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1.TH fio 1 "September 2007" "User Manual"
2.SH NAME
3fio \- flexible I/O tester
4.SH SYNOPSIS
5.B fio
6[\fIoptions\fR] [\fIjobfile\fR]...
7.SH DESCRIPTION
8.B fio
9is a tool that will spawn a number of threads or processes doing a
10particular type of I/O action as specified by the user.
11The typical use of fio is to write a job file matching the I/O load
12one wants to simulate.
13.SH OPTIONS
14.TP
15.BI \-\-debug \fR=\fPtype
16Enable verbose tracing of various fio actions. May be `all' for all types
17or individual types separated by a comma (eg \-\-debug=io,file). `help' will
18list all available tracing options.
19.TP
20.BI \-\-output \fR=\fPfilename
21Write output to \fIfilename\fR.
22.TP
23.BI \-\-runtime \fR=\fPruntime
24Limit run time to \fIruntime\fR seconds.
25.TP
26.B \-\-latency\-log
27Generate per-job latency logs.
28.TP
29.B \-\-bandwidth\-log
30Generate per-job bandwidth logs.
31.TP
32.B \-\-minimal
33Print statistics in a terse, semicolon-delimited format.
34.TP
35.B \-\-version
36Display version information and exit.
37.TP
38.BI \-\-terse\-version \fR=\fPversion
39Set terse version output format (Current version 3, or older version 2).
40.TP
41.B \-\-help
42Display usage information and exit.
43.TP
44.BI \-\-cmdhelp \fR=\fPcommand
45Print help information for \fIcommand\fR. May be `all' for all commands.
46.TP
47.BI \-\-enghelp \fR=\fPioengine[,command]
48List all commands defined by \fIioengine\fR, or print help for \fIcommand\fR defined by \fIioengine\fR.
49.TP
50.BI \-\-showcmd \fR=\fPjobfile
51Convert \fIjobfile\fR to a set of command-line options.
52.TP
53.BI \-\-eta \fR=\fPwhen
54Specifies when real-time ETA estimate should be printed. \fIwhen\fR may
55be one of `always', `never' or `auto'.
56.TP
57.BI \-\-eta\-newline \fR=\fPtime
58Force an ETA newline for every `time` period passed.
59.TP
60.BI \-\-status\-interval \fR=\fPtime
61Report full output status every `time` period passed.
62.TP
63.BI \-\-readonly
64Turn on safety read-only checks, preventing any attempted write.
65.TP
66.BI \-\-section \fR=\fPsec
67Only run section \fIsec\fR from job file. Multiple of these options can be given, adding more sections to run.
68.TP
69.BI \-\-alloc\-size \fR=\fPkb
70Set the internal smalloc pool size to \fIkb\fP kilobytes.
71.TP
72.BI \-\-warnings\-fatal
73All fio parser warnings are fatal, causing fio to exit with an error.
74.TP
75.BI \-\-max\-jobs \fR=\fPnr
76Set the maximum allowed number of jobs (threads/processes) to support.
77.TP
78.BI \-\-server \fR=\fPargs
79Start a backend server, with \fIargs\fP specifying what to listen to. See client/server section.
80.TP
81.BI \-\-daemonize \fR=\fPpidfile
82Background a fio server, writing the pid to the given pid file.
83.TP
84.BI \-\-client \fR=\fPhost
85Instead of running the jobs locally, send and run them on the given host.
86.TP
87.BI \-\-idle\-prof \fR=\fPoption
88Report cpu idleness on a system or percpu basis (\fIoption\fP=system,percpu) or run unit work calibration only (\fIoption\fP=calibrate).
89.SH "JOB FILE FORMAT"
90Job files are in `ini' format. They consist of one or more
91job definitions, which begin with a job name in square brackets and
92extend to the next job name. The job name can be any ASCII string
93except `global', which has a special meaning. Following the job name is
94a sequence of zero or more parameters, one per line, that define the
95behavior of the job. Any line starting with a `;' or `#' character is
96considered a comment and ignored.
97.P
98If \fIjobfile\fR is specified as `-', the job file will be read from
99standard input.
100.SS "Global Section"
101The global section contains default parameters for jobs specified in the
102job file. A job is only affected by global sections residing above it,
103and there may be any number of global sections. Specific job definitions
104may override any parameter set in global sections.
105.SH "JOB PARAMETERS"
106.SS Types
107Some parameters may take arguments of a specific type. The types used are:
108.TP
109.I str
110String: a sequence of alphanumeric characters.
111.TP
112.I int
113SI integer: a whole number, possibly containing a suffix denoting the base unit
114of the value. Accepted suffixes are `k', 'M', 'G', 'T', and 'P', denoting
115kilo (1024), mega (1024^2), giga (1024^3), tera (1024^4), and peta (1024^5)
116respectively. The suffix is not case sensitive. If prefixed with '0x', the
117value is assumed to be base 16 (hexadecimal). A suffix may include a trailing 'b',
118for instance 'kb' is identical to 'k'. You can specify a base 10 value
119by using 'KiB', 'MiB', 'GiB', etc. This is useful for disk drives where
120values are often given in base 10 values. Specifying '30GiB' will get you
12130*1000^3 bytes.
122.TP
123.I bool
124Boolean: a true or false value. `0' denotes false, `1' denotes true.
125.TP
126.I irange
127Integer range: a range of integers specified in the format
128\fIlower\fR:\fIupper\fR or \fIlower\fR\-\fIupper\fR. \fIlower\fR and
129\fIupper\fR may contain a suffix as described above. If an option allows two
130sets of ranges, they are separated with a `,' or `/' character. For example:
131`8\-8k/8M\-4G'.
132.TP
133.I float_list
134List of floating numbers: A list of floating numbers, separated by
135a ':' charcater.
136.SS "Parameter List"
137.TP
138.BI name \fR=\fPstr
139May be used to override the job name. On the command line, this parameter
140has the special purpose of signalling the start of a new job.
141.TP
142.BI description \fR=\fPstr
143Human-readable description of the job. It is printed when the job is run, but
144otherwise has no special purpose.
145.TP
146.BI directory \fR=\fPstr
147Prefix filenames with this directory. Used to place files in a location other
148than `./'.
149.TP
150.BI filename \fR=\fPstr
151.B fio
152normally makes up a file name based on the job name, thread number, and file
153number. If you want to share files between threads in a job or several jobs,
154specify a \fIfilename\fR for each of them to override the default.
155If the I/O engine is file-based, you can specify
156a number of files by separating the names with a `:' character. `\-' is a
157reserved name, meaning stdin or stdout, depending on the read/write direction
158set.
159.TP
160.BI filename_format \fR=\fPstr
161If sharing multiple files between jobs, it is usually necessary to have
162fio generate the exact names that you want. By default, fio will name a file
163based on the default file format specification of
164\fBjobname.jobnumber.filenumber\fP. With this option, that can be
165customized. Fio will recognize and replace the following keywords in this
166string:
167.RS
168.RS
169.TP
170.B $jobname
171The name of the worker thread or process.
172.TP
173.B $jobnum
174The incremental number of the worker thread or process.
175.TP
176.B $filenum
177The incremental number of the file for that worker thread or process.
178.RE
179.P
180To have dependent jobs share a set of files, this option can be set to
181have fio generate filenames that are shared between the two. For instance,
182if \fBtestfiles.$filenum\fR is specified, file number 4 for any job will
183be named \fBtestfiles.4\fR. The default of \fB$jobname.$jobnum.$filenum\fR
184will be used if no other format specifier is given.
185.RE
186.P
187.TP
188.BI lockfile \fR=\fPstr
189Fio defaults to not locking any files before it does IO to them. If a file or
190file descriptor is shared, fio can serialize IO to that file to make the end
191result consistent. This is usual for emulating real workloads that share files.
192The lock modes are:
193.RS
194.RS
195.TP
196.B none
197No locking. This is the default.
198.TP
199.B exclusive
200Only one thread or process may do IO at the time, excluding all others.
201.TP
202.B readwrite
203Read-write locking on the file. Many readers may access the file at the same
204time, but writes get exclusive access.
205.RE
206.RE
207.P
208.BI opendir \fR=\fPstr
209Recursively open any files below directory \fIstr\fR.
210.TP
211.BI readwrite \fR=\fPstr "\fR,\fP rw" \fR=\fPstr
212Type of I/O pattern. Accepted values are:
213.RS
214.RS
215.TP
216.B read
217Sequential reads.
218.TP
219.B write
220Sequential writes.
221.TP
222.B randread
223Random reads.
224.TP
225.B randwrite
226Random writes.
227.TP
228.B rw, readwrite
229Mixed sequential reads and writes.
230.TP
231.B randrw
232Mixed random reads and writes.
233.RE
234.P
235For mixed I/O, the default split is 50/50. For certain types of io the result
236may still be skewed a bit, since the speed may be different. It is possible to
237specify a number of IO's to do before getting a new offset, this is done by
238appending a `:\fI<nr>\fR to the end of the string given. For a random read, it
239would look like \fBrw=randread:8\fR for passing in an offset modifier with a
240value of 8. If the postfix is used with a sequential IO pattern, then the value
241specified will be added to the generated offset for each IO. For instance,
242using \fBrw=write:4k\fR will skip 4k for every write. It turns sequential IO
243into sequential IO with holes. See the \fBrw_sequencer\fR option.
244.RE
245.TP
246.BI rw_sequencer \fR=\fPstr
247If an offset modifier is given by appending a number to the \fBrw=<str>\fR line,
248then this option controls how that number modifies the IO offset being
249generated. Accepted values are:
250.RS
251.RS
252.TP
253.B sequential
254Generate sequential offset
255.TP
256.B identical
257Generate the same offset
258.RE
259.P
260\fBsequential\fR is only useful for random IO, where fio would normally
261generate a new random offset for every IO. If you append eg 8 to randread, you
262would get a new random offset for every 8 IO's. The result would be a seek for
263only every 8 IO's, instead of for every IO. Use \fBrw=randread:8\fR to specify
264that. As sequential IO is already sequential, setting \fBsequential\fR for that
265would not result in any differences. \fBidentical\fR behaves in a similar
266fashion, except it sends the same offset 8 number of times before generating a
267new offset.
268.RE
269.P
270.TP
271.BI kb_base \fR=\fPint
272The base unit for a kilobyte. The defacto base is 2^10, 1024. Storage
273manufacturers like to use 10^3 or 1000 as a base ten unit instead, for obvious
274reasons. Allowed values are 1024 or 1000, with 1024 being the default.
275.TP
276.BI unified_rw_reporting \fR=\fPbool
277Fio normally reports statistics on a per data direction basis, meaning that
278read, write, and trim are accounted and reported separately. If this option is
279set, the fio will sum the results and report them as "mixed" instead.
280.TP
281.BI randrepeat \fR=\fPbool
282Seed the random number generator in a predictable way so results are repeatable
283across runs. Default: true.
284.TP
285.BI use_os_rand \fR=\fPbool
286Fio can either use the random generator supplied by the OS to generator random
287offsets, or it can use it's own internal generator (based on Tausworthe).
288Default is to use the internal generator, which is often of better quality and
289faster. Default: false.
290.TP
291.BI fallocate \fR=\fPstr
292Whether pre-allocation is performed when laying down files. Accepted values
293are:
294.RS
295.RS
296.TP
297.B none
298Do not pre-allocate space.
299.TP
300.B posix
301Pre-allocate via posix_fallocate().
302.TP
303.B keep
304Pre-allocate via fallocate() with FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE set.
305.TP
306.B 0
307Backward-compatible alias for 'none'.
308.TP
309.B 1
310Backward-compatible alias for 'posix'.
311.RE
312.P
313May not be available on all supported platforms. 'keep' is only
314available on Linux. If using ZFS on Solaris this must be set to 'none'
315because ZFS doesn't support it. Default: 'posix'.
316.RE
317.TP
318.BI fadvise_hint \fR=\fPbool
319Use of \fIposix_fadvise\fR\|(2) to advise the kernel what I/O patterns
320are likely to be issued. Default: true.
321.TP
322.BI size \fR=\fPint
323Total size of I/O for this job. \fBfio\fR will run until this many bytes have
324been transferred, unless limited by other options (\fBruntime\fR, for instance).
325Unless \fBnrfiles\fR and \fBfilesize\fR options are given, this amount will be
326divided between the available files for the job. If not set, fio will use the
327full size of the given files or devices. If the the files do not exist, size
328must be given. It is also possible to give size as a percentage between 1 and
329100. If size=20% is given, fio will use 20% of the full size of the given files
330or devices.
331.TP
332.BI fill_device \fR=\fPbool "\fR,\fB fill_fs" \fR=\fPbool
333Sets size to something really large and waits for ENOSPC (no space left on
334device) as the terminating condition. Only makes sense with sequential write.
335For a read workload, the mount point will be filled first then IO started on
336the result. This option doesn't make sense if operating on a raw device node,
337since the size of that is already known by the file system. Additionally,
338writing beyond end-of-device will not return ENOSPC there.
339.TP
340.BI filesize \fR=\fPirange
341Individual file sizes. May be a range, in which case \fBfio\fR will select sizes
342for files at random within the given range, limited to \fBsize\fR in total (if
343that is given). If \fBfilesize\fR is not specified, each created file is the
344same size.
345.TP
346.BI blocksize \fR=\fPint[,int] "\fR,\fB bs" \fR=\fPint[,int]
347Block size for I/O units. Default: 4k. Values for reads, writes, and trims
348can be specified separately in the format \fIread\fR,\fIwrite\fR,\fItrim\fR
349either of which may be empty to leave that value at its default. If a trailing
350comma isn't given, the remainder will inherit the last value set.
351.TP
352.BI blocksize_range \fR=\fPirange[,irange] "\fR,\fB bsrange" \fR=\fPirange[,irange]
353Specify a range of I/O block sizes. The issued I/O unit will always be a
354multiple of the minimum size, unless \fBblocksize_unaligned\fR is set. Applies
355to both reads and writes if only one range is given, but can be specified
356separately with a comma separating the values. Example: bsrange=1k-4k,2k-8k.
357Also (see \fBblocksize\fR).
358.TP
359.BI bssplit \fR=\fPstr
360This option allows even finer grained control of the block sizes issued,
361not just even splits between them. With this option, you can weight various
362block sizes for exact control of the issued IO for a job that has mixed
363block sizes. The format of the option is bssplit=blocksize/percentage,
364optionally adding as many definitions as needed separated by a colon.
365Example: bssplit=4k/10:64k/50:32k/40 would issue 50% 64k blocks, 10% 4k
366blocks and 40% 32k blocks. \fBbssplit\fR also supports giving separate
367splits to reads and writes. The format is identical to what the
368\fBbs\fR option accepts, the read and write parts are separated with a
369comma.
370.TP
371.B blocksize_unaligned\fR,\fP bs_unaligned
372If set, any size in \fBblocksize_range\fR may be used. This typically won't
373work with direct I/O, as that normally requires sector alignment.
374.TP
375.BI blockalign \fR=\fPint[,int] "\fR,\fB ba" \fR=\fPint[,int]
376At what boundary to align random IO offsets. Defaults to the same as 'blocksize'
377the minimum blocksize given. Minimum alignment is typically 512b
378for using direct IO, though it usually depends on the hardware block size.
379This option is mutually exclusive with using a random map for files, so it
380will turn off that option.
381.TP
382.BI bs_is_seq_rand \fR=\fPbool
383If this option is set, fio will use the normal read,write blocksize settings as
384sequential,random instead. Any random read or write will use the WRITE
385blocksize settings, and any sequential read or write will use the READ
386blocksize setting.
387.TP
388.B zero_buffers
389Initialise buffers with all zeros. Default: fill buffers with random data.
390.TP
391.B refill_buffers
392If this option is given, fio will refill the IO buffers on every submit. The
393default is to only fill it at init time and reuse that data. Only makes sense
394if zero_buffers isn't specified, naturally. If data verification is enabled,
395refill_buffers is also automatically enabled.
396.TP
397.BI scramble_buffers \fR=\fPbool
398If \fBrefill_buffers\fR is too costly and the target is using data
399deduplication, then setting this option will slightly modify the IO buffer
400contents to defeat normal de-dupe attempts. This is not enough to defeat
401more clever block compression attempts, but it will stop naive dedupe
402of blocks. Default: true.
403.TP
404.BI buffer_compress_percentage \fR=\fPint
405If this is set, then fio will attempt to provide IO buffer content (on WRITEs)
406that compress to the specified level. Fio does this by providing a mix of
407random data and zeroes. Note that this is per block size unit, for file/disk
408wide compression level that matches this setting, you'll also want to set
409\fBrefill_buffers\fR.
410.TP
411.BI buffer_compress_chunk \fR=\fPint
412See \fBbuffer_compress_percentage\fR. This setting allows fio to manage how
413big the ranges of random data and zeroed data is. Without this set, fio will
414provide \fBbuffer_compress_percentage\fR of blocksize random data, followed by
415the remaining zeroed. With this set to some chunk size smaller than the block
416size, fio can alternate random and zeroed data throughout the IO buffer.
417.TP
418.BI nrfiles \fR=\fPint
419Number of files to use for this job. Default: 1.
420.TP
421.BI openfiles \fR=\fPint
422Number of files to keep open at the same time. Default: \fBnrfiles\fR.
423.TP
424.BI file_service_type \fR=\fPstr
425Defines how files to service are selected. The following types are defined:
426.RS
427.RS
428.TP
429.B random
430Choose a file at random.
431.TP
432.B roundrobin
433Round robin over open files (default).
434.TP
435.B sequential
436Do each file in the set sequentially.
437.RE
438.P
439The number of I/Os to issue before switching a new file can be specified by
440appending `:\fIint\fR' to the service type.
441.RE
442.TP
443.BI ioengine \fR=\fPstr
444Defines how the job issues I/O. The following types are defined:
445.RS
446.RS
447.TP
448.B sync
449Basic \fIread\fR\|(2) or \fIwrite\fR\|(2) I/O. \fIfseek\fR\|(2) is used to
450position the I/O location.
451.TP
452.B psync
453Basic \fIpread\fR\|(2) or \fIpwrite\fR\|(2) I/O.
454.TP
455.B vsync
456Basic \fIreadv\fR\|(2) or \fIwritev\fR\|(2) I/O. Will emulate queuing by
457coalescing adjacents IOs into a single submission.
458.TP
459.B pvsync
460Basic \fIpreadv\fR\|(2) or \fIpwritev\fR\|(2) I/O.
461.TP
462.B libaio
463Linux native asynchronous I/O. This ioengine defines engine specific options.
464.TP
465.B posixaio
466POSIX asynchronous I/O using \fIaio_read\fR\|(3) and \fIaio_write\fR\|(3).
467.TP
468.B solarisaio
469Solaris native asynchronous I/O.
470.TP
471.B windowsaio
472Windows native asynchronous I/O.
473.TP
474.B mmap
475File is memory mapped with \fImmap\fR\|(2) and data copied using
476\fImemcpy\fR\|(3).
477.TP
478.B splice
479\fIsplice\fR\|(2) is used to transfer the data and \fIvmsplice\fR\|(2) to
480transfer data from user-space to the kernel.
481.TP
482.B syslet-rw
483Use the syslet system calls to make regular read/write asynchronous.
484.TP
485.B sg
486SCSI generic sg v3 I/O. May be either synchronous using the SG_IO ioctl, or if
487the target is an sg character device, we use \fIread\fR\|(2) and
488\fIwrite\fR\|(2) for asynchronous I/O.
489.TP
490.B null
491Doesn't transfer any data, just pretends to. Mainly used to exercise \fBfio\fR
492itself and for debugging and testing purposes.
493.TP
494.B net
495Transfer over the network. The protocol to be used can be defined with the
496\fBprotocol\fR parameter. Depending on the protocol, \fBfilename\fR,
497\fBhostname\fR, \fBport\fR, or \fBlisten\fR must be specified.
498This ioengine defines engine specific options.
499.TP
500.B netsplice
501Like \fBnet\fR, but uses \fIsplice\fR\|(2) and \fIvmsplice\fR\|(2) to map data
502and send/receive. This ioengine defines engine specific options.
503.TP
504.B cpuio
505Doesn't transfer any data, but burns CPU cycles according to \fBcpuload\fR and
506\fBcpucycles\fR parameters.
507.TP
508.B guasi
509The GUASI I/O engine is the Generic Userspace Asynchronous Syscall Interface
510approach to asycnronous I/O.
511.br
512See <http://www.xmailserver.org/guasi\-lib.html>.
513.TP
514.B rdma
515The RDMA I/O engine supports both RDMA memory semantics (RDMA_WRITE/RDMA_READ)
516and channel semantics (Send/Recv) for the InfiniBand, RoCE and iWARP protocols.
517.TP
518.B external
519Loads an external I/O engine object file. Append the engine filename as
520`:\fIenginepath\fR'.
521.TP
522.B falloc
523 IO engine that does regular linux native fallocate callt to simulate data
524transfer as fio ioengine
525.br
526 DDIR_READ does fallocate(,mode = FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE,)
527.br
528 DIR_WRITE does fallocate(,mode = 0)
529.br
530 DDIR_TRIM does fallocate(,mode = FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE|FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE)
531.TP
532.B e4defrag
533IO engine that does regular EXT4_IOC_MOVE_EXT ioctls to simulate defragment activity
534request to DDIR_WRITE event
535.RE
536.P
537.RE
538.TP
539.BI iodepth \fR=\fPint
540Number of I/O units to keep in flight against the file. Note that increasing
541iodepth beyond 1 will not affect synchronous ioengines (except for small
542degress when verify_async is in use). Even async engines my impose OS
543restrictions causing the desired depth not to be achieved. This may happen on
544Linux when using libaio and not setting \fBdirect\fR=1, since buffered IO is
545not async on that OS. Keep an eye on the IO depth distribution in the
546fio output to verify that the achieved depth is as expected. Default: 1.
547.TP
548.BI iodepth_batch \fR=\fPint
549Number of I/Os to submit at once. Default: \fBiodepth\fR.
550.TP
551.BI iodepth_batch_complete \fR=\fPint
552This defines how many pieces of IO to retrieve at once. It defaults to 1 which
553 means that we'll ask for a minimum of 1 IO in the retrieval process from the
554kernel. The IO retrieval will go on until we hit the limit set by
555\fBiodepth_low\fR. If this variable is set to 0, then fio will always check for
556completed events before queuing more IO. This helps reduce IO latency, at the
557cost of more retrieval system calls.
558.TP
559.BI iodepth_low \fR=\fPint
560Low watermark indicating when to start filling the queue again. Default:
561\fBiodepth\fR.
562.TP
563.BI direct \fR=\fPbool
564If true, use non-buffered I/O (usually O_DIRECT). Default: false.
565.TP
566.BI buffered \fR=\fPbool
567If true, use buffered I/O. This is the opposite of the \fBdirect\fR parameter.
568Default: true.
569.TP
570.BI offset \fR=\fPint
571Offset in the file to start I/O. Data before the offset will not be touched.
572.TP
573.BI offset_increment \fR=\fPint
574If this is provided, then the real offset becomes the
575offset + offset_increment * thread_number, where the thread number is a counter
576that starts at 0 and is incremented for each job. This option is useful if
577there are several jobs which are intended to operate on a file in parallel in
578disjoint segments, with even spacing between the starting points.
579.TP
580.BI number_ios \fR=\fPint
581Fio will normally perform IOs until it has exhausted the size of the region
582set by \fBsize\fR, or if it exhaust the allocated time (or hits an error
583condition). With this setting, the range/size can be set independently of
584the number of IOs to perform. When fio reaches this number, it will exit
585normally and report status.
586.TP
587.BI fsync \fR=\fPint
588How many I/Os to perform before issuing an \fBfsync\fR\|(2) of dirty data. If
5890, don't sync. Default: 0.
590.TP
591.BI fdatasync \fR=\fPint
592Like \fBfsync\fR, but uses \fBfdatasync\fR\|(2) instead to only sync the
593data parts of the file. Default: 0.
594.TP
595.BI sync_file_range \fR=\fPstr:int
596Use sync_file_range() for every \fRval\fP number of write operations. Fio will
597track range of writes that have happened since the last sync_file_range() call.
598\fRstr\fP can currently be one or more of:
599.RS
600.TP
601.B wait_before
602SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WAIT_BEFORE
603.TP
604.B write
605SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WRITE
606.TP
607.B wait_after
608SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WRITE
609.TP
610.RE
611.P
612So if you do sync_file_range=wait_before,write:8, fio would use
613\fBSYNC_FILE_RANGE_WAIT_BEFORE | SYNC_FILE_RANGE_WRITE\fP for every 8 writes.
614Also see the sync_file_range(2) man page. This option is Linux specific.
615.TP
616.BI overwrite \fR=\fPbool
617If writing, setup the file first and do overwrites. Default: false.
618.TP
619.BI end_fsync \fR=\fPbool
620Sync file contents when a write stage has completed. Default: false.
621.TP
622.BI fsync_on_close \fR=\fPbool
623If true, sync file contents on close. This differs from \fBend_fsync\fR in that
624it will happen on every close, not just at the end of the job. Default: false.
625.TP
626.BI rwmixread \fR=\fPint
627Percentage of a mixed workload that should be reads. Default: 50.
628.TP
629.BI rwmixwrite \fR=\fPint
630Percentage of a mixed workload that should be writes. If \fBrwmixread\fR and
631\fBrwmixwrite\fR are given and do not sum to 100%, the latter of the two
632overrides the first. This may interfere with a given rate setting, if fio is
633asked to limit reads or writes to a certain rate. If that is the case, then
634the distribution may be skewed. Default: 50.
635.TP
636.BI random_distribution \fR=\fPstr:float
637By default, fio will use a completely uniform random distribution when asked
638to perform random IO. Sometimes it is useful to skew the distribution in
639specific ways, ensuring that some parts of the data is more hot than others.
640Fio includes the following distribution models:
641.RS
642.TP
643.B random
644Uniform random distribution
645.TP
646.B zipf
647Zipf distribution
648.TP
649.B pareto
650Pareto distribution
651.TP
652.RE
653.P
654When using a zipf or pareto distribution, an input value is also needed to
655define the access pattern. For zipf, this is the zipf theta. For pareto,
656it's the pareto power. Fio includes a test program, genzipf, that can be
657used visualize what the given input values will yield in terms of hit rates.
658If you wanted to use zipf with a theta of 1.2, you would use
659random_distribution=zipf:1.2 as the option. If a non-uniform model is used,
660fio will disable use of the random map.
661.TP
662.BI percentage_random \fR=\fPint
663For a random workload, set how big a percentage should be random. This defaults
664to 100%, in which case the workload is fully random. It can be set from
665anywhere from 0 to 100. Setting it to 0 would make the workload fully
666sequential. It is possible to set different values for reads, writes, and
667trim. To do so, simply use a comma separated list. See \fBblocksize\fR.
668.TP
669.B norandommap
670Normally \fBfio\fR will cover every block of the file when doing random I/O. If
671this parameter is given, a new offset will be chosen without looking at past
672I/O history. This parameter is mutually exclusive with \fBverify\fR.
673.TP
674.BI softrandommap \fR=\fPbool
675See \fBnorandommap\fR. If fio runs with the random block map enabled and it
676fails to allocate the map, if this option is set it will continue without a
677random block map. As coverage will not be as complete as with random maps, this
678option is disabled by default.
679.TP
680.BI random_generator \fR=\fPstr
681Fio supports the following engines for generating IO offsets for random IO:
682.RS
683.TP
684.B tausworthe
685Strong 2^88 cycle random number generator
686.TP
687.B lfsr
688Linear feedback shift register generator
689.TP
690.RE
691.P
692Tausworthe is a strong random number generator, but it requires tracking on the
693side if we want to ensure that blocks are only read or written once. LFSR
694guarantees that we never generate the same offset twice, and it's also less
695computationally expensive. It's not a true random generator, however, though
696for IO purposes it's typically good enough. LFSR only works with single block
697sizes, not with workloads that use multiple block sizes. If used with such a
698workload, fio may read or write some blocks multiple times.
699.TP
700.BI nice \fR=\fPint
701Run job with given nice value. See \fInice\fR\|(2).
702.TP
703.BI prio \fR=\fPint
704Set I/O priority value of this job between 0 (highest) and 7 (lowest). See
705\fIionice\fR\|(1).
706.TP
707.BI prioclass \fR=\fPint
708Set I/O priority class. See \fIionice\fR\|(1).
709.TP
710.BI thinktime \fR=\fPint
711Stall job for given number of microseconds between issuing I/Os.
712.TP
713.BI thinktime_spin \fR=\fPint
714Pretend to spend CPU time for given number of microseconds, sleeping the rest
715of the time specified by \fBthinktime\fR. Only valid if \fBthinktime\fR is set.
716.TP
717.BI thinktime_blocks \fR=\fPint
718Only valid if thinktime is set - control how many blocks to issue, before
719waiting \fBthinktime\fR microseconds. If not set, defaults to 1 which will
720make fio wait \fBthinktime\fR microseconds after every block. This
721effectively makes any queue depth setting redundant, since no more than 1 IO
722will be queued before we have to complete it and do our thinktime. In other
723words, this setting effectively caps the queue depth if the latter is larger.
724Default: 1.
725.TP
726.BI rate \fR=\fPint
727Cap bandwidth used by this job. The number is in bytes/sec, the normal postfix
728rules apply. You can use \fBrate\fR=500k to limit reads and writes to 500k each,
729or you can specify read and writes separately. Using \fBrate\fR=1m,500k would
730limit reads to 1MB/sec and writes to 500KB/sec. Capping only reads or writes
731can be done with \fBrate\fR=,500k or \fBrate\fR=500k,. The former will only
732limit writes (to 500KB/sec), the latter will only limit reads.
733.TP
734.BI ratemin \fR=\fPint
735Tell \fBfio\fR to do whatever it can to maintain at least the given bandwidth.
736Failing to meet this requirement will cause the job to exit. The same format
737as \fBrate\fR is used for read vs write separation.
738.TP
739.BI rate_iops \fR=\fPint
740Cap the bandwidth to this number of IOPS. Basically the same as rate, just
741specified independently of bandwidth. The same format as \fBrate\fR is used for
742read vs write separation. If \fBblocksize\fR is a range, the smallest block
743size is used as the metric.
744.TP
745.BI rate_iops_min \fR=\fPint
746If this rate of I/O is not met, the job will exit. The same format as \fBrate\fR
747is used for read vs write separation.
748.TP
749.BI ratecycle \fR=\fPint
750Average bandwidth for \fBrate\fR and \fBratemin\fR over this number of
751milliseconds. Default: 1000ms.
752.TP
753.BI max_latency \fR=\fPint
754If set, fio will exit the job if it exceeds this maximum latency. It will exit
755with an ETIME error.
756.TP
757.BI cpumask \fR=\fPint
758Set CPU affinity for this job. \fIint\fR is a bitmask of allowed CPUs the job
759may run on. See \fBsched_setaffinity\fR\|(2).
760.TP
761.BI cpus_allowed \fR=\fPstr
762Same as \fBcpumask\fR, but allows a comma-delimited list of CPU numbers.
763.TP
764.BI numa_cpu_nodes \fR=\fPstr
765Set this job running on spcified NUMA nodes' CPUs. The arguments allow
766comma delimited list of cpu numbers, A-B ranges, or 'all'.
767.TP
768.BI numa_mem_policy \fR=\fPstr
769Set this job's memory policy and corresponding NUMA nodes. Format of
770the argements:
771.RS
772.TP
773.B <mode>[:<nodelist>]
774.TP
775.B mode
776is one of the following memory policy:
777.TP
778.B default, prefer, bind, interleave, local
779.TP
780.RE
781For \fBdefault\fR and \fBlocal\fR memory policy, no \fBnodelist\fR is
782needed to be specified. For \fBprefer\fR, only one node is
783allowed. For \fBbind\fR and \fBinterleave\fR, \fBnodelist\fR allows
784comma delimited list of numbers, A-B ranges, or 'all'.
785.TP
786.BI startdelay \fR=\fPint
787Delay start of job for the specified number of seconds.
788.TP
789.BI runtime \fR=\fPint
790Terminate processing after the specified number of seconds.
791.TP
792.B time_based
793If given, run for the specified \fBruntime\fR duration even if the files are
794completely read or written. The same workload will be repeated as many times
795as \fBruntime\fR allows.
796.TP
797.BI ramp_time \fR=\fPint
798If set, fio will run the specified workload for this amount of time before
799logging any performance numbers. Useful for letting performance settle before
800logging results, thus minimizing the runtime required for stable results. Note
801that the \fBramp_time\fR is considered lead in time for a job, thus it will
802increase the total runtime if a special timeout or runtime is specified.
803.TP
804.BI invalidate \fR=\fPbool
805Invalidate buffer-cache for the file prior to starting I/O. Default: true.
806.TP
807.BI sync \fR=\fPbool
808Use synchronous I/O for buffered writes. For the majority of I/O engines,
809this means using O_SYNC. Default: false.
810.TP
811.BI iomem \fR=\fPstr "\fR,\fP mem" \fR=\fPstr
812Allocation method for I/O unit buffer. Allowed values are:
813.RS
814.RS
815.TP
816.B malloc
817Allocate memory with \fImalloc\fR\|(3).
818.TP
819.B shm
820Use shared memory buffers allocated through \fIshmget\fR\|(2).
821.TP
822.B shmhuge
823Same as \fBshm\fR, but use huge pages as backing.
824.TP
825.B mmap
826Use \fImmap\fR\|(2) for allocation. Uses anonymous memory unless a filename
827is given after the option in the format `:\fIfile\fR'.
828.TP
829.B mmaphuge
830Same as \fBmmap\fR, but use huge files as backing.
831.RE
832.P
833The amount of memory allocated is the maximum allowed \fBblocksize\fR for the
834job multiplied by \fBiodepth\fR. For \fBshmhuge\fR or \fBmmaphuge\fR to work,
835the system must have free huge pages allocated. \fBmmaphuge\fR also needs to
836have hugetlbfs mounted, and \fIfile\fR must point there. At least on Linux,
837huge pages must be manually allocated. See \fB/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugehages\fR
838and the documentation for that. Normally you just need to echo an appropriate
839number, eg echoing 8 will ensure that the OS has 8 huge pages ready for
840use.
841.RE
842.TP
843.BI iomem_align \fR=\fPint "\fR,\fP mem_align" \fR=\fPint
844This indiciates the memory alignment of the IO memory buffers. Note that the
845given alignment is applied to the first IO unit buffer, if using \fBiodepth\fR
846the alignment of the following buffers are given by the \fBbs\fR used. In
847other words, if using a \fBbs\fR that is a multiple of the page sized in the
848system, all buffers will be aligned to this value. If using a \fBbs\fR that
849is not page aligned, the alignment of subsequent IO memory buffers is the
850sum of the \fBiomem_align\fR and \fBbs\fR used.
851.TP
852.BI hugepage\-size \fR=\fPint
853Defines the size of a huge page. Must be at least equal to the system setting.
854Should be a multiple of 1MB. Default: 4MB.
855.TP
856.B exitall
857Terminate all jobs when one finishes. Default: wait for each job to finish.
858.TP
859.BI bwavgtime \fR=\fPint
860Average bandwidth calculations over the given time in milliseconds. Default:
861500ms.
862.TP
863.BI iopsavgtime \fR=\fPint
864Average IOPS calculations over the given time in milliseconds. Default:
865500ms.
866.TP
867.BI create_serialize \fR=\fPbool
868If true, serialize file creation for the jobs. Default: true.
869.TP
870.BI create_fsync \fR=\fPbool
871\fIfsync\fR\|(2) data file after creation. Default: true.
872.TP
873.BI create_on_open \fR=\fPbool
874If true, the files are not created until they are opened for IO by the job.
875.TP
876.BI create_only \fR=\fPbool
877If true, fio will only run the setup phase of the job. If files need to be
878laid out or updated on disk, only that will be done. The actual job contents
879are not executed.
880.TP
881.BI pre_read \fR=\fPbool
882If this is given, files will be pre-read into memory before starting the given
883IO operation. This will also clear the \fR \fBinvalidate\fR flag, since it is
884pointless to pre-read and then drop the cache. This will only work for IO
885engines that are seekable, since they allow you to read the same data
886multiple times. Thus it will not work on eg network or splice IO.
887.TP
888.BI unlink \fR=\fPbool
889Unlink job files when done. Default: false.
890.TP
891.BI loops \fR=\fPint
892Specifies the number of iterations (runs of the same workload) of this job.
893Default: 1.
894.TP
895.BI do_verify \fR=\fPbool
896Run the verify phase after a write phase. Only valid if \fBverify\fR is set.
897Default: true.
898.TP
899.BI verify \fR=\fPstr
900Method of verifying file contents after each iteration of the job. Allowed
901values are:
902.RS
903.RS
904.TP
905.B md5 crc16 crc32 crc32c crc32c-intel crc64 crc7 sha256 sha512 sha1
906Store appropriate checksum in the header of each block. crc32c-intel is
907hardware accelerated SSE4.2 driven, falls back to regular crc32c if
908not supported by the system.
909.TP
910.B meta
911Write extra information about each I/O (timestamp, block number, etc.). The
912block number is verified. See \fBverify_pattern\fR as well.
913.TP
914.B null
915Pretend to verify. Used for testing internals.
916.RE
917
918This option can be used for repeated burn-in tests of a system to make sure
919that the written data is also correctly read back. If the data direction given
920is a read or random read, fio will assume that it should verify a previously
921written file. If the data direction includes any form of write, the verify will
922be of the newly written data.
923.RE
924.TP
925.BI verifysort \fR=\fPbool
926If true, written verify blocks are sorted if \fBfio\fR deems it to be faster to
927read them back in a sorted manner. Default: true.
928.TP
929.BI verify_offset \fR=\fPint
930Swap the verification header with data somewhere else in the block before
931writing. It is swapped back before verifying.
932.TP
933.BI verify_interval \fR=\fPint
934Write the verification header for this number of bytes, which should divide
935\fBblocksize\fR. Default: \fBblocksize\fR.
936.TP
937.BI verify_pattern \fR=\fPstr
938If set, fio will fill the io buffers with this pattern. Fio defaults to filling
939with totally random bytes, but sometimes it's interesting to fill with a known
940pattern for io verification purposes. Depending on the width of the pattern,
941fio will fill 1/2/3/4 bytes of the buffer at the time(it can be either a
942decimal or a hex number). The verify_pattern if larger than a 32-bit quantity
943has to be a hex number that starts with either "0x" or "0X". Use with
944\fBverify\fP=meta.
945.TP
946.BI verify_fatal \fR=\fPbool
947If true, exit the job on the first observed verification failure. Default:
948false.
949.TP
950.BI verify_dump \fR=\fPbool
951If set, dump the contents of both the original data block and the data block we
952read off disk to files. This allows later analysis to inspect just what kind of
953data corruption occurred. Off by default.
954.TP
955.BI verify_async \fR=\fPint
956Fio will normally verify IO inline from the submitting thread. This option
957takes an integer describing how many async offload threads to create for IO
958verification instead, causing fio to offload the duty of verifying IO contents
959to one or more separate threads. If using this offload option, even sync IO
960engines can benefit from using an \fBiodepth\fR setting higher than 1, as it
961allows them to have IO in flight while verifies are running.
962.TP
963.BI verify_async_cpus \fR=\fPstr
964Tell fio to set the given CPU affinity on the async IO verification threads.
965See \fBcpus_allowed\fP for the format used.
966.TP
967.BI verify_backlog \fR=\fPint
968Fio will normally verify the written contents of a job that utilizes verify
969once that job has completed. In other words, everything is written then
970everything is read back and verified. You may want to verify continually
971instead for a variety of reasons. Fio stores the meta data associated with an
972IO block in memory, so for large verify workloads, quite a bit of memory would
973be used up holding this meta data. If this option is enabled, fio will write
974only N blocks before verifying these blocks.
975.TP
976.BI verify_backlog_batch \fR=\fPint
977Control how many blocks fio will verify if verify_backlog is set. If not set,
978will default to the value of \fBverify_backlog\fR (meaning the entire queue is
979read back and verified). If \fBverify_backlog_batch\fR is less than
980\fBverify_backlog\fR then not all blocks will be verified, if
981\fBverify_backlog_batch\fR is larger than \fBverify_backlog\fR, some blocks
982will be verified more than once.
983.TP
984.B stonewall "\fR,\fP wait_for_previous"
985Wait for preceding jobs in the job file to exit before starting this one.
986\fBstonewall\fR implies \fBnew_group\fR.
987.TP
988.B new_group
989Start a new reporting group. If not given, all jobs in a file will be part
990of the same reporting group, unless separated by a stonewall.
991.TP
992.BI numjobs \fR=\fPint
993Number of clones (processes/threads performing the same workload) of this job.
994Default: 1.
995.TP
996.B group_reporting
997If set, display per-group reports instead of per-job when \fBnumjobs\fR is
998specified.
999.TP
1000.B thread
1001Use threads created with \fBpthread_create\fR\|(3) instead of processes created
1002with \fBfork\fR\|(2).
1003.TP
1004.BI zonesize \fR=\fPint
1005Divide file into zones of the specified size in bytes. See \fBzoneskip\fR.
1006.TP
1007.BI zoneskip \fR=\fPint
1008Skip the specified number of bytes when \fBzonesize\fR bytes of data have been
1009read.
1010.TP
1011.BI write_iolog \fR=\fPstr
1012Write the issued I/O patterns to the specified file. Specify a separate file
1013for each job, otherwise the iologs will be interspersed and the file may be
1014corrupt.
1015.TP
1016.BI read_iolog \fR=\fPstr
1017Replay the I/O patterns contained in the specified file generated by
1018\fBwrite_iolog\fR, or may be a \fBblktrace\fR binary file.
1019.TP
1020.BI replay_no_stall \fR=\fPint
1021While replaying I/O patterns using \fBread_iolog\fR the default behavior
1022attempts to respect timing information between I/Os. Enabling
1023\fBreplay_no_stall\fR causes I/Os to be replayed as fast as possible while
1024still respecting ordering.
1025.TP
1026.BI replay_redirect \fR=\fPstr
1027While replaying I/O patterns using \fBread_iolog\fR the default behavior
1028is to replay the IOPS onto the major/minor device that each IOP was recorded
1029from. Setting \fBreplay_redirect\fR causes all IOPS to be replayed onto the
1030single specified device regardless of the device it was recorded from.
1031.TP
1032.BI write_bw_log \fR=\fPstr
1033If given, write a bandwidth log of the jobs in this job file. Can be used to
1034store data of the bandwidth of the jobs in their lifetime. The included
1035fio_generate_plots script uses gnuplot to turn these text files into nice
1036graphs. See \fBwrite_log_log\fR for behaviour of given filename. For this
1037option, the postfix is _bw.log.
1038.TP
1039.BI write_lat_log \fR=\fPstr
1040Same as \fBwrite_bw_log\fR, but writes I/O completion latencies. If no
1041filename is given with this option, the default filename of "jobname_type.log"
1042is used. Even if the filename is given, fio will still append the type of log.
1043.TP
1044.BI write_iops_log \fR=\fPstr
1045Same as \fBwrite_bw_log\fR, but writes IOPS. If no filename is given with this
1046option, the default filename of "jobname_type.log" is used. Even if the
1047filename is given, fio will still append the type of log.
1048.TP
1049.BI log_avg_msec \fR=\fPint
1050By default, fio will log an entry in the iops, latency, or bw log for every
1051IO that completes. When writing to the disk log, that can quickly grow to a
1052very large size. Setting this option makes fio average the each log entry
1053over the specified period of time, reducing the resolution of the log.
1054Defaults to 0.
1055.TP
1056.BI disable_lat \fR=\fPbool
1057Disable measurements of total latency numbers. Useful only for cutting
1058back the number of calls to gettimeofday, as that does impact performance at
1059really high IOPS rates. Note that to really get rid of a large amount of these
1060calls, this option must be used with disable_slat and disable_bw as well.
1061.TP
1062.BI disable_clat \fR=\fPbool
1063Disable measurements of completion latency numbers. See \fBdisable_lat\fR.
1064.TP
1065.BI disable_slat \fR=\fPbool
1066Disable measurements of submission latency numbers. See \fBdisable_lat\fR.
1067.TP
1068.BI disable_bw_measurement \fR=\fPbool
1069Disable measurements of throughput/bandwidth numbers. See \fBdisable_lat\fR.
1070.TP
1071.BI lockmem \fR=\fPint
1072Pin the specified amount of memory with \fBmlock\fR\|(2). Can be used to
1073simulate a smaller amount of memory. The amount specified is per worker.
1074.TP
1075.BI exec_prerun \fR=\fPstr
1076Before running the job, execute the specified command with \fBsystem\fR\|(3).
1077.RS
1078Output is redirected in a file called \fBjobname.prerun.txt\fR
1079.RE
1080.TP
1081.BI exec_postrun \fR=\fPstr
1082Same as \fBexec_prerun\fR, but the command is executed after the job completes.
1083.RS
1084Output is redirected in a file called \fBjobname.postrun.txt\fR
1085.RE
1086.TP
1087.BI ioscheduler \fR=\fPstr
1088Attempt to switch the device hosting the file to the specified I/O scheduler.
1089.TP
1090.BI cpuload \fR=\fPint
1091If the job is a CPU cycle-eater, attempt to use the specified percentage of
1092CPU cycles.
1093.TP
1094.BI cpuchunks \fR=\fPint
1095If the job is a CPU cycle-eater, split the load into cycles of the
1096given time in milliseconds.
1097.TP
1098.BI disk_util \fR=\fPbool
1099Generate disk utilization statistics if the platform supports it. Default: true.
1100.TP
1101.BI clocksource \fR=\fPstr
1102Use the given clocksource as the base of timing. The supported options are:
1103.RS
1104.TP
1105.B gettimeofday
1106gettimeofday(2)
1107.TP
1108.B clock_gettime
1109clock_gettime(2)
1110.TP
1111.B cpu
1112Internal CPU clock source
1113.TP
1114.RE
1115.P
1116\fBcpu\fR is the preferred clocksource if it is reliable, as it is very fast
1117(and fio is heavy on time calls). Fio will automatically use this clocksource
1118if it's supported and considered reliable on the system it is running on,
1119unless another clocksource is specifically set. For x86/x86-64 CPUs, this
1120means supporting TSC Invariant.
1121.TP
1122.BI gtod_reduce \fR=\fPbool
1123Enable all of the gettimeofday() reducing options (disable_clat, disable_slat,
1124disable_bw) plus reduce precision of the timeout somewhat to really shrink the
1125gettimeofday() call count. With this option enabled, we only do about 0.4% of
1126the gtod() calls we would have done if all time keeping was enabled.
1127.TP
1128.BI gtod_cpu \fR=\fPint
1129Sometimes it's cheaper to dedicate a single thread of execution to just getting
1130the current time. Fio (and databases, for instance) are very intensive on
1131gettimeofday() calls. With this option, you can set one CPU aside for doing
1132nothing but logging current time to a shared memory location. Then the other
1133threads/processes that run IO workloads need only copy that segment, instead of
1134entering the kernel with a gettimeofday() call. The CPU set aside for doing
1135these time calls will be excluded from other uses. Fio will manually clear it
1136from the CPU mask of other jobs.
1137.TP
1138.BI ignore_error \fR=\fPstr
1139Sometimes you want to ignore some errors during test in that case you can specify
1140error list for each error type.
1141.br
1142ignore_error=READ_ERR_LIST,WRITE_ERR_LIST,VERIFY_ERR_LIST
1143.br
1144errors for given error type is separated with ':'.
1145Error may be symbol ('ENOSPC', 'ENOMEM') or an integer.
1146.br
1147Example: ignore_error=EAGAIN,ENOSPC:122 .
1148.br
1149This option will ignore EAGAIN from READ, and ENOSPC and 122(EDQUOT) from WRITE.
1150.TP
1151.BI error_dump \fR=\fPbool
1152If set dump every error even if it is non fatal, true by default. If disabled
1153only fatal error will be dumped
1154.TP
1155.BI cgroup \fR=\fPstr
1156Add job to this control group. If it doesn't exist, it will be created.
1157The system must have a mounted cgroup blkio mount point for this to work. If
1158your system doesn't have it mounted, you can do so with:
1159
1160# mount \-t cgroup \-o blkio none /cgroup
1161.TP
1162.BI cgroup_weight \fR=\fPint
1163Set the weight of the cgroup to this value. See the documentation that comes
1164with the kernel, allowed values are in the range of 100..1000.
1165.TP
1166.BI cgroup_nodelete \fR=\fPbool
1167Normally fio will delete the cgroups it has created after the job completion.
1168To override this behavior and to leave cgroups around after the job completion,
1169set cgroup_nodelete=1. This can be useful if one wants to inspect various
1170cgroup files after job completion. Default: false
1171.TP
1172.BI uid \fR=\fPint
1173Instead of running as the invoking user, set the user ID to this value before
1174the thread/process does any work.
1175.TP
1176.BI gid \fR=\fPint
1177Set group ID, see \fBuid\fR.
1178.TP
1179.BI flow_id \fR=\fPint
1180The ID of the flow. If not specified, it defaults to being a global flow. See
1181\fBflow\fR.
1182.TP
1183.BI flow \fR=\fPint
1184Weight in token-based flow control. If this value is used, then there is a
1185\fBflow counter\fR which is used to regulate the proportion of activity between
1186two or more jobs. fio attempts to keep this flow counter near zero. The
1187\fBflow\fR parameter stands for how much should be added or subtracted to the
1188flow counter on each iteration of the main I/O loop. That is, if one job has
1189\fBflow=8\fR and another job has \fBflow=-1\fR, then there will be a roughly
11901:8 ratio in how much one runs vs the other.
1191.TP
1192.BI flow_watermark \fR=\fPint
1193The maximum value that the absolute value of the flow counter is allowed to
1194reach before the job must wait for a lower value of the counter.
1195.TP
1196.BI flow_sleep \fR=\fPint
1197The period of time, in microseconds, to wait after the flow watermark has been
1198exceeded before retrying operations
1199.TP
1200.BI clat_percentiles \fR=\fPbool
1201Enable the reporting of percentiles of completion latencies.
1202.TP
1203.BI percentile_list \fR=\fPfloat_list
1204Overwrite the default list of percentiles for completion
1205latencies. Each number is a floating number in the range (0,100], and
1206the maximum length of the list is 20. Use ':' to separate the
1207numbers. For example, \-\-percentile_list=99.5:99.9 will cause fio to
1208report the values of completion latency below which 99.5% and 99.9% of
1209the observed latencies fell, respectively.
1210.SS "Ioengine Parameters List"
1211Some parameters are only valid when a specific ioengine is in use. These are
1212used identically to normal parameters, with the caveat that when used on the
1213command line, the must come after the ioengine that defines them is selected.
1214.TP
1215.BI (cpu)cpuload \fR=\fPint
1216Attempt to use the specified percentage of CPU cycles.
1217.TP
1218.BI (cpu)cpuchunks \fR=\fPint
1219Split the load into cycles of the given time. In microseconds.
1220.TP
1221.BI (libaio)userspace_reap
1222Normally, with the libaio engine in use, fio will use
1223the io_getevents system call to reap newly returned events.
1224With this flag turned on, the AIO ring will be read directly
1225from user-space to reap events. The reaping mode is only
1226enabled when polling for a minimum of 0 events (eg when
1227iodepth_batch_complete=0).
1228.TP
1229.BI (net,netsplice)hostname \fR=\fPstr
1230The host name or IP address to use for TCP or UDP based IO.
1231If the job is a TCP listener or UDP reader, the hostname is not
1232used and must be omitted unless it is a valid UDP multicast address.
1233.TP
1234.BI (net,netsplice)port \fR=\fPint
1235The TCP or UDP port to bind to or connect to.
1236.TP
1237.BI (net,netsplice)interface \fR=\fPstr
1238The IP address of the network interface used to send or receive UDP multicast
1239packets.
1240.TP
1241.BI (net,netsplice)ttl \fR=\fPint
1242Time-to-live value for outgoing UDP multicast packets. Default: 1
1243.TP
1244.BI (net,netsplice)nodelay \fR=\fPbool
1245Set TCP_NODELAY on TCP connections.
1246.TP
1247.BI (net,netsplice)protocol \fR=\fPstr "\fR,\fP proto" \fR=\fPstr
1248The network protocol to use. Accepted values are:
1249.RS
1250.RS
1251.TP
1252.B tcp
1253Transmission control protocol
1254.TP
1255.B udp
1256User datagram protocol
1257.TP
1258.B unix
1259UNIX domain socket
1260.RE
1261.P
1262When the protocol is TCP or UDP, the port must also be given,
1263as well as the hostname if the job is a TCP listener or UDP
1264reader. For unix sockets, the normal filename option should be
1265used and the port is invalid.
1266.RE
1267.TP
1268.BI (net,netsplice)listen
1269For TCP network connections, tell fio to listen for incoming
1270connections rather than initiating an outgoing connection. The
1271hostname must be omitted if this option is used.
1272.TP
1273.BI (net, pingpong) \fR=\fPbool
1274Normaly a network writer will just continue writing data, and a network reader
1275will just consume packages. If pingpong=1 is set, a writer will send its normal
1276payload to the reader, then wait for the reader to send the same payload back.
1277This allows fio to measure network latencies. The submission and completion
1278latencies then measure local time spent sending or receiving, and the
1279completion latency measures how long it took for the other end to receive and
1280send back. For UDP multicast traffic pingpong=1 should only be set for a single
1281reader when multiple readers are listening to the same address.
1282.TP
1283.BI (e4defrag,donorname) \fR=\fPstr
1284File will be used as a block donor (swap extents between files)
1285.TP
1286.BI (e4defrag,inplace) \fR=\fPint
1287Configure donor file block allocation strategy
1288.RS
1289.BI 0(default) :
1290Preallocate donor's file on init
1291.TP
1292.BI 1:
1293allocate space immidietly inside defragment event, and free right after event
1294.RE
1295.TP
1296.SH OUTPUT
1297While running, \fBfio\fR will display the status of the created jobs. For
1298example:
1299.RS
1300.P
1301Threads: 1: [_r] [24.8% done] [ 13509/ 8334 kb/s] [eta 00h:01m:31s]
1302.RE
1303.P
1304The characters in the first set of brackets denote the current status of each
1305threads. The possible values are:
1306.P
1307.PD 0
1308.RS
1309.TP
1310.B P
1311Setup but not started.
1312.TP
1313.B C
1314Thread created.
1315.TP
1316.B I
1317Initialized, waiting.
1318.TP
1319.B R
1320Running, doing sequential reads.
1321.TP
1322.B r
1323Running, doing random reads.
1324.TP
1325.B W
1326Running, doing sequential writes.
1327.TP
1328.B w
1329Running, doing random writes.
1330.TP
1331.B M
1332Running, doing mixed sequential reads/writes.
1333.TP
1334.B m
1335Running, doing mixed random reads/writes.
1336.TP
1337.B F
1338Running, currently waiting for \fBfsync\fR\|(2).
1339.TP
1340.B V
1341Running, verifying written data.
1342.TP
1343.B E
1344Exited, not reaped by main thread.
1345.TP
1346.B \-
1347Exited, thread reaped.
1348.RE
1349.PD
1350.P
1351The second set of brackets shows the estimated completion percentage of
1352the current group. The third set shows the read and write I/O rate,
1353respectively. Finally, the estimated run time of the job is displayed.
1354.P
1355When \fBfio\fR completes (or is interrupted by Ctrl-C), it will show data
1356for each thread, each group of threads, and each disk, in that order.
1357.P
1358Per-thread statistics first show the threads client number, group-id, and
1359error code. The remaining figures are as follows:
1360.RS
1361.TP
1362.B io
1363Number of megabytes of I/O performed.
1364.TP
1365.B bw
1366Average data rate (bandwidth).
1367.TP
1368.B runt
1369Threads run time.
1370.TP
1371.B slat
1372Submission latency minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation. This is
1373the time it took to submit the I/O.
1374.TP
1375.B clat
1376Completion latency minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation. This
1377is the time between submission and completion.
1378.TP
1379.B bw
1380Bandwidth minimum, maximum, percentage of aggregate bandwidth received, average
1381and standard deviation.
1382.TP
1383.B cpu
1384CPU usage statistics. Includes user and system time, number of context switches
1385this thread went through and number of major and minor page faults.
1386.TP
1387.B IO depths
1388Distribution of I/O depths. Each depth includes everything less than (or equal)
1389to it, but greater than the previous depth.
1390.TP
1391.B IO issued
1392Number of read/write requests issued, and number of short read/write requests.
1393.TP
1394.B IO latencies
1395Distribution of I/O completion latencies. The numbers follow the same pattern
1396as \fBIO depths\fR.
1397.RE
1398.P
1399The group statistics show:
1400.PD 0
1401.RS
1402.TP
1403.B io
1404Number of megabytes I/O performed.
1405.TP
1406.B aggrb
1407Aggregate bandwidth of threads in the group.
1408.TP
1409.B minb
1410Minimum average bandwidth a thread saw.
1411.TP
1412.B maxb
1413Maximum average bandwidth a thread saw.
1414.TP
1415.B mint
1416Shortest runtime of threads in the group.
1417.TP
1418.B maxt
1419Longest runtime of threads in the group.
1420.RE
1421.PD
1422.P
1423Finally, disk statistics are printed with reads first:
1424.PD 0
1425.RS
1426.TP
1427.B ios
1428Number of I/Os performed by all groups.
1429.TP
1430.B merge
1431Number of merges in the I/O scheduler.
1432.TP
1433.B ticks
1434Number of ticks we kept the disk busy.
1435.TP
1436.B io_queue
1437Total time spent in the disk queue.
1438.TP
1439.B util
1440Disk utilization.
1441.RE
1442.PD
1443.P
1444It is also possible to get fio to dump the current output while it is
1445running, without terminating the job. To do that, send fio the \fBUSR1\fR
1446signal.
1447.SH TERSE OUTPUT
1448If the \fB\-\-minimal\fR option is given, the results will be printed in a
1449semicolon-delimited format suitable for scripted use - a job description
1450(if provided) follows on a new line. Note that the first
1451number in the line is the version number. If the output has to be changed
1452for some reason, this number will be incremented by 1 to signify that
1453change. The fields are:
1454.P
1455.RS
1456.B terse version, fio version, jobname, groupid, error
1457.P
1458Read status:
1459.RS
1460.B Total I/O \fR(KB)\fP, bandwidth \fR(KB/s)\fP, IOPS, runtime \fR(ms)\fP
1461.P
1462Submission latency:
1463.RS
1464.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
1465.RE
1466Completion latency:
1467.RS
1468.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
1469.RE
1470Completion latency percentiles (20 fields):
1471.RS
1472.B Xth percentile=usec
1473.RE
1474Total latency:
1475.RS
1476.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
1477.RE
1478Bandwidth:
1479.RS
1480.B min, max, aggregate percentage of total, mean, standard deviation
1481.RE
1482.RE
1483.P
1484Write status:
1485.RS
1486.B Total I/O \fR(KB)\fP, bandwidth \fR(KB/s)\fP, IOPS, runtime \fR(ms)\fP
1487.P
1488Submission latency:
1489.RS
1490.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
1491.RE
1492Completion latency:
1493.RS
1494.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
1495.RE
1496Completion latency percentiles (20 fields):
1497.RS
1498.B Xth percentile=usec
1499.RE
1500Total latency:
1501.RS
1502.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
1503.RE
1504Bandwidth:
1505.RS
1506.B min, max, aggregate percentage of total, mean, standard deviation
1507.RE
1508.RE
1509.P
1510CPU usage:
1511.RS
1512.B user, system, context switches, major page faults, minor page faults
1513.RE
1514.P
1515IO depth distribution:
1516.RS
1517.B <=1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, >=64
1518.RE
1519.P
1520IO latency distribution:
1521.RS
1522Microseconds:
1523.RS
1524.B <=2, 4, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000
1525.RE
1526Milliseconds:
1527.RS
1528.B <=2, 4, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000, >=2000
1529.RE
1530.RE
1531.P
1532Disk utilization (1 for each disk used):
1533.RS
1534.B name, read ios, write ios, read merges, write merges, read ticks, write ticks, read in-queue time, write in-queue time, disk utilization percentage
1535.RE
1536.P
1537Error Info (dependent on continue_on_error, default off):
1538.RS
1539.B total # errors, first error code
1540.RE
1541.P
1542.B text description (if provided in config - appears on newline)
1543.RE
1544.SH CLIENT / SERVER
1545Normally you would run fio as a stand-alone application on the machine
1546where the IO workload should be generated. However, it is also possible to
1547run the frontend and backend of fio separately. This makes it possible to
1548have a fio server running on the machine(s) where the IO workload should
1549be running, while controlling it from another machine.
1550
1551To start the server, you would do:
1552
1553\fBfio \-\-server=args\fR
1554
1555on that machine, where args defines what fio listens to. The arguments
1556are of the form 'type:hostname or IP:port'. 'type' is either 'ip' (or ip4)
1557for TCP/IP v4, 'ip6' for TCP/IP v6, or 'sock' for a local unix domain
1558socket. 'hostname' is either a hostname or IP address, and 'port' is the port to
1559listen to (only valid for TCP/IP, not a local socket). Some examples:
1560
15611) fio \-\-server
1562
1563 Start a fio server, listening on all interfaces on the default port (8765).
1564
15652) fio \-\-server=ip:hostname,4444
1566
1567 Start a fio server, listening on IP belonging to hostname and on port 4444.
1568
15693) fio \-\-server=ip6:::1,4444
1570
1571 Start a fio server, listening on IPv6 localhost ::1 and on port 4444.
1572
15734) fio \-\-server=,4444
1574
1575 Start a fio server, listening on all interfaces on port 4444.
1576
15775) fio \-\-server=1.2.3.4
1578
1579 Start a fio server, listening on IP 1.2.3.4 on the default port.
1580
15816) fio \-\-server=sock:/tmp/fio.sock
1582
1583 Start a fio server, listening on the local socket /tmp/fio.sock.
1584
1585When a server is running, you can connect to it from a client. The client
1586is run with:
1587
1588fio \-\-local-args \-\-client=server \-\-remote-args <job file(s)>
1589
1590where \-\-local-args are arguments that are local to the client where it is
1591running, 'server' is the connect string, and \-\-remote-args and <job file(s)>
1592are sent to the server. The 'server' string follows the same format as it
1593does on the server side, to allow IP/hostname/socket and port strings.
1594You can connect to multiple clients as well, to do that you could run:
1595
1596fio \-\-client=server2 \-\-client=server2 <job file(s)>
1597.SH AUTHORS
1598
1599.B fio
1600was written by Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@oracle.com>,
1601now Jens Axboe <jaxboe@fusionio.com>.
1602.br
1603This man page was written by Aaron Carroll <aaronc@cse.unsw.edu.au> based
1604on documentation by Jens Axboe.
1605.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
1606Report bugs to the \fBfio\fR mailing list <fio@vger.kernel.org>.
1607See \fBREADME\fR.
1608.SH "SEE ALSO"
1609For further documentation see \fBHOWTO\fR and \fBREADME\fR.
1610.br
1611Sample jobfiles are available in the \fBexamples\fR directory.
1612