We may use dmsetup to create a target:

$ echo <begin> <len> <target_name> <args> | sudo dmsetup create <device_name>

If sector is non-zero value, sector offset taken relative to the start of the target will not be equal to the relative to the start of the real device. We should check if JinDisk handles this situation properly.

async flush

It is important that the guest owner can verify everything about his/her VM is running as expected during the RA.

The measurement hashes of the guest VM's kernel, initrd, and cmdline are included in TDX/SEV-SNP's attestation report. But, currently the rootfs of the guest image is not measured when we use JinDisk to protect the rootfs. (AMDESE/sev-guest#10)

So, it would be nice if a JinDisk-encrypted device could be measured against an expected measurement value. The value can be an HMAC of the whole disk.

Hi, the link in the readme that should point to the paper seems to be broken: https://github.com/jinzhao-dev/jinzhao-disk/blob/master The site just renders empty for me.

The readme in kernel-module indicates that the following dependencies should be installed for building the dm-jindisk kernel module.

sudo apt install dpkg-dev libncurses5-dev openssl libssl-dev build-essential pkg-config libc6-dev libc6-dev flex libelf-dev zlibc minizip libidn11-dev libidn11-dev bison dwarves

But, the zlibc cannot be located on Ubuntu 22.04.

Actually, we don't need zlibc to build the kernel module. I have tested it without the zlibc support many times.
Can we remove it?

Renaming the kernel module to dm-jindisk would make the name consistent with the kernel module names of other device mapper targets.

启动时，根据journal records实现recovery：

• 找到最新的checkpoint_pack记录，恢复SVT/DST/RIT/BITC等；
• 找到未commit的其他journal record，判断是否需要redo；

当前参数存在不足：

• 传入root key（mac/iv），对superblock，journal，RIT/BITC进行加密保护；
• 控制磁盘格式化等

Todo

• Preparing a JinDisk-installed VM image and making it public
• A script that launches a secure VM
• A script that can insert host files into a VM image (for inserting RA components)
• A script that runs on the host to convert the reference image into a JinDisk-encrypted image
• Re-writing the step-by-step guide

Here are some concrete suggestions to Improve and polish the docs of setup-tool.

• Fix spelling and grammar mistakes. I recommend writing auto tools (e.g., grammar.ly).
• Use JinDisk as the project name consistently (no Jindisk or jindisk or jin-disk or sworndisk).
• Revise the docs according to the new code structure proposed in #14
• Improve the doc content, with the mindset of positioning this project as a well-maintained open-source projects, rather than a half-baked research prototype.

journal region需要记录五种类型的record：

• data log，当向磁盘data region写入数据时记录；
• data commit，当主动触发flush操作时记录；
• bit compaction，当触发一次compaction操作时记录；
• bit node，当向磁盘index region写入数据时记录；
• checkpoint pack，当向磁盘checkpoint region写入数据时记录

Problem

Currently, the directory setup-tool contains three sub-directories:

• guess-owner-tool/
• initramfs-hook-ubuntu/
• src/c/

This code organization is a bit of confusing because it actually mixes up two sub-projects:

1. The setup tool (src/c/), which is JinDisk's user-space CLI tool, and
2. The encrypted VM image demo (guess-owner-tool/ and initramfs-hook-ubuntu/), which uses the guess owner tool, the initramfs hooks, and some other scripts to demonstrate how a JinDisk-encrypted VM guess image can be created and used.

I call the latter one a demo, instead of a tool, because the codebase contains some hardcoded parameters (e.g., file paths, QEMU parameters) and specific components (e.g., remote attestation programs) that are likely to be extended or modified in a case-by-case manner.

Proposal

Refactor the code structure as follows:

• kernel-module/: Unchanged.
• user-tools/: The old setup-tools. The new of the directory name emphasizes two things: (1) opposite to the kernel-module, this directory is for user space. (2) it contains all user-space tools for JinDisk.
  • setup-tool/: The original setup-tool.
  • install-kernel-module.sh: One of the in-guest tool, which seems to be useful for all JinDisk users, regardless of whether they are interested in the encrypted VM image demo.
  • install-setup-tool.sh: same as above.
• demos/: A new directory, contains all demos for JinDisk.
  • encrypted-VM-image: The old setup-tool/guess-owner-tool/, setup-tool/initramfs-hook-ubuntu/, plus other files.

background segment clenning

Note that the capacity of a JinDisk logical block device must be less than that of the underlying untrusted block device. This is because some storage space of the untrusted block device is consumed by JinDisk to store metadata, instead of user data.

Hence, JinDisk provides a sysfs interface to calculate the maximum capacity of a JinDisk instance that may be created on the untrusted block device.

$ sudo echo <untrusted_dev_sectors> > /sys/module/jindisk/calc_avail_sectors
$ sudo cat /sys/module/jindisk/calc_avail_sectors

However, this function is only needed by the jindisksetup tool, not all normal users. In addition, race condition may also yield incorrect result.

RIT: encryption only
BITC: authenticated encryption

In JinDisk's kernel module README, we should add a section, after creating a JinDisk device, how to to test a JinDisk device in the simplest and quickest way. One way is to use dd. The other way is to mount a file system on the block device, do some read and write, and unmount the file system.

In JinDisk's kernel module README, we only explained how to creating a JinDisk device with dmsetup, thus we should add a section to explain how to remove a JinDisk device and dm-jindisk driver. In addition, we can also explain how to operate the JinDisk driver with our own jindisksetup tool.

当前使用了两次磁盘，分别用来保存数据和元数据；并且使用了不同方式读写底层设备，期望使用一块磁盘并统一设备访问接口

• data_dev: data region
• meta_dev: superblock region, index region, journal region, checkpoint region (SVT/DST/RIT/BITC)

After the project is made open source, all the code, issues, and docs should be written in English.

lsm-tree non-blocking compaction

The latter name is more readable.