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DA(4)		       FreeBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual			 DA(4)

NAME
     da	-- SCSI	Direct Access device driver

SYNOPSIS
     device da

DESCRIPTION
     The da driver provides support for	all SCSI devices of the	direct access
     class that	are attached to	the system through a supported SCSI Host
     Adapter.  The direct access class includes	disk, magneto-optical, and
     solid-state devices.

     A SCSI Host adapter must also be separately configured into the system
     before a SCSI direct access device	can be configured.

CACHE EFFECTS
     Many direct access	devices	are equipped with read and/or write caches.
     Parameters	affecting the device's cache are stored	in mode	page 8,	the
     caching control page.  Mode pages can be examined and modified via	the
     camcontrol(8) utility.

     The read cache is used to store data from device-initiated	read ahead op-
     erations as well as frequently used data.	The read cache is transparent
     to	the user and can be enabled without any	adverse	effect.	 Most devices
     with a read cache come from the factory with it enabled.  The read	cache
     can be disabled by	setting	the RCD	(Read Cache Disable) bit in the
     caching control mode page.

     The write cache can greatly decrease the latency of write operations and
     allows the	device to reorganize writes to increase	efficiency and perfor-
     mance.  This performance gain comes at a price.  Should the device	lose
     power while its cache contains uncommitted	write operations, these	writes
     will be lost.  The	effect of a loss of write transactions on a file sys-
     tem is non-deterministic and can cause corruption.	 Most devices age
     write transactions	to limit vulnerability to a few	transactions recently
     reported as complete, but it is none-the-less recommended that systems
     with write	cache enabled devices reside on	an Uninterruptible Power Sup-
     ply (UPS).	 The da	device driver ensures that the cache and media are
     synchronized upon final close of the device or an unexpected shutdown
     (panic) event.  This ensures that it is safe to disconnect	power once the
     operating system has reported that	it has halted.	The write cache	can be
     enabled by	setting	the WCE	(Write Cache Enable) bit in the	caching	con-
     trol mode page.

TAGGED QUEUING
     The da device driver will take full advantage of the SCSI feature known
     as	tagged queueing.  Tagged queueing allows the device to process multi-
     ple transactions concurrently, often re-ordering them to reduce the num-
     ber and length of seeks.  To ensure that transactions to distant portions
     of	the media, which may be	deferred indefinitely by servicing requests
     nearer the	current	head position, are completed in	a timely fashion, an
     ordered tagged transaction	is sent	every 15 seconds during	continuous de-
     vice operation.

BAD BLOCK RECOVERY
     Direct Access devices have	the capability of mapping out portions of de-
     fective media.  Media recovery parameters are located in mode page	1, the
     Read-Write	Error Recovery mode page.  The most important media remapping
     features are 'Auto	Write Reallocation' and	'Auto Read Reallocation' which
     can be enabled via	the AWRE and ARRE bits,	respectively, of the Read-
     Write Error Recovery page.	 Many devices do not ship from the factory
     with these	feature	enabled.  Mode pages can be examined and modified via
     the camcontrol(8) utility.

KERNEL CONFIGURATION
     It	is only	necessary to explicitly	configure one da device; data struc-
     tures are dynamically allocated as	disks are found	on the SCSI bus.

SYSCTL VARIABLES
     The following variables are available as both sysctl(8) variables and
     loader(8) tunables:

     kern.cam.da.default_timeout
	 This variable determines how long the da driver will wait before tim-
	 ing out an outstanding	command.  The units for	this value are sec-
	 onds, and the default is currently 60 seconds.

     kern.cam.da.disable_wp_protection
	 Disable detection of write-protected disks.  Default is disabled.
	 (detection of write-protected disks is	enabled).

     kern.cam.da.enable_biospeedup
	 Enable	BIO_SPEEDUP processing.	 Default is enabled.

     kern.cam.da.enable_uma_ccbs
	 Use UMA for CCBs.  Default is enabled.

     kern.cam.da.poll_period
	 Media polling period in seconds.  Default is 3	seconds.

     kern.cam.da.retry_count
	 This variable determines how many times the da	driver will retry a
	 READ or WRITE command.	 This does not affect the number of retries
	 used during probe time	or for the da driver dump routine.  This value
	 currently defaults to 4.

     kern.cam.da.send_ordered
	 Send Ordered Tags.  On	shutdown, step through all the da peripheral
	 drivers, and if the device is still open, sync	the disk to physical
	 media.	 Default is enabled.

     kern.cam.sort_io_queue

     kern.cam.da.X.sort_io_queue
	 These variables determine whether request queue should	be sorted try-
	 ing to	optimize head seeks.  Set to 1 to enable sorting, 0 to dis-
	 able, -1 to leave it as-is.  The default is sorting enabled for HDDs
	 and disabled for SSDs.

     kern.cam.da.X.delete_method
	 This variable specifies method	to handle BIO_DELETE requests:

	 ATA_TRIM  ATA TRIM via	ATA COMMAND PASS THROUGH command,

	 UNMAP	   UNMAP command,

	 WS16	   WRITE SAME(16) command with UNMAP flag,

	 WS10	   WRITE SAME(10) command with UNMAP flag,

	 ZERO	   WRITE SAME(10) command without UNMAP	flag,

	 DISABLE   disable BIO_DELETE support.

     kern.cam.da.X.minimum_cmd_size
	 This variable determines what the minimum READ/WRITE CDB size is for
	 a given da unit.  Valid minimum command size values are 6, 10,	12 and
	 16 bytes.  The	default	is 6 bytes.

	 The da	driver issues a	CAM Path Inquiry CCB at	probe time to deter-
	 mine whether the protocol the device in question speaks (e.g. ATAPI)
	 typically does	not allow 6 byte commands.  If it does not, the	da
	 driver	will default to	using at least 10 byte CDBs.  If a 6 byte READ
	 or WRITE fails	with an	ILLEGAL	REQUEST	error, the da driver will then
	 increase the default CDB size for the device to 10 bytes and retry
	 the command.  CDB size	is always chosen as the	smallest READ/WRITE
	 CDB that will satisfy the specified minimum command size, and the LBA
	 and length of the READ	or WRITE in question.  (e.g., a	write to an
	 LBA larger than 2^32 will require a 16	byte CDB.)

NOTES
     If	a device becomes invalidated (media is removed,	device becomes unre-
     sponsive) the disklabel and information held within the kernel about the
     device will be invalidated.  To avoid corruption of a newly inserted
     piece of media or a replacement device, all accesses to the device	will
     be	discarded until	the last file descriptor referencing the old device is
     closed.  During this period, all new open attempts	will be	rejected.

FILES
     /dev/da*  SCSI disk device	nodes

DIAGNOSTICS
     None.

SEE ALSO
     ada(4), cam(4), geom(4), nda(4), gpart(8)

HISTORY
     The da driver was written for the CAM SCSI	subsystem by Justin T. Gibbs.
     Many ideas	were gleaned from the sd device	driver written and ported from
     Mach 2.5 by Julian	Elischer.

FreeBSD	13.0		      September	10, 2022		  FreeBSD 13.0

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | CACHE EFFECTS | TAGGED QUEUING | BAD BLOCK RECOVERY | KERNEL CONFIGURATION | SYSCTL VARIABLES | NOTES | FILES | DIAGNOSTICS | SEE ALSO | HISTORY

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