From: Grant Grundler Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2013 14:26:52 +0000 (-0600) Subject: Rework descriptions for mailing list, options, job files X-Git-Tag: fio-2.1.3~8 X-Git-Url: https://git.kernel.dk/?p=fio.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=4649b352269d7d5db7ec30cbaef9323ed47508cb Rework descriptions for mailing list, options, job files In general, make the existing document less ambiguous: o Use consistent formatting/layout when describing options o always refer to options with "--" prefix. o reduce use of pronouns: "its" and "this" are often ambigous. o remove use of "you" to describe user actions/choices o add reference to examples/ directory Signed-off-by: Grant Grundler Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe --- diff --git a/README b/README index 15a07318..1373c789 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -14,17 +14,17 @@ Source fio resides in a git repo, the canonical place is: -git://git.kernel.dk/fio.git + git://git.kernel.dk/fio.git -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: +When inside a corporate firewall, git:// URL sometimes does not work. +If git:// does not work, use the http protocol instead: -http://git.kernel.dk/fio.git + http://git.kernel.dk/fio.git -Snapshots are frequently generated and they include the git meta data as -well. You can download them here: +Snapshots are frequently generated and include the git meta data as well. +Snapshots can download from: -http://brick.kernel.dk/snaps/ + http://brick.kernel.dk/snaps/ Binary packages @@ -60,22 +60,22 @@ http://www.bluestop.org/fio/ . Mailing list ------------ -There's a mailing list associated with fio. It's meant for general -discussion, bug reporting, questions, and development - basically anything -that has to do with fio. An automated mail detailing recent commits is -automatically sent to the list at most daily. The list address is -fio@vger.kernel.org, subscribe by sending an email to -majordomo@vger.kernel.org with +The fio project mailing list is meant for anything related to fio including +general discussion, bug reporting, questions, and development. -subscribe fio +An automated mail detailing recent commits is automatically sent to the +list at most daily. The list address is fio@vger.kernel.org, subscribe +by sending an email to majordomo@vger.kernel.org with + + subscribe fio in the body of the email. Archives can be found here: -http://www.spinics.net/lists/fio/ + http://www.spinics.net/lists/fio/ and archives for the old list can be found here: -http://maillist.kernel.dk/fio-devel/ + http://maillist.kernel.dk/fio-devel/ Building @@ -88,12 +88,12 @@ on Solaris it's in the SUNWgmake package. On platforms where GNU make isn't the default, type 'gmake' instead of 'make'. Configure will print the enabled options. Note that on Linux based -platforms, you'll need to have the libaio development packages -installed to use the libaio engine. Depending on distro, it is -usually called libaio-devel or libaio-dev. +platforms, the libaio development packages must be installed to use +the libaio engine. Depending on distro, it is usually called +libaio-devel or libaio-dev. -For gfio, you need gtk 2.18 or newer and associated glib threads -and cairo. gfio isn't built automatically, it needs to be enabled +For gfio, gtk 2.18 (or newer), associated glib threads, and cairo are required +to be installed. gfio isn't built automatically and can be enabled with a --enable-gfio option to configure. To build FIO with a cross-compiler: @@ -169,18 +169,19 @@ $ fio Any parameters following the options will be assumed to be job files, -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. +unless they match a job file parameter. Multiple job files can be listed +and each job file will be regarded as a separate group. fio will stonewall +execution between each group. -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 -io engine core to prevent an accidental write due to a fio bug. +The --readonly option is an extra safety guard to prevent users from +accidentally starting a write workload when that is not desired. Fio +will only write if rw=write/randwrite/rw/randrw is given. This extra +safety net can be used as an extra precaution as --readonly will also +enable a write check in the io engine core to prevent writes due to +unknown user space bug(s). -The debug switch allows adding options that trigger certain logging -options in fio. Currently the options are: +The --debug option triggers additional logging by fio. +Currently, additional logging is available for: process Dump info related to processes file Dump info related to file actions @@ -198,55 +199,58 @@ options in fio. Currently the options are: time Dump info related to internal time keeping ? or help Show available debug options. -You can specify as many as you want, eg --debug=file,mem will enable +One can specify multiple debug options: e.g. --debug=file,mem will enable file and memory debugging. -The section switch is meant to make it easier to ship a bigger job file -instead of several smaller ones. Say you define a job file with light, -moderate, and heavy parts. Then you can ask fio to run the given part -only by giving it a --section=heavy command line option. The section -option only applies to job sections, the reserved 'global' section is -always parsed and taken into account. +The --section option allows one to combine related jobs into one file. +E.g. one job file could define light, moderate, and heavy sections. Tell fio to +run only the "heavy" section by giving --section=heavy command line option. +One can also specify the "write" operations in one section and "verify" +operation in another section. The --section option only applies to job +sections. The reserved 'global' section is always parsed and used. + +The --alloc-size switch allows one to use a larger pool size for smalloc. +If running large jobs with randommap enabled, fio can run out of memory. +Smalloc is an internal allocator for shared structures from a fixed size +memory pool. The pool size defaults to 1024k and can grow to 128 pools. -Fio has an internal allocator for shared memory called smalloc. It -allocates shared structures from this pool. The pool defaults to 1024k -in size, and can grow to 128 pools. If running large jobs with randommap -enabled it can run out of memory, in which case the --alloc-size switch -is handy for starting with a larger pool size. The backing store is -files in /tmp. Fio cleans up after itself, while it is running you -may see .fio_smalloc.* files in /tmp. +NOTE: While running .fio_smalloc.* backing store files are visible in /tmp. Job file -------- -See the HOWTO file for a more detailed description of parameters and what -they mean. This file contains the terse version. You can describe big and -complex setups with the command line, but generally it's a lot easier to -just write a simple job file to describe the workload. The job file format -is in the ini style format, as that is easy to read and write for the user. +See the HOWTO file for a complete description of job file syntax and +parameters. The --cmdhelp option also lists all options. If used with +an option argument, --cmdhelp will detail the given option. The job file +format is in the ini style format, as that is easy for the user to review +and modify. -The HOWTO or man page has a full list of all options, along with -descriptions, etc. The --cmdhelp option also lists all options. If -used with an option argument, it will detail that particular option. +This README contains the terse version. Job files can describe big and +complex setups that are not possible with the command line. Job files +are a good practice even for simple jobs since the file provides an +easily accessed record of the workload and can include comments. + +See the examples/ directory for inspiration on how to write job files. Note +the copyright and license requirements currently apply to examples/ files. 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. +Normally fio is invoked as a stand-alone application on the machine +where the IO workload should be generated. However, the frontend and +backend of fio can be run separately. Ie the fio server can generate +an IO workload on the "Device Under Test" while being controlled from +another machine. -To start the server, you would do: +Start the server on the machine which has access to the storage DUT: 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. +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: @@ -274,18 +278,18 @@ listen to (only valid for TCP/IP, not a local socket). Some examples: 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: +Once a server is running, a "client" can connect to the fio server with: -fio --local-args --client=server --remote-args +fio --local-args --client= --remote-args -where --local-args are arguments that are local to the client where it is +where --local-args are arguments for the client where it is running, 'server' is the connect string, and --remote-args and 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 --client=server2 +Fio can connect to multiple servers this way: + +fio --client= --client= Platforms @@ -312,12 +316,12 @@ your mileage may vary. Sending me patches for other platforms is greatly appreciated. There's a lot of value in having the same test/benchmark tool available on all platforms. -Note that POSIX aio is not enabled by default on AIX. If you get messages like: +Note that POSIX aio is not enabled by default on AIX. Messages like these: Symbol resolution failed for /usr/lib/libc.a(posix_aio.o) because: Symbol _posix_kaio_rdwr (number 2) is not exported from dependent module /unix. -you need to enable POSIX aio. Run the following commands as root: +indicate one needs to enable POSIX aio. Run the following commands as root: # lsdev -C -l posix_aio0 posix_aio0 Defined Posix Asynchronous I/O