Re: [PATCH v2 5/6] spec: Introduce NBD_FLAG_BLOCK_STATUS_PAYLOAD

[Eric Blake]

On Wed, Feb 22, 2023 at 12:05:44PM +0200, Wouter Verhelst wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 04:46:54PM -0600, Eric Blake wrote:
> >  #### Simple reply message
> > 
> > @@ -1232,6 +1235,19 @@ The field has the following format:
> >    will be faster than a regular write). Clients MUST NOT set the
> >    `NBD_CMD_FLAG_FAST_ZERO` request flag unless this transmission flag
> >    is set.
> > +- bit 12, `NBD_FLAG_BLOCK_STATUS_PAYLOAD`: Indicates that the server
> > +  understands the use of the `NBD_CMD_FLAG_PAYLOAD_LEN` flag to
> > +  `NBD_CMD_BLOCK_STATUS` to allow the client to request that the
> > +  server filters its response to a specific subset of negotiated
> > +  metacontext ids passed in via a client payload, rather than the
> > +  default of replying to all metacontext ids. Servers MUST NOT
> > +  advertise this bit unless the client successfully negotiates
> > +  extended headers via `NBD_OPT_EXTENDED_HEADERS`, and SHOULD NOT
> > +  advertise this bit in response to `NBD_OPT_EXPORT_NAME` or
> > +  `NBD_OPT_GO` if the client does not negotiate metacontexts with
> > +  `NBD_OPT_SET_META_CONTEXT`; clients SHOULD NOT set the
> > +  `NBD_CMD_FLAG_PAYLOAD_LEN` flag for `NBD_CMD_BLOCK_STATUS` unless
> > +  this transmission flag is set.
> 
> Given that we are introducing this at the same time as the extended
> headers (and given that we're running out of available flags in this
> 16-bit field), isn't it better to make the ability to understand
> PAYLOAD_LEN be implied by extended headers? Or is there a use case for
> implementing extended headers but not a payload length on
> CMD_BLOCK_STATUS that I'm missing?

In my proof of implementation, this was a distinct feature addition on
top of 64-bit headers.

It is easy to write a server that does not want to deal with a client
payload on a block status request (for example, a server that only
knows about one metacontext, and therefore never needs to deal with a
client wanting a subset of negotiated metacontexts).  Forcing a server
to have to support a client-side filtering request on block status
commands, merely because the server now supports 64-bit lengths,
seemed like a stretch too far, which is why I decided to use a feature
bit for this one.


-- 
Eric Blake, Principal Software Engineer
Red Hat, Inc.           +1-919-301-3266
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