From nobody Sun Oct 5 19:23:32 2025 Delivered-To: importer@patchew.org Received-SPF: pass (zoho.com: domain of gnu.org designates 208.118.235.17 as permitted sender) client-ip=208.118.235.17; envelope-from=qemu-devel-bounces+importer=patchew.org@nongnu.org; helo=lists.gnu.org; Authentication-Results: mx.zohomail.com; spf=pass (zoho.com: domain of gnu.org designates 208.118.235.17 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=qemu-devel-bounces+importer=patchew.org@nongnu.org; dmarc=fail(p=none dis=none) header.from=redhat.com Return-Path: Received: from lists.gnu.org (lists.gnu.org [208.118.235.17]) by mx.zohomail.com with SMTPS id 1519315472999386.4828633632085; Thu, 22 Feb 2018 08:04:32 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost ([::1]:39351 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eotMG-0007Tv-7o for importer@patchew.org; Thu, 22 Feb 2018 11:04:32 -0500 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:50196) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eotHf-00040y-VB for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Thu, 22 Feb 2018 10:59:49 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eotHe-0001gv-Tf for qemu-devel@nongnu.org; Thu, 22 Feb 2018 10:59:48 -0500 Received: from mx3-rdu2.redhat.com ([66.187.233.73]:55198 helo=mx1.redhat.com) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1eotHZ-0001bZ-FA; Thu, 22 Feb 2018 10:59:41 -0500 Received: from smtp.corp.redhat.com (int-mx03.intmail.prod.int.rdu2.redhat.com [10.11.54.3]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.redhat.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 49C188011454; Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:59:32 +0000 (UTC) Received: from red.redhat.com (ovpn-122-122.rdu2.redhat.com [10.10.122.122]) by smtp.corp.redhat.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C52AB10A85AF; Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:59:31 +0000 (UTC) From: Eric Blake To: qemu-devel@nongnu.org Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2018 09:59:20 -0600 Message-Id: <20180222155922.9833-3-eblake@redhat.com> In-Reply-To: <20180222155922.9833-1-eblake@redhat.com> References: <20180222155922.9833-1-eblake@redhat.com> X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.78 on 10.11.54.3 X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.5.16 (mx1.redhat.com [10.11.55.8]); Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:59:32 +0000 (UTC) X-Greylist: inspected by milter-greylist-4.5.16 (mx1.redhat.com [10.11.55.8]); Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:59:32 +0000 (UTC) for IP:'10.11.54.3' DOMAIN:'int-mx03.intmail.prod.int.rdu2.redhat.com' HELO:'smtp.corp.redhat.com' FROM:'eblake@redhat.com' RCPT:'' X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] [fuzzy] X-Received-From: 66.187.233.73 Subject: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v3 2/4] qcow2: Document some maximum size constraints X-BeenThere: qemu-devel@nongnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: kwolf@redhat.com, berto@igalia.com, qemu-block@nongnu.org, Max Reitz Errors-To: qemu-devel-bounces+importer=patchew.org@nongnu.org Sender: "Qemu-devel" X-ZohoMail: RSF_0 Z_629925259 SPT_0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Although off_t permits up to 63 bits (8EB) of file offsets, in practice, we're going to hit other limits first. Document some of those limits in the qcow2 spec, and how choice of cluster size can influence some of the limits. While at it, notice that since we cannot map any virtual cluster to any address higher than 64 PB (56 bits) (due to the L1/L2 field encoding), it makes little sense to require the refcount table to access host offsets beyond that point. Mark the upper bits of the refcount table entries as reserved, with no ill effects, since it is unlikely that there are any existing images larger than 64PB in the first place, and thus all existing images already have those bits as 0. Signed-off-by: Eric Blake Reviewed-by: Alberto Garcia --- docs/interop/qcow2.txt | 29 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 26 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/interop/qcow2.txt b/docs/interop/qcow2.txt index feb711fb6a8..2417522ca9b 100644 --- a/docs/interop/qcow2.txt +++ b/docs/interop/qcow2.txt @@ -40,7 +40,16 @@ The first cluster of a qcow2 image contains the file hea= der: with larger cluster sizes. 24 - 31: size - Virtual disk size in bytes + Virtual disk size in bytes. + + Note: with a 2 MB cluster size, the maximum + virtual size is 2 EB (61 bits) for a sparse file, + but other sizing limitations mean that an image + cannot have more than 64 PB of populated clusters + (and may hit other sizing limitations as well, + such as underlying protocol limits). With a 512 + byte cluster size, the maximum virtual size drops + to 128 GB (37 bits). 32 - 35: crypt_method 0 for no encryption @@ -318,6 +327,11 @@ for each host cluster. A refcount of 0 means that the = cluster is free, 1 means that it is used, and >=3D 2 means that it is used and any write access must perform a COW (copy on write) operation. +The refcount table has implications on the maximum host file size; a +larger cluster size is required for the refcount table to cover larger +offsets. Furthermore, all qcow2 metadata must reside at offsets below +64 PB (56 bits). + The refcounts are managed in a two-level table. The first level is called refcount table and has a variable size (which is stored in the header). The refcount table can cover multiple clusters, however it needs to be contigu= ous @@ -341,7 +355,7 @@ Refcount table entry: Bit 0 - 8: Reserved (set to 0) - 9 - 63: Bits 9-63 of the offset into the image file at which t= he + 9 - 55: Bits 9-55 of the offset into the image file at which t= he refcount block starts. Must be aligned to a cluster boundary. @@ -349,6 +363,8 @@ Refcount table entry: been allocated. All refcounts managed by this refcount= block are 0. + 56 - 63: Reserved (set to 0) + Refcount block entry (x =3D refcount_bits - 1): Bit 0 - x: Reference count of the cluster. If refcount_bits impli= es a @@ -365,6 +381,11 @@ The L1 table has a variable size (stored in the header= ) and may use multiple clusters, however it must be contiguous in the image file. L2 tables are exactly one cluster in size. +The L1 and L2 tables have implications on the maximum virtual file +size; a larger cluster size is required for guest to have access to a +larger size. Furthermore, a virtual cluster must map to a host offset +below 64 PB (56 bits). + Given a offset into the virtual disk, the offset into the image file can be obtained as follows: @@ -427,7 +448,9 @@ Standard Cluster Descriptor: Compressed Clusters Descriptor (x =3D 62 - (cluster_bits - 8)): Bit 0 - x-1: Host cluster offset. This is usually _not_ aligned to a - cluster or sector boundary! + cluster or sector boundary! If cluster_bits is + small enough that this field includes bits beyond + 55, those upper bits must be set to 0. x - 61: Number of additional 512-byte sectors used for the compressed data, beyond the sector containing the offs= et --=20 2.14.3