HOWTO: add offset unit info for offset= option
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1How fio works
2-------------
3
4The first step in getting fio to simulate a desired I/O workload, is writing a
5job file describing that specific setup. A job file may contain any number of
6threads and/or files -- the typical contents of the job file is a *global*
7section defining shared parameters, and one or more job sections describing the
8jobs involved. When run, fio parses this file and sets everything up as
9described. If we break down a job from top to bottom, it contains the following
10basic parameters:
11
12`I/O type`_
13
14 Defines the I/O pattern issued to the file(s). We may only be reading
15 sequentially from this file(s), or we may be writing randomly. Or even
16 mixing reads and writes, sequentially or randomly.
17 Should we be doing buffered I/O, or direct/raw I/O?
18
19`Block size`_
20
21 In how large chunks are we issuing I/O? This may be a single value,
22 or it may describe a range of block sizes.
23
24`I/O size`_
25
26 How much data are we going to be reading/writing.
27
28`I/O engine`_
29
30 How do we issue I/O? We could be memory mapping the file, we could be
31 using regular read/write, we could be using splice, async I/O, or even
32 SG (SCSI generic sg).
33
34`I/O depth`_
35
36 If the I/O engine is async, how large a queuing depth do we want to
37 maintain?
38
39
40`Target file/device`_
41
42 How many files are we spreading the workload over.
43
44`Threads, processes and job synchronization`_
45
46 How many threads or processes should we spread this workload over.
47
48The above are the basic parameters defined for a workload, in addition there's a
49multitude of parameters that modify other aspects of how this job behaves.
50
51
52Command line options
53--------------------
54
55.. option:: --debug=type
56
57 Enable verbose tracing of various fio actions. May be ``all`` for all types
c60ebc45 58 or individual types separated by a comma (e.g. ``--debug=file,mem`` will
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59 enable file and memory debugging). Currently, additional logging is
60 available for:
61
62 *process*
63 Dump info related to processes.
64 *file*
65 Dump info related to file actions.
66 *io*
67 Dump info related to I/O queuing.
68 *mem*
69 Dump info related to memory allocations.
70 *blktrace*
71 Dump info related to blktrace setup.
72 *verify*
73 Dump info related to I/O verification.
74 *all*
75 Enable all debug options.
76 *random*
77 Dump info related to random offset generation.
78 *parse*
79 Dump info related to option matching and parsing.
80 *diskutil*
81 Dump info related to disk utilization updates.
82 *job:x*
83 Dump info only related to job number x.
84 *mutex*
85 Dump info only related to mutex up/down ops.
86 *profile*
87 Dump info related to profile extensions.
88 *time*
89 Dump info related to internal time keeping.
90 *net*
91 Dump info related to networking connections.
92 *rate*
93 Dump info related to I/O rate switching.
94 *compress*
95 Dump info related to log compress/decompress.
96 *?* or *help*
97 Show available debug options.
98
99.. option:: --parse-only
100
101 Parse options only, don\'t start any I/O.
102
103.. option:: --output=filename
104
105 Write output to file `filename`.
106
107.. option:: --bandwidth-log
108
109 Generate aggregate bandwidth logs.
110
111.. option:: --minimal
112
113 Print statistics in a terse, semicolon-delimited format.
114
115.. option:: --append-terse
116
117 Print statistics in selected mode AND terse, semicolon-delimited format.
118 **deprecated**, use :option:`--output-format` instead to select multiple
119 formats.
120
121.. option:: --output-format=type
122
123 Set the reporting format to `normal`, `terse`, `json`, or `json+`. Multiple
4502cb42 124 formats can be selected, separated by a comma. `terse` is a CSV based
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125 format. `json+` is like `json`, except it adds a full dump of the latency
126 buckets.
127
128.. option:: --terse-version=type
129
a2c95580 130 Set terse version output format (default 3, or 2 or 4 or 5).
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131
132.. option:: --version
133
134 Print version info and exit.
135
136.. option:: --help
137
113f0e7c 138 Print a summary of the command line options and exit.
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139
140.. option:: --cpuclock-test
141
142 Perform test and validation of internal CPU clock.
143
113f0e7c 144.. option:: --crctest=[test]
f80dba8d 145
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146 Test the speed of the built-in checksumming functions. If no argument is
147 given all of them are tested. Alternatively, a comma separated list can be passed, in
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148 which case the given ones are tested.
149
150.. option:: --cmdhelp=command
151
152 Print help information for `command`. May be ``all`` for all commands.
153
154.. option:: --enghelp=[ioengine[,command]]
155
156 List all commands defined by :option:`ioengine`, or print help for `command`
157 defined by :option:`ioengine`. If no :option:`ioengine` is given, list all
158 available ioengines.
159
160.. option:: --showcmd=jobfile
161
162 Turn a job file into command line options.
163
164.. option:: --readonly
165
166 Turn on safety read-only checks, preventing writes. The ``--readonly``
167 option is an extra safety guard to prevent users from accidentally starting
168 a write workload when that is not desired. Fio will only write if
169 `rw=write/randwrite/rw/randrw` is given. This extra safety net can be used
170 as an extra precaution as ``--readonly`` will also enable a write check in
171 the I/O engine core to prevent writes due to unknown user space bug(s).
172
173.. option:: --eta=when
174
175 When real-time ETA estimate should be printed. May be `always`, `never` or
176 `auto`.
177
178.. option:: --eta-newline=time
179
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180 Force a new line for every `time` period passed. When the unit is omitted,
181 the value is interpreted in seconds.
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182
183.. option:: --status-interval=time
184
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185 Force full status dump every `time` period passed. When the unit is
186 omitted, the value is interpreted in seconds.
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187
188.. option:: --section=name
189
190 Only run specified section in job file. Multiple sections can be specified.
191 The ``--section`` option allows one to combine related jobs into one file.
192 E.g. one job file could define light, moderate, and heavy sections. Tell
193 fio to run only the "heavy" section by giving ``--section=heavy``
194 command line option. One can also specify the "write" operations in one
195 section and "verify" operation in another section. The ``--section`` option
196 only applies to job sections. The reserved *global* section is always
197 parsed and used.
198
199.. option:: --alloc-size=kb
200
113f0e7c 201 Set the internal smalloc pool to this size in KiB. The
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202 ``--alloc-size`` switch allows one to use a larger pool size for smalloc.
203 If running large jobs with randommap enabled, fio can run out of memory.
204 Smalloc is an internal allocator for shared structures from a fixed size
113f0e7c 205 memory pool and can grow to 16 pools. The pool size defaults to 16MiB.
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206
207 NOTE: While running :file:`.fio_smalloc.*` backing store files are visible
208 in :file:`/tmp`.
209
210.. option:: --warnings-fatal
211
212 All fio parser warnings are fatal, causing fio to exit with an
213 error.
214
215.. option:: --max-jobs=nr
216
217 Maximum number of threads/processes to support.
218
219.. option:: --server=args
220
221 Start a backend server, with `args` specifying what to listen to.
222 See `Client/Server`_ section.
223
224.. option:: --daemonize=pidfile
225
226 Background a fio server, writing the pid to the given `pidfile` file.
227
228.. option:: --client=hostname
229
230 Instead of running the jobs locally, send and run them on the given host or
231 set of hosts. See `Client/Server`_ section.
232
233.. option:: --remote-config=file
234
235 Tell fio server to load this local file.
236
237.. option:: --idle-prof=option
238
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239 Report CPU idleness. *option* is one of the following:
240
241 **calibrate**
242 Run unit work calibration only and exit.
243
244 **system**
245 Show aggregate system idleness and unit work.
246
247 **percpu**
248 As **system** but also show per CPU idleness.
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249
250.. option:: --inflate-log=log
251
252 Inflate and output compressed log.
253
254.. option:: --trigger-file=file
255
256 Execute trigger cmd when file exists.
257
258.. option:: --trigger-timeout=t
259
260 Execute trigger at this time.
261
262.. option:: --trigger=cmd
263
264 Set this command as local trigger.
265
266.. option:: --trigger-remote=cmd
267
268 Set this command as remote trigger.
269
270.. option:: --aux-path=path
271
272 Use this path for fio state generated files.
273
274Any parameters following the options will be assumed to be job files, unless
275they match a job file parameter. Multiple job files can be listed and each job
276file will be regarded as a separate group. Fio will :option:`stonewall`
277execution between each group.
278
279
280Job file format
281---------------
282
283As previously described, fio accepts one or more job files describing what it is
284supposed to do. The job file format is the classic ini file, where the names
c60ebc45 285enclosed in [] brackets define the job name. You are free to use any ASCII name
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286you want, except *global* which has special meaning. Following the job name is
287a sequence of zero or more parameters, one per line, that define the behavior of
288the job. If the first character in a line is a ';' or a '#', the entire line is
289discarded as a comment.
290
291A *global* section sets defaults for the jobs described in that file. A job may
292override a *global* section parameter, and a job file may even have several
293*global* sections if so desired. A job is only affected by a *global* section
294residing above it.
295
296The :option:`--cmdhelp` option also lists all options. If used with an `option`
297argument, :option:`--cmdhelp` will detail the given `option`.
298
299See the `examples/` directory for inspiration on how to write job files. Note
300the copyright and license requirements currently apply to `examples/` files.
301
302So let's look at a really simple job file that defines two processes, each
303randomly reading from a 128MiB file:
304
305.. code-block:: ini
306
307 ; -- start job file --
308 [global]
309 rw=randread
310 size=128m
311
312 [job1]
313
314 [job2]
315
316 ; -- end job file --
317
318As you can see, the job file sections themselves are empty as all the described
319parameters are shared. As no :option:`filename` option is given, fio makes up a
320`filename` for each of the jobs as it sees fit. On the command line, this job
321would look as follows::
322
323$ fio --name=global --rw=randread --size=128m --name=job1 --name=job2
324
325
326Let's look at an example that has a number of processes writing randomly to
327files:
328
329.. code-block:: ini
330
331 ; -- start job file --
332 [random-writers]
333 ioengine=libaio
334 iodepth=4
335 rw=randwrite
336 bs=32k
337 direct=0
338 size=64m
339 numjobs=4
340 ; -- end job file --
341
342Here we have no *global* section, as we only have one job defined anyway. We
343want to use async I/O here, with a depth of 4 for each file. We also increased
344the buffer size used to 32KiB and define numjobs to 4 to fork 4 identical
345jobs. The result is 4 processes each randomly writing to their own 64MiB
346file. Instead of using the above job file, you could have given the parameters
347on the command line. For this case, you would specify::
348
349$ fio --name=random-writers --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=4 --rw=randwrite --bs=32k --direct=0 --size=64m --numjobs=4
350
351When fio is utilized as a basis of any reasonably large test suite, it might be
352desirable to share a set of standardized settings across multiple job files.
353Instead of copy/pasting such settings, any section may pull in an external
354:file:`filename.fio` file with *include filename* directive, as in the following
355example::
356
357 ; -- start job file including.fio --
358 [global]
359 filename=/tmp/test
360 filesize=1m
361 include glob-include.fio
362
363 [test]
364 rw=randread
365 bs=4k
366 time_based=1
367 runtime=10
368 include test-include.fio
369 ; -- end job file including.fio --
370
371.. code-block:: ini
372
373 ; -- start job file glob-include.fio --
374 thread=1
375 group_reporting=1
376 ; -- end job file glob-include.fio --
377
378.. code-block:: ini
379
380 ; -- start job file test-include.fio --
381 ioengine=libaio
382 iodepth=4
383 ; -- end job file test-include.fio --
384
385Settings pulled into a section apply to that section only (except *global*
386section). Include directives may be nested in that any included file may contain
387further include directive(s). Include files may not contain [] sections.
388
389
390Environment variables
391~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
392
393Fio also supports environment variable expansion in job files. Any sub-string of
394the form ``${VARNAME}`` as part of an option value (in other words, on the right
395of the '='), will be expanded to the value of the environment variable called
396`VARNAME`. If no such environment variable is defined, or `VARNAME` is the
397empty string, the empty string will be substituted.
398
399As an example, let's look at a sample fio invocation and job file::
400
401$ SIZE=64m NUMJOBS=4 fio jobfile.fio
402
403.. code-block:: ini
404
405 ; -- start job file --
406 [random-writers]
407 rw=randwrite
408 size=${SIZE}
409 numjobs=${NUMJOBS}
410 ; -- end job file --
411
412This will expand to the following equivalent job file at runtime:
413
414.. code-block:: ini
415
416 ; -- start job file --
417 [random-writers]
418 rw=randwrite
419 size=64m
420 numjobs=4
421 ; -- end job file --
422
423Fio ships with a few example job files, you can also look there for inspiration.
424
425Reserved keywords
426~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
427
428Additionally, fio has a set of reserved keywords that will be replaced
429internally with the appropriate value. Those keywords are:
430
431**$pagesize**
432
433 The architecture page size of the running system.
434
435**$mb_memory**
436
437 Megabytes of total memory in the system.
438
439**$ncpus**
440
441 Number of online available CPUs.
442
443These can be used on the command line or in the job file, and will be
444automatically substituted with the current system values when the job is
445run. Simple math is also supported on these keywords, so you can perform actions
446like::
447
448 size=8*$mb_memory
449
450and get that properly expanded to 8 times the size of memory in the machine.
451
452
453Job file parameters
454-------------------
455
456This section describes in details each parameter associated with a job. Some
457parameters take an option of a given type, such as an integer or a
458string. Anywhere a numeric value is required, an arithmetic expression may be
459used, provided it is surrounded by parentheses. Supported operators are:
460
461 - addition (+)
462 - subtraction (-)
463 - multiplication (*)
464 - division (/)
465 - modulus (%)
466 - exponentiation (^)
467
468For time values in expressions, units are microseconds by default. This is
469different than for time values not in expressions (not enclosed in
470parentheses). The following types are used:
471
472
473Parameter types
474~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
475
476**str**
477 String. This is a sequence of alpha characters.
478
479**time**
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480 Integer with possible time suffix. Without a unit value is interpreted as
481 seconds unless otherwise specified. Accepts a suffix of 'd' for days, 'h' for
482 hours, 'm' for minutes, 's' for seconds, 'ms' (or 'msec') for milliseconds and
483 'us' (or 'usec') for microseconds. For example, use 10m for 10 minutes.
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484
485.. _int:
486
487**int**
488 Integer. A whole number value, which may contain an integer prefix
489 and an integer suffix:
490
491 [*integer prefix*] **number** [*integer suffix*]
492
493 The optional *integer prefix* specifies the number's base. The default
494 is decimal. *0x* specifies hexadecimal.
495
496 The optional *integer suffix* specifies the number's units, and includes an
497 optional unit prefix and an optional unit. For quantities of data, the
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498 default unit is bytes. For quantities of time, the default unit is seconds
499 unless otherwise specified.
f80dba8d 500
9207a0cb 501 With :option:`kb_base`\=1000, fio follows international standards for unit
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502 prefixes. To specify power-of-10 decimal values defined in the
503 International System of Units (SI):
504
505 * *Ki* -- means kilo (K) or 1000
506 * *Mi* -- means mega (M) or 1000**2
507 * *Gi* -- means giga (G) or 1000**3
508 * *Ti* -- means tera (T) or 1000**4
509 * *Pi* -- means peta (P) or 1000**5
510
511 To specify power-of-2 binary values defined in IEC 80000-13:
512
513 * *k* -- means kibi (Ki) or 1024
514 * *M* -- means mebi (Mi) or 1024**2
515 * *G* -- means gibi (Gi) or 1024**3
516 * *T* -- means tebi (Ti) or 1024**4
517 * *P* -- means pebi (Pi) or 1024**5
518
9207a0cb 519 With :option:`kb_base`\=1024 (the default), the unit prefixes are opposite
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520 from those specified in the SI and IEC 80000-13 standards to provide
521 compatibility with old scripts. For example, 4k means 4096.
522
523 For quantities of data, an optional unit of 'B' may be included
524 (e.g., 'kB' is the same as 'k').
525
526 The *integer suffix* is not case sensitive (e.g., m/mi mean mebi/mega,
527 not milli). 'b' and 'B' both mean byte, not bit.
528
9207a0cb 529 Examples with :option:`kb_base`\=1000:
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530
531 * *4 KiB*: 4096, 4096b, 4096B, 4ki, 4kib, 4kiB, 4Ki, 4KiB
532 * *1 MiB*: 1048576, 1mi, 1024ki
533 * *1 MB*: 1000000, 1m, 1000k
534 * *1 TiB*: 1099511627776, 1ti, 1024gi, 1048576mi
535 * *1 TB*: 1000000000, 1t, 1000m, 1000000k
536
9207a0cb 537 Examples with :option:`kb_base`\=1024 (default):
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538
539 * *4 KiB*: 4096, 4096b, 4096B, 4k, 4kb, 4kB, 4K, 4KB
540 * *1 MiB*: 1048576, 1m, 1024k
541 * *1 MB*: 1000000, 1mi, 1000ki
542 * *1 TiB*: 1099511627776, 1t, 1024g, 1048576m
543 * *1 TB*: 1000000000, 1ti, 1000mi, 1000000ki
544
545 To specify times (units are not case sensitive):
546
547 * *D* -- means days
548 * *H* -- means hours
4502cb42 549 * *M* -- means minutes
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550 * *s* -- or sec means seconds (default)
551 * *ms* -- or *msec* means milliseconds
552 * *us* -- or *usec* means microseconds
553
554 If the option accepts an upper and lower range, use a colon ':' or
555 minus '-' to separate such values. See :ref:`irange <irange>`.
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556 If the lower value specified happens to be larger than the upper value
557 the two values are swapped.
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558
559.. _bool:
560
561**bool**
562 Boolean. Usually parsed as an integer, however only defined for
563 true and false (1 and 0).
564
565.. _irange:
566
567**irange**
568 Integer range with suffix. Allows value range to be given, such as
c60ebc45 569 1024-4096. A colon may also be used as the separator, e.g. 1k:4k. If the
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570 option allows two sets of ranges, they can be specified with a ',' or '/'
571 delimiter: 1k-4k/8k-32k. Also see :ref:`int <int>`.
572
573**float_list**
574 A list of floating point numbers, separated by a ':' character.
575
576
577Units
578~~~~~
579
580.. option:: kb_base=int
581
582 Select the interpretation of unit prefixes in input parameters.
583
584 **1000**
585 Inputs comply with IEC 80000-13 and the International
586 System of Units (SI). Use:
587
588 - power-of-2 values with IEC prefixes (e.g., KiB)
589 - power-of-10 values with SI prefixes (e.g., kB)
590
591 **1024**
592 Compatibility mode (default). To avoid breaking old scripts:
593
594 - power-of-2 values with SI prefixes
595 - power-of-10 values with IEC prefixes
596
597 See :option:`bs` for more details on input parameters.
598
599 Outputs always use correct prefixes. Most outputs include both
600 side-by-side, like::
601
602 bw=2383.3kB/s (2327.4KiB/s)
603
604 If only one value is reported, then kb_base selects the one to use:
605
606 **1000** -- SI prefixes
607
608 **1024** -- IEC prefixes
609
610.. option:: unit_base=int
611
612 Base unit for reporting. Allowed values are:
613
614 **0**
615 Use auto-detection (default).
616 **8**
617 Byte based.
618 **1**
619 Bit based.
620
621
622With the above in mind, here follows the complete list of fio job parameters.
623
624
625Job description
626~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
627
628.. option:: name=str
629
630 ASCII name of the job. This may be used to override the name printed by fio
631 for this job. Otherwise the job name is used. On the command line this
632 parameter has the special purpose of also signaling the start of a new job.
633
634.. option:: description=str
635
636 Text description of the job. Doesn't do anything except dump this text
637 description when this job is run. It's not parsed.
638
639.. option:: loops=int
640
641 Run the specified number of iterations of this job. Used to repeat the same
642 workload a given number of times. Defaults to 1.
643
644.. option:: numjobs=int
645
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646 Create the specified number of clones of this job. Each clone of job
647 is spawned as an independent thread or process. May be used to setup a
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648 larger number of threads/processes doing the same thing. Each thread is
649 reported separately; to see statistics for all clones as a whole, use
650 :option:`group_reporting` in conjunction with :option:`new_group`.
a47b697c 651 See :option:`--max-jobs`. Default: 1.
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652
653
654Time related parameters
655~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
656
657.. option:: runtime=time
658
f75ede1d 659 Tell fio to terminate processing after the specified period of time. It
f80dba8d 660 can be quite hard to determine for how long a specified job will run, so
f75ede1d 661 this parameter is handy to cap the total runtime to a given time. When
947e0fe0 662 the unit is omitted, the value is intepreted in seconds.
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663
664.. option:: time_based
665
666 If set, fio will run for the duration of the :option:`runtime` specified
667 even if the file(s) are completely read or written. It will simply loop over
668 the same workload as many times as the :option:`runtime` allows.
669
a881438b 670.. option:: startdelay=irange(time)
f80dba8d 671
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672 Delay the start of job for the specified amount of time. Can be a single
673 value or a range. When given as a range, each thread will choose a value
674 randomly from within the range. Value is in seconds if a unit is omitted.
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675
676.. option:: ramp_time=time
677
678 If set, fio will run the specified workload for this amount of time before
679 logging any performance numbers. Useful for letting performance settle
680 before logging results, thus minimizing the runtime required for stable
681 results. Note that the ``ramp_time`` is considered lead in time for a job,
682 thus it will increase the total runtime if a special timeout or
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683 :option:`runtime` is specified. When the unit is omitted, the value is
684 given in seconds.
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685
686.. option:: clocksource=str
687
688 Use the given clocksource as the base of timing. The supported options are:
689
690 **gettimeofday**
691 :manpage:`gettimeofday(2)`
692
693 **clock_gettime**
694 :manpage:`clock_gettime(2)`
695
696 **cpu**
697 Internal CPU clock source
698
699 cpu is the preferred clocksource if it is reliable, as it is very fast (and
700 fio is heavy on time calls). Fio will automatically use this clocksource if
701 it's supported and considered reliable on the system it is running on,
702 unless another clocksource is specifically set. For x86/x86-64 CPUs, this
703 means supporting TSC Invariant.
704
705.. option:: gtod_reduce=bool
706
707 Enable all of the :manpage:`gettimeofday(2)` reducing options
f75ede1d 708 (:option:`disable_clat`, :option:`disable_slat`, :option:`disable_bw_measurement`) plus
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709 reduce precision of the timeout somewhat to really shrink the
710 :manpage:`gettimeofday(2)` call count. With this option enabled, we only do
711 about 0.4% of the :manpage:`gettimeofday(2)` calls we would have done if all
712 time keeping was enabled.
713
714.. option:: gtod_cpu=int
715
716 Sometimes it's cheaper to dedicate a single thread of execution to just
717 getting the current time. Fio (and databases, for instance) are very
718 intensive on :manpage:`gettimeofday(2)` calls. With this option, you can set
719 one CPU aside for doing nothing but logging current time to a shared memory
720 location. Then the other threads/processes that run I/O workloads need only
721 copy that segment, instead of entering the kernel with a
722 :manpage:`gettimeofday(2)` call. The CPU set aside for doing these time
723 calls will be excluded from other uses. Fio will manually clear it from the
724 CPU mask of other jobs.
725
726
727Target file/device
728~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
729
730.. option:: directory=str
731
732 Prefix filenames with this directory. Used to place files in a different
733 location than :file:`./`. You can specify a number of directories by
734 separating the names with a ':' character. These directories will be
02dd2689 735 assigned equally distributed to job clones created by :option:`numjobs` as
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736 long as they are using generated filenames. If specific `filename(s)` are
737 set fio will use the first listed directory, and thereby matching the
738 `filename` semantic which generates a file each clone if not specified, but
739 let all clones use the same if set.
740
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741 See the :option:`filename` option for information on how to escape "``:``" and
742 "``\``" characters within the directory path itself.
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743
744.. option:: filename=str
745
746 Fio normally makes up a `filename` based on the job name, thread number, and
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747 file number (see :option:`filename_format`). If you want to share files
748 between threads in a job or several
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749 jobs with fixed file paths, specify a `filename` for each of them to override
750 the default. If the ioengine is file based, you can specify a number of files
751 by separating the names with a ':' colon. So if you wanted a job to open
752 :file:`/dev/sda` and :file:`/dev/sdb` as the two working files, you would use
753 ``filename=/dev/sda:/dev/sdb``. This also means that whenever this option is
754 specified, :option:`nrfiles` is ignored. The size of regular files specified
02dd2689 755 by this option will be :option:`size` divided by number of files unless an
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756 explicit size is specified by :option:`filesize`.
757
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758 Each colon and backslash in the wanted path must be escaped with a ``\``
759 character. For instance, if the path is :file:`/dev/dsk/foo@3,0:c` then you
760 would use ``filename=/dev/dsk/foo@3,0\:c`` and if the path is
761 :file:`F:\\filename` then you would use ``filename=F\:\\filename``.
762
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763 On Windows, disk devices are accessed as :file:`\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive0` for
764 the first device, :file:`\\\\.\\PhysicalDrive1` for the second etc.
765 Note: Windows and FreeBSD prevent write access to areas
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766 of the disk containing in-use data (e.g. filesystems).
767
768 The filename "`-`" is a reserved name, meaning *stdin* or *stdout*. Which
769 of the two depends on the read/write direction set.
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770
771.. option:: filename_format=str
772
773 If sharing multiple files between jobs, it is usually necessary to have fio
774 generate the exact names that you want. By default, fio will name a file
775 based on the default file format specification of
776 :file:`jobname.jobnumber.filenumber`. With this option, that can be
777 customized. Fio will recognize and replace the following keywords in this
778 string:
779
780 **$jobname**
781 The name of the worker thread or process.
782 **$jobnum**
783 The incremental number of the worker thread or process.
784 **$filenum**
785 The incremental number of the file for that worker thread or
786 process.
787
788 To have dependent jobs share a set of files, this option can be set to have
789 fio generate filenames that are shared between the two. For instance, if
790 :file:`testfiles.$filenum` is specified, file number 4 for any job will be
791 named :file:`testfiles.4`. The default of :file:`$jobname.$jobnum.$filenum`
792 will be used if no other format specifier is given.
793
794.. option:: unique_filename=bool
795
796 To avoid collisions between networked clients, fio defaults to prefixing any
797 generated filenames (with a directory specified) with the source of the
798 client connecting. To disable this behavior, set this option to 0.
799
800.. option:: opendir=str
801
802 Recursively open any files below directory `str`.
803
804.. option:: lockfile=str
805
806 Fio defaults to not locking any files before it does I/O to them. If a file
807 or file descriptor is shared, fio can serialize I/O to that file to make the
808 end result consistent. This is usual for emulating real workloads that share
809 files. The lock modes are:
810
811 **none**
812 No locking. The default.
813 **exclusive**
814 Only one thread or process may do I/O at a time, excluding all
815 others.
816 **readwrite**
817 Read-write locking on the file. Many readers may
818 access the file at the same time, but writes get exclusive access.
819
820.. option:: nrfiles=int
821
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822 Number of files to use for this job. Defaults to 1. The size of files
823 will be :option:`size` divided by this unless explicit size is specified by
824 :option:`filesize`. Files are created for each thread separately, and each
825 file will have a file number within its name by default, as explained in
826 :option:`filename` section.
827
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828
829.. option:: openfiles=int
830
831 Number of files to keep open at the same time. Defaults to the same as
832 :option:`nrfiles`, can be set smaller to limit the number simultaneous
833 opens.
834
835.. option:: file_service_type=str
836
837 Defines how fio decides which file from a job to service next. The following
838 types are defined:
839
840 **random**
841 Choose a file at random.
842
843 **roundrobin**
844 Round robin over opened files. This is the default.
845
846 **sequential**
847 Finish one file before moving on to the next. Multiple files can
848 still be open depending on 'openfiles'.
849
850 **zipf**
c60ebc45 851 Use a *Zipf* distribution to decide what file to access.
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852
853 **pareto**
c60ebc45 854 Use a *Pareto* distribution to decide what file to access.
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855
856 **gauss**
c60ebc45 857 Use a *Gaussian* (normal) distribution to decide what file to
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858 access.
859
860 For *random*, *roundrobin*, and *sequential*, a postfix can be appended to
861 tell fio how many I/Os to issue before switching to a new file. For example,
862 specifying ``file_service_type=random:8`` would cause fio to issue
863 8 I/Os before selecting a new file at random. For the non-uniform
864 distributions, a floating point postfix can be given to influence how the
865 distribution is skewed. See :option:`random_distribution` for a description
866 of how that would work.
867
868.. option:: ioscheduler=str
869
870 Attempt to switch the device hosting the file to the specified I/O scheduler
871 before running.
872
873.. option:: create_serialize=bool
874
875 If true, serialize the file creation for the jobs. This may be handy to
876 avoid interleaving of data files, which may greatly depend on the filesystem
a47b697c 877 used and even the number of processors in the system. Default: true.
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878
879.. option:: create_fsync=bool
880
22413915 881 :manpage:`fsync(2)` the data file after creation. This is the default.
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882
883.. option:: create_on_open=bool
884
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885 If true, don't pre-create files but allow the job's open() to create a file
886 when it's time to do I/O. Default: false -- pre-create all necessary files
887 when the job starts.
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888
889.. option:: create_only=bool
890
891 If true, fio will only run the setup phase of the job. If files need to be
4502cb42 892 laid out or updated on disk, only that will be done -- the actual job contents
a47b697c 893 are not executed. Default: false.
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894
895.. option:: allow_file_create=bool
896
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897 If true, fio is permitted to create files as part of its workload. If this
898 option is false, then fio will error out if
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899 the files it needs to use don't already exist. Default: true.
900
901.. option:: allow_mounted_write=bool
902
c60ebc45 903 If this isn't set, fio will abort jobs that are destructive (e.g. that write)
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904 to what appears to be a mounted device or partition. This should help catch
905 creating inadvertently destructive tests, not realizing that the test will
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906 destroy data on the mounted file system. Note that some platforms don't allow
907 writing against a mounted device regardless of this option. Default: false.
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908
909.. option:: pre_read=bool
910
911 If this is given, files will be pre-read into memory before starting the
912 given I/O operation. This will also clear the :option:`invalidate` flag,
913 since it is pointless to pre-read and then drop the cache. This will only
914 work for I/O engines that are seek-able, since they allow you to read the
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915 same data multiple times. Thus it will not work on non-seekable I/O engines
916 (e.g. network, splice). Default: false.
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917
918.. option:: unlink=bool
919
920 Unlink the job files when done. Not the default, as repeated runs of that
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921 job would then waste time recreating the file set again and again. Default:
922 false.
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923
924.. option:: unlink_each_loop=bool
925
a47b697c 926 Unlink job files after each iteration or loop. Default: false.
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927
928.. option:: zonesize=int
929
930 Divide a file into zones of the specified size. See :option:`zoneskip`.
931
932.. option:: zonerange=int
933
934 Give size of an I/O zone. See :option:`zoneskip`.
935
936.. option:: zoneskip=int
937
938 Skip the specified number of bytes when :option:`zonesize` data has been
939 read. The two zone options can be used to only do I/O on zones of a file.
940
941
942I/O type
943~~~~~~~~
944
945.. option:: direct=bool
946
947 If value is true, use non-buffered I/O. This is usually O_DIRECT. Note that
948 ZFS on Solaris doesn't support direct I/O. On Windows the synchronous
949 ioengines don't support direct I/O. Default: false.
950
951.. option:: atomic=bool
952
953 If value is true, attempt to use atomic direct I/O. Atomic writes are
954 guaranteed to be stable once acknowledged by the operating system. Only
955 Linux supports O_ATOMIC right now.
956
957.. option:: buffered=bool
958
959 If value is true, use buffered I/O. This is the opposite of the
960 :option:`direct` option. Defaults to true.
961
962.. option:: readwrite=str, rw=str
963
964 Type of I/O pattern. Accepted values are:
965
966 **read**
967 Sequential reads.
968 **write**
969 Sequential writes.
970 **trim**
971 Sequential trims (Linux block devices only).
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972 **randread**
973 Random reads.
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974 **randwrite**
975 Random writes.
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976 **randtrim**
977 Random trims (Linux block devices only).
978 **rw,readwrite**
979 Sequential mixed reads and writes.
980 **randrw**
981 Random mixed reads and writes.
982 **trimwrite**
983 Sequential trim+write sequences. Blocks will be trimmed first,
984 then the same blocks will be written to.
985
986 Fio defaults to read if the option is not specified. For the mixed I/O
987 types, the default is to split them 50/50. For certain types of I/O the
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988 result may still be skewed a bit, since the speed may be different.
989
990 It is possible to specify the number of I/Os to do before getting a new
991 offset by appending ``:<nr>`` to the end of the string given. For a
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992 random read, it would look like ``rw=randread:8`` for passing in an offset
993 modifier with a value of 8. If the suffix is used with a sequential I/O
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994 pattern, then the *<nr>* value specified will be **added** to the generated
995 offset for each I/O turning sequential I/O into sequential I/O with holes.
996 For instance, using ``rw=write:4k`` will skip 4k for every write. Also see
997 the :option:`rw_sequencer` option.
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998
999.. option:: rw_sequencer=str
1000
1001 If an offset modifier is given by appending a number to the ``rw=<str>``
1002 line, then this option controls how that number modifies the I/O offset
1003 being generated. Accepted values are:
1004
1005 **sequential**
1006 Generate sequential offset.
1007 **identical**
1008 Generate the same offset.
1009
1010 ``sequential`` is only useful for random I/O, where fio would normally
c60ebc45 1011 generate a new random offset for every I/O. If you append e.g. 8 to randread,
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1012 you would get a new random offset for every 8 I/O's. The result would be a
1013 seek for only every 8 I/O's, instead of for every I/O. Use ``rw=randread:8``
1014 to specify that. As sequential I/O is already sequential, setting
1015 ``sequential`` for that would not result in any differences. ``identical``
1016 behaves in a similar fashion, except it sends the same offset 8 number of
1017 times before generating a new offset.
1018
1019.. option:: unified_rw_reporting=bool
1020
1021 Fio normally reports statistics on a per data direction basis, meaning that
1022 reads, writes, and trims are accounted and reported separately. If this
1023 option is set fio sums the results and report them as "mixed" instead.
1024
1025.. option:: randrepeat=bool
1026
1027 Seed the random number generator used for random I/O patterns in a
1028 predictable way so the pattern is repeatable across runs. Default: true.
1029
1030.. option:: allrandrepeat=bool
1031
1032 Seed all random number generators in a predictable way so results are
1033 repeatable across runs. Default: false.
1034
1035.. option:: randseed=int
1036
1037 Seed the random number generators based on this seed value, to be able to
1038 control what sequence of output is being generated. If not set, the random
1039 sequence depends on the :option:`randrepeat` setting.
1040
1041.. option:: fallocate=str
1042
1043 Whether pre-allocation is performed when laying down files.
1044 Accepted values are:
1045
1046 **none**
1047 Do not pre-allocate space.
1048
1049 **posix**
1050 Pre-allocate via :manpage:`posix_fallocate(3)`.
1051
1052 **keep**
1053 Pre-allocate via :manpage:`fallocate(2)` with
1054 FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE set.
1055
1056 **0**
1057 Backward-compatible alias for **none**.
1058
1059 **1**
1060 Backward-compatible alias for **posix**.
1061
1062 May not be available on all supported platforms. **keep** is only available
1063 on Linux. If using ZFS on Solaris this must be set to **none** because ZFS
1064 doesn't support it. Default: **posix**.
1065
1066.. option:: fadvise_hint=str
1067
1068 Use :manpage:`posix_fadvise(2)` to advise the kernel on what I/O patterns
1069 are likely to be issued. Accepted values are:
1070
1071 **0**
1072 Backwards-compatible hint for "no hint".
1073
1074 **1**
1075 Backwards compatible hint for "advise with fio workload type". This
1076 uses **FADV_RANDOM** for a random workload, and **FADV_SEQUENTIAL**
1077 for a sequential workload.
1078
1079 **sequential**
1080 Advise using **FADV_SEQUENTIAL**.
1081
1082 **random**
1083 Advise using **FADV_RANDOM**.
1084
1085.. option:: fadvise_stream=int
1086
1087 Use :manpage:`posix_fadvise(2)` to advise the kernel what stream ID the
1088 writes issued belong to. Only supported on Linux. Note, this option may
1089 change going forward.
1090
1091.. option:: offset=int
1092
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1093 Start I/O at the provided offset in the file, given as either a fixed size in
1094 bytes or a percentage. If a percentage is given, the next ``blockalign``-ed
1095 offset will be used. Data before the given offset will not be touched. This
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1096 effectively caps the file size at `real_size - offset`. Can be combined with
1097 :option:`size` to constrain the start and end range of the I/O workload.
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1098 A percentage can be specified by the percentage number plus 1 with preceding '-'.
1099 For example, -1 is parsed as 0%, -10 is parsed as 9%, -101 is parsed as 100%.
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1100
1101.. option:: offset_increment=int
1102
1103 If this is provided, then the real offset becomes `offset + offset_increment
1104 * thread_number`, where the thread number is a counter that starts at 0 and
1105 is incremented for each sub-job (i.e. when :option:`numjobs` option is
1106 specified). This option is useful if there are several jobs which are
1107 intended to operate on a file in parallel disjoint segments, with even
1108 spacing between the starting points.
1109
1110.. option:: number_ios=int
1111
c60ebc45 1112 Fio will normally perform I/Os until it has exhausted the size of the region
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1113 set by :option:`size`, or if it exhaust the allocated time (or hits an error
1114 condition). With this setting, the range/size can be set independently of
c60ebc45 1115 the number of I/Os to perform. When fio reaches this number, it will exit
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1116 normally and report status. Note that this does not extend the amount of I/O
1117 that will be done, it will only stop fio if this condition is met before
1118 other end-of-job criteria.
1119
1120.. option:: fsync=int
1121
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1122 If writing to a file, issue an :manpage:`fsync(2)` (or its equivalent) of
1123 the dirty data for every number of blocks given. For example, if you give 32
1124 as a parameter, fio will sync the file after every 32 writes issued. If fio is
1125 using non-buffered I/O, we may not sync the file. The exception is the sg
1126 I/O engine, which synchronizes the disk cache anyway. Defaults to 0, which
1127 means fio does not periodically issue and wait for a sync to complete. Also
1128 see :option:`end_fsync` and :option:`fsync_on_close`.
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1129
1130.. option:: fdatasync=int
1131
1132 Like :option:`fsync` but uses :manpage:`fdatasync(2)` to only sync data and
000a5f1c 1133 not metadata blocks. In Windows, FreeBSD, and DragonFlyBSD there is no
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1134 :manpage:`fdatasync(2)` so this falls back to using :manpage:`fsync(2)`.
1135 Defaults to 0, which means fio does not periodically issue and wait for a
1136 data-only sync to complete.
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1137
1138.. option:: write_barrier=int
1139
2831be97 1140 Make every `N-th` write a barrier write.
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1141
1142.. option:: sync_file_range=str:val
1143
1144 Use :manpage:`sync_file_range(2)` for every `val` number of write
1145 operations. Fio will track range of writes that have happened since the last
1146 :manpage:`sync_file_range(2)` call. `str` can currently be one or more of:
1147
1148 **wait_before**
1149 SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WAIT_BEFORE
1150 **write**
1151 SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WRITE
1152 **wait_after**
1153 SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WAIT_AFTER
1154
1155 So if you do ``sync_file_range=wait_before,write:8``, fio would use
1156 ``SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WAIT_BEFORE | SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WRITE`` for every 8
1157 writes. Also see the :manpage:`sync_file_range(2)` man page. This option is
1158 Linux specific.
1159
1160.. option:: overwrite=bool
1161
1162 If true, writes to a file will always overwrite existing data. If the file
1163 doesn't already exist, it will be created before the write phase begins. If
1164 the file exists and is large enough for the specified write phase, nothing
a47b697c 1165 will be done. Default: false.
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1166
1167.. option:: end_fsync=bool
1168
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1169 If true, :manpage:`fsync(2)` file contents when a write stage has completed.
1170 Default: false.
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1171
1172.. option:: fsync_on_close=bool
1173
1174 If true, fio will :manpage:`fsync(2)` a dirty file on close. This differs
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1175 from :option:`end_fsync` in that it will happen on every file close, not
1176 just at the end of the job. Default: false.
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1177
1178.. option:: rwmixread=int
1179
1180 Percentage of a mixed workload that should be reads. Default: 50.
1181
1182.. option:: rwmixwrite=int
1183
1184 Percentage of a mixed workload that should be writes. If both
1185 :option:`rwmixread` and :option:`rwmixwrite` is given and the values do not
1186 add up to 100%, the latter of the two will be used to override the
1187 first. This may interfere with a given rate setting, if fio is asked to
1188 limit reads or writes to a certain rate. If that is the case, then the
1189 distribution may be skewed. Default: 50.
1190
1191.. option:: random_distribution=str:float[,str:float][,str:float]
1192
1193 By default, fio will use a completely uniform random distribution when asked
1194 to perform random I/O. Sometimes it is useful to skew the distribution in
1195 specific ways, ensuring that some parts of the data is more hot than others.
1196 fio includes the following distribution models:
1197
1198 **random**
1199 Uniform random distribution
1200
1201 **zipf**
1202 Zipf distribution
1203
1204 **pareto**
1205 Pareto distribution
1206
1207 **gauss**
c60ebc45 1208 Normal (Gaussian) distribution
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1209
1210 **zoned**
1211 Zoned random distribution
1212
1213 When using a **zipf** or **pareto** distribution, an input value is also
1214 needed to define the access pattern. For **zipf**, this is the `zipf
c60ebc45 1215 theta`. For **pareto**, it's the `Pareto power`. Fio includes a test
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1216 program, :command:`genzipf`, that can be used visualize what the given input
1217 values will yield in terms of hit rates. If you wanted to use **zipf** with
1218 a `theta` of 1.2, you would use ``random_distribution=zipf:1.2`` as the
1219 option. If a non-uniform model is used, fio will disable use of the random
1220 map. For the **gauss** distribution, a normal deviation is supplied as a
1221 value between 0 and 100.
1222
1223 For a **zoned** distribution, fio supports specifying percentages of I/O
1224 access that should fall within what range of the file or device. For
1225 example, given a criteria of:
1226
1227 * 60% of accesses should be to the first 10%
1228 * 30% of accesses should be to the next 20%
1229 * 8% of accesses should be to to the next 30%
1230 * 2% of accesses should be to the next 40%
1231
1232 we can define that through zoning of the random accesses. For the above
1233 example, the user would do::
1234
1235 random_distribution=zoned:60/10:30/20:8/30:2/40
1236
1237 similarly to how :option:`bssplit` works for setting ranges and percentages
1238 of block sizes. Like :option:`bssplit`, it's possible to specify separate
1239 zones for reads, writes, and trims. If just one set is given, it'll apply to
1240 all of them.
1241
1242.. option:: percentage_random=int[,int][,int]
1243
1244 For a random workload, set how big a percentage should be random. This
1245 defaults to 100%, in which case the workload is fully random. It can be set
1246 from anywhere from 0 to 100. Setting it to 0 would make the workload fully
1247 sequential. Any setting in between will result in a random mix of sequential
1248 and random I/O, at the given percentages. Comma-separated values may be
1249 specified for reads, writes, and trims as described in :option:`blocksize`.
1250
1251.. option:: norandommap
1252
1253 Normally fio will cover every block of the file when doing random I/O. If
1254 this option is given, fio will just get a new random offset without looking
1255 at past I/O history. This means that some blocks may not be read or written,
1256 and that some blocks may be read/written more than once. If this option is
1257 used with :option:`verify` and multiple blocksizes (via :option:`bsrange`),
1258 only intact blocks are verified, i.e., partially-overwritten blocks are
1259 ignored.
1260
1261.. option:: softrandommap=bool
1262
1263 See :option:`norandommap`. If fio runs with the random block map enabled and
1264 it fails to allocate the map, if this option is set it will continue without
1265 a random block map. As coverage will not be as complete as with random maps,
1266 this option is disabled by default.
1267
1268.. option:: random_generator=str
1269
1270 Fio supports the following engines for generating
1271 I/O offsets for random I/O:
1272
1273 **tausworthe**
1274 Strong 2^88 cycle random number generator
1275 **lfsr**
1276 Linear feedback shift register generator
1277 **tausworthe64**
1278 Strong 64-bit 2^258 cycle random number generator
1279
1280 **tausworthe** is a strong random number generator, but it requires tracking
1281 on the side if we want to ensure that blocks are only read or written
1282 once. **LFSR** guarantees that we never generate the same offset twice, and
1283 it's also less computationally expensive. It's not a true random generator,
1284 however, though for I/O purposes it's typically good enough. **LFSR** only
1285 works with single block sizes, not with workloads that use multiple block
1286 sizes. If used with such a workload, fio may read or write some blocks
1287 multiple times. The default value is **tausworthe**, unless the required
1288 space exceeds 2^32 blocks. If it does, then **tausworthe64** is
1289 selected automatically.
1290
1291
1292Block size
1293~~~~~~~~~~
1294
1295.. option:: blocksize=int[,int][,int], bs=int[,int][,int]
1296
1297 The block size in bytes used for I/O units. Default: 4096. A single value
1298 applies to reads, writes, and trims. Comma-separated values may be
1299 specified for reads, writes, and trims. A value not terminated in a comma
1300 applies to subsequent types.
1301
1302 Examples:
1303
1304 **bs=256k**
1305 means 256k for reads, writes and trims.
1306
1307 **bs=8k,32k**
1308 means 8k for reads, 32k for writes and trims.
1309
1310 **bs=8k,32k,**
1311 means 8k for reads, 32k for writes, and default for trims.
1312
1313 **bs=,8k**
1314 means default for reads, 8k for writes and trims.
1315
1316 **bs=,8k,**
b443ae44 1317 means default for reads, 8k for writes, and default for trims.
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1318
1319.. option:: blocksize_range=irange[,irange][,irange], bsrange=irange[,irange][,irange]
1320
1321 A range of block sizes in bytes for I/O units. The issued I/O unit will
1322 always be a multiple of the minimum size, unless
1323 :option:`blocksize_unaligned` is set.
1324
1325 Comma-separated ranges may be specified for reads, writes, and trims as
1326 described in :option:`blocksize`.
1327
1328 Example: ``bsrange=1k-4k,2k-8k``.
1329
1330.. option:: bssplit=str[,str][,str]
1331
1332 Sometimes you want even finer grained control of the block sizes issued, not
1333 just an even split between them. This option allows you to weight various
1334 block sizes, so that you are able to define a specific amount of block sizes
1335 issued. The format for this option is::
1336
1337 bssplit=blocksize/percentage:blocksize/percentage
1338
1339 for as many block sizes as needed. So if you want to define a workload that
1340 has 50% 64k blocks, 10% 4k blocks, and 40% 32k blocks, you would write::
1341
1342 bssplit=4k/10:64k/50:32k/40
1343
1344 Ordering does not matter. If the percentage is left blank, fio will fill in
1345 the remaining values evenly. So a bssplit option like this one::
1346
1347 bssplit=4k/50:1k/:32k/
1348
1349 would have 50% 4k ios, and 25% 1k and 32k ios. The percentages always add up
1350 to 100, if bssplit is given a range that adds up to more, it will error out.
1351
1352 Comma-separated values may be specified for reads, writes, and trims as
1353 described in :option:`blocksize`.
1354
1355 If you want a workload that has 50% 2k reads and 50% 4k reads, while having
1356 90% 4k writes and 10% 8k writes, you would specify::
1357
1358 bssplit=2k/50:4k/50,4k/90,8k/10
1359
1360.. option:: blocksize_unaligned, bs_unaligned
1361
1362 If set, fio will issue I/O units with any size within
1363 :option:`blocksize_range`, not just multiples of the minimum size. This
1364 typically won't work with direct I/O, as that normally requires sector
1365 alignment.
1366
1367.. option:: bs_is_seq_rand
1368
1369 If this option is set, fio will use the normal read,write blocksize settings
1370 as sequential,random blocksize settings instead. Any random read or write
1371 will use the WRITE blocksize settings, and any sequential read or write will
1372 use the READ blocksize settings.
1373
1374.. option:: blockalign=int[,int][,int], ba=int[,int][,int]
1375
1376 Boundary to which fio will align random I/O units. Default:
1377 :option:`blocksize`. Minimum alignment is typically 512b for using direct
1378 I/O, though it usually depends on the hardware block size. This option is
1379 mutually exclusive with using a random map for files, so it will turn off
1380 that option. Comma-separated values may be specified for reads, writes, and
1381 trims as described in :option:`blocksize`.
1382
1383
1384Buffers and memory
1385~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1386
1387.. option:: zero_buffers
1388
1389 Initialize buffers with all zeros. Default: fill buffers with random data.
1390
1391.. option:: refill_buffers
1392
1393 If this option is given, fio will refill the I/O buffers on every
1394 submit. The default is to only fill it at init time and reuse that
1395 data. Only makes sense if zero_buffers isn't specified, naturally. If data
1396 verification is enabled, `refill_buffers` is also automatically enabled.
1397
1398.. option:: scramble_buffers=bool
1399
1400 If :option:`refill_buffers` is too costly and the target is using data
1401 deduplication, then setting this option will slightly modify the I/O buffer
1402 contents to defeat normal de-dupe attempts. This is not enough to defeat
1403 more clever block compression attempts, but it will stop naive dedupe of
1404 blocks. Default: true.
1405
1406.. option:: buffer_compress_percentage=int
1407
1408 If this is set, then fio will attempt to provide I/O buffer content (on
730bd7d9 1409 WRITEs) that compresses to the specified level. Fio does this by providing a
22413915 1410 mix of random data and a fixed pattern. The fixed pattern is either zeros,
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1411 or the pattern specified by :option:`buffer_pattern`. If the pattern option
1412 is used, it might skew the compression ratio slightly. Note that this is per
1413 block size unit, for file/disk wide compression level that matches this
1414 setting, you'll also want to set :option:`refill_buffers`.
1415
1416.. option:: buffer_compress_chunk=int
1417
1418 See :option:`buffer_compress_percentage`. This setting allows fio to manage
1419 how big the ranges of random data and zeroed data is. Without this set, fio
1420 will provide :option:`buffer_compress_percentage` of blocksize random data,
1421 followed by the remaining zeroed. With this set to some chunk size smaller
1422 than the block size, fio can alternate random and zeroed data throughout the
1423 I/O buffer.
1424
1425.. option:: buffer_pattern=str
1426
a1554f65
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1427 If set, fio will fill the I/O buffers with this pattern or with the contents
1428 of a file. If not set, the contents of I/O buffers are defined by the other
1429 options related to buffer contents. The setting can be any pattern of bytes,
1430 and can be prefixed with 0x for hex values. It may also be a string, where
1431 the string must then be wrapped with ``""``. Or it may also be a filename,
1432 where the filename must be wrapped with ``''`` in which case the file is
1433 opened and read. Note that not all the file contents will be read if that
1434 would cause the buffers to overflow. So, for example::
1435
1436 buffer_pattern='filename'
1437
1438 or::
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1439
1440 buffer_pattern="abcd"
1441
1442 or::
1443
1444 buffer_pattern=-12
1445
1446 or::
1447
1448 buffer_pattern=0xdeadface
1449
1450 Also you can combine everything together in any order::
1451
a1554f65 1452 buffer_pattern=0xdeadface"abcd"-12'filename'
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1453
1454.. option:: dedupe_percentage=int
1455
1456 If set, fio will generate this percentage of identical buffers when
1457 writing. These buffers will be naturally dedupable. The contents of the
1458 buffers depend on what other buffer compression settings have been set. It's
1459 possible to have the individual buffers either fully compressible, or not at
1460 all. This option only controls the distribution of unique buffers.
1461
1462.. option:: invalidate=bool
1463
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1464 Invalidate the buffer/page cache parts of the files to be used prior to
1465 starting I/O if the platform and file type support it. Defaults to true.
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1466 This will be ignored if :option:`pre_read` is also specified for the
1467 same job.
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1468
1469.. option:: sync=bool
1470
1471 Use synchronous I/O for buffered writes. For the majority of I/O engines,
1472 this means using O_SYNC. Default: false.
1473
1474.. option:: iomem=str, mem=str
1475
1476 Fio can use various types of memory as the I/O unit buffer. The allowed
1477 values are:
1478
1479 **malloc**
1480 Use memory from :manpage:`malloc(3)` as the buffers. Default memory
1481 type.
1482
1483 **shm**
1484 Use shared memory as the buffers. Allocated through
1485 :manpage:`shmget(2)`.
1486
1487 **shmhuge**
1488 Same as shm, but use huge pages as backing.
1489
1490 **mmap**
22413915 1491 Use :manpage:`mmap(2)` to allocate buffers. May either be anonymous memory, or can
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1492 be file backed if a filename is given after the option. The format
1493 is `mem=mmap:/path/to/file`.
1494
1495 **mmaphuge**
1496 Use a memory mapped huge file as the buffer backing. Append filename
1497 after mmaphuge, ala `mem=mmaphuge:/hugetlbfs/file`.
1498
1499 **mmapshared**
1500 Same as mmap, but use a MMAP_SHARED mapping.
1501
03553853
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1502 **cudamalloc**
1503 Use GPU memory as the buffers for GPUDirect RDMA benchmark.
1504
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1505 The area allocated is a function of the maximum allowed bs size for the job,
1506 multiplied by the I/O depth given. Note that for **shmhuge** and
1507 **mmaphuge** to work, the system must have free huge pages allocated. This
1508 can normally be checked and set by reading/writing
1509 :file:`/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages` on a Linux system. Fio assumes a huge page
1510 is 4MiB in size. So to calculate the number of huge pages you need for a
1511 given job file, add up the I/O depth of all jobs (normally one unless
1512 :option:`iodepth` is used) and multiply by the maximum bs set. Then divide
1513 that number by the huge page size. You can see the size of the huge pages in
1514 :file:`/proc/meminfo`. If no huge pages are allocated by having a non-zero
1515 number in `nr_hugepages`, using **mmaphuge** or **shmhuge** will fail. Also
1516 see :option:`hugepage-size`.
1517
1518 **mmaphuge** also needs to have hugetlbfs mounted and the file location
1519 should point there. So if it's mounted in :file:`/huge`, you would use
1520 `mem=mmaphuge:/huge/somefile`.
1521
1522.. option:: iomem_align=int
1523
1524 This indicates the memory alignment of the I/O memory buffers. Note that
1525 the given alignment is applied to the first I/O unit buffer, if using
1526 :option:`iodepth` the alignment of the following buffers are given by the
1527 :option:`bs` used. In other words, if using a :option:`bs` that is a
1528 multiple of the page sized in the system, all buffers will be aligned to
1529 this value. If using a :option:`bs` that is not page aligned, the alignment
1530 of subsequent I/O memory buffers is the sum of the :option:`iomem_align` and
1531 :option:`bs` used.
1532
1533.. option:: hugepage-size=int
1534
1535 Defines the size of a huge page. Must at least be equal to the system
1536 setting, see :file:`/proc/meminfo`. Defaults to 4MiB. Should probably
1537 always be a multiple of megabytes, so using ``hugepage-size=Xm`` is the
1538 preferred way to set this to avoid setting a non-pow-2 bad value.
1539
1540.. option:: lockmem=int
1541
1542 Pin the specified amount of memory with :manpage:`mlock(2)`. Can be used to
1543 simulate a smaller amount of memory. The amount specified is per worker.
1544
1545
1546I/O size
1547~~~~~~~~
1548
1549.. option:: size=int
1550
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1551 The total size of file I/O for each thread of this job. Fio will run until
1552 this many bytes has been transferred, unless runtime is limited by other options
1553 (such as :option:`runtime`, for instance, or increased/decreased by :option:`io_size`).
1554 Fio will divide this size between the available files determined by options
1555 such as :option:`nrfiles`, :option:`filename`, unless :option:`filesize` is
1556 specified by the job. If the result of division happens to be 0, the size is
c4aa2d08 1557 set to the physical size of the given files or devices if they exist.
79591fa9 1558 If this option is not specified, fio will use the full size of the given
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1559 files or devices. If the files do not exist, size must be given. It is also
1560 possible to give size as a percentage between 1 and 100. If ``size=20%`` is
1561 given, fio will use 20% of the full size of the given files or devices.
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1562 Can be combined with :option:`offset` to constrain the start and end range
1563 that I/O will be done within.
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1564
1565.. option:: io_size=int, io_limit=int
1566
1567 Normally fio operates within the region set by :option:`size`, which means
1568 that the :option:`size` option sets both the region and size of I/O to be
1569 performed. Sometimes that is not what you want. With this option, it is
1570 possible to define just the amount of I/O that fio should do. For instance,
1571 if :option:`size` is set to 20GiB and :option:`io_size` is set to 5GiB, fio
1572 will perform I/O within the first 20GiB but exit when 5GiB have been
1573 done. The opposite is also possible -- if :option:`size` is set to 20GiB,
1574 and :option:`io_size` is set to 40GiB, then fio will do 40GiB of I/O within
1575 the 0..20GiB region.
1576
7fdd97ca 1577.. option:: filesize=irange(int)
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1578
1579 Individual file sizes. May be a range, in which case fio will select sizes
1580 for files at random within the given range and limited to :option:`size` in
1581 total (if that is given). If not given, each created file is the same size.
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1582 This option overrides :option:`size` in terms of file size, which means
1583 this value is used as a fixed size or possible range of each file.
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1584
1585.. option:: file_append=bool
1586
1587 Perform I/O after the end of the file. Normally fio will operate within the
1588 size of a file. If this option is set, then fio will append to the file
1589 instead. This has identical behavior to setting :option:`offset` to the size
1590 of a file. This option is ignored on non-regular files.
1591
1592.. option:: fill_device=bool, fill_fs=bool
1593
1594 Sets size to something really large and waits for ENOSPC (no space left on
1595 device) as the terminating condition. Only makes sense with sequential
1596 write. For a read workload, the mount point will be filled first then I/O
1597 started on the result. This option doesn't make sense if operating on a raw
1598 device node, since the size of that is already known by the file system.
1599 Additionally, writing beyond end-of-device will not return ENOSPC there.
1600
1601
1602I/O engine
1603~~~~~~~~~~
1604
1605.. option:: ioengine=str
1606
1607 Defines how the job issues I/O to the file. The following types are defined:
1608
1609 **sync**
1610 Basic :manpage:`read(2)` or :manpage:`write(2)`
1611 I/O. :manpage:`lseek(2)` is used to position the I/O location.
54227e6b 1612 See :option:`fsync` and :option:`fdatasync` for syncing write I/Os.
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1613
1614 **psync**
1615 Basic :manpage:`pread(2)` or :manpage:`pwrite(2)` I/O. Default on
1616 all supported operating systems except for Windows.
1617
1618 **vsync**
1619 Basic :manpage:`readv(2)` or :manpage:`writev(2)` I/O. Will emulate
c60ebc45 1620 queuing by coalescing adjacent I/Os into a single submission.
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1621
1622 **pvsync**
1623 Basic :manpage:`preadv(2)` or :manpage:`pwritev(2)` I/O.
1624
1625 **pvsync2**
1626 Basic :manpage:`preadv2(2)` or :manpage:`pwritev2(2)` I/O.
1627
1628 **libaio**
1629 Linux native asynchronous I/O. Note that Linux may only support
22413915 1630 queued behavior with non-buffered I/O (set ``direct=1`` or
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1631 ``buffered=0``).
1632 This engine defines engine specific options.
1633
1634 **posixaio**
1635 POSIX asynchronous I/O using :manpage:`aio_read(3)` and
1636 :manpage:`aio_write(3)`.
1637
1638 **solarisaio**
1639 Solaris native asynchronous I/O.
1640
1641 **windowsaio**
1642 Windows native asynchronous I/O. Default on Windows.
1643
1644 **mmap**
1645 File is memory mapped with :manpage:`mmap(2)` and data copied
1646 to/from using :manpage:`memcpy(3)`.
1647
1648 **splice**
1649 :manpage:`splice(2)` is used to transfer the data and
1650 :manpage:`vmsplice(2)` to transfer data from user space to the
1651 kernel.
1652
1653 **sg**
1654 SCSI generic sg v3 I/O. May either be synchronous using the SG_IO
1655 ioctl, or if the target is an sg character device we use
1656 :manpage:`read(2)` and :manpage:`write(2)` for asynchronous
1657 I/O. Requires filename option to specify either block or character
1658 devices.
1659
1660 **null**
1661 Doesn't transfer any data, just pretends to. This is mainly used to
1662 exercise fio itself and for debugging/testing purposes.
1663
1664 **net**
1665 Transfer over the network to given ``host:port``. Depending on the
1666 :option:`protocol` used, the :option:`hostname`, :option:`port`,
1667 :option:`listen` and :option:`filename` options are used to specify
1668 what sort of connection to make, while the :option:`protocol` option
1669 determines which protocol will be used. This engine defines engine
1670 specific options.
1671
1672 **netsplice**
1673 Like **net**, but uses :manpage:`splice(2)` and
1674 :manpage:`vmsplice(2)` to map data and send/receive.
1675 This engine defines engine specific options.
1676
1677 **cpuio**
1678 Doesn't transfer any data, but burns CPU cycles according to the
1679 :option:`cpuload` and :option:`cpuchunks` options. Setting
9207a0cb 1680 :option:`cpuload`\=85 will cause that job to do nothing but burn 85%
f80dba8d
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1681 of the CPU. In case of SMP machines, use :option:`numjobs`
1682 =<no_of_cpu> to get desired CPU usage, as the cpuload only loads a
1683 single CPU at the desired rate. A job never finishes unless there is
1684 at least one non-cpuio job.
1685
1686 **guasi**
1687 The GUASI I/O engine is the Generic Userspace Asyncronous Syscall
1688 Interface approach to async I/O. See
1689
1690 http://www.xmailserver.org/guasi-lib.html
1691
1692 for more info on GUASI.
1693
1694 **rdma**
1695 The RDMA I/O engine supports both RDMA memory semantics
1696 (RDMA_WRITE/RDMA_READ) and channel semantics (Send/Recv) for the
1697 InfiniBand, RoCE and iWARP protocols.
1698
1699 **falloc**
1700 I/O engine that does regular fallocate to simulate data transfer as
1701 fio ioengine.
1702
1703 DDIR_READ
1704 does fallocate(,mode = FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE,).
1705
1706 DDIR_WRITE
1707 does fallocate(,mode = 0).
1708
1709 DDIR_TRIM
1710 does fallocate(,mode = FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE|FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE).
1711
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1712 **ftruncate**
1713 I/O engine that sends :manpage:`ftruncate(2)` operations in response
1714 to write (DDIR_WRITE) events. Each ftruncate issued sets the file's
1715 size to the current block offset. Block size is ignored.
1716
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1717 **e4defrag**
1718 I/O engine that does regular EXT4_IOC_MOVE_EXT ioctls to simulate
1719 defragment activity in request to DDIR_WRITE event.
1720
1721 **rbd**
1722 I/O engine supporting direct access to Ceph Rados Block Devices
1723 (RBD) via librbd without the need to use the kernel rbd driver. This
1724 ioengine defines engine specific options.
1725
1726 **gfapi**
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1727 Using GlusterFS libgfapi sync interface to direct access to
1728 GlusterFS volumes without having to go through FUSE. This ioengine
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1729 defines engine specific options.
1730
1731 **gfapi_async**
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1732 Using GlusterFS libgfapi async interface to direct access to
1733 GlusterFS volumes without having to go through FUSE. This ioengine
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1734 defines engine specific options.
1735
1736 **libhdfs**
1737 Read and write through Hadoop (HDFS). The :file:`filename` option
1738 is used to specify host,port of the hdfs name-node to connect. This
1739 engine interprets offsets a little differently. In HDFS, files once
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1740 created cannot be modified so random writes are not possible. To
1741 imitate this the libhdfs engine expects a bunch of small files to be
1742 created over HDFS and will randomly pick a file from them
1743 based on the offset generated by fio backend (see the example
f80dba8d 1744 job file to create such files, use ``rw=write`` option). Please
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1745 note, it may be necessary to set environment variables to work
1746 with HDFS/libhdfs properly. Each job uses its own connection to
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1747 HDFS.
1748
1749 **mtd**
1750 Read, write and erase an MTD character device (e.g.,
1751 :file:`/dev/mtd0`). Discards are treated as erases. Depending on the
1752 underlying device type, the I/O may have to go in a certain pattern,
1753 e.g., on NAND, writing sequentially to erase blocks and discarding
c298ee71 1754 before overwriting. The `trimwrite` mode works well for this
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1755 constraint.
1756
1757 **pmemblk**
1758 Read and write using filesystem DAX to a file on a filesystem
1759 mounted with DAX on a persistent memory device through the NVML
1760 libpmemblk library.
1761
1762 **dev-dax**
1763 Read and write using device DAX to a persistent memory device (e.g.,
1764 /dev/dax0.0) through the NVML libpmem library.
1765
1766 **external**
1767 Prefix to specify loading an external I/O engine object file. Append
c60ebc45 1768 the engine filename, e.g. ``ioengine=external:/tmp/foo.o`` to load
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1769 ioengine :file:`foo.o` in :file:`/tmp`.
1770
1771
1772I/O engine specific parameters
1773~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1774
1775In addition, there are some parameters which are only valid when a specific
1776ioengine is in use. These are used identically to normal parameters, with the
1777caveat that when used on the command line, they must come after the
1778:option:`ioengine` that defines them is selected.
1779
1780.. option:: userspace_reap : [libaio]
1781
1782 Normally, with the libaio engine in use, fio will use the
1783 :manpage:`io_getevents(2)` system call to reap newly returned events. With
1784 this flag turned on, the AIO ring will be read directly from user-space to
1785 reap events. The reaping mode is only enabled when polling for a minimum of
c60ebc45 1786 0 events (e.g. when :option:`iodepth_batch_complete` `=0`).
f80dba8d 1787
9d25d068 1788.. option:: hipri : [pvsync2]
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1789
1790 Set RWF_HIPRI on I/O, indicating to the kernel that it's of higher priority
1791 than normal.
1792
1793.. option:: cpuload=int : [cpuio]
1794
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1795 Attempt to use the specified percentage of CPU cycles. This is a mandatory
1796 option when using cpuio I/O engine.
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1797
1798.. option:: cpuchunks=int : [cpuio]
1799
1800 Split the load into cycles of the given time. In microseconds.
1801
1802.. option:: exit_on_io_done=bool : [cpuio]
1803
1804 Detect when I/O threads are done, then exit.
1805
1806.. option:: hostname=str : [netsplice] [net]
1807
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1808 The hostname or IP address to use for TCP or UDP based I/O. If the job is
1809 a TCP listener or UDP reader, the hostname is not used and must be omitted
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1810 unless it is a valid UDP multicast address.
1811
1812.. option:: namenode=str : [libhdfs]
1813
22413915 1814 The hostname or IP address of a HDFS cluster namenode to contact.
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1815
1816.. option:: port=int
1817
1818 [netsplice], [net]
1819
1820 The TCP or UDP port to bind to or connect to. If this is used with
1821 :option:`numjobs` to spawn multiple instances of the same job type, then
1822 this will be the starting port number since fio will use a range of
1823 ports.
1824
1825 [libhdfs]
1826
1827 the listening port of the HFDS cluster namenode.
1828
1829.. option:: interface=str : [netsplice] [net]
1830
1831 The IP address of the network interface used to send or receive UDP
1832 multicast.
1833
1834.. option:: ttl=int : [netsplice] [net]
1835
1836 Time-to-live value for outgoing UDP multicast packets. Default: 1.
1837
1838.. option:: nodelay=bool : [netsplice] [net]
1839
1840 Set TCP_NODELAY on TCP connections.
1841
1842.. option:: protocol=str : [netsplice] [net]
1843
1844.. option:: proto=str : [netsplice] [net]
1845
1846 The network protocol to use. Accepted values are:
1847
1848 **tcp**
1849 Transmission control protocol.
1850 **tcpv6**
1851 Transmission control protocol V6.
1852 **udp**
1853 User datagram protocol.
1854 **udpv6**
1855 User datagram protocol V6.
1856 **unix**
1857 UNIX domain socket.
1858
1859 When the protocol is TCP or UDP, the port must also be given, as well as the
1860 hostname if the job is a TCP listener or UDP reader. For unix sockets, the
1861 normal filename option should be used and the port is invalid.
1862
1863.. option:: listen : [net]
1864
1865 For TCP network connections, tell fio to listen for incoming connections
1866 rather than initiating an outgoing connection. The :option:`hostname` must
1867 be omitted if this option is used.
1868
1869.. option:: pingpong : [net]
1870
1871 Normally a network writer will just continue writing data, and a network
1872 reader will just consume packages. If ``pingpong=1`` is set, a writer will
1873 send its normal payload to the reader, then wait for the reader to send the
1874 same payload back. This allows fio to measure network latencies. The
1875 submission and completion latencies then measure local time spent sending or
1876 receiving, and the completion latency measures how long it took for the
1877 other end to receive and send back. For UDP multicast traffic
1878 ``pingpong=1`` should only be set for a single reader when multiple readers
1879 are listening to the same address.
1880
1881.. option:: window_size : [net]
1882
1883 Set the desired socket buffer size for the connection.
1884
1885.. option:: mss : [net]
1886
1887 Set the TCP maximum segment size (TCP_MAXSEG).
1888
1889.. option:: donorname=str : [e4defrag]
1890
730bd7d9 1891 File will be used as a block donor (swap extents between files).
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1892
1893.. option:: inplace=int : [e4defrag]
1894
1895 Configure donor file blocks allocation strategy:
1896
1897 **0**
1898 Default. Preallocate donor's file on init.
1899 **1**
1900 Allocate space immediately inside defragment event, and free right
1901 after event.
1902
1903.. option:: clustername=str : [rbd]
1904
1905 Specifies the name of the Ceph cluster.
1906
1907.. option:: rbdname=str : [rbd]
1908
1909 Specifies the name of the RBD.
1910
1911.. option:: pool=str : [rbd]
1912
1913 Specifies the name of the Ceph pool containing RBD.
1914
1915.. option:: clientname=str : [rbd]
1916
1917 Specifies the username (without the 'client.' prefix) used to access the
1918 Ceph cluster. If the *clustername* is specified, the *clientname* shall be
1919 the full *type.id* string. If no type. prefix is given, fio will add
1920 'client.' by default.
1921
1922.. option:: skip_bad=bool : [mtd]
1923
1924 Skip operations against known bad blocks.
1925
1926.. option:: hdfsdirectory : [libhdfs]
1927
1928 libhdfs will create chunk in this HDFS directory.
1929
1930.. option:: chunk_size : [libhdfs]
1931
1932 the size of the chunk to use for each file.
1933
1934
1935I/O depth
1936~~~~~~~~~
1937
1938.. option:: iodepth=int
1939
1940 Number of I/O units to keep in flight against the file. Note that
1941 increasing *iodepth* beyond 1 will not affect synchronous ioengines (except
c60ebc45 1942 for small degrees when :option:`verify_async` is in use). Even async
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1943 engines may impose OS restrictions causing the desired depth not to be
1944 achieved. This may happen on Linux when using libaio and not setting
9207a0cb 1945 :option:`direct`\=1, since buffered I/O is not async on that OS. Keep an
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1946 eye on the I/O depth distribution in the fio output to verify that the
1947 achieved depth is as expected. Default: 1.
1948
1949.. option:: iodepth_batch_submit=int, iodepth_batch=int
1950
1951 This defines how many pieces of I/O to submit at once. It defaults to 1
1952 which means that we submit each I/O as soon as it is available, but can be
1953 raised to submit bigger batches of I/O at the time. If it is set to 0 the
1954 :option:`iodepth` value will be used.
1955
1956.. option:: iodepth_batch_complete_min=int, iodepth_batch_complete=int
1957
1958 This defines how many pieces of I/O to retrieve at once. It defaults to 1
1959 which means that we'll ask for a minimum of 1 I/O in the retrieval process
1960 from the kernel. The I/O retrieval will go on until we hit the limit set by
1961 :option:`iodepth_low`. If this variable is set to 0, then fio will always
1962 check for completed events before queuing more I/O. This helps reduce I/O
1963 latency, at the cost of more retrieval system calls.
1964
1965.. option:: iodepth_batch_complete_max=int
1966
1967 This defines maximum pieces of I/O to retrieve at once. This variable should
9207a0cb 1968 be used along with :option:`iodepth_batch_complete_min`\=int variable,
f80dba8d 1969 specifying the range of min and max amount of I/O which should be
730bd7d9 1970 retrieved. By default it is equal to the :option:`iodepth_batch_complete_min`
f80dba8d
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1971 value.
1972
1973 Example #1::
1974
1975 iodepth_batch_complete_min=1
1976 iodepth_batch_complete_max=<iodepth>
1977
1978 which means that we will retrieve at least 1 I/O and up to the whole
1979 submitted queue depth. If none of I/O has been completed yet, we will wait.
1980
1981 Example #2::
1982
1983 iodepth_batch_complete_min=0
1984 iodepth_batch_complete_max=<iodepth>
1985
1986 which means that we can retrieve up to the whole submitted queue depth, but
1987 if none of I/O has been completed yet, we will NOT wait and immediately exit
1988 the system call. In this example we simply do polling.
1989
1990.. option:: iodepth_low=int
1991
1992 The low water mark indicating when to start filling the queue
1993 again. Defaults to the same as :option:`iodepth`, meaning that fio will
1994 attempt to keep the queue full at all times. If :option:`iodepth` is set to
c60ebc45 1995 e.g. 16 and *iodepth_low* is set to 4, then after fio has filled the queue of
f80dba8d
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1996 16 requests, it will let the depth drain down to 4 before starting to fill
1997 it again.
1998
1999.. option:: io_submit_mode=str
2000
2001 This option controls how fio submits the I/O to the I/O engine. The default
2002 is `inline`, which means that the fio job threads submit and reap I/O
2003 directly. If set to `offload`, the job threads will offload I/O submission
2004 to a dedicated pool of I/O threads. This requires some coordination and thus
2005 has a bit of extra overhead, especially for lower queue depth I/O where it
2006 can increase latencies. The benefit is that fio can manage submission rates
2007 independently of the device completion rates. This avoids skewed latency
730bd7d9 2008 reporting if I/O gets backed up on the device side (the coordinated omission
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2009 problem).
2010
2011
2012I/O rate
2013~~~~~~~~
2014
a881438b 2015.. option:: thinktime=time
f80dba8d 2016
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2017 Stall the job for the specified period of time after an I/O has completed before issuing the
2018 next. May be used to simulate processing being done by an application.
947e0fe0 2019 When the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds. See
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2020 :option:`thinktime_blocks` and :option:`thinktime_spin`.
2021
a881438b 2022.. option:: thinktime_spin=time
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2023
2024 Only valid if :option:`thinktime` is set - pretend to spend CPU time doing
2025 something with the data received, before falling back to sleeping for the
f75ede1d 2026 rest of the period specified by :option:`thinktime`. When the unit is
947e0fe0 2027 omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds.
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2028
2029.. option:: thinktime_blocks=int
2030
2031 Only valid if :option:`thinktime` is set - control how many blocks to issue,
2032 before waiting `thinktime` usecs. If not set, defaults to 1 which will make
2033 fio wait `thinktime` usecs after every block. This effectively makes any
2034 queue depth setting redundant, since no more than 1 I/O will be queued
2035 before we have to complete it and do our thinktime. In other words, this
2036 setting effectively caps the queue depth if the latter is larger.
71bfa161 2037
f80dba8d 2038.. option:: rate=int[,int][,int]
71bfa161 2039
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2040 Cap the bandwidth used by this job. The number is in bytes/sec, the normal
2041 suffix rules apply. Comma-separated values may be specified for reads,
2042 writes, and trims as described in :option:`blocksize`.
71bfa161 2043
b25b3464
SW
2044 For example, using `rate=1m,500k` would limit reads to 1MiB/sec and writes to
2045 500KiB/sec. Capping only reads or writes can be done with `rate=,500k` or
2046 `rate=500k,` where the former will only limit writes (to 500KiB/sec) and the
2047 latter will only limit reads.
2048
f80dba8d 2049.. option:: rate_min=int[,int][,int]
71bfa161 2050
f80dba8d
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2051 Tell fio to do whatever it can to maintain at least this bandwidth. Failing
2052 to meet this requirement will cause the job to exit. Comma-separated values
2053 may be specified for reads, writes, and trims as described in
2054 :option:`blocksize`.
71bfa161 2055
f80dba8d 2056.. option:: rate_iops=int[,int][,int]
71bfa161 2057
f80dba8d
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2058 Cap the bandwidth to this number of IOPS. Basically the same as
2059 :option:`rate`, just specified independently of bandwidth. If the job is
2060 given a block size range instead of a fixed value, the smallest block size
2061 is used as the metric. Comma-separated values may be specified for reads,
2062 writes, and trims as described in :option:`blocksize`.
71bfa161 2063
f80dba8d 2064.. option:: rate_iops_min=int[,int][,int]
71bfa161 2065
f80dba8d
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2066 If fio doesn't meet this rate of I/O, it will cause the job to exit.
2067 Comma-separated values may be specified for reads, writes, and trims as
2068 described in :option:`blocksize`.
71bfa161 2069
f80dba8d 2070.. option:: rate_process=str
66c098b8 2071
f80dba8d
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2072 This option controls how fio manages rated I/O submissions. The default is
2073 `linear`, which submits I/O in a linear fashion with fixed delays between
c60ebc45 2074 I/Os that gets adjusted based on I/O completion rates. If this is set to
f80dba8d
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2075 `poisson`, fio will submit I/O based on a more real world random request
2076 flow, known as the Poisson process
2077 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisson_point_process). The lambda will be
2078 10^6 / IOPS for the given workload.
71bfa161
JA
2079
2080
f80dba8d
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2081I/O latency
2082~~~~~~~~~~~
71bfa161 2083
a881438b 2084.. option:: latency_target=time
71bfa161 2085
f80dba8d 2086 If set, fio will attempt to find the max performance point that the given
f75ede1d 2087 workload will run at while maintaining a latency below this target. When
947e0fe0 2088 the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds. See
f75ede1d 2089 :option:`latency_window` and :option:`latency_percentile`.
71bfa161 2090
a881438b 2091.. option:: latency_window=time
71bfa161 2092
f80dba8d 2093 Used with :option:`latency_target` to specify the sample window that the job
f75ede1d 2094 is run at varying queue depths to test the performance. When the unit is
947e0fe0 2095 omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds.
b4692828 2096
f80dba8d 2097.. option:: latency_percentile=float
71bfa161 2098
c60ebc45 2099 The percentage of I/Os that must fall within the criteria specified by
f80dba8d 2100 :option:`latency_target` and :option:`latency_window`. If not set, this
c60ebc45 2101 defaults to 100.0, meaning that all I/Os must be equal or below to the value
f80dba8d 2102 set by :option:`latency_target`.
71bfa161 2103
a881438b 2104.. option:: max_latency=time
71bfa161 2105
f75ede1d 2106 If set, fio will exit the job with an ETIMEDOUT error if it exceeds this
947e0fe0 2107 maximum latency. When the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in
f75ede1d 2108 microseconds.
71bfa161 2109
f80dba8d 2110.. option:: rate_cycle=int
71bfa161 2111
f80dba8d 2112 Average bandwidth for :option:`rate` and :option:`rate_min` over this number
a47b697c 2113 of milliseconds. Defaults to 1000.
71bfa161 2114
71bfa161 2115
f80dba8d
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2116I/O replay
2117~~~~~~~~~~
71bfa161 2118
f80dba8d 2119.. option:: write_iolog=str
c2b1e753 2120
f80dba8d
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2121 Write the issued I/O patterns to the specified file. See
2122 :option:`read_iolog`. Specify a separate file for each job, otherwise the
2123 iologs will be interspersed and the file may be corrupt.
c2b1e753 2124
f80dba8d 2125.. option:: read_iolog=str
71bfa161 2126
22413915 2127 Open an iolog with the specified filename and replay the I/O patterns it
f80dba8d
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2128 contains. This can be used to store a workload and replay it sometime
2129 later. The iolog given may also be a blktrace binary file, which allows fio
2130 to replay a workload captured by :command:`blktrace`. See
2131 :manpage:`blktrace(8)` for how to capture such logging data. For blktrace
2132 replay, the file needs to be turned into a blkparse binary data file first
2133 (``blkparse <device> -o /dev/null -d file_for_fio.bin``).
71bfa161 2134
f80dba8d 2135.. option:: replay_no_stall=int
71bfa161 2136
f80dba8d 2137 When replaying I/O with :option:`read_iolog` the default behavior is to
22413915 2138 attempt to respect the timestamps within the log and replay them with the
f80dba8d
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2139 appropriate delay between IOPS. By setting this variable fio will not
2140 respect the timestamps and attempt to replay them as fast as possible while
2141 still respecting ordering. The result is the same I/O pattern to a given
2142 device, but different timings.
71bfa161 2143
f80dba8d 2144.. option:: replay_redirect=str
b4692828 2145
f80dba8d
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2146 While replaying I/O patterns using :option:`read_iolog` the default behavior
2147 is to replay the IOPS onto the major/minor device that each IOP was recorded
2148 from. This is sometimes undesirable because on a different machine those
2149 major/minor numbers can map to a different device. Changing hardware on the
2150 same system can also result in a different major/minor mapping.
730bd7d9 2151 ``replay_redirect`` causes all I/Os to be replayed onto the single specified
f80dba8d 2152 device regardless of the device it was recorded
9207a0cb 2153 from. i.e. :option:`replay_redirect`\= :file:`/dev/sdc` would cause all I/O
f80dba8d
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2154 in the blktrace or iolog to be replayed onto :file:`/dev/sdc`. This means
2155 multiple devices will be replayed onto a single device, if the trace
2156 contains multiple devices. If you want multiple devices to be replayed
2157 concurrently to multiple redirected devices you must blkparse your trace
2158 into separate traces and replay them with independent fio invocations.
2159 Unfortunately this also breaks the strict time ordering between multiple
2160 device accesses.
71bfa161 2161
f80dba8d 2162.. option:: replay_align=int
74929ac2 2163
f80dba8d
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2164 Force alignment of I/O offsets and lengths in a trace to this power of 2
2165 value.
3c54bc46 2166
f80dba8d 2167.. option:: replay_scale=int
3c54bc46 2168
f80dba8d 2169 Scale sector offsets down by this factor when replaying traces.
3c54bc46 2170
3c54bc46 2171
f80dba8d
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2172Threads, processes and job synchronization
2173~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3c54bc46 2174
f80dba8d 2175.. option:: thread
3c54bc46 2176
730bd7d9
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2177 Fio defaults to creating jobs by using fork, however if this option is
2178 given, fio will create jobs by using POSIX Threads' function
2179 :manpage:`pthread_create(3)` to create threads instead.
71bfa161 2180
f80dba8d 2181.. option:: wait_for=str
74929ac2 2182
730bd7d9
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2183 If set, the current job won't be started until all workers of the specified
2184 waitee job are done.
74929ac2 2185
f80dba8d
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2186 ``wait_for`` operates on the job name basis, so there are a few
2187 limitations. First, the waitee must be defined prior to the waiter job
2188 (meaning no forward references). Second, if a job is being referenced as a
2189 waitee, it must have a unique name (no duplicate waitees).
74929ac2 2190
f80dba8d 2191.. option:: nice=int
892a6ffc 2192
f80dba8d 2193 Run the job with the given nice value. See man :manpage:`nice(2)`.
892a6ffc 2194
f80dba8d
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2195 On Windows, values less than -15 set the process class to "High"; -1 through
2196 -15 set "Above Normal"; 1 through 15 "Below Normal"; and above 15 "Idle"
2197 priority class.
74929ac2 2198
f80dba8d 2199.. option:: prio=int
71bfa161 2200
f80dba8d
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2201 Set the I/O priority value of this job. Linux limits us to a positive value
2202 between 0 and 7, with 0 being the highest. See man
2203 :manpage:`ionice(1)`. Refer to an appropriate manpage for other operating
2204 systems since meaning of priority may differ.
71bfa161 2205
f80dba8d 2206.. option:: prioclass=int
d59aa780 2207
f80dba8d 2208 Set the I/O priority class. See man :manpage:`ionice(1)`.
d59aa780 2209
f80dba8d 2210.. option:: cpumask=int
71bfa161 2211
22413915
SW
2212 Set the CPU affinity of this job. The parameter given is a bit mask of
2213 allowed CPUs the job may run on. So if you want the allowed CPUs to be 1
f80dba8d
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2214 and 5, you would pass the decimal value of (1 << 1 | 1 << 5), or 34. See man
2215 :manpage:`sched_setaffinity(2)`. This may not work on all supported
2216 operating systems or kernel versions. This option doesn't work well for a
2217 higher CPU count than what you can store in an integer mask, so it can only
2218 control cpus 1-32. For boxes with larger CPU counts, use
2219 :option:`cpus_allowed`.
6d500c2e 2220
f80dba8d 2221.. option:: cpus_allowed=str
6d500c2e 2222
730bd7d9
SW
2223 Controls the same options as :option:`cpumask`, but accepts a textual
2224 specification of the permitted CPUs instead. So to use CPUs 1 and 5 you
2225 would specify ``cpus_allowed=1,5``. This option also allows a range of CPUs
2226 to be specified -- say you wanted a binding to CPUs 1, 5, and 8 to 15, you
2227 would set ``cpus_allowed=1,5,8-15``.
6d500c2e 2228
f80dba8d 2229.. option:: cpus_allowed_policy=str
6d500c2e 2230
f80dba8d 2231 Set the policy of how fio distributes the CPUs specified by
730bd7d9 2232 :option:`cpus_allowed` or :option:`cpumask`. Two policies are supported:
6d500c2e 2233
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2234 **shared**
2235 All jobs will share the CPU set specified.
2236 **split**
2237 Each job will get a unique CPU from the CPU set.
6d500c2e 2238
22413915 2239 **shared** is the default behavior, if the option isn't specified. If
f80dba8d
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2240 **split** is specified, then fio will will assign one cpu per job. If not
2241 enough CPUs are given for the jobs listed, then fio will roundrobin the CPUs
2242 in the set.
6d500c2e 2243
f80dba8d 2244.. option:: numa_cpu_nodes=str
6d500c2e 2245
f80dba8d
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2246 Set this job running on specified NUMA nodes' CPUs. The arguments allow
2247 comma delimited list of cpu numbers, A-B ranges, or `all`. Note, to enable
ac8ca2af 2248 NUMA options support, fio must be built on a system with libnuma-dev(el)
f80dba8d 2249 installed.
61b9861d 2250
f80dba8d 2251.. option:: numa_mem_policy=str
61b9861d 2252
f80dba8d
MT
2253 Set this job's memory policy and corresponding NUMA nodes. Format of the
2254 arguments::
5c94b008 2255
f80dba8d 2256 <mode>[:<nodelist>]
ce35b1ec 2257
730bd7d9
SW
2258 ``mode`` is one of the following memory poicies: ``default``, ``prefer``,
2259 ``bind``, ``interleave`` or ``local``. For ``default`` and ``local`` memory
2260 policies, no node needs to be specified. For ``prefer``, only one node is
2261 allowed. For ``bind`` and ``interleave`` the ``nodelist`` may be as
2262 follows: a comma delimited list of numbers, A-B ranges, or `all`.
71bfa161 2263
f80dba8d 2264.. option:: cgroup=str
390b1537 2265
f80dba8d
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2266 Add job to this control group. If it doesn't exist, it will be created. The
2267 system must have a mounted cgroup blkio mount point for this to work. If
2268 your system doesn't have it mounted, you can do so with::
5af1c6f3 2269
f80dba8d 2270 # mount -t cgroup -o blkio none /cgroup
5af1c6f3 2271
f80dba8d 2272.. option:: cgroup_weight=int
5af1c6f3 2273
f80dba8d
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2274 Set the weight of the cgroup to this value. See the documentation that comes
2275 with the kernel, allowed values are in the range of 100..1000.
a086c257 2276
f80dba8d 2277.. option:: cgroup_nodelete=bool
8c07860d 2278
f80dba8d
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2279 Normally fio will delete the cgroups it has created after the job
2280 completion. To override this behavior and to leave cgroups around after the
2281 job completion, set ``cgroup_nodelete=1``. This can be useful if one wants
2282 to inspect various cgroup files after job completion. Default: false.
8c07860d 2283
f80dba8d 2284.. option:: flow_id=int
8c07860d 2285
f80dba8d
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2286 The ID of the flow. If not specified, it defaults to being a global
2287 flow. See :option:`flow`.
1907dbc6 2288
f80dba8d 2289.. option:: flow=int
71bfa161 2290
f80dba8d
MT
2291 Weight in token-based flow control. If this value is used, then there is a
2292 'flow counter' which is used to regulate the proportion of activity between
2293 two or more jobs. Fio attempts to keep this flow counter near zero. The
2294 ``flow`` parameter stands for how much should be added or subtracted to the
2295 flow counter on each iteration of the main I/O loop. That is, if one job has
2296 ``flow=8`` and another job has ``flow=-1``, then there will be a roughly 1:8
2297 ratio in how much one runs vs the other.
71bfa161 2298
f80dba8d 2299.. option:: flow_watermark=int
a31041ea 2300
f80dba8d
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2301 The maximum value that the absolute value of the flow counter is allowed to
2302 reach before the job must wait for a lower value of the counter.
82407585 2303
f80dba8d 2304.. option:: flow_sleep=int
82407585 2305
f80dba8d
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2306 The period of time, in microseconds, to wait after the flow watermark has
2307 been exceeded before retrying operations.
82407585 2308
f80dba8d 2309.. option:: stonewall, wait_for_previous
82407585 2310
f80dba8d
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2311 Wait for preceding jobs in the job file to exit, before starting this
2312 one. Can be used to insert serialization points in the job file. A stone
2313 wall also implies starting a new reporting group, see
2314 :option:`group_reporting`.
2315
2316.. option:: exitall
2317
730bd7d9
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2318 By default, fio will continue running all other jobs when one job finishes
2319 but sometimes this is not the desired action. Setting ``exitall`` will
2320 instead make fio terminate all other jobs when one job finishes.
f80dba8d
MT
2321
2322.. option:: exec_prerun=str
2323
2324 Before running this job, issue the command specified through
2325 :manpage:`system(3)`. Output is redirected in a file called
2326 :file:`jobname.prerun.txt`.
2327
2328.. option:: exec_postrun=str
2329
2330 After the job completes, issue the command specified though
2331 :manpage:`system(3)`. Output is redirected in a file called
2332 :file:`jobname.postrun.txt`.
2333
2334.. option:: uid=int
2335
2336 Instead of running as the invoking user, set the user ID to this value
2337 before the thread/process does any work.
2338
2339.. option:: gid=int
2340
2341 Set group ID, see :option:`uid`.
2342
2343
2344Verification
2345~~~~~~~~~~~~
2346
2347.. option:: verify_only
2348
2349 Do not perform specified workload, only verify data still matches previous
2350 invocation of this workload. This option allows one to check data multiple
2351 times at a later date without overwriting it. This option makes sense only
2352 for workloads that write data, and does not support workloads with the
2353 :option:`time_based` option set.
2354
2355.. option:: do_verify=bool
2356
2357 Run the verify phase after a write phase. Only valid if :option:`verify` is
2358 set. Default: true.
2359
2360.. option:: verify=str
2361
2362 If writing to a file, fio can verify the file contents after each iteration
2363 of the job. Each verification method also implies verification of special
2364 header, which is written to the beginning of each block. This header also
2365 includes meta information, like offset of the block, block number, timestamp
2366 when block was written, etc. :option:`verify` can be combined with
2367 :option:`verify_pattern` option. The allowed values are:
2368
2369 **md5**
2370 Use an md5 sum of the data area and store it in the header of
2371 each block.
2372
2373 **crc64**
2374 Use an experimental crc64 sum of the data area and store it in the
2375 header of each block.
2376
2377 **crc32c**
a5896300
SW
2378 Use a crc32c sum of the data area and store it in the header of
2379 each block. This will automatically use hardware acceleration
2380 (e.g. SSE4.2 on an x86 or CRC crypto extensions on ARM64) but will
2381 fall back to software crc32c if none is found. Generally the
2382 fatest checksum fio supports when hardware accelerated.
f80dba8d
MT
2383
2384 **crc32c-intel**
a5896300 2385 Synonym for crc32c.
f80dba8d
MT
2386
2387 **crc32**
2388 Use a crc32 sum of the data area and store it in the header of each
2389 block.
2390
2391 **crc16**
2392 Use a crc16 sum of the data area and store it in the header of each
2393 block.
2394
2395 **crc7**
2396 Use a crc7 sum of the data area and store it in the header of each
2397 block.
2398
2399 **xxhash**
2400 Use xxhash as the checksum function. Generally the fastest software
2401 checksum that fio supports.
2402
2403 **sha512**
2404 Use sha512 as the checksum function.
2405
2406 **sha256**
2407 Use sha256 as the checksum function.
2408
2409 **sha1**
2410 Use optimized sha1 as the checksum function.
82407585 2411
ae3a5acc
JA
2412 **sha3-224**
2413 Use optimized sha3-224 as the checksum function.
2414
2415 **sha3-256**
2416 Use optimized sha3-256 as the checksum function.
2417
2418 **sha3-384**
2419 Use optimized sha3-384 as the checksum function.
2420
2421 **sha3-512**
2422 Use optimized sha3-512 as the checksum function.
2423
f80dba8d
MT
2424 **meta**
2425 This option is deprecated, since now meta information is included in
2426 generic verification header and meta verification happens by
2427 default. For detailed information see the description of the
2428 :option:`verify` setting. This option is kept because of
2429 compatibility's sake with old configurations. Do not use it.
2430
2431 **pattern**
2432 Verify a strict pattern. Normally fio includes a header with some
2433 basic information and checksumming, but if this option is set, only
2434 the specific pattern set with :option:`verify_pattern` is verified.
2435
2436 **null**
2437 Only pretend to verify. Useful for testing internals with
9207a0cb 2438 :option:`ioengine`\=null, not for much else.
f80dba8d
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2439
2440 This option can be used for repeated burn-in tests of a system to make sure
2441 that the written data is also correctly read back. If the data direction
2442 given is a read or random read, fio will assume that it should verify a
2443 previously written file. If the data direction includes any form of write,
2444 the verify will be of the newly written data.
2445
2446.. option:: verifysort=bool
2447
2448 If true, fio will sort written verify blocks when it deems it faster to read
2449 them back in a sorted manner. This is often the case when overwriting an
2450 existing file, since the blocks are already laid out in the file system. You
2451 can ignore this option unless doing huge amounts of really fast I/O where
2452 the red-black tree sorting CPU time becomes significant. Default: true.
2453
2454.. option:: verifysort_nr=int
2455
2456 Pre-load and sort verify blocks for a read workload.
2457
2458.. option:: verify_offset=int
2459
2460 Swap the verification header with data somewhere else in the block before
2461 writing. It is swapped back before verifying.
2462
2463.. option:: verify_interval=int
2464
2465 Write the verification header at a finer granularity than the
2466 :option:`blocksize`. It will be written for chunks the size of
2467 ``verify_interval``. :option:`blocksize` should divide this evenly.
2468
2469.. option:: verify_pattern=str
2470
2471 If set, fio will fill the I/O buffers with this pattern. Fio defaults to
2472 filling with totally random bytes, but sometimes it's interesting to fill
2473 with a known pattern for I/O verification purposes. Depending on the width
730bd7d9 2474 of the pattern, fio will fill 1/2/3/4 bytes of the buffer at the time (it can
f80dba8d
MT
2475 be either a decimal or a hex number). The ``verify_pattern`` if larger than
2476 a 32-bit quantity has to be a hex number that starts with either "0x" or
2477 "0X". Use with :option:`verify`. Also, ``verify_pattern`` supports %o
2478 format, which means that for each block offset will be written and then
2479 verified back, e.g.::
61b9861d
RP
2480
2481 verify_pattern=%o
2482
f80dba8d
MT
2483 Or use combination of everything::
2484
61b9861d 2485 verify_pattern=0xff%o"abcd"-12
e28218f3 2486
f80dba8d
MT
2487.. option:: verify_fatal=bool
2488
2489 Normally fio will keep checking the entire contents before quitting on a
2490 block verification failure. If this option is set, fio will exit the job on
2491 the first observed failure. Default: false.
2492
2493.. option:: verify_dump=bool
2494
2495 If set, dump the contents of both the original data block and the data block
2496 we read off disk to files. This allows later analysis to inspect just what
2497 kind of data corruption occurred. Off by default.
2498
2499.. option:: verify_async=int
2500
2501 Fio will normally verify I/O inline from the submitting thread. This option
2502 takes an integer describing how many async offload threads to create for I/O
2503 verification instead, causing fio to offload the duty of verifying I/O
2504 contents to one or more separate threads. If using this offload option, even
2505 sync I/O engines can benefit from using an :option:`iodepth` setting higher
2506 than 1, as it allows them to have I/O in flight while verifies are running.
d7e6ea1c 2507 Defaults to 0 async threads, i.e. verification is not asynchronous.
f80dba8d
MT
2508
2509.. option:: verify_async_cpus=str
2510
2511 Tell fio to set the given CPU affinity on the async I/O verification
2512 threads. See :option:`cpus_allowed` for the format used.
2513
2514.. option:: verify_backlog=int
2515
2516 Fio will normally verify the written contents of a job that utilizes verify
2517 once that job has completed. In other words, everything is written then
2518 everything is read back and verified. You may want to verify continually
2519 instead for a variety of reasons. Fio stores the meta data associated with
2520 an I/O block in memory, so for large verify workloads, quite a bit of memory
2521 would be used up holding this meta data. If this option is enabled, fio will
2522 write only N blocks before verifying these blocks.
2523
2524.. option:: verify_backlog_batch=int
2525
2526 Control how many blocks fio will verify if :option:`verify_backlog` is
2527 set. If not set, will default to the value of :option:`verify_backlog`
2528 (meaning the entire queue is read back and verified). If
2529 ``verify_backlog_batch`` is less than :option:`verify_backlog` then not all
2530 blocks will be verified, if ``verify_backlog_batch`` is larger than
2531 :option:`verify_backlog`, some blocks will be verified more than once.
2532
2533.. option:: verify_state_save=bool
2534
2535 When a job exits during the write phase of a verify workload, save its
2536 current state. This allows fio to replay up until that point, if the verify
2537 state is loaded for the verify read phase. The format of the filename is,
2538 roughly::
2539
2540 <type>-<jobname>-<jobindex>-verify.state.
2541
2542 <type> is "local" for a local run, "sock" for a client/server socket
2543 connection, and "ip" (192.168.0.1, for instance) for a networked
d7e6ea1c 2544 client/server connection. Defaults to true.
f80dba8d
MT
2545
2546.. option:: verify_state_load=bool
2547
2548 If a verify termination trigger was used, fio stores the current write state
2549 of each thread. This can be used at verification time so that fio knows how
2550 far it should verify. Without this information, fio will run a full
a47b697c
SW
2551 verification pass, according to the settings in the job file used. Default
2552 false.
f80dba8d
MT
2553
2554.. option:: trim_percentage=int
2555
2556 Number of verify blocks to discard/trim.
2557
2558.. option:: trim_verify_zero=bool
2559
22413915 2560 Verify that trim/discarded blocks are returned as zeros.
f80dba8d
MT
2561
2562.. option:: trim_backlog=int
2563
22413915 2564 Verify that trim/discarded blocks are returned as zeros.
f80dba8d
MT
2565
2566.. option:: trim_backlog_batch=int
2567
2568 Trim this number of I/O blocks.
2569
2570.. option:: experimental_verify=bool
2571
2572 Enable experimental verification.
2573
2574
2575Steady state
2576~~~~~~~~~~~~
2577
2578.. option:: steadystate=str:float, ss=str:float
2579
2580 Define the criterion and limit for assessing steady state performance. The
2581 first parameter designates the criterion whereas the second parameter sets
2582 the threshold. When the criterion falls below the threshold for the
2583 specified duration, the job will stop. For example, `iops_slope:0.1%` will
2584 direct fio to terminate the job when the least squares regression slope
2585 falls below 0.1% of the mean IOPS. If :option:`group_reporting` is enabled
2586 this will apply to all jobs in the group. Below is the list of available
2587 steady state assessment criteria. All assessments are carried out using only
2588 data from the rolling collection window. Threshold limits can be expressed
2589 as a fixed value or as a percentage of the mean in the collection window.
2590
2591 **iops**
2592 Collect IOPS data. Stop the job if all individual IOPS measurements
2593 are within the specified limit of the mean IOPS (e.g., ``iops:2``
2594 means that all individual IOPS values must be within 2 of the mean,
2595 whereas ``iops:0.2%`` means that all individual IOPS values must be
2596 within 0.2% of the mean IOPS to terminate the job).
2597
2598 **iops_slope**
2599 Collect IOPS data and calculate the least squares regression
2600 slope. Stop the job if the slope falls below the specified limit.
2601
2602 **bw**
2603 Collect bandwidth data. Stop the job if all individual bandwidth
2604 measurements are within the specified limit of the mean bandwidth.
2605
2606 **bw_slope**
2607 Collect bandwidth data and calculate the least squares regression
2608 slope. Stop the job if the slope falls below the specified limit.
2609
2610.. option:: steadystate_duration=time, ss_dur=time
2611
2612 A rolling window of this duration will be used to judge whether steady state
2613 has been reached. Data will be collected once per second. The default is 0
f75ede1d 2614 which disables steady state detection. When the unit is omitted, the
947e0fe0 2615 value is interpreted in seconds.
f80dba8d
MT
2616
2617.. option:: steadystate_ramp_time=time, ss_ramp=time
2618
2619 Allow the job to run for the specified duration before beginning data
2620 collection for checking the steady state job termination criterion. The
947e0fe0 2621 default is 0. When the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in seconds.
f80dba8d
MT
2622
2623
2624Measurements and reporting
2625~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2626
2627.. option:: per_job_logs=bool
2628
2629 If set, this generates bw/clat/iops log with per file private filenames. If
2630 not set, jobs with identical names will share the log filename. Default:
2631 true.
2632
2633.. option:: group_reporting
2634
2635 It may sometimes be interesting to display statistics for groups of jobs as
2636 a whole instead of for each individual job. This is especially true if
2637 :option:`numjobs` is used; looking at individual thread/process output
2638 quickly becomes unwieldy. To see the final report per-group instead of
2639 per-job, use :option:`group_reporting`. Jobs in a file will be part of the
2640 same reporting group, unless if separated by a :option:`stonewall`, or by
2641 using :option:`new_group`.
2642
2643.. option:: new_group
2644
2645 Start a new reporting group. See: :option:`group_reporting`. If not given,
2646 all jobs in a file will be part of the same reporting group, unless
2647 separated by a :option:`stonewall`.
2648
8243be59
JA
2649.. option:: stats
2650
2651 By default, fio collects and shows final output results for all jobs
2652 that run. If this option is set to 0, then fio will ignore it in
2653 the final stat output.
2654
f80dba8d
MT
2655.. option:: write_bw_log=str
2656
2657 If given, write a bandwidth log for this job. Can be used to store data of
2658 the bandwidth of the jobs in their lifetime. The included
2659 :command:`fio_generate_plots` script uses :command:`gnuplot` to turn these
22413915 2660 text files into nice graphs. See :option:`write_lat_log` for behavior of
f80dba8d
MT
2661 given filename. For this option, the postfix is :file:`_bw.x.log`, where `x`
2662 is the index of the job (`1..N`, where `N` is the number of jobs). If
2663 :option:`per_job_logs` is false, then the filename will not include the job
2664 index. See `Log File Formats`_.
2665
2666.. option:: write_lat_log=str
2667
2668 Same as :option:`write_bw_log`, except that this option stores I/O
2669 submission, completion, and total latencies instead. If no filename is given
2670 with this option, the default filename of :file:`jobname_type.log` is
2671 used. Even if the filename is given, fio will still append the type of
2672 log. So if one specifies::
e3cedca7
JA
2673
2674 write_lat_log=foo
2675
f80dba8d
MT
2676 The actual log names will be :file:`foo_slat.x.log`, :file:`foo_clat.x.log`,
2677 and :file:`foo_lat.x.log`, where `x` is the index of the job (1..N, where N
2678 is the number of jobs). This helps :command:`fio_generate_plot` find the
2679 logs automatically. If :option:`per_job_logs` is false, then the filename
2680 will not include the job index. See `Log File Formats`_.
be4ecfdf 2681
f80dba8d 2682.. option:: write_hist_log=str
06842027 2683
f80dba8d
MT
2684 Same as :option:`write_lat_log`, but writes I/O completion latency
2685 histograms. If no filename is given with this option, the default filename
2686 of :file:`jobname_clat_hist.x.log` is used, where `x` is the index of the
2687 job (1..N, where `N` is the number of jobs). Even if the filename is given,
2688 fio will still append the type of log. If :option:`per_job_logs` is false,
2689 then the filename will not include the job index. See `Log File Formats`_.
06842027 2690
f80dba8d 2691.. option:: write_iops_log=str
06842027 2692
f80dba8d
MT
2693 Same as :option:`write_bw_log`, but writes IOPS. If no filename is given
2694 with this option, the default filename of :file:`jobname_type.x.log` is
2695 used,where `x` is the index of the job (1..N, where `N` is the number of
2696 jobs). Even if the filename is given, fio will still append the type of
2697 log. If :option:`per_job_logs` is false, then the filename will not include
2698 the job index. See `Log File Formats`_.
06842027 2699
f80dba8d 2700.. option:: log_avg_msec=int
06842027 2701
f80dba8d
MT
2702 By default, fio will log an entry in the iops, latency, or bw log for every
2703 I/O that completes. When writing to the disk log, that can quickly grow to a
2704 very large size. Setting this option makes fio average the each log entry
2705 over the specified period of time, reducing the resolution of the log. See
2706 :option:`log_max_value` as well. Defaults to 0, logging all entries.
6fc82095 2707 Also see `Log File Formats`_.
06842027 2708
f80dba8d 2709.. option:: log_hist_msec=int
06842027 2710
f80dba8d
MT
2711 Same as :option:`log_avg_msec`, but logs entries for completion latency
2712 histograms. Computing latency percentiles from averages of intervals using
c60ebc45 2713 :option:`log_avg_msec` is inaccurate. Setting this option makes fio log
f80dba8d
MT
2714 histogram entries over the specified period of time, reducing log sizes for
2715 high IOPS devices while retaining percentile accuracy. See
2716 :option:`log_hist_coarseness` as well. Defaults to 0, meaning histogram
2717 logging is disabled.
06842027 2718
f80dba8d 2719.. option:: log_hist_coarseness=int
06842027 2720
f80dba8d
MT
2721 Integer ranging from 0 to 6, defining the coarseness of the resolution of
2722 the histogram logs enabled with :option:`log_hist_msec`. For each increment
2723 in coarseness, fio outputs half as many bins. Defaults to 0, for which
2724 histogram logs contain 1216 latency bins. See `Log File Formats`_.
8b28bd41 2725
f80dba8d 2726.. option:: log_max_value=bool
66c098b8 2727
f80dba8d
MT
2728 If :option:`log_avg_msec` is set, fio logs the average over that window. If
2729 you instead want to log the maximum value, set this option to 1. Defaults to
2730 0, meaning that averaged values are logged.
a696fa2a 2731
f80dba8d 2732.. option:: log_offset=int
a696fa2a 2733
f80dba8d
MT
2734 If this is set, the iolog options will include the byte offset for the I/O
2735 entry as well as the other data values.
71bfa161 2736
f80dba8d 2737.. option:: log_compression=int
7de87099 2738
f80dba8d
MT
2739 If this is set, fio will compress the I/O logs as it goes, to keep the
2740 memory footprint lower. When a log reaches the specified size, that chunk is
2741 removed and compressed in the background. Given that I/O logs are fairly
2742 highly compressible, this yields a nice memory savings for longer runs. The
2743 downside is that the compression will consume some background CPU cycles, so
2744 it may impact the run. This, however, is also true if the logging ends up
2745 consuming most of the system memory. So pick your poison. The I/O logs are
2746 saved normally at the end of a run, by decompressing the chunks and storing
2747 them in the specified log file. This feature depends on the availability of
2748 zlib.
e0b0d892 2749
f80dba8d 2750.. option:: log_compression_cpus=str
e0b0d892 2751
f80dba8d
MT
2752 Define the set of CPUs that are allowed to handle online log compression for
2753 the I/O jobs. This can provide better isolation between performance
2754 sensitive jobs, and background compression work.
9e684a49 2755
f80dba8d 2756.. option:: log_store_compressed=bool
9e684a49 2757
f80dba8d
MT
2758 If set, fio will store the log files in a compressed format. They can be
2759 decompressed with fio, using the :option:`--inflate-log` command line
2760 parameter. The files will be stored with a :file:`.fz` suffix.
9e684a49 2761
f80dba8d 2762.. option:: log_unix_epoch=bool
9e684a49 2763
f80dba8d
MT
2764 If set, fio will log Unix timestamps to the log files produced by enabling
2765 write_type_log for each log type, instead of the default zero-based
2766 timestamps.
2767
2768.. option:: block_error_percentiles=bool
2769
2770 If set, record errors in trim block-sized units from writes and trims and
2771 output a histogram of how many trims it took to get to errors, and what kind
2772 of error was encountered.
2773
2774.. option:: bwavgtime=int
2775
2776 Average the calculated bandwidth over the given time. Value is specified in
2777 milliseconds. If the job also does bandwidth logging through
2778 :option:`write_bw_log`, then the minimum of this option and
2779 :option:`log_avg_msec` will be used. Default: 500ms.
2780
2781.. option:: iopsavgtime=int
2782
2783 Average the calculated IOPS over the given time. Value is specified in
2784 milliseconds. If the job also does IOPS logging through
2785 :option:`write_iops_log`, then the minimum of this option and
2786 :option:`log_avg_msec` will be used. Default: 500ms.
2787
2788.. option:: disk_util=bool
2789
2790 Generate disk utilization statistics, if the platform supports it.
2791 Default: true.
2792
2793.. option:: disable_lat=bool
2794
2795 Disable measurements of total latency numbers. Useful only for cutting back
2796 the number of calls to :manpage:`gettimeofday(2)`, as that does impact
2797 performance at really high IOPS rates. Note that to really get rid of a
2798 large amount of these calls, this option must be used with
f75ede1d 2799 :option:`disable_slat` and :option:`disable_bw_measurement` as well.
f80dba8d
MT
2800
2801.. option:: disable_clat=bool
2802
2803 Disable measurements of completion latency numbers. See
2804 :option:`disable_lat`.
2805
2806.. option:: disable_slat=bool
2807
2808 Disable measurements of submission latency numbers. See
2809 :option:`disable_slat`.
2810
f75ede1d 2811.. option:: disable_bw_measurement=bool, disable_bw=bool
f80dba8d
MT
2812
2813 Disable measurements of throughput/bandwidth numbers. See
2814 :option:`disable_lat`.
2815
2816.. option:: clat_percentiles=bool
2817
2818 Enable the reporting of percentiles of completion latencies.
2819
2820.. option:: percentile_list=float_list
2821
2822 Overwrite the default list of percentiles for completion latencies and the
2823 block error histogram. Each number is a floating number in the range
2824 (0,100], and the maximum length of the list is 20. Use ``:`` to separate the
2825 numbers, and list the numbers in ascending order. For example,
2826 ``--percentile_list=99.5:99.9`` will cause fio to report the values of
2827 completion latency below which 99.5% and 99.9% of the observed latencies
2828 fell, respectively.
2829
2830
2831Error handling
2832~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2833
2834.. option:: exitall_on_error
2835
2836 When one job finishes in error, terminate the rest. The default is to wait
2837 for each job to finish.
2838
2839.. option:: continue_on_error=str
2840
2841 Normally fio will exit the job on the first observed failure. If this option
2842 is set, fio will continue the job when there is a 'non-fatal error' (EIO or
2843 EILSEQ) until the runtime is exceeded or the I/O size specified is
2844 completed. If this option is used, there are two more stats that are
2845 appended, the total error count and the first error. The error field given
2846 in the stats is the first error that was hit during the run.
2847
2848 The allowed values are:
2849
2850 **none**
2851 Exit on any I/O or verify errors.
2852
2853 **read**
2854 Continue on read errors, exit on all others.
2855
2856 **write**
2857 Continue on write errors, exit on all others.
2858
2859 **io**
2860 Continue on any I/O error, exit on all others.
2861
2862 **verify**
2863 Continue on verify errors, exit on all others.
2864
2865 **all**
2866 Continue on all errors.
2867
2868 **0**
2869 Backward-compatible alias for 'none'.
2870
2871 **1**
2872 Backward-compatible alias for 'all'.
2873
2874.. option:: ignore_error=str
2875
2876 Sometimes you want to ignore some errors during test in that case you can
a35ef7cb
TK
2877 specify error list for each error type, instead of only being able to
2878 ignore the default 'non-fatal error' using :option:`continue_on_error`.
f80dba8d
MT
2879 ``ignore_error=READ_ERR_LIST,WRITE_ERR_LIST,VERIFY_ERR_LIST`` errors for
2880 given error type is separated with ':'. Error may be symbol ('ENOSPC',
2881 'ENOMEM') or integer. Example::
2882
2883 ignore_error=EAGAIN,ENOSPC:122
2884
2885 This option will ignore EAGAIN from READ, and ENOSPC and 122(EDQUOT) from
a35ef7cb
TK
2886 WRITE. This option works by overriding :option:`continue_on_error` with
2887 the list of errors for each error type if any.
f80dba8d
MT
2888
2889.. option:: error_dump=bool
2890
2891 If set dump every error even if it is non fatal, true by default. If
2892 disabled only fatal error will be dumped.
2893
f75ede1d
SW
2894Running predefined workloads
2895----------------------------
2896
2897Fio includes predefined profiles that mimic the I/O workloads generated by
2898other tools.
2899
2900.. option:: profile=str
2901
2902 The predefined workload to run. Current profiles are:
2903
2904 **tiobench**
2905 Threaded I/O bench (tiotest/tiobench) like workload.
2906
2907 **act**
2908 Aerospike Certification Tool (ACT) like workload.
2909
2910To view a profile's additional options use :option:`--cmdhelp` after specifying
2911the profile. For example::
2912
2913$ fio --profile=act --cmdhelp
2914
2915Act profile options
2916~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2917
2918.. option:: device-names=str
2919 :noindex:
2920
2921 Devices to use.
2922
2923.. option:: load=int
2924 :noindex:
2925
2926 ACT load multiplier. Default: 1.
2927
2928.. option:: test-duration=time
2929 :noindex:
2930
947e0fe0
SW
2931 How long the entire test takes to run. When the unit is omitted, the value
2932 is given in seconds. Default: 24h.
f75ede1d
SW
2933
2934.. option:: threads-per-queue=int
2935 :noindex:
2936
2937 Number of read IO threads per device. Default: 8.
2938
2939.. option:: read-req-num-512-blocks=int
2940 :noindex:
2941
2942 Number of 512B blocks to read at the time. Default: 3.
2943
2944.. option:: large-block-op-kbytes=int
2945 :noindex:
2946
2947 Size of large block ops in KiB (writes). Default: 131072.
2948
2949.. option:: prep
2950 :noindex:
2951
2952 Set to run ACT prep phase.
2953
2954Tiobench profile options
2955~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2956
2957.. option:: size=str
2958 :noindex:
2959
2960 Size in MiB
2961
2962.. option:: block=int
2963 :noindex:
2964
2965 Block size in bytes. Default: 4096.
2966
2967.. option:: numruns=int
2968 :noindex:
2969
2970 Number of runs.
2971
2972.. option:: dir=str
2973 :noindex:
2974
2975 Test directory.
2976
2977.. option:: threads=int
2978 :noindex:
2979
2980 Number of threads.
f80dba8d
MT
2981
2982Interpreting the output
2983-----------------------
2984
36214730
SW
2985..
2986 Example output was based on the following:
2987 TZ=UTC fio --iodepth=8 --ioengine=null --size=100M --time_based \
2988 --rate=1256k --bs=14K --name=quick --runtime=1s --name=mixed \
2989 --runtime=2m --rw=rw
2990
f80dba8d
MT
2991Fio spits out a lot of output. While running, fio will display the status of the
2992jobs created. An example of that would be::
2993
9d25d068 2994 Jobs: 1 (f=1): [_(1),M(1)][24.8%][r=20.5MiB/s,w=23.5MiB/s][r=82,w=94 IOPS][eta 01m:31s]
f80dba8d 2995
36214730
SW
2996The characters inside the first set of square brackets denote the current status of
2997each thread. The first character is the first job defined in the job file, and so
2998forth. The possible values (in typical life cycle order) are:
f80dba8d
MT
2999
3000+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3001| Idle | Run | |
3002+======+=====+===========================================================+
3003| P | | Thread setup, but not started. |
3004+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3005| C | | Thread created. |
3006+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3007| I | | Thread initialized, waiting or generating necessary data. |
3008+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3009| | p | Thread running pre-reading file(s). |
3010+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
36214730
SW
3011| | / | Thread is in ramp period. |
3012+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
f80dba8d
MT
3013| | R | Running, doing sequential reads. |
3014+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3015| | r | Running, doing random reads. |
3016+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3017| | W | Running, doing sequential writes. |
3018+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3019| | w | Running, doing random writes. |
3020+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3021| | M | Running, doing mixed sequential reads/writes. |
3022+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3023| | m | Running, doing mixed random reads/writes. |
3024+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
36214730
SW
3025| | D | Running, doing sequential trims. |
3026+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3027| | d | Running, doing random trims. |
3028+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3029| | F | Running, currently waiting for :manpage:`fsync(2)`. |
f80dba8d
MT
3030+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3031| | V | Running, doing verification of written data. |
3032+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
36214730
SW
3033| f | | Thread finishing. |
3034+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
f80dba8d
MT
3035| E | | Thread exited, not reaped by main thread yet. |
3036+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
36214730 3037| _ | | Thread reaped. |
f80dba8d
MT
3038+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3039| X | | Thread reaped, exited with an error. |
3040+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3041| K | | Thread reaped, exited due to signal. |
3042+------+-----+-----------------------------------------------------------+
3043
36214730
SW
3044..
3045 Example output was based on the following:
3046 TZ=UTC fio --iodepth=8 --ioengine=null --size=100M --runtime=58m \
3047 --time_based --rate=2512k --bs=256K --numjobs=10 \
3048 --name=readers --rw=read --name=writers --rw=write
3049
f80dba8d 3050Fio will condense the thread string as not to take up more space on the command
36214730 3051line than needed. For instance, if you have 10 readers and 10 writers running,
f80dba8d
MT
3052the output would look like this::
3053
9d25d068 3054 Jobs: 20 (f=20): [R(10),W(10)][4.0%][r=20.5MiB/s,w=23.5MiB/s][r=82,w=94 IOPS][eta 57m:36s]
f80dba8d 3055
36214730
SW
3056Note that the status string is displayed in order, so it's possible to tell which of
3057the jobs are currently doing what. In the example above this means that jobs 1--10
3058are readers and 11--20 are writers.
f80dba8d
MT
3059
3060The other values are fairly self explanatory -- number of threads currently
36214730
SW
3061running and doing I/O, the number of currently open files (f=), the estimated
3062completion percentage, the rate of I/O since last check (read speed listed first,
3063then write speed and optionally trim speed) in terms of bandwidth and IOPS, and time to completion for the current
f80dba8d 3064running group. It's impossible to estimate runtime of the following groups (if
36214730
SW
3065any).
3066
3067..
3068 Example output was based on the following:
3069 TZ=UTC fio --iodepth=16 --ioengine=posixaio --filename=/tmp/fiofile \
3070 --direct=1 --size=100M --time_based --runtime=50s --rate_iops=89 \
3071 --bs=7K --name=Client1 --rw=write
3072
3073When fio is done (or interrupted by :kbd:`Ctrl-C`), it will show the data for
3074each thread, group of threads, and disks in that order. For each overall thread (or
3075group) the output looks like::
3076
3077 Client1: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=16109: Sat Jun 24 12:07:54 2017
3078 write: IOPS=88, BW=623KiB/s (638kB/s)(30.4MiB/50032msec)
3079 slat (nsec): min=500, max=145500, avg=8318.00, stdev=4781.50
3080 clat (usec): min=170, max=78367, avg=4019.02, stdev=8293.31
3081 lat (usec): min=174, max=78375, avg=4027.34, stdev=8291.79
3082 clat percentiles (usec):
3083 | 1.00th=[ 302], 5.00th=[ 326], 10.00th=[ 343], 20.00th=[ 363],
3084 | 30.00th=[ 392], 40.00th=[ 404], 50.00th=[ 416], 60.00th=[ 445],
3085 | 70.00th=[ 816], 80.00th=[ 6718], 90.00th=[12911], 95.00th=[21627],
3086 | 99.00th=[43779], 99.50th=[51643], 99.90th=[68682], 99.95th=[72877],
3087 | 99.99th=[78119]
3088 bw ( KiB/s): min= 532, max= 686, per=0.10%, avg=622.87, stdev=24.82, samples= 100
3089 iops : min= 76, max= 98, avg=88.98, stdev= 3.54, samples= 100
3090 lat (usec) : 250=0.04%, 500=64.11%, 750=4.81%, 1000=2.79%
3091 lat (msec) : 2=4.16%, 4=1.84%, 10=4.90%, 20=11.33%, 50=5.37%
3092 lat (msec) : 100=0.65%
3093 cpu : usr=0.27%, sys=0.18%, ctx=12072, majf=0, minf=21
3094 IO depths : 1=85.0%, 2=13.1%, 4=1.8%, 8=0.1%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
3095 submit : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
3096 complete : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
3097 issued rwt: total=0,4450,0, short=0,0,0, dropped=0,0,0
3098 latency : target=0, window=0, percentile=100.00%, depth=8
3099
3100The job name (or first job's name when using :option:`group_reporting`) is printed,
3101along with the group id, count of jobs being aggregated, last error id seen (which
3102is 0 when there are no errors), pid/tid of that thread and the time the job/group
3103completed. Below are the I/O statistics for each data direction performed (showing
3104writes in the example above). In the order listed, they denote:
3105
3106**read/write/trim**
3107 The string before the colon shows the I/O direction the statistics
3108 are for. **IOPS** is the average I/Os performed per second. **BW**
3109 is the average bandwidth rate shown as: value in power of 2 format
3110 (value in power of 10 format). The last two values show: (**total
3111 I/O performed** in power of 2 format / **runtime** of that thread).
f80dba8d
MT
3112
3113**slat**
36214730
SW
3114 Submission latency (**min** being the minimum, **max** being the
3115 maximum, **avg** being the average, **stdev** being the standard
3116 deviation). This is the time it took to submit the I/O. For
3117 sync I/O this row is not displayed as the slat is really the
3118 completion latency (since queue/complete is one operation there).
3119 This value can be in nanoseconds, microseconds or milliseconds ---
3120 fio will choose the most appropriate base and print that (in the
3121 example above nanoseconds was the best scale). Note: in :option:`--minimal` mode
0d237712 3122 latencies are always expressed in microseconds.
f80dba8d
MT
3123
3124**clat**
3125 Completion latency. Same names as slat, this denotes the time from
3126 submission to completion of the I/O pieces. For sync I/O, clat will
3127 usually be equal (or very close) to 0, as the time from submit to
3128 complete is basically just CPU time (I/O has already been done, see slat
3129 explanation).
3130
3131**bw**
36214730
SW
3132 Bandwidth statistics based on samples. Same names as the xlat stats,
3133 but also includes the number of samples taken (**samples**) and an
3134 approximate percentage of total aggregate bandwidth this thread
3135 received in its group (**per**). This last value is only really
3136 useful if the threads in this group are on the same disk, since they
3137 are then competing for disk access.
3138
3139**iops**
3140 IOPS statistics based on samples. Same names as bw.
f80dba8d
MT
3141
3142**cpu**
3143 CPU usage. User and system time, along with the number of context
3144 switches this thread went through, usage of system and user time, and
3145 finally the number of major and minor page faults. The CPU utilization
3146 numbers are averages for the jobs in that reporting group, while the
23a8e176 3147 context and fault counters are summed.
f80dba8d
MT
3148
3149**IO depths**
a2140525
SW
3150 The distribution of I/O depths over the job lifetime. The numbers are
3151 divided into powers of 2 and each entry covers depths from that value
3152 up to those that are lower than the next entry -- e.g., 16= covers
3153 depths from 16 to 31. Note that the range covered by a depth
3154 distribution entry can be different to the range covered by the
3155 equivalent submit/complete distribution entry.
f80dba8d
MT
3156
3157**IO submit**
3158 How many pieces of I/O were submitting in a single submit call. Each
c60ebc45 3159 entry denotes that amount and below, until the previous entry -- e.g.,
a2140525
SW
3160 16=100% means that we submitted anywhere between 9 to 16 I/Os per submit
3161 call. Note that the range covered by a submit distribution entry can
3162 be different to the range covered by the equivalent depth distribution
3163 entry.
f80dba8d
MT
3164
3165**IO complete**
3166 Like the above submit number, but for completions instead.
3167
36214730
SW
3168**IO issued rwt**
3169 The number of read/write/trim requests issued, and how many of them were
3170 short or dropped.
f80dba8d
MT
3171
3172**IO latencies**
3173 The distribution of I/O completion latencies. This is the time from when
3174 I/O leaves fio and when it gets completed. The numbers follow the same
3175 pattern as the I/O depths, meaning that 2=1.6% means that 1.6% of the
3176 I/O completed within 2 msecs, 20=12.8% means that 12.8% of the I/O took
3177 more than 10 msecs, but less than (or equal to) 20 msecs.
71bfa161 3178
36214730
SW
3179..
3180 Example output was based on the following:
3181 TZ=UTC fio --ioengine=null --iodepth=2 --size=100M --numjobs=2 \
3182 --rate_process=poisson --io_limit=32M --name=read --bs=128k \
3183 --rate=11M --name=write --rw=write --bs=2k --rate=700k
3184
71bfa161 3185After each client has been listed, the group statistics are printed. They
f80dba8d 3186will look like this::
71bfa161 3187
f80dba8d 3188 Run status group 0 (all jobs):
36214730
SW
3189 READ: bw=20.9MiB/s (21.9MB/s), 10.4MiB/s-10.8MiB/s (10.9MB/s-11.3MB/s), io=64.0MiB (67.1MB), run=2973-3069msec
3190 WRITE: bw=1231KiB/s (1261kB/s), 616KiB/s-621KiB/s (630kB/s-636kB/s), io=64.0MiB (67.1MB), run=52747-53223msec
71bfa161 3191
36214730 3192For each data direction it prints:
71bfa161 3193
36214730
SW
3194**bw**
3195 Aggregate bandwidth of threads in this group followed by the
3196 minimum and maximum bandwidth of all the threads in this group.
3197 Values outside of brackets are power-of-2 format and those
3198 within are the equivalent value in a power-of-10 format.
f80dba8d 3199**io**
36214730
SW
3200 Aggregate I/O performed of all threads in this group. The
3201 format is the same as bw.
3202**run**
3203 The smallest and longest runtimes of the threads in this group.
71bfa161 3204
f80dba8d 3205And finally, the disk statistics are printed. They will look like this::
71bfa161 3206
f80dba8d
MT
3207 Disk stats (read/write):
3208 sda: ios=16398/16511, merge=30/162, ticks=6853/819634, in_queue=826487, util=100.00%
71bfa161
JA
3209
3210Each value is printed for both reads and writes, with reads first. The
3211numbers denote:
3212
f80dba8d 3213**ios**
c60ebc45 3214 Number of I/Os performed by all groups.
f80dba8d
MT
3215**merge**
3216 Number of merges I/O the I/O scheduler.
3217**ticks**
3218 Number of ticks we kept the disk busy.
36214730 3219**in_queue**
f80dba8d
MT
3220 Total time spent in the disk queue.
3221**util**
3222 The disk utilization. A value of 100% means we kept the disk
71bfa161
JA
3223 busy constantly, 50% would be a disk idling half of the time.
3224
f80dba8d
MT
3225It is also possible to get fio to dump the current output while it is running,
3226without terminating the job. To do that, send fio the **USR1** signal. You can
3227also get regularly timed dumps by using the :option:`--status-interval`
3228parameter, or by creating a file in :file:`/tmp` named
3229:file:`fio-dump-status`. If fio sees this file, it will unlink it and dump the
3230current output status.
8423bd11 3231
71bfa161 3232
f80dba8d
MT
3233Terse output
3234------------
71bfa161 3235
f80dba8d
MT
3236For scripted usage where you typically want to generate tables or graphs of the
3237results, fio can output the results in a semicolon separated format. The format
3238is one long line of values, such as::
71bfa161 3239
f80dba8d
MT
3240 2;card0;0;0;7139336;121836;60004;1;10109;27.932460;116.933948;220;126861;3495.446807;1085.368601;226;126864;3523.635629;1089.012448;24063;99944;50.275485%;59818.274627;5540.657370;7155060;122104;60004;1;8338;29.086342;117.839068;388;128077;5032.488518;1234.785715;391;128085;5061.839412;1236.909129;23436;100928;50.287926%;59964.832030;5644.844189;14.595833%;19.394167%;123706;0;7313;0.1%;0.1%;0.1%;0.1%;0.1%;0.1%;100.0%;0.00%;0.00%;0.00%;0.00%;0.00%;0.00%;0.01%;0.02%;0.05%;0.16%;6.04%;40.40%;52.68%;0.64%;0.01%;0.00%;0.01%;0.00%;0.00%;0.00%;0.00%;0.00%
3241 A description of this job goes here.
562c2d2f
DN
3242
3243The job description (if provided) follows on a second line.
71bfa161 3244
a7f77fa6
SW
3245To enable terse output, use the :option:`--minimal` or
3246:option:`--output-format`\=terse command line options. The
f80dba8d
MT
3247first value is the version of the terse output format. If the output has to be
3248changed for some reason, this number will be incremented by 1 to signify that
3249change.
6820cb3b 3250
a2c95580
AH
3251Split up, the format is as follows (comments in brackets denote when a
3252field was introduced or whether its specific to some terse version):
71bfa161 3253
f80dba8d
MT
3254 ::
3255
a2c95580 3256 terse version, fio version [v3], jobname, groupid, error
f80dba8d
MT
3257
3258 READ status::
3259
3260 Total IO (KiB), bandwidth (KiB/sec), IOPS, runtime (msec)
3261 Submission latency: min, max, mean, stdev (usec)
3262 Completion latency: min, max, mean, stdev (usec)
3263 Completion latency percentiles: 20 fields (see below)
3264 Total latency: min, max, mean, stdev (usec)
a2c95580
AH
3265 Bw (KiB/s): min, max, aggregate percentage of total, mean, stdev, number of samples [v5]
3266 IOPS [v5]: min, max, mean, stdev, number of samples
f80dba8d
MT
3267
3268 WRITE status:
3269
3270 ::
3271
3272 Total IO (KiB), bandwidth (KiB/sec), IOPS, runtime (msec)
3273 Submission latency: min, max, mean, stdev (usec)
247823cc 3274 Completion latency: min, max, mean, stdev (usec)
f80dba8d
MT
3275 Completion latency percentiles: 20 fields (see below)
3276 Total latency: min, max, mean, stdev (usec)
a2c95580
AH
3277 Bw (KiB/s): min, max, aggregate percentage of total, mean, stdev, number of samples [v5]
3278 IOPS [v5]: min, max, mean, stdev, number of samples
3279
3280 TRIM status [all but version 3]:
3281
3282 Fields are similar to READ/WRITE status.
f80dba8d
MT
3283
3284 CPU usage::
3285
3286 user, system, context switches, major faults, minor faults
3287
3288 I/O depths::
3289
3290 <=1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, >=64
3291
3292 I/O latencies microseconds::
3293
3294 <=2, 4, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000
3295
3296 I/O latencies milliseconds::
3297
3298 <=2, 4, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000, >=2000
3299
a2c95580 3300 Disk utilization [v3]::
f80dba8d
MT
3301
3302 Disk name, Read ios, write ios,
3303 Read merges, write merges,
3304 Read ticks, write ticks,
3305 Time spent in queue, disk utilization percentage
3306
3307 Additional Info (dependent on continue_on_error, default off)::
3308
3309 total # errors, first error code
3310
3311 Additional Info (dependent on description being set)::
3312
3313 Text description
3314
3315Completion latency percentiles can be a grouping of up to 20 sets, so for the
3316terse output fio writes all of them. Each field will look like this::
1db92cb6
JA
3317
3318 1.00%=6112
3319
f80dba8d 3320which is the Xth percentile, and the `usec` latency associated with it.
1db92cb6 3321
f80dba8d
MT
3322For disk utilization, all disks used by fio are shown. So for each disk there
3323will be a disk utilization section.
f2f788dd 3324
2fc26c3d 3325Below is a single line containing short names for each of the fields in the
2831be97 3326minimal output v3, separated by semicolons::
2fc26c3d 3327
bdb9665e 3328terse_version_3;fio_version;jobname;groupid;error;read_kb;read_bandwidth;read_iops;read_runtime_ms;read_slat_min;read_slat_max;read_slat_mean;read_slat_dev;read_clat_min;read_clat_max;read_clat_mean;read_clat_dev;read_clat_pct01;read_clat_pct02;read_clat_pct03;read_clat_pct04;read_clat_pct05;read_clat_pct06;read_clat_pct07;read_clat_pct08;read_clat_pct09;read_clat_pct10;read_clat_pct11;read_clat_pct12;read_clat_pct13;read_clat_pct14;read_clat_pct15;read_clat_pct16;read_clat_pct17;read_clat_pct18;read_clat_pct19;read_clat_pct20;read_tlat_min;read_lat_max;read_lat_mean;read_lat_dev;read_bw_min;read_bw_max;read_bw_agg_pct;read_bw_mean;read_bw_dev;write_kb;write_bandwidth;write_iops;write_runtime_ms;write_slat_min;write_slat_max;write_slat_mean;write_slat_dev;write_clat_min;write_clat_max;write_clat_mean;write_clat_dev;write_clat_pct01;write_clat_pct02;write_clat_pct03;write_clat_pct04;write_clat_pct05;write_clat_pct06;write_clat_pct07;write_clat_pct08;write_clat_pct09;write_clat_pct10;write_clat_pct11;write_clat_pct12;write_clat_pct13;write_clat_pct14;write_clat_pct15;write_clat_pct16;write_clat_pct17;write_clat_pct18;write_clat_pct19;write_clat_pct20;write_tlat_min;write_lat_max;write_lat_mean;write_lat_dev;write_bw_min;write_bw_max;write_bw_agg_pct;write_bw_mean;write_bw_dev;cpu_user;cpu_sys;cpu_csw;cpu_mjf;cpu_minf;iodepth_1;iodepth_2;iodepth_4;iodepth_8;iodepth_16;iodepth_32;iodepth_64;lat_2us;lat_4us;lat_10us;lat_20us;lat_50us;lat_100us;lat_250us;lat_500us;lat_750us;lat_1000us;lat_2ms;lat_4ms;lat_10ms;lat_20ms;lat_50ms;lat_100ms;lat_250ms;lat_500ms;lat_750ms;lat_1000ms;lat_2000ms;lat_over_2000ms;disk_name;disk_read_iops;disk_write_iops;disk_read_merges;disk_write_merges;disk_read_ticks;write_ticks;disk_queue_time;disk_util
2fc26c3d 3329
25c8b9d7 3330
f80dba8d
MT
3331Trace file format
3332-----------------
3333
3334There are two trace file format that you can encounter. The older (v1) format is
3335unsupported since version 1.20-rc3 (March 2008). It will still be described
25c8b9d7
PD
3336below in case that you get an old trace and want to understand it.
3337
3338In any case the trace is a simple text file with a single action per line.
3339
3340
f80dba8d
MT
3341Trace file format v1
3342~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3343
3344Each line represents a single I/O action in the following format::
3345
3346 rw, offset, length
25c8b9d7 3347
f80dba8d 3348where `rw=0/1` for read/write, and the offset and length entries being in bytes.
25c8b9d7 3349
22413915 3350This format is not supported in fio versions >= 1.20-rc3.
25c8b9d7 3351
25c8b9d7 3352
f80dba8d
MT
3353Trace file format v2
3354~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
25c8b9d7 3355
f80dba8d
MT
3356The second version of the trace file format was added in fio version 1.17. It
3357allows to access more then one file per trace and has a bigger set of possible
3358file actions.
25c8b9d7 3359
f80dba8d 3360The first line of the trace file has to be::
25c8b9d7 3361
f80dba8d 3362 fio version 2 iolog
25c8b9d7
PD
3363
3364Following this can be lines in two different formats, which are described below.
3365
f80dba8d 3366The file management format::
25c8b9d7 3367
f80dba8d 3368 filename action
25c8b9d7
PD
3369
3370The filename is given as an absolute path. The action can be one of these:
3371
f80dba8d
MT
3372**add**
3373 Add the given filename to the trace.
3374**open**
3375 Open the file with the given filename. The filename has to have
3376 been added with the **add** action before.
3377**close**
3378 Close the file with the given filename. The file has to have been
3379 opened before.
3380
3381
3382The file I/O action format::
3383
3384 filename action offset length
3385
3386The `filename` is given as an absolute path, and has to have been added and
3387opened before it can be used with this format. The `offset` and `length` are
3388given in bytes. The `action` can be one of these:
3389
3390**wait**
3391 Wait for `offset` microseconds. Everything below 100 is discarded.
3392 The time is relative to the previous `wait` statement.
3393**read**
3394 Read `length` bytes beginning from `offset`.
3395**write**
3396 Write `length` bytes beginning from `offset`.
3397**sync**
3398 :manpage:`fsync(2)` the file.
3399**datasync**
3400 :manpage:`fdatasync(2)` the file.
3401**trim**
3402 Trim the given file from the given `offset` for `length` bytes.
3403
3404CPU idleness profiling
3405----------------------
3406
3407In some cases, we want to understand CPU overhead in a test. For example, we
3408test patches for the specific goodness of whether they reduce CPU usage.
3409Fio implements a balloon approach to create a thread per CPU that runs at idle
3410priority, meaning that it only runs when nobody else needs the cpu.
3411By measuring the amount of work completed by the thread, idleness of each CPU
3412can be derived accordingly.
3413
3414An unit work is defined as touching a full page of unsigned characters. Mean and
3415standard deviation of time to complete an unit work is reported in "unit work"
3416section. Options can be chosen to report detailed percpu idleness or overall
3417system idleness by aggregating percpu stats.
3418
3419
3420Verification and triggers
3421-------------------------
3422
3423Fio is usually run in one of two ways, when data verification is done. The first
3424is a normal write job of some sort with verify enabled. When the write phase has
3425completed, fio switches to reads and verifies everything it wrote. The second
3426model is running just the write phase, and then later on running the same job
3427(but with reads instead of writes) to repeat the same I/O patterns and verify
3428the contents. Both of these methods depend on the write phase being completed,
3429as fio otherwise has no idea how much data was written.
3430
3431With verification triggers, fio supports dumping the current write state to
3432local files. Then a subsequent read verify workload can load this state and know
3433exactly where to stop. This is useful for testing cases where power is cut to a
3434server in a managed fashion, for instance.
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3435
3436A verification trigger consists of two things:
3437
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34381) Storing the write state of each job.
34392) Executing a trigger command.
99b9a85a 3440
f80dba8d
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3441The write state is relatively small, on the order of hundreds of bytes to single
3442kilobytes. It contains information on the number of completions done, the last X
3443completions, etc.
99b9a85a 3444
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3445A trigger is invoked either through creation ('touch') of a specified file in
3446the system, or through a timeout setting. If fio is run with
9207a0cb 3447:option:`--trigger-file`\= :file:`/tmp/trigger-file`, then it will continually
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3448check for the existence of :file:`/tmp/trigger-file`. When it sees this file, it
3449will fire off the trigger (thus saving state, and executing the trigger
99b9a85a
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3450command).
3451
f80dba8d
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3452For client/server runs, there's both a local and remote trigger. If fio is
3453running as a server backend, it will send the job states back to the client for
3454safe storage, then execute the remote trigger, if specified. If a local trigger
3455is specified, the server will still send back the write state, but the client
3456will then execute the trigger.
99b9a85a 3457
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3458Verification trigger example
3459~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
99b9a85a 3460
4502cb42 3461Let's say we want to run a powercut test on the remote machine 'server'. Our
f80dba8d
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3462write workload is in :file:`write-test.fio`. We want to cut power to 'server' at
3463some point during the run, and we'll run this test from the safety or our local
3464machine, 'localbox'. On the server, we'll start the fio backend normally::
99b9a85a 3465
f80dba8d 3466 server# fio --server
99b9a85a 3467
f80dba8d 3468and on the client, we'll fire off the workload::
99b9a85a 3469
f80dba8d 3470 localbox$ fio --client=server --trigger-file=/tmp/my-trigger --trigger-remote="bash -c \"echo b > /proc/sysrq-triger\""
99b9a85a 3471
f80dba8d 3472We set :file:`/tmp/my-trigger` as the trigger file, and we tell fio to execute::
99b9a85a 3473
f80dba8d 3474 echo b > /proc/sysrq-trigger
99b9a85a 3475
f80dba8d
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3476on the server once it has received the trigger and sent us the write state. This
3477will work, but it's not **really** cutting power to the server, it's merely
3478abruptly rebooting it. If we have a remote way of cutting power to the server
3479through IPMI or similar, we could do that through a local trigger command
4502cb42 3480instead. Let's assume we have a script that does IPMI reboot of a given hostname,
f80dba8d
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3481ipmi-reboot. On localbox, we could then have run fio with a local trigger
3482instead::
99b9a85a 3483
f80dba8d 3484 localbox$ fio --client=server --trigger-file=/tmp/my-trigger --trigger="ipmi-reboot server"
99b9a85a 3485
f80dba8d
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3486For this case, fio would wait for the server to send us the write state, then
3487execute ``ipmi-reboot server`` when that happened.
3488
3489Loading verify state
3490~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3491
4502cb42 3492To load stored write state, a read verification job file must contain the
f80dba8d 3493:option:`verify_state_load` option. If that is set, fio will load the previously
99b9a85a 3494stored state. For a local fio run this is done by loading the files directly,
f80dba8d
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3495and on a client/server run, the server backend will ask the client to send the
3496files over and load them from there.
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3497
3498
f80dba8d
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3499Log File Formats
3500----------------
a3ae5b05
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3501
3502Fio supports a variety of log file formats, for logging latencies, bandwidth,
3503and IOPS. The logs share a common format, which looks like this:
3504
f80dba8d 3505 *time* (`msec`), *value*, *data direction*, *offset*
a3ae5b05 3506
f80dba8d 3507Time for the log entry is always in milliseconds. The *value* logged depends
a3ae5b05
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3508on the type of log, it will be one of the following:
3509
f80dba8d
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3510 **Latency log**
3511 Value is latency in usecs
3512 **Bandwidth log**
3513 Value is in KiB/sec
3514 **IOPS log**
3515 Value is IOPS
3516
3517*Data direction* is one of the following:
3518
3519 **0**
3520 I/O is a READ
3521 **1**
3522 I/O is a WRITE
3523 **2**
3524 I/O is a TRIM
3525
3526The *offset* is the offset, in bytes, from the start of the file, for that
3527particular I/O. The logging of the offset can be toggled with
3528:option:`log_offset`.
3529
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3530Fio defaults to logging every individual I/O. When IOPS are logged for individual
3531I/Os the value entry will always be 1. If windowed logging is enabled through
3532:option:`log_avg_msec`, fio logs the average values over the specified period of time.
3533If windowed logging is enabled and :option:`log_max_value` is set, then fio logs
3534maximum values in that window instead of averages. Since 'data direction' and
3535'offset' are per-I/O values, they aren't applicable if windowed logging is enabled.
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3536
3537Client/server
3538-------------
3539
3540Normally fio is invoked as a stand-alone application on the machine where the
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3541I/O workload should be generated. However, the backend and frontend of fio can
3542be run separately i.e., the fio server can generate an I/O workload on the "Device
3543Under Test" while being controlled by a client on another machine.
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3544
3545Start the server on the machine which has access to the storage DUT::
3546
3547 fio --server=args
3548
dbb257bb 3549where `args` defines what fio listens to. The arguments are of the form
f80dba8d
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3550``type,hostname`` or ``IP,port``. *type* is either ``ip`` (or ip4) for TCP/IP
3551v4, ``ip6`` for TCP/IP v6, or ``sock`` for a local unix domain socket.
3552*hostname* is either a hostname or IP address, and *port* is the port to listen
3553to (only valid for TCP/IP, not a local socket). Some examples:
3554
35551) ``fio --server``
3556
3557 Start a fio server, listening on all interfaces on the default port (8765).
3558
35592) ``fio --server=ip:hostname,4444``
3560
3561 Start a fio server, listening on IP belonging to hostname and on port 4444.
3562
35633) ``fio --server=ip6:::1,4444``
3564
3565 Start a fio server, listening on IPv6 localhost ::1 and on port 4444.
3566
35674) ``fio --server=,4444``
3568
3569 Start a fio server, listening on all interfaces on port 4444.
3570
35715) ``fio --server=1.2.3.4``
3572
3573 Start a fio server, listening on IP 1.2.3.4 on the default port.
3574
35756) ``fio --server=sock:/tmp/fio.sock``
3576
dbb257bb 3577 Start a fio server, listening on the local socket :file:`/tmp/fio.sock`.
f80dba8d
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3578
3579Once a server is running, a "client" can connect to the fio server with::
3580
3581 fio <local-args> --client=<server> <remote-args> <job file(s)>
3582
3583where `local-args` are arguments for the client where it is running, `server`
3584is the connect string, and `remote-args` and `job file(s)` are sent to the
3585server. The `server` string follows the same format as it does on the server
3586side, to allow IP/hostname/socket and port strings.
3587
3588Fio can connect to multiple servers this way::
3589
3590 fio --client=<server1> <job file(s)> --client=<server2> <job file(s)>
3591
3592If the job file is located on the fio server, then you can tell the server to
3593load a local file as well. This is done by using :option:`--remote-config` ::
3594
3595 fio --client=server --remote-config /path/to/file.fio
3596
3597Then fio will open this local (to the server) job file instead of being passed
3598one from the client.
3599
3600If you have many servers (example: 100 VMs/containers), you can input a pathname
3601of a file containing host IPs/names as the parameter value for the
3602:option:`--client` option. For example, here is an example :file:`host.list`
3603file containing 2 hostnames::
3604
3605 host1.your.dns.domain
3606 host2.your.dns.domain
3607
3608The fio command would then be::
a3ae5b05 3609
f80dba8d 3610 fio --client=host.list <job file(s)>
a3ae5b05 3611
f80dba8d
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3612In this mode, you cannot input server-specific parameters or job files -- all
3613servers receive the same job file.
a3ae5b05 3614
f80dba8d
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3615In order to let ``fio --client`` runs use a shared filesystem from multiple
3616hosts, ``fio --client`` now prepends the IP address of the server to the
4502cb42 3617filename. For example, if fio is using the directory :file:`/mnt/nfs/fio` and is
f80dba8d
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3618writing filename :file:`fileio.tmp`, with a :option:`--client` `hostfile`
3619containing two hostnames ``h1`` and ``h2`` with IP addresses 192.168.10.120 and
3620192.168.10.121, then fio will create two files::
a3ae5b05 3621
f80dba8d
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3622 /mnt/nfs/fio/192.168.10.120.fileio.tmp
3623 /mnt/nfs/fio/192.168.10.121.fileio.tmp