Commit | Line | Data |
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ebac4655 JA |
1 | fio |
2 | --- | |
3 | ||
79809113 JA |
4 | fio is a tool that will spawn a number of threads or processes doing a |
5 | particular type of io action as specified by the user. fio takes a | |
6 | number of global parameters, each inherited by the thread unless | |
7 | otherwise parameters given to them overriding that setting is given. | |
8 | The typical use of fio is to write a job file matching the io load | |
9 | one wants to simulate. | |
ebac4655 | 10 | |
2b02b546 JA |
11 | |
12 | Source | |
13 | ------ | |
14 | ||
15 | fio resides in a git repo, the canonical place is: | |
16 | ||
6b3eccb1 | 17 | git://git.kernel.dk/fio.git |
97f049c9 JA |
18 | |
19 | The http protocol also works, path is the same. | |
2b02b546 | 20 | |
79809113 JA |
21 | Snapshots are frequently generated and they include the git meta data as |
22 | well. You can download them here: | |
2b02b546 JA |
23 | |
24 | http://brick.kernel.dk/snaps/ | |
25 | ||
1053a106 | 26 | |
d85b1add SK |
27 | Binary packages |
28 | --------------- | |
29 | ||
30 | Debian: | |
31 | Starting with Debian "Squeeze", fio packages are part of the official | |
32 | Debian repository. http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=fio | |
33 | ||
34 | Ubuntu: | |
35 | Starting with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (aka "Lucid Lynx"), fio packages are part | |
36 | of the Ubuntu "universe" repository. | |
37 | http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=fio | |
38 | ||
39 | SUSE: | |
40 | Pascal Bleser <guru@unixtech.be> has fio RPMs in his repository for SUSE | |
41 | variants, you can find them here: | |
1053a106 JA |
42 | http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/rpm-navigation.php?cat=System/fio |
43 | ||
d85b1add | 44 | Red Hat, CentOS & Co: |
a68594cb | 45 | Dag Wieërs has RPMs for Red Hat related distros, find them here: |
a68594cb JA |
46 | http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/fio/ |
47 | ||
d85b1add | 48 | Mandriva: |
244e170e JA |
49 | Mandriva has integrated fio into their package repository, so installing |
50 | on that distro should be as easy as typing 'urpmi fio'. | |
51 | ||
d85b1add SK |
52 | Solaris: |
53 | Packages for Solaris are available from OpenCSW. Install their pkgutil | |
54 | tool (http://www.opencsw.org/get-it/pkgutil/) and then install fio via | |
55 | 'pkgutil -i fio'. | |
56 | ||
ecc314ba BC |
57 | Windows: |
58 | Bruce Cran <bruce@cran.org.uk> has fio packages for Windows at | |
59 | http://www.bluestop.org/fio . | |
60 | ||
2b02b546 | 61 | |
726f6ff0 JA |
62 | Mailing list |
63 | ------------ | |
64 | ||
65 | There's a mailing list associated with fio. It's meant for general | |
2e8552b0 JA |
66 | discussion, bug reporting, questions, and development - basically anything |
67 | that has to do with fio. An automated mail detailing recent commits is | |
68 | automatically sent to the list at most daily. The list address is | |
69 | fio@vger.kernel.org, subscribe by sending an email to | |
70 | majordomo@vger.kernel.org with | |
71 | ||
72 | subscribe fio | |
73 | ||
4f5d1526 EIB |
74 | in the body of the email. Archives can be found here: |
75 | ||
76 | http://www.spinics.net/lists/fio/ | |
77 | ||
78 | and archives for the old list can be found here: | |
2e8552b0 JA |
79 | |
80 | http://maillist.kernel.dk/fio-devel/ | |
726f6ff0 JA |
81 | |
82 | ||
bbfd6b00 JA |
83 | Building |
84 | -------- | |
85 | ||
d015e398 | 86 | Just type 'make' and 'make install'. |
bbfd6b00 | 87 | |
d015e398 BC |
88 | Note that GNU make is required. On BSD it's available from devel/gmake; |
89 | on Solaris it's in the SUNWgmake package. On platforms where GNU make | |
90 | isn't the default, type 'gmake' instead of 'make'. | |
bbfd6b00 | 91 | |
6de43c1b JA |
92 | If your compile fails with an error like this: |
93 | ||
94 | CC gettime.o | |
95 | In file included from fio.h:23, | |
96 | from gettime.c:8: | |
97 | os/os.h:15:20: error: libaio.h: No such file or directory | |
98 | In file included from gettime.c:8: | |
99 | fio.h:119: error: field 'iocb' has incomplete type | |
100 | make: *** [gettime.o] Error 1 | |
101 | ||
102 | Check that you have the libaio development package installed. On RPM | |
103 | based distros, it's typically called libaio-devel. | |
104 | ||
bbfd6b00 | 105 | |
53adf64f BC |
106 | Windows |
107 | ------- | |
108 | ||
109 | On Windows Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com) is required with at least | |
110 | devel/gcc4 and devel/make installed in order to build fio, and | |
111 | admin/cygrunsrv to run it. You can also install devel/git to fetch/update | |
5b9a7f22 BC |
112 | the source files. To create an MSI installer package put a copy of Cygwin |
113 | in os\windows\fio, install WiX 3.6 from http://wix.sourceforge.net/releases/ | |
114 | and run dobuild.cmd from the os/windows directory. | |
53adf64f BC |
115 | |
116 | Before running fio you'll need to have a copy of cygserver running. Run | |
117 | "/usr/bin/cygserver-config" from an elevated Cygwin shell (i.e. launch the | |
118 | Cygwin shell under the Administrator account) to configure it. Once | |
119 | configured, run "net start cygserver" to start it, or type | |
120 | "/usr/sbin/cygserver &" in the Cygwin shell to start a local copy. | |
121 | ||
122 | If fio exits with the message "Bad system call" it normally means that | |
123 | Cygserver isn't running. | |
124 | ||
125 | ||
972cfd25 JA |
126 | Command line |
127 | ------------ | |
ebac4655 JA |
128 | |
129 | $ fio | |
1cfd036f BC |
130 | --debug Enable some debugging options (see below) |
131 | --output Write output to file | |
132 | --timeout Runtime in seconds | |
133 | --latency-log Generate per-job latency logs | |
134 | --bandwidth-log Generate per-job bandwidth logs | |
135 | --minimal Minimal (terse) output | |
136 | --version Print version info and exit | |
137 | --help Print this page | |
fd28ca49 | 138 | --cmdhelp=cmd Print command help, "all" for all of them |
1cfd036f | 139 | --showcmd Turn a job file into command line options |
ad0a2735 JA |
140 | --readonly Turn on safety read-only checks, preventing |
141 | writes | |
1cfd036f BC |
142 | --eta=when When ETA estimate should be printed |
143 | May be "always", "never" or "auto" | |
ad0a2735 JA |
144 | --section=name Only run specified section in job file. Multiple |
145 | sections can be specified. | |
2b386d25 | 146 | --alloc-size=kb Set smalloc pool to this size in kb (def 1024) |
a9523c6f | 147 | --warnings-fatal Fio parser warnings are fatal |
fca70358 | 148 | --max-jobs Maximum number of threads/processes to support |
e592a06b | 149 | |
b4692828 JA |
150 | |
151 | Any parameters following the options will be assumed to be job files, | |
152 | unless they match a job file parameter. You can add as many as you want, | |
153 | each job file will be regarded as a separate group and fio will stonewall | |
154 | its execution. | |
972cfd25 | 155 | |
ecc314ba | 156 | The --readonly switch is an extra safety guard to prevent accidentally |
724e4435 JA |
157 | turning on a write setting when that is not desired. Fio will only write |
158 | if rw=write/randwrite/rw/randrw is given, but this extra safety net can | |
159 | be used as an extra precaution. It will also enable a write check in the | |
160 | io engine core to prevent an accidental write due to a fio bug. | |
161 | ||
ee56ad50 JA |
162 | The debug switch allows adding options that trigger certain logging |
163 | options in fio. Currently the options are: | |
164 | ||
165 | process Dump info related to processes | |
166 | file Dump info related to file actions | |
1cfd036f BC |
167 | io Dump info related to IO queuing |
168 | mem Dump info related to memory allocations | |
bd6f78b2 JA |
169 | blktrace Dump info related to blktrace setup |
170 | verify Dump info related to IO verification | |
1cfd036f | 171 | all Enable all debug options |
811a0d06 | 172 | random Dump info related to random offset generation |
a3d741fa | 173 | parse Dump info related to option matching and parsing |
cd991b9e | 174 | diskutil Dump info related to disk utilization updates |
5e1d306e | 175 | job:x Dump info only related to job number x |
29adda3c | 176 | mutex Dump info only related to mutex up/down ops |
c223da83 JA |
177 | profile Dump info related to profile extensions |
178 | time Dump info related to internal time keeping | |
bd6f78b2 | 179 | ? or help Show available debug options. |
ee56ad50 JA |
180 | |
181 | You can specify as many as you want, eg --debug=file,mem will enable | |
bd6f78b2 | 182 | file and memory debugging. |
ee56ad50 | 183 | |
01f06b63 JA |
184 | The section switch is meant to make it easier to ship a bigger job file |
185 | instead of several smaller ones. Say you define a job file with light, | |
186 | moderate, and heavy parts. Then you can ask fio to run the given part | |
187 | only by giving it a --section=heavy command line option. The section | |
188 | option only applies to job sections, the reserved 'global' section is | |
189 | always parsed and taken into account. | |
190 | ||
2b386d25 JA |
191 | Fio has an internal allocator for shared memory called smalloc. It |
192 | allocates shared structures from this pool. The pool defaults to 1024k | |
931823ca | 193 | in size, and can grow to 128 pools. If running large jobs with randommap |
2b386d25 | 194 | enabled it can run out of memory, in which case the --alloc-size switch |
931823ca JA |
195 | is handy for starting with a larger pool size. The backing store is |
196 | files in /tmp. Fio cleans up after itself, while it is running you | |
197 | may see .fio_smalloc.* files in /tmp. | |
2b386d25 | 198 | |
79809113 JA |
199 | |
200 | Job file | |
201 | -------- | |
202 | ||
71bfa161 | 203 | See the HOWTO file for a more detailed description of parameters and what |
4661f3d0 JA |
204 | they mean. This file contains the terse version. You can describe big and |
205 | complex setups with the command line, but generally it's a lot easier to | |
71bfa161 | 206 | just write a simple job file to describe the workload. The job file format |
4661f3d0 | 207 | is in the ini style format, as that is easy to read and write for the user. |
79809113 JA |
208 | |
209 | The job file parameters are: | |
ebac4655 | 210 | |
01452055 | 211 | name=x Use 'x' as the identifier for this job. |
61697c37 | 212 | description=x 'x' is a text description of the job. |
ebac4655 | 213 | directory=x Use 'x' as the top level directory for storing files |
b50b8755 JA |
214 | filename=x Force the use of 'x' as the filename for all files |
215 | in this thread. If not given, fio will make up | |
216 | a suitable filename based on the thread and file | |
217 | number. | |
3d60d1ed JA |
218 | rw=x 'x' may be: read, randread, write, randwrite, |
219 | rw (read-write mix), randrw (read-write random mix) | |
a6ccc7be JA |
220 | rwmixcycle=x Base cycle for switching between read and write |
221 | in msecs. | |
222 | rwmixread=x 'x' percentage of rw mix ios will be reads. If | |
223 | rwmixwrite is also given, the last of the two will | |
224 | be used if they don't add up to 100%. | |
225 | rwmixwrite=x 'x' percentage of rw mix ios will be writes. See | |
226 | rwmixread. | |
9ebc27e1 JA |
227 | rand_repeatable=x The sequence of random io blocks can be repeatable |
228 | across runs, if 'x' is 1. | |
ebac4655 JA |
229 | size=x Set file size to x bytes (x string can include k/m/g) |
230 | ioengine=x 'x' may be: aio/libaio/linuxaio for Linux aio, | |
78e7b3e7 | 231 | posixaio for POSIX aio, solarisaio for Solaris |
03e20d68 BC |
232 | native async IO, windowsaio for Windows native async IO, |
233 | sync for regular read/write io, | |
1d2af02a JA |
234 | psync for regular pread/pwrite io, vsync for regular |
235 | readv/writev (with queuing emulation) mmap for mmap'ed | |
236 | io, syslet-rw for syslet driven read/write, splice for | |
d0c70934 GP |
237 | using splice/vmsplice, sg for direct SG_IO io, net |
238 | for network io, or cpuio for a cycler burner load. sg | |
1d2af02a JA |
239 | only works on Linux on SCSI (or SCSI-like devices, such |
240 | as usb-storage or sata/libata driven) devices. Fio also | |
241 | has a null io engine, which is mainly used for testing | |
242 | fio itself. | |
243 | ||
ebac4655 JA |
244 | iodepth=x For async io, allow 'x' ios in flight |
245 | overwrite=x If 'x', layout a write file first. | |
53cdc686 JA |
246 | nrfiles=x Spread io load over 'x' number of files per job, |
247 | if possible. | |
ebac4655 JA |
248 | prio=x Run io at prio X, 0-7 is the kernel allowed range |
249 | prioclass=x Run io at prio class X | |
250 | bs=x Use 'x' for thread blocksize. May include k/m postfix. | |
251 | bsrange=x-y Mix thread block sizes randomly between x and y. May | |
252 | also include k/m postfix. | |
253 | direct=x 1 for direct IO, 0 for buffered IO | |
254 | thinktime=x "Think" x usec after each io | |
b22989b9 JA |
255 | rate=x Throttle rate to x KB/sec |
256 | ratemin=x Quit if rate of x KB/sec can't be met | |
ebac4655 JA |
257 | ratecycle=x ratemin averaged over x msecs |
258 | cpumask=x Only allow job to run on CPUs defined by mask. | |
d2e268b0 | 259 | cpus_allowed=x Like 'cpumask', but allow text setting of CPU affinity. |
795407ca JA |
260 | fsync=x If writing with buffered IO, fsync after every |
261 | 'x' blocks have been written. | |
262 | end_fsync=x If 'x', run fsync() after end-of-job. | |
ebac4655 | 263 | startdelay=x Start this thread x seconds after startup |
03b74b3e | 264 | runtime=x Terminate x seconds after startup. Can include a |
906c8d75 JA |
265 | normal time suffix if not given in seconds, such as |
266 | 'm' for minutes, 'h' for hours, and 'd' for days. | |
ebac4655 JA |
267 | offset=x Start io at offset x (x string can include k/m/g) |
268 | invalidate=x Invalidate page cache for file prior to doing io | |
795407ca | 269 | sync=x Use sync writes if x and writing buffered IO. |
ebac4655 | 270 | mem=x If x == malloc, use malloc for buffers. If x == shm, |
795407ca JA |
271 | use shared memory for buffers. If x == mmap, use |
272 | anonymous mmap. | |
ebac4655 JA |
273 | exitall When one thread quits, terminate the others |
274 | bwavgtime=x Average bandwidth stats over an x msec window. | |
275 | create_serialize=x If 'x', serialize file creation. | |
276 | create_fsync=x If 'x', run fsync() after file creation. | |
f6cbb269 | 277 | unlink If set, unlink files when done. |
ebac4655 JA |
278 | loops=x Run the job 'x' number of times. |
279 | verify=x If 'x' == md5, use md5 for verifies. If 'x' == crc32, | |
280 | use crc32 for verifies. md5 is 'safer', but crc32 is | |
281 | a lot faster. Only makes sense for writing to a file. | |
bac39e0e | 282 | For other types of checksumming, see HOWTO. |
ebac4655 JA |
283 | stonewall Wait for preceeding jobs to end before running. |
284 | numjobs=x Create 'x' similar entries for this job | |
285 | thread Use pthreads instead of forked jobs | |
20dc95c4 JA |
286 | zonesize=x |
287 | zoneskip=y Zone options must be paired. If given, the job | |
288 | will skip y bytes for every x read/written. This | |
289 | can be used to gauge hard drive speed over the entire | |
290 | platter, without reading everything. Both x/y can | |
291 | include k/m/g suffix. | |
aea47d44 JA |
292 | iolog=x Open and read io pattern from file 'x'. The file must |
293 | contain one io action per line in the following format: | |
294 | rw, offset, length | |
295 | where with rw=0/1 for read/write, and the offset | |
296 | and length entries being in bytes. | |
843a7413 JA |
297 | write_iolog=x Write an iolog to file 'x' in the same format as iolog. |
298 | The iolog options are exclusive, if both given the | |
5b42a488 SH |
299 | read iolog will be performed. Specify a separate file |
300 | for each job, otherwise the iologs will be interspersed | |
301 | and the file may be corrupt. | |
ec94ec56 JA |
302 | write_bw_log Write a bandwidth log. |
303 | write_lat_log Write a latency log. | |
c04f7ec3 JA |
304 | lockmem=x Lock down x amount of memory on the machine, to |
305 | simulate a machine with less memory available. x can | |
306 | include k/m/g suffix. | |
b6f4d880 | 307 | nice=x Run job at given nice value. |
4e0ba8af JA |
308 | exec_prerun=x Run 'x' before job io is begun. |
309 | exec_postrun=x Run 'x' after job io has finished. | |
da86774e | 310 | ioscheduler=x Use ioscheduler 'x' for this job. |
b990b5c0 JA |
311 | cpuload=x For a CPU io thread, percentage of CPU time to attempt |
312 | to burn. | |
ba0fbe10 | 313 | cpuchunks=x Split burn cycles into pieces of x usecs. |
ebac4655 | 314 | |
79809113 | 315 | |
217bc04b JA |
316 | |
317 | Platforms | |
318 | --------- | |
319 | ||
ce600ac9 JA |
320 | Fio works on (at least) Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, OSX, NetBSD, Windows |
321 | and FreeBSD. Some features and/or options may only be available on some of | |
322 | the platforms, typically because those features only apply to that platform | |
323 | (like the solarisaio engine, or the splice engine on Linux). | |
217bc04b JA |
324 | |
325 | Some features are not available on FreeBSD/Solaris even if they could be | |
326 | implemented, I'd be happy to take patches for that. An example of that is | |
327 | disk utility statistics and (I think) huge page support, support for that | |
328 | does exist in FreeBSD/Solaris. | |
329 | ||
330 | Fio uses pthread mutexes for signalling and locking and FreeBSD does not | |
331 | support process shared pthread mutexes. As a result, only threads are | |
332 | supported on FreeBSD. This could be fixed with sysv ipc locking or | |
333 | other locking alternatives. | |
334 | ||
335 | Other *BSD platforms are untested, but fio should work there almost out | |
336 | of the box. Since I don't do test runs or even compiles on those platforms, | |
337 | your mileage may vary. Sending me patches for other platforms is greatly | |
338 | appreciated. There's a lot of value in having the same test/benchmark tool | |
339 | available on all platforms. | |
340 | ||
bf2e821a CC |
341 | Note that POSIX aio is not enabled by default on AIX. If you get messages like: |
342 | ||
343 | Symbol resolution failed for /usr/lib/libc.a(posix_aio.o) because: | |
344 | Symbol _posix_kaio_rdwr (number 2) is not exported from dependent module /unix. | |
345 | ||
346 | you need to enable POSIX aio. Run the following commands as root: | |
347 | ||
348 | # lsdev -C -l posix_aio0 | |
349 | posix_aio0 Defined Posix Asynchronous I/O | |
350 | # cfgmgr -l posix_aio0 | |
351 | # lsdev -C -l posix_aio0 | |
352 | posix_aio0 Available Posix Asynchronous I/O | |
353 | ||
354 | POSIX aio should work now. To make the change permanent: | |
355 | ||
356 | # chdev -l posix_aio0 -P -a autoconfig='available' | |
357 | posix_aio0 changed | |
217bc04b JA |
358 | |
359 | ||
79809113 JA |
360 | Author |
361 | ------ | |
362 | ||
aae22ca7 | 363 | Fio was written by Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk> to enable flexible testing |
79809113 JA |
364 | of the Linux IO subsystem and schedulers. He got tired of writing |
365 | specific test applications to simulate a given workload, and found that | |
366 | the existing io benchmark/test tools out there weren't flexible enough | |
367 | to do what he wanted. | |
368 | ||
aae22ca7 | 369 | Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk> 20060905 |
79809113 | 370 |