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f80dba8d MT |
1 | Overview and history |
2 | -------------------- | |
3 | ||
4 | Fio was originally written to save me the hassle of writing special test case | |
5 | programs when I wanted to test a specific workload, either for performance | |
6 | reasons or to find/reproduce a bug. The process of writing such a test app can | |
7 | be tiresome, especially if you have to do it often. Hence I needed a tool that | |
8 | would be able to simulate a given I/O workload without resorting to writing a | |
9 | tailored test case again and again. | |
10 | ||
11 | A test work load is difficult to define, though. There can be any number of | |
12 | processes or threads involved, and they can each be using their own way of | |
13 | generating I/O. You could have someone dirtying large amounts of memory in an | |
14 | memory mapped file, or maybe several threads issuing reads using asynchronous | |
15 | I/O. fio needed to be flexible enough to simulate both of these cases, and many | |
16 | more. | |
17 | ||
18 | Fio spawns a number of threads or processes doing a particular type of I/O | |
19 | action as specified by the user. fio takes a number of global parameters, each | |
20 | inherited by the thread unless otherwise parameters given to them overriding | |
21 | that setting is given. The typical use of fio is to write a job file matching | |
22 | the I/O load one wants to simulate. | |
ebac4655 | 23 | |
2b02b546 JA |
24 | |
25 | Source | |
26 | ------ | |
27 | ||
f80dba8d | 28 | Fio resides in a git repo, the canonical place is: |
2b02b546 | 29 | |
4649b352 | 30 | git://git.kernel.dk/fio.git |
97f049c9 | 31 | |
4649b352 GG |
32 | When inside a corporate firewall, git:// URL sometimes does not work. |
33 | If git:// does not work, use the http protocol instead: | |
a9bac3f9 | 34 | |
4649b352 | 35 | http://git.kernel.dk/fio.git |
2b02b546 | 36 | |
f80dba8d | 37 | Snapshots are frequently generated and :file:`fio-git-*.tar.gz` include the git |
88d398d0 | 38 | meta data as well. Other tarballs are archives of official fio releases. |
4649b352 | 39 | Snapshots can download from: |
2b02b546 | 40 | |
4649b352 | 41 | http://brick.kernel.dk/snaps/ |
2b02b546 | 42 | |
f80dba8d MT |
43 | There are also two official mirrors. Both of these are automatically synced with |
44 | the main repository, when changes are pushed. If the main repo is down for some | |
45 | reason, either one of these is safe to use as a backup: | |
01fa84d5 JA |
46 | |
47 | git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/axboe/fio.git | |
f80dba8d | 48 | |
01fa84d5 JA |
49 | https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/axboe/fio.git |
50 | ||
51 | or | |
52 | ||
3826b24a | 53 | git://github.com/axboe/fio.git |
244e170e | 54 | |
f80dba8d | 55 | https://github.com/axboe/fio.git |
a71844ff | 56 | |
2b02b546 | 57 | |
726f6ff0 JA |
58 | Mailing list |
59 | ------------ | |
60 | ||
4649b352 GG |
61 | The fio project mailing list is meant for anything related to fio including |
62 | general discussion, bug reporting, questions, and development. | |
2e8552b0 | 63 | |
f80dba8d MT |
64 | An automated mail detailing recent commits is automatically sent to the list at |
65 | most daily. The list address is fio@vger.kernel.org, subscribe by sending an | |
66 | email to majordomo@vger.kernel.org with | |
4649b352 GG |
67 | |
68 | subscribe fio | |
2e8552b0 | 69 | |
4f5d1526 EIB |
70 | in the body of the email. Archives can be found here: |
71 | ||
4649b352 | 72 | http://www.spinics.net/lists/fio/ |
4f5d1526 EIB |
73 | |
74 | and archives for the old list can be found here: | |
2e8552b0 | 75 | |
4649b352 | 76 | http://maillist.kernel.dk/fio-devel/ |
726f6ff0 JA |
77 | |
78 | ||
f80dba8d MT |
79 | Author |
80 | ------ | |
bbfd6b00 | 81 | |
f80dba8d MT |
82 | Fio was written by Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk> to enable flexible testing of |
83 | the Linux I/O subsystem and schedulers. He got tired of writing specific test | |
84 | applications to simulate a given workload, and found that the existing I/O | |
85 | benchmark/test tools out there weren't flexible enough to do what he wanted. | |
6de43c1b | 86 | |
f80dba8d | 87 | Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk> 20060905 |
2382dca7 | 88 | |
c8931876 | 89 | |
f80dba8d MT |
90 | Binary packages |
91 | --------------- | |
bbfd6b00 | 92 | |
f80dba8d MT |
93 | Debian: |
94 | Starting with Debian "Squeeze", fio packages are part of the official | |
a881438b | 95 | Debian repository. http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=fio . |
53adf64f | 96 | |
f80dba8d MT |
97 | Ubuntu: |
98 | Starting with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (aka "Lucid Lynx"), fio packages are part | |
99 | of the Ubuntu "universe" repository. | |
a881438b | 100 | http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=fio . |
53adf64f | 101 | |
a881438b SW |
102 | Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS & Co: |
103 | Starting with Fedora 9/Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 4, fio | |
104 | packages are part of the Fedora/EPEL repositories. | |
105 | https://admin.fedoraproject.org/pkgdb/package/rpms/fio/ . | |
f41862f7 | 106 | |
f80dba8d MT |
107 | Mandriva: |
108 | Mandriva has integrated fio into their package repository, so installing | |
109 | on that distro should be as easy as typing ``urpmi fio``. | |
9aa5fe32 | 110 | |
f80dba8d MT |
111 | Solaris: |
112 | Packages for Solaris are available from OpenCSW. Install their pkgutil | |
113 | tool (http://www.opencsw.org/get-it/pkgutil/) and then install fio via | |
114 | ``pkgutil -i fio``. | |
7409711b | 115 | |
f80dba8d MT |
116 | Windows: |
117 | Rebecca Cran <rebecca+fio@bluestop.org> has fio packages for Windows at | |
118 | http://www.bluestop.org/fio/ . | |
78080867 | 119 | |
f80dba8d MT |
120 | BSDs: |
121 | Packages for BSDs may be available from their binary package repositories. | |
122 | Look for a package "fio" using their binary package managers. | |
53adf64f | 123 | |
ebac4655 | 124 | |
f80dba8d | 125 | Building |
79809113 JA |
126 | -------- |
127 | ||
f80dba8d | 128 | Just type:: |
bebe6398 | 129 | |
f80dba8d MT |
130 | $ ./configure |
131 | $ make | |
132 | $ make install | |
bebe6398 | 133 | |
f80dba8d MT |
134 | Note that GNU make is required. On BSDs it's available from devel/gmake within |
135 | ports directory; on Solaris it's in the SUNWgmake package. On platforms where | |
136 | GNU make isn't the default, type ``gmake`` instead of ``make``. | |
811826be | 137 | |
f80dba8d MT |
138 | Configure will print the enabled options. Note that on Linux based platforms, |
139 | the libaio development packages must be installed to use the libaio | |
140 | engine. Depending on distro, it is usually called libaio-devel or libaio-dev. | |
811826be | 141 | |
f80dba8d MT |
142 | For gfio, gtk 2.18 (or newer), associated glib threads, and cairo are required |
143 | to be installed. gfio isn't built automatically and can be enabled with a | |
144 | ``--enable-gfio`` option to configure. | |
bebe6398 | 145 | |
f80dba8d | 146 | To build fio with a cross-compiler:: |
bebe6398 | 147 | |
f80dba8d MT |
148 | $ make clean |
149 | $ make CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/toolchain/prefix | |
bebe6398 | 150 | |
f80dba8d | 151 | Configure will attempt to determine the target platform automatically. |
bebe6398 | 152 | |
f80dba8d MT |
153 | It's possible to build fio for ESX as well, use the ``--esx`` switch to |
154 | configure. | |
4649b352 | 155 | |
bebe6398 | 156 | |
f80dba8d MT |
157 | Windows |
158 | ~~~~~~~ | |
323255cc | 159 | |
f80dba8d MT |
160 | On Windows, Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/) is required in order to build |
161 | fio. To create an MSI installer package install WiX 3.8 from | |
162 | http://wixtoolset.org and run :file:`dobuild.cmd` from the :file:`os/windows` | |
163 | directory. | |
323255cc | 164 | |
f80dba8d | 165 | How to compile fio on 64-bit Windows: |
323255cc | 166 | |
f80dba8d MT |
167 | 1. Install Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/). Install **make** and all |
168 | packages starting with **mingw64-i686** and **mingw64-x86_64**. | |
169 | 2. Open the Cygwin Terminal. | |
170 | 3. Go to the fio directory (source files). | |
171 | 4. Run ``make clean && make -j``. | |
39b5f61e | 172 | |
f80dba8d MT |
173 | To build fio on 32-bit Windows, run ``./configure --build-32bit-win`` before |
174 | ``make``. | |
39b5f61e | 175 | |
f80dba8d MT |
176 | It's recommended that once built or installed, fio be run in a Command Prompt or |
177 | other 'native' console such as console2, since there are known to be display and | |
178 | signal issues when running it under a Cygwin shell (see | |
179 | http://code.google.com/p/mintty/issues/detail?id=56 for details). | |
39b5f61e | 180 | |
39b5f61e | 181 | |
f80dba8d MT |
182 | Documentation |
183 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
39b5f61e | 184 | |
f80dba8d MT |
185 | Fio uses Sphinx_ to generate documentation from the reStructuredText_ files. |
186 | To build HTML formatted documentation run ``make -C doc html`` and direct your | |
187 | browser to :file:`./doc/output/html/index.html`. To build manual page run | |
188 | ``make -C doc man`` and then ``man doc/output/man/fio.1``. To see what other | |
189 | output formats are supported run ``make -C doc help``. | |
39b5f61e | 190 | |
f80dba8d MT |
191 | .. _reStructuredText: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/rest.html |
192 | .. _Sphinx: http://www.sphinx-doc.org | |
39b5f61e | 193 | |
bebe6398 | 194 | |
217bc04b JA |
195 | Platforms |
196 | --------- | |
197 | ||
1b8c5af7 | 198 | Fio works on (at least) Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, OSX, NetBSD, OpenBSD, |
2af5bd99 | 199 | Windows, FreeBSD, and DragonFly. Some features and/or options may only be |
f80dba8d MT |
200 | available on some of the platforms, typically because those features only apply |
201 | to that platform (like the solarisaio engine, or the splice engine on Linux). | |
217bc04b JA |
202 | |
203 | Some features are not available on FreeBSD/Solaris even if they could be | |
f80dba8d MT |
204 | implemented, I'd be happy to take patches for that. An example of that is disk |
205 | utility statistics and (I think) huge page support, support for that does exist | |
206 | in FreeBSD/Solaris. | |
217bc04b | 207 | |
06eac6b2 SW |
208 | Fio uses pthread mutexes for signalling and locking and some platforms do not |
209 | support process shared pthread mutexes. As a result, on such platforms only | |
210 | threads are supported. This could be fixed with sysv ipc locking or other | |
211 | locking alternatives. | |
217bc04b | 212 | |
f80dba8d MT |
213 | Other \*BSD platforms are untested, but fio should work there almost out of the |
214 | box. Since I don't do test runs or even compiles on those platforms, your | |
215 | mileage may vary. Sending me patches for other platforms is greatly | |
217bc04b JA |
216 | appreciated. There's a lot of value in having the same test/benchmark tool |
217 | available on all platforms. | |
218 | ||
f80dba8d | 219 | Note that POSIX aio is not enabled by default on AIX. Messages like these:: |
bf2e821a CC |
220 | |
221 | Symbol resolution failed for /usr/lib/libc.a(posix_aio.o) because: | |
222 | Symbol _posix_kaio_rdwr (number 2) is not exported from dependent module /unix. | |
223 | ||
f80dba8d | 224 | indicate one needs to enable POSIX aio. Run the following commands as root:: |
bf2e821a CC |
225 | |
226 | # lsdev -C -l posix_aio0 | |
227 | posix_aio0 Defined Posix Asynchronous I/O | |
228 | # cfgmgr -l posix_aio0 | |
229 | # lsdev -C -l posix_aio0 | |
230 | posix_aio0 Available Posix Asynchronous I/O | |
231 | ||
f80dba8d | 232 | POSIX aio should work now. To make the change permanent:: |
bf2e821a CC |
233 | |
234 | # chdev -l posix_aio0 -P -a autoconfig='available' | |
235 | posix_aio0 changed | |
217bc04b JA |
236 | |
237 | ||
f80dba8d MT |
238 | Running fio |
239 | ----------- | |
79809113 | 240 | |
f80dba8d MT |
241 | Running fio is normally the easiest part - you just give it the job file |
242 | (or job files) as parameters:: | |
79809113 | 243 | |
f80dba8d MT |
244 | $ fio [options] [jobfile] ... |
245 | ||
246 | and it will start doing what the *jobfile* tells it to do. You can give more | |
247 | than one job file on the command line, fio will serialize the running of those | |
248 | files. Internally that is the same as using the :option:`stonewall` parameter | |
249 | described in the parameter section. | |
250 | ||
251 | If the job file contains only one job, you may as well just give the parameters | |
252 | on the command line. The command line parameters are identical to the job | |
253 | parameters, with a few extra that control global parameters. For example, for | |
254 | the job file parameter :option:`iodepth=2 <iodepth>`, the mirror command line | |
255 | option would be :option:`--iodepth 2 <iodepth>` or :option:`--iodepth=2 | |
256 | <iodepth>`. You can also use the command line for giving more than one job | |
257 | entry. For each :option:`--name <name>` option that fio sees, it will start a | |
258 | new job with that name. Command line entries following a | |
259 | :option:`--name <name>` entry will apply to that job, until there are no more | |
260 | entries or a new :option:`--name <name>` entry is seen. This is similar to the | |
261 | job file options, where each option applies to the current job until a new [] | |
262 | job entry is seen. | |
263 | ||
264 | fio does not need to run as root, except if the files or devices specified in | |
265 | the job section requires that. Some other options may also be restricted, such | |
266 | as memory locking, I/O scheduler switching, and decreasing the nice value. | |
79809113 | 267 | |
f80dba8d MT |
268 | If *jobfile* is specified as ``-``, the job file will be read from standard |
269 | input. |