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# Bcache

From ArchWiki

## Introduction

Bcache allows one to use an SSD as a read/write cache (in writeback mode) or read cache (writethrough or writearound) for another blockdevice (generally a rotating HDD or array). This article will show how to install arch using Bcache as the root partition. For an intro to bcache itself, see the bcache homepage. Be sure to read and reference the bcache manual. Bcache is in the mainline kernel since 3.10. The kernel on the arch install disk includes the bcache module since 2013.08.01.

An alternative to Bcache is Facebook's Flashcache.

Bcache needs the backing device to be formatted as a bcache block device. In most cases, blocks to-bcache can do an in-place conversion.
Warning: Be sure you back up any important data first.

## Preparation

- Boot on the install disk (2013.08.01 minimum)
- Install the bcache-tools-git package from AUR.

## Installation

1. Partition your hdd

grub can't handle bcache, so you'll need at least 2 partitions (boot and one for the bcache backing device). If you're doing UEFI, you'll need an EFI System Partition (ESP) as well.

      ex:
         1            2048           22527   10.0 MiB    EF00  EFI System
         2           22528          432127   200.0 MiB   8300  arch_boot
         3          432128       625142414   297.9 GiB   8300  bcache_backing

Note: This example has no swapfile/partition. Keep in mind swapfile on btrfs does not work. For a swap partition on the cache, use LVM in step 7. For a swap partition outside the cache, be sure to make a swap partition now.

2. Configure your HDD as a bcache backing device.

    # make-bcache -B /dev/sda3

Note: GRUB2 either needs an EFI partition, "bios boot" partition, or an 'embedding area' of 2KB or so after the MBR that doesn't get overwritten. Also, since GRUB2 does not know about bcache, so you also need a /boot partition that grub can read. Partitioning /dev/sda is a must unless you're booting from a different device.
Note: If all associated disks are partitioned at once as below bcache will automatically attach "-B backing stores" to the "-C ssd cache" and step 4 is unnecessary.

    # make-bcache -B /dev/sd? /dev/sd? -C /dev/sd?

3. Register any bcache devices with the kernel (this needs to done every bootup)

    # for i in /dev/sd*; do echo $i; echo $i > /sys/fs/bcache/register_quiet; done

You now have a /dev/bcache0 device

Note: the bcache user manual says to do "echo /dev/sd* > /sys/fs/bcache/register_quiet", but this didn't work for me

4. Configure your SSD

Format the SSD as a caching device and link it to the backing device

    # make-bcache -C /dev/sdb
    # echo /dev/sdb > /sys/fs/bcache/register
    # echo <Set UUID from previous command> > /sys/block/bcache0/bcache/attach

Note: If the UUID is forgotten, it can be found with ls /sys/fs/bcache/ after the cache device has been registered.

5. Format the bcache device. Use LVM or btrfs subvolumes if you want to divide up the /dev/bcache0 device how you like (ex for seperate /, /home, /var, etc).

    # mkfs.btrfs /dev/bcache0
    # mount /dev/bcache0 /mnt/
    # btrfs subvolume create /mnt/root
    # btrfs subvolume create /mnt/home
    # umount /mnt

6. Prepare the installation mount point

    # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2
    # mkfs.msdos /dev/sda1 (if your ESP is at least 500MB, use mkfs.vfat to make a FAT32 partition instead)
    # pacman -S arch-install-scripts
    # mount /dev/bcache0 -o subvol=root,compress=lzo /mnt/
    # mkdir /mnt/boot
    # mkdir /mnt/home
    # mount /dev/bcache0 -o subvol=home,compress=lzo /mnt/home
    # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/boot
    # mkdir /boot/efi
    # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi/

7a. Install the system

Do the rest of the installation as normal except this:

Before you edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and run run "mkinitcpio -p linux":

- install "bcache-tools-git" package from AUR.
- in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf:
  - add the "bcache" module
  - add the "bcache" hook between block and filesystems

Note: The AUR package hook currently uses a for loop similar to the one in step 3 for scanning and assembling bcache arrays at boot. Try step 7b for a udev approach.

7b. Alternatively, udev can be leveraged to assemble bcache arrays as it discovers them. Install the AUR package in step 7a then copy 61-bcache.rules to /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/61-bcache.rules.

You must then copy the following script adapted from mdadm_udev to /usr/lib/initcpio/install/bcache_udev and edit mkinitcpio.conf to include the "bcache_udev" hook instead of "bcache" before running "mkinitcpio -p linux":

    #!/bin/bash
    build() {
        add_checked_modules -f 'bcache'
        add_binary "/usr/lib/udev/bcache-register"
        add_binary "/usr/bin/probe-bcache"
        add_file "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/61-bcache.rules"
    }
    help() {
      cat <<HELPEOF
    This hook loads the necessary modules for a bcache ssd cached array and uses
    udev at runtime to create the devices. This hook will NOT work without the
    udev hook included on the image.
    HELPEOF
    }
    # vim: set ft=sh ts=4 sw=4 et:

Note: It's important to ensure that all files referenced in the bcache_udev hook can be found at the paths stated.

8. Reboot and make sure it works from the /dev/bcache0 device

## Configuring

There are many options that can be configured (such as writeback cache mode, cache flush interval, sequential write heuristic, etc.) This is currently done by writing to files in /sys. See the bcache user documentation.

## Advanced Operations

### Resize backing device

It's possible to resize the backing device so long as you don't move the partition start. This process is described on the mailing list. Here's an example using btrfs volume directly on bcache0. For LVM containers or for other filesystems, procedure will differ.

#### Example of growing

In this example, I grow the filesystem by 4GB.

1. Reboot to a live CD/USB Drive (need not be bcache enabled) and use fdisk, gdisk, parted, or your other favorite tool to delete the backing partition and recreate it with the same start and a total size 4G larger.

Warning: Do not use a tool like GParted that might perform filesystem operations! It won't recognize the bcache partition and might overwrite part of it!!

2. Reboot to your normal install. Your filesystem will be currently mounted. That's fine. Issue the command to resize the partition to its maximum. For btrfs, that's

    # btrfs filesystem resize max /

For ext3/4, that's

    # resize2fs /dev/bcache0

3. That's it!

#### Example of shrinking

In this example, I shrink the filesystem by 4GB.

1. Disable writeback cache (switch to writethrough cache) and wait for the disk to flush.

    # echo writethrough > /sys/block/bcache0/bcache/cache_mode
    $ watch cat /sys/block/bcache0/bcache/state

wait until state reports "clean". This might take a while.

2. Shrink the mounted filesystem by something more than the desired amount, to ensure we don't accidentally clip it later. For btrfs, that's

    # btrfs filesystem resize -5G /

For ext3/4 you can use resize2fs, but only if the partition is unmounted

    $ df -h /home
    /dev/bcache0    290G   20G   270G   1% /home
    # umount /home
    # resize2fs /dev/bcache0 283G

3. Reboot to a LiveCD/USB drive (doesn't need to support bcache) and use fdisk, gdisk, parted, or your other favorite tool to delete the backing partition and recreate it with the same start and a total size 4G smaller.

Warning: Do not use a tool like GParted that might perform filesystem operations! It won't recognize the bcache partition and might overwrite part of it!!

4. Reboot to your normal install. Your filesystem will be currently mounted. That's fine. Issue the command to resize the partition to its maximum (that is, the size we shrunk the actual partition to in step 3). For btrfs, that's

    # btrfs filesystem resize max /

For ext3/4, that's

    # resize2fs /dev/bcache0

5. Re-enable writeback cache if you want that enabled:

    # echo writeback > /sys/block/bcache0/bcache/cache_mode

6. That's it!

Note: If you're very careful you can shrink the filesystem to the exact size in step 2 and avoid step 4. Be careful, though, many partition tools don't do exactly what you want, but instead adjust the requested partition start/end points to end on sector boundaries. This may be difficult to calculate ahead of time

## Troubleshooting

### /dev/bcache device doesn't exist on bootup

If you are sent to a busy box shell with an error:

    ERROR: Unable to find root device 'UUID=b6b2d82b-f87e-44d5-bbc5-c51dd7aace15'.
    You are being dropped to a recovery shell
        Type 'exit' to try and continue booting

This might happen if the backing device is configured for "writeback" mode (default is writearound). When in "writeback" mode, the /dev/bcache0 device is not started until the cache device is both registered and attached. Registering is something that needs to happen every bootup, but attaching should only have to be done once. I've sometime had to re-attach.

To continue booting, try one of the following:

- Register both the backing device and the cacheing device

    # echo /dev/sda3 > /sys/fs/bcache/register
    # echo /dev/sdb > /sys/fs/bcache/register

If the /dev/bcache0 device now exists, type exit and continue booting. You will need to fix your initcpio to ensure devices are registered before mounting the root device.

Note: An error of "sh: echo: write error: Invalid argument" means the device was already registered or is not recognized as either a bcache backing device or cache.
Note: This can also happen if using udev's 61-bcache.rules in Installation's step 7b and blkid and bcache-probe "disagree" due to rogue superblocks. See bcache's wiki for a possible explanation/resolution.

- Re-attach the cache to the backing device:

If the cache device was registered, a folder with the UUID of the cache should exist in /sys/fs/bcache. Use that UUID when following the example below:

    # ls /sys/fs/bcache/
    b6b2d82b-f87e-44d5-bbc5-c51dd7aace15     register     register_quiet
    # echo b6b2d82b-f87e-44d5-bbc5-c51dd7aace15 > /sys/block/sda/sda3/bcache/attach

If the /dev/bcache0 device now exists, type exit and continue booting. You should not have to do this again. If it persists, ask on the bcache mailing list.

Note: An error of "sh: echo: write error: Invalid argument" means the device was already attached. An error of "sh: echo: write error: No such file or directory" means the UUID is not a valid cache (make sure you typed it correctly)

- Invalidate the cache and force the backing device to run without it. You might want to check some stats, such as "dirty_data" so you have some idea of how much data will be lost.

    # cat /sys/block/sda/sda3/bcache/dirty_data
    -3.9M

dirty data is data in the cache that has not been written to the backing device. If you force the backing device to run, this data will be lost, even if you later re-attach the cache.

    # cat /sys/block/sda/sda3/bcache/running
    0
    # echo 1 > /sys/block/sda/sda3/bcache/running

The /dev/bcache0 device will now exist. Type exit and continue booting. You might want to unregister the cache device and run make-bcache again. An fsck on /dev/bcache0 would also be wise. See the bcache user documentation.

Warning: Only invalidate the cache if one of the two options above did not work.

### /sys/fs/bcache/ doesn't exist

The kernel you booted is not bcache enabled.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php?title=Bcache&oldid=274269"
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