a redundant copy (see following +paragraph for more details). If the group does not have a redundant +copy, the block group begins with the data block bitmap. Note also that +when the filesystem is freshly formatted, mkfs will allocate “reserve +GDT block” space after the block group descriptors and before the start +of the block bitmaps to allow for future expansion of the filesystem. By +default, a filesystem is allowed to increase in size by a factor of +1024x over the original filesystem size. + +The location of the inode table is given by ``grp.bg_inode_table_*``. It +is continuous range of blocks large enough to contain +``sb.s_inodes_per_group * sb.s_inode_size`` bytes. + +As for the ordering of items in a block group, it is generally +established that the super block and the group descriptor table, if +present, will be at the beginning of the block group. The bitmaps and +the inode table can be anywhere, and it is quite possible for the +bitmaps to come after the inode table, or for both to be in different +groups (flex\_bg). Leftover space is used for file data blocks, indirect +block maps, extent tree blocks, and extended attributes. + +Flexible Block Groups +--------------------- + +Starting in ext4, there is a new feature called flexible block groups +(flex\_bg). In a flex\_bg, several block groups are tied together as one +logical block group; the bitmap spaces and the inode table space in the +first block group of the flex\_bg are expanded to include the bitmaps +and inode tables of all other block groups in the flex\_bg. For example, +if the flex\_bg size is 4, then group 0 will contain (in order) the +superblock, group descriptors, data block bitmaps for groups 0-3, inode +bitmaps for groups 0-3, inode tables for groups 0-3, and the remaining +space in group 0 is for file data. The effect of this is to group the +block metadata close together for faster loading, and to enable large +files to be continuous on disk. Backup copies of the superblock and +group descriptors are always at the beginning of block groups, even if +flex\_bg is enabled. The number of block groups that make up a flex\_bg +is given by 2 ^ ``sb.s_log_groups_per_flex``. + +Meta Block Groups +----------------- + +Without the option META\_BG, for safety concerns, all block group +descriptors copies are kept in the first block group. Given the default +128MiB(2^27 bytes) block group size and 64-byte group descriptors, ext4 +can have at most 2^27/64 = 2^21 block groups. This limits the entire +filesystem size to 2^21 ∗ 2^27 = 2^48bytes or 256TiB. + +The solution to this problem is to use the metablock group feature +(META\_BG), which is already in ext3 for all 2.6 releases. With the +META\_BG feature, ext4 filesystems are partitioned into many metablock +groups. Each metablock group is a cluster of block groups whose group +descriptor structures can be stored in a single disk block. For ext4 +filesystems with 4 KB block size, a single metablock group partition +includes 64 block groups, or 8 GiB of disk space. The metablock group +feature moves the location of the group descriptors from the congested +first block group of the whole filesystem into the first group of each +metablock group itself. The backups are in the second and last group of +each metablock group. This increases the 2^21 maximum block groups limit +to the hard limit 2^32, allowing support for a 512PiB filesystem. + +The change in the filesystem format replaces the current scheme where +the superblock is followed by a variable-length set of block group +descriptors. Instead, the superblock and a single block group descriptor +block is placed at the beginning of the first, second, and last block +groups in a meta-block group. A meta-block group is a collection of +block groups which can be described by a single block group descriptor +block. Since the size of the block group descriptor structure is 32 +bytes, a meta-block group contains 32 block groups for filesystems with +a 1KB block size, and 128 block groups for filesystems with a 4KB +blocksize. Filesystems can either be created using this new block group +descriptor layout, or existing filesystems can be resized on-line, and +the field s\_first\_meta\_bg in the superblock will indicate the first +block group using this new layout. + +Please see an important note about ``BLOCK_UNINIT`` in the section about +block and inode bitmaps. + +Lazy Block Group Initialization +------------------------------- + +A new feature for ext4 are three block group descriptor flags that +enable mkfs to skip initializing other parts of the block group +metadata. Specifically, the INODE\_UNINIT and BLOCK\_UNINIT flags mean +that the inode and block bitmaps for that group can be calculated and +therefore the on-disk bitmap blocks are not initialized. This is +generally the case for an empty block group or a block group containing +only fixed-location block group metadata. The INODE\_ZEROED flag means +that the inode table has been initialized; mkfs will unset this flag and +rely on the kernel to initialize the inode tables in the background. + +By not writing zeroes to the bitmaps and inode table, mkfs time is +reduced considerably. Note the feature flag is RO\_COMPAT\_GDT\_CSUM, +but the dumpe2fs output prints this as “uninit\_bg”. They are the same +thing. |