Single-LUN multi-actuator SCSI drives, as well as all multi-actuator
SATA drives appear as a single device to the I/O subsystem [1].  Yet
they address commands to different actuators internally, as a function
of Logical Block Addressing (LBAs). A given sector is reachable by
only one of the actuators. For example, Seagate’s Serial Advanced
Technology Attachment (SATA) version contains two actuators and maps
the lower half of the SATA LBA space to the lower actuator and the
upper half to the upper actuator.

Evidently, to fully utilize actuators, no actuator must be left idle
or underutilized while there is pending I/O for it. The block layer
must somehow control the load of each actuator individually. This
commit lays the ground for allowing BFQ to provide such a per-actuator
control.

BFQ associates an I/O-request sync bfq_queue with each process doing
synchronous I/O, or with a group of processes, in case of queue
merging. Then BFQ serves one bfq_queue at a time. While in service, a
bfq_queue is emptied in request-position order. Yet the same process,
or group of processes, may generate I/O for different actuators. In
this case, different streams of I/O (each for a different actuator)
get all inserted into the same sync bfq_queue. So there is basically
no individual control on when each stream is served, i.e., on when the
I/O requests of the stream are picked from the bfq_queue and
dispatched to the drive.

This commit enables BFQ to control the service of each actuator
individually for synchronous I/O, by simply splitting each sync
bfq_queue into N queues, one for each actuator. In other words, a sync
bfq_queue is now associated to a pair (process, actuator). As a
consequence of this split, the per-queue proportional-share policy
implemented by BFQ will guarantee that the sync I/O generated for each
actuator, by each process, receives its fair share of service.

This is just a preparatory patch. If the I/O of the same process
happens to be sent to different queues, then each of these queues may
undergo queue merging. To handle this event, the bfq_io_cq data
structure must be properly extended. In addition, stable merging must
be disabled to avoid loss of control on individual actuators. Finally,
also async queues must be split. These issues are described in detail
and addressed in next commits. As for this commit, although multiple
per-process bfq_queues are provided, the I/O of each process or group
of processes is still sent to only one queue, regardless of the
actuator the I/O is for. The forwarding to distinct bfq_queues will be
enabled after addressing the above issues.

[1] https://www.linaro.org/blog/budget-fair-queueing-bfq-linux-io-scheduler-optimizations-for-multi-actuator-sata-hard-drives/Reviewed-by: Damien Le Moal <damien.lemoal@opensource.wdc.com>
Signed-off-by: Gabriele Felici <felicigb@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Carmine Zaccagnino <carmine@carminezacc.com>
Signed-off-by: Paolo Valente <paolo.valente@linaro.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230103145503.71712-2-paolo.valente@linaro.orgSigned-off-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>