Re: [Qemu-block] [PATCH] blockdev-backup: enable non-root nodes for backup

[Kevin Wolf]

Am 09.11.2017 um 17:33 hat Eric Blake geschrieben:
> On 11/09/2017 08:16 AM, Vladimir Sementsov-Ogievskiy wrote:
> > This is needed to implement image-fleecing scheme, when we create
> > a temporary node, mark our active node to be backing for the temp,
> > and start backup(sync=none) from active node to the temp node.
> > Temp node then represents a kind of snapshot and may be used
> > for external backup through NBD.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Vladimir Sementsov-Ogievskiy <address@hidden>
> > ---
> > 
> > What was the reason to abandon non-root nodes?
> 
> I think the original restriction was that we didn't know all the
> implications to having multiple readers to an intermediate node, so it
> was easier to prevent it with plans to add it later than to add it up
> front and deal with the fallout.  But I think that now we are
> sufficiently versed in handling BDS trees with multiple readers, with
> proper op-blocking in place; so you are right that we can probably
> support it now.

Op blockers are actually the reason why I'm not so sure. The old
blockers often still only work on the top level, and we haven't fully
replaced them yet. In particular, graph modifications might not be
protected well enough by the new system yet.

But then, backup works only on a single node in the source tree, not on
a whole subchain, so I don't see what other operation could conflict
with a backup job. The only thing is resizes, but that is covered by the
new system.

So in the end, I think this specific change should be okay.

> However, I'm a bit worried that there is no documentation change about
> this in a .json QAPI file, nor any easy way to introspect via QMP
> whether a particular qemu implementation supports this (short of trying
> it and seeing whether it works).  I'm also thinking that this is 2.12
> material, unless we can prove it is fixing a bug for 2.11 that was not
> previously present.

Sounds like another use case for the capability annotations that Markus
wants to introduce for commands in the QAPI schema.

Kevin

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