Workaround pthreads-win32 pthread_rwlock_init limitation.

[fio.git] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index 41154552bba6c5643f5ddbc06713f3eaad2be01b..317ddec668ab7cba185cd75ce5a15878c4896c0d 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -16,25 +16,46 @@ fio resides in a git repo, the canonical place is:
 
 git://git.kernel.dk/fio.git
 
 
 git://git.kernel.dk/fio.git
 

-The http protocol also works, path is the same.
+If you are inside a corporate firewall, git:// may not always work for
+you. In that case you can use the http protocol, path is the same:
+
+http://git.kernel.dk/fio.git

 
 Snapshots are frequently generated and they include the git meta data as
 well. You can download them here:
 
 http://brick.kernel.dk/snaps/
 
 
 Snapshots are frequently generated and they include the git meta data as
 well. You can download them here:
 
 http://brick.kernel.dk/snaps/
 

-Pascal Bleser <guru@unixtech.be> has fio RPMs in his repository for
-SUSE variants, you can find them here:

 
 

-http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/rpm-navigation.php?cat=System/fio
+Binary packages
+---------------

 
 

-Dag Wieërs has RPMs for Red Hat related distros, find them here:
+Debian:
+Starting with Debian "Squeeze", fio packages are part of the official
+Debian repository. http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=fio
+
+Ubuntu:
+Starting with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (aka "Lucid Lynx"), fio packages are part
+of the Ubuntu "universe" repository.
+http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=fio

 
 

+Red Hat, CentOS & Co:
+Dag Wieërs has RPMs for Red Hat related distros, find them here:

 http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/fio/
 
 http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/fio/
 

+Mandriva:

 Mandriva has integrated fio into their package repository, so installing
 on that distro should be as easy as typing 'urpmi fio'.
 
 Mandriva has integrated fio into their package repository, so installing
 on that distro should be as easy as typing 'urpmi fio'.
 

+Solaris:
+Packages for Solaris are available from OpenCSW. Install their pkgutil
+tool (http://www.opencsw.org/get-it/pkgutil/) and then install fio via
+'pkgutil -i fio'.
+
+Windows:
+Bruce Cran <bruce@cran.org.uk> has fio packages for Windows at
+http://www.bluestop.org/fio/ .
+

 
 Mailing list
 ------------
 
 Mailing list
 ------------


@@ -60,18 +81,11 @@ http://maillist.kernel.dk/fio-devel/
 Building
 --------
 
 Building
 --------
 

-Just type 'make' and 'make install'. If on FreeBSD, for now you have to
-specify the FreeBSD Makefile with -f and use gmake (not make), eg:
-
-$ gmake -f Makefile.Freebsd && gmake -f Makefile.FreeBSD install
-
-Same goes for AIX:
+Just type 'make' and 'make install'.

 
 

-$ gmake -f Makefile.aix && gmake -f Makefile.aix install
-
-Likewise with OpenSolaris, use the Makefile.solaris to compile there.
-The OpenSolaris make should work fine. This might change in the
-future if I opt for an autoconf type setup.
+Note that GNU make is required. On BSD it's available from devel/gmake;
+on Solaris it's in the SUNWgmake package. On platforms where GNU make
+isn't the default, type 'gmake' instead of 'make'.

 
 If your compile fails with an error like this:
 
 
 If your compile fails with an error like this:
 


@@ -87,25 +101,69 @@ Check that you have the libaio development package installed. On RPM
 based distros, it's typically called libaio-devel.
 
 
 based distros, it's typically called libaio-devel.
 
 

+Windows
+-------
+
+On Windows Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/) is required in order to
+build fio. To create an MSI installer package install WiX 3.7 from
+http://wixtoolset.org and run dobuild.cmd from the
+os/windows directory.
+
+How to compile FIO on 64-bit Windows:
+
+ 1. Install Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/setup.exe). Install 'make' and all
+    packages starting with 'mingw64-i686' and 'mingw64-x86_64'.
+ 2. Download ftp://sourceware.org/pub/pthreads-win32/prebuilt-dll-2-9-1-release/dll/x64/pthreadGC2.dll
+    and copy to the fio source directory.
+ 3. Open the Cygwin Terminal.
+ 4. Go to the fio directory (source files).
+ 5. Run 'make clean'.
+ 6. Run 'make'.
+
+To build fio on 32-bit Windows, download x86/pthreadGC2.dll instead and do
+'./configure --build-32bit-win=yes' before 'make'.
+
+It's recommended that once built or installed, fio be run in a Command Prompt
+or other 'native' console such as console2, since there are known to be display
+and signal issues when running it under a Cygwin shell
+(see http://code.google.com/p/mintty/issues/detail?id=56 for details).
+
+

 Command line
 ------------
 
 $ fio
 Command line
 ------------
 
 $ fio

-        --debug         Enable some debugging options (see below)
-        --output        Write output to file
-        --timeout       Runtime in seconds
-        --latency-log   Generate per-job latency logs
-        --bandwidth-log Generate per-job bandwidth logs
-        --minimal       Minimal (terse) output
-        --version       Print version info and exit
-       --help          Print this page
-       --cmdhelp=cmd   Print command help, "all" for all of them
-       --showcmd       Turn a job file into command line options
-       --readonly      Turn on safety read-only checks, preventing writes
-       --eta=when      When ETA estimate should be printed
-                       May be "always", "never" or "auto"
-       --section=name  Only run specified section in job file
-       --alloc-size=kb Set smalloc pool to this size in kb (def 1024)
+       --debug                 Enable some debugging options (see below)
+       --parse-only            Parse options only, don't start any IO
+       --output                Write output to file
+       --runtime               Runtime in seconds
+       --latency-log           Generate per-job latency logs
+       --bandwidth-log         Generate per-job bandwidth logs
+       --minimal               Minimal (terse) output
+       --output-format=type    Output format (terse,json,normal)
+       --terse-version=type    Terse version output format (default 3, or 2 or 4).
+       --version               Print version info and exit
+       --help                  Print this page
+       --cpuclock-test         Perform test/validation of CPU clock
+       --cmdhelp=cmd           Print command help, "all" for all of them
+       --enghelp=engine        Print ioengine help, or list available ioengines
+       --enghelp=engine,cmd    Print help for an ioengine cmd
+       --showcmd               Turn a job file into command line options
+       --readonly              Turn on safety read-only checks, preventing
+                               writes
+       --eta=when              When ETA estimate should be printed
+                               May be "always", "never" or "auto"
+       --eta-newline=time      Force a new line for every 'time' period passed
+       --section=name          Only run specified section in job file.
+                               Multiple sections can be specified.
+       --alloc-size=kb         Set smalloc pool to this size in kb (def 1024)
+       --warnings-fatal        Fio parser warnings are fatal
+       --max-jobs              Maximum number of threads/processes to support
+       --server=args           Start backend server. See Client/Server section.
+       --client=host           Connect to specified backend.
+       --idle-prof=option      Report cpu idleness on a system or percpu basis
+                               (option=system,percpu) or run unit work
+                               calibration only (option=calibrate).

 
 
 Any parameters following the options will be assumed to be job files,
 
 
 Any parameters following the options will be assumed to be job files,


@@ -113,7 +171,7 @@ unless they match a job file parameter. You can add as many as you want,
 each job file will be regarded as a separate group and fio will stonewall
 its execution.
 
 each job file will be regarded as a separate group and fio will stonewall
 its execution.
 

-The --readonly switch is an extra safety guard to prevent accidentically
+The --readonly switch is an extra safety guard to prevent accidentally

 turning on a write setting when that is not desired. Fio will only write
 if rw=write/randwrite/rw/randrw is given, but this extra safety net can
 be used as an extra precaution. It will also enable a write check in the
 turning on a write setting when that is not desired. Fio will only write
 if rw=write/randwrite/rw/randrw is given, but this extra safety net can
 be used as an extra precaution. It will also enable a write check in the


@@ -189,15 +247,17 @@ The job file parameters are:
        size=x          Set file size to x bytes (x string can include k/m/g)
        ioengine=x      'x' may be: aio/libaio/linuxaio for Linux aio,
                        posixaio for POSIX aio, solarisaio for Solaris
        size=x          Set file size to x bytes (x string can include k/m/g)
        ioengine=x      'x' may be: aio/libaio/linuxaio for Linux aio,
                        posixaio for POSIX aio, solarisaio for Solaris

-                       native async IO, sync for regular read/write io,
+                       native async IO, windowsaio for Windows native async IO,
+                       sync for regular read/write io,

                        psync for regular pread/pwrite io, vsync for regular
                        readv/writev (with queuing emulation) mmap for mmap'ed
                        io, syslet-rw for syslet driven read/write, splice for
                        using splice/vmsplice, sg for direct SG_IO io, net
                        psync for regular pread/pwrite io, vsync for regular
                        readv/writev (with queuing emulation) mmap for mmap'ed
                        io, syslet-rw for syslet driven read/write, splice for
                        using splice/vmsplice, sg for direct SG_IO io, net

-                       for network io, or cpuio for a cycler burner load. sg
-                       only works on Linux on SCSI (or SCSI-like devices, such
-                       as usb-storage or sata/libata driven) devices. Fio also
-                       has a null io engine, which is mainly used for testing
+                       for network io, rdma for RDMA io, or cpuio for a
+                       cycler burner load. sg only works on Linux on
+                       SCSI (or SCSI-like devices, such as usb-storage or
+                       sata/libata driven) devices. Fio also has a null
+                       io engine, which is mainly used for testing

                        fio itself.
 
        iodepth=x       For async io, allow 'x' ios in flight
                        fio itself.
 
        iodepth=x       For async io, allow 'x' ios in flight


@@ -216,6 +276,11 @@ The job file parameters are:
        ratecycle=x     ratemin averaged over x msecs
        cpumask=x       Only allow job to run on CPUs defined by mask.
        cpus_allowed=x  Like 'cpumask', but allow text setting of CPU affinity.
        ratecycle=x     ratemin averaged over x msecs
        cpumask=x       Only allow job to run on CPUs defined by mask.
        cpus_allowed=x  Like 'cpumask', but allow text setting of CPU affinity.

+       numa_cpu_nodes=x,y-z  Allow job to run on specified NUMA nodes' CPU.
+       numa_mem_policy=m:x,y-z  Setup numa memory allocation policy.
+                       'm' stands for policy, such as local, interleave,
+                       bind, prefer, local. 'x, y-z' are numa node(s) for
+                       memory allocation according to policy.

        fsync=x         If writing with buffered IO, fsync after every
                        'x' blocks have been written.
        end_fsync=x     If 'x', run fsync() after end-of-job.
        fsync=x         If writing with buffered IO, fsync after every
                        'x' blocks have been written.
        end_fsync=x     If 'x', run fsync() after end-of-job.


@@ -248,14 +313,13 @@ The job file parameters are:
                        can be used to gauge hard drive speed over the entire
                        platter, without reading everything. Both x/y can
                        include k/m/g suffix.
                        can be used to gauge hard drive speed over the entire
                        platter, without reading everything. Both x/y can
                        include k/m/g suffix.

-       iolog=x         Open and read io pattern from file 'x'. The file must
-                       contain one io action per line in the following format:
-                       rw, offset, length
-                       where with rw=0/1 for read/write, and the offset
-                       and length entries being in bytes.
+       read_iolog=x    Open and read io pattern from file 'x'. The file format
+                        is described in the HOWTO.

        write_iolog=x   Write an iolog to file 'x' in the same format as iolog.
                        The iolog options are exclusive, if both given the
        write_iolog=x   Write an iolog to file 'x' in the same format as iolog.
                        The iolog options are exclusive, if both given the

-                       read iolog will be performed.
+                       read iolog will be performed.  Specify a separate file
+                       for each job, otherwise the iologs will be interspersed
+                       and the file may be corrupt.

        write_bw_log    Write a bandwidth log.
        write_lat_log   Write a latency log.
        lockmem=x       Lock down x amount of memory on the machine, to
        write_bw_log    Write a bandwidth log.
        write_lat_log   Write a latency log.
        lockmem=x       Lock down x amount of memory on the machine, to


@@ -271,13 +335,70 @@ The job file parameters are:
 
 
 
 
 
 

+Client/server
+------------
+
+Normally you would run fio as a stand-alone application on the machine
+where the IO workload should be generated. However, it is also possible to
+run the frontend and backend of fio separately. This makes it possible to
+have a fio server running on the machine(s) where the IO workload should
+be running, while controlling it from another machine.
+
+To start the server, you would do:
+
+fio --server=args
+
+on that machine, where args defines what fio listens to. The arguments
+are of the form 'type,hostname or IP,port'. 'type' is either 'ip' (or ip4)
+for TCP/IP v4, 'ip6' for TCP/IP v6, or 'sock' for a local unix domain socket.
+'hostname' is either a hostname or IP address, and 'port' is the port to
+listen to (only valid for TCP/IP, not a local socket). Some examples:
+
+1) fio --server
+
+   Start a fio server, listening on all interfaces on the default port (8765).
+
+2) fio --server=ip:hostname,4444
+
+   Start a fio server, listening on IP belonging to hostname and on port 4444.
+
+3) fio --server=ip6:::1,4444
+
+   Start a fio server, listening on IPv6 localhost ::1 and on port 4444.
+
+4) fio --server=,4444
+
+   Start a fio server, listening on all interfaces on port 4444.
+
+5) fio --server=1.2.3.4
+
+   Start a fio server, listening on IP 1.2.3.4 on the default port.
+
+6) fio --server=sock:/tmp/fio.sock
+
+   Start a fio server, listening on the local socket /tmp/fio.sock.
+
+When a server is running, you can connect to it from a client. The client
+is run with:
+
+fio --local-args --client=server --remote-args <job file(s)>
+
+where --local-args are arguments that are local to the client where it is
+running, 'server' is the connect string, and --remote-args and <job file(s)>
+are sent to the server. The 'server' string follows the same format as it
+does on the server side, to allow IP/hostname/socket and port strings.
+You can connect to multiple clients as well, to do that you could run:
+
+fio --client=server2 <job file(s)> --client=server2 <job file(s)>
+
+

 Platforms
 ---------
 
 Platforms
 ---------
 

-Fio works on (at least) Linux, Solaris, AIX and FreeBSD. Some features and/or
-options may only be available on some of the platforms, typically because
-those features only apply to that platform (like the solarisaio engine, or
-the splice engine on Linux).
+Fio works on (at least) Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, OSX, NetBSD, Windows
+and FreeBSD.  Some features and/or options may only be available on some of
+the platforms, typically because those features only apply to that platform
+(like the solarisaio engine, or the splice engine on Linux).

 
 Some features are not available on FreeBSD/Solaris even if they could be
 implemented, I'd be happy to take patches for that. An example of that is
 
 Some features are not available on FreeBSD/Solaris even if they could be
 implemented, I'd be happy to take patches for that. An example of that is