HOWTO: state default time unit

[fio.git] / HOWTO

diff --git a/HOWTO b/HOWTO
index e5b7c93e48022f7e49d2169b4132581d7f641b5b..280636ba1277d2f516cd552900abdf5b79e381a8 100644 (file)
--- a/HOWTO
+++ b/HOWTO
@@ -177,11 +177,13 @@ Command line options
 
 .. option:: --eta-newline=time
 
-       Force a new line for every `time` period passed.
+       Force a new line for every `time` period passed.  When the unit is omitted,
+       the value is interpreted in seconds.
 
 .. option:: --status-interval=time
 
-       Force full status dump every `time` period passed.
+       Force full status dump every `time` period passed.  When the unit is
+       omitted, the value is interpreted in seconds.
 
 .. option:: --section=name
 
@@ -486,7 +488,8 @@ Parameter types
 
        The optional *integer suffix* specifies the number's units, and includes an
        optional unit prefix and an optional unit.  For quantities of data, the
-       default unit is bytes. For quantities of time, the default unit is seconds.
+       default unit is bytes. For quantities of time, the default unit is seconds
+       unless otherwise specified.
 
        With :option:`kb_base` =1000, fio follows international standards for unit
        prefixes.  To specify power-of-10 decimal values defined in the
@@ -649,7 +652,7 @@ Time related parameters
        Tell fio to terminate processing after the specified period of time.  It
        can be quite hard to determine for how long a specified job will run, so
        this parameter is handy to cap the total runtime to a given time.  When
-       the unit is omitted, the value is given in seconds.
+       the unit is omitted, the value is intepreted in seconds.
 
 .. option:: time_based
 
@@ -659,10 +662,9 @@ Time related parameters
 
 .. option:: startdelay=irange(time)
 
-       Delay start of job for the specified number of seconds. Supports all time
-       suffixes to allow specification of hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds
-       -- seconds are the default if a unit is omitted.  Can be given as a range
-       which causes each thread to choose randomly out of the range.
+       Delay the start of job for the specified amount of time.  Can be a single
+       value or a range.  When given as a range, each thread will choose a value
+       randomly from within the range.  Value is in seconds if a unit is omitted.
 
 .. option:: ramp_time=time
 
@@ -1996,7 +1998,7 @@ I/O rate
 
        Stall the job for the specified period of time after an I/O has completed before issuing the
        next. May be used to simulate processing being done by an application.
-       When the unit is omitted, the value is given in microseconds.  See
+       When the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds.  See
        :option:`thinktime_blocks` and :option:`thinktime_spin`.
 
 .. option:: thinktime_spin=time
@@ -2004,7 +2006,7 @@ I/O rate
        Only valid if :option:`thinktime` is set - pretend to spend CPU time doing
        something with the data received, before falling back to sleeping for the
        rest of the period specified by :option:`thinktime`.  When the unit is
-       omitted, the value is given in microseconds.
+       omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds.
 
 .. option:: thinktime_blocks=int
 
@@ -2060,14 +2062,14 @@ I/O latency
 
        If set, fio will attempt to find the max performance point that the given
        workload will run at while maintaining a latency below this target.  When
-       the unit is omitted, the value is given in microseconds.  See
+       the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds.  See
        :option:`latency_window` and :option:`latency_percentile`.
 
 .. option:: latency_window=time
 
        Used with :option:`latency_target` to specify the sample window that the job
        is run at varying queue depths to test the performance.  When the unit is
-       omitted, the value is given in microseconds.
+       omitted, the value is interpreted in microseconds.
 
 .. option:: latency_percentile=float
 
@@ -2079,7 +2081,7 @@ I/O latency
 .. option:: max_latency=time
 
        If set, fio will exit the job with an ETIMEDOUT error if it exceeds this
-       maximum latency. When the unit is omitted, the value is given in
+       maximum latency. When the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in
        microseconds.
 
 .. option:: rate_cycle=int
@@ -2586,13 +2588,13 @@ Steady state
        A rolling window of this duration will be used to judge whether steady state
        has been reached. Data will be collected once per second. The default is 0
        which disables steady state detection.  When the unit is omitted, the
-       value is given in seconds.
+       value is interpreted in seconds.
 
 .. option:: steadystate_ramp_time=time, ss_ramp=time
 
        Allow the job to run for the specified duration before beginning data
        collection for checking the steady state job termination criterion. The
-       default is 0.  When the unit is omitted, the value is given in seconds.
+       default is 0.  When the unit is omitted, the value is interpreted in seconds.
 
 
 Measurements and reporting
@@ -2901,7 +2903,8 @@ Act profile options
 .. option:: test-duration=time
        :noindex:
 
-       How long the entire test takes to run.  Default: 24h.
+       How long the entire test takes to run.  When the unit is omitted, the value
+       is given in seconds.  Default: 24h.
 
 .. option:: threads-per-queue=int
        :noindex: