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Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +02001.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 \-\-output \fR=\fPfilename
16Write output to \fIfilename\fR.
17.TP
18.BI \-\-timeout \fR=\fPtimeout
19Limit run time to \fItimeout\fR seconds.
20.TP
21.B \-\-latency\-log
22Generate per-job latency logs.
23.TP
24.B \-\-bandwidth\-log
25Generate per-job bandwidth logs.
26.TP
27.B \-\-minimal
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +020028Print statistics in a terse, semicolon-delimited format.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020029.TP
30.BI \-\-showcmd \fR=\fPjobfile
31Convert \fIjobfile\fR to a set of command-line options.
32.TP
33.B \-\-readonly
34Enable read-only safety checks.
35.TP
36.BI \-\-eta \fR=\fPwhen
37Specifies when real-time ETA estimate should be printed. \fIwhen\fR may
38be one of `always', `never' or `auto'.
39.TP
Aaron Carrollc0a5d352008-02-26 23:10:39 +010040.BI \-\-section \fR=\fPsec
41Only run section \fIsec\fR from job file.
42.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020043.BI \-\-cmdhelp \fR=\fPcommand
44Print help information for \fIcommand\fR. May be `all' for all commands.
45.TP
Jens Axboe91837882008-02-05 12:02:07 +010046.BI \-\-debug \fR=\fPtype
47Enable verbose tracing of various fio actions. May be `all' for all types
48or individual types seperated by a comma (eg --debug=io,file). `help' will
49list all available tracing options.
50.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020051.B \-\-help
52Display usage information and exit.
53.TP
54.B \-\-version
55Display version information and exit.
56.SH "JOB FILE FORMAT"
57Job files are in `ini' format. They consist of one or more
58job definitions, which begin with a job name in square brackets and
59extend to the next job name. The job name can be any ASCII string
60except `global', which has a special meaning. Following the job name is
61a sequence of zero or more parameters, one per line, that define the
62behavior of the job. Any line starting with a `;' or `#' character is
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +020063considered a comment and ignored.
Aaron Carrolld9956b62007-11-16 12:12:45 +010064.P
65If \fIjobfile\fR is specified as `-', the job file will be read from
66standard input.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020067.SS "Global Section"
68The global section contains default parameters for jobs specified in the
69job file. A job is only affected by global sections residing above it,
70and there may be any number of global sections. Specific job definitions
71may override any parameter set in global sections.
72.SH "JOB PARAMETERS"
73.SS Types
74Some parameters may take arguments of a specific type. The types used are:
75.TP
76.I str
77String: a sequence of alphanumeric characters.
78.TP
79.I int
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020080SI integer: a whole number, possibly containing a suffix denoting the base unit
81of the value. Accepted suffixes are `k', 'M' and 'G', denoting kilo (1024),
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +010082mega (1024*1024) and giga (1024*1024*1024) respectively. If prefixed with '0x',
83the value is assumed to be base 16 (hexadecimal).
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020084.TP
85.I bool
86Boolean: a true or false value. `0' denotes false, `1' denotes true.
87.TP
88.I irange
89Integer range: a range of integers specified in the format
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +020090\fIlower\fR:\fIupper\fR or \fIlower\fR\-\fIupper\fR. \fIlower\fR and
91\fIupper\fR may contain a suffix as described above. If an option allows two
92sets of ranges, they are separated with a `,' or `/' character. For example:
93`8\-8k/8M\-4G'.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020094.SS "Parameter List"
95.TP
96.BI name \fR=\fPstr
Aaron Carrolld9956b62007-11-16 12:12:45 +010097May be used to override the job name. On the command line, this parameter
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +020098has the special purpose of signalling the start of a new job.
99.TP
100.BI description \fR=\fPstr
101Human-readable description of the job. It is printed when the job is run, but
102otherwise has no special purpose.
103.TP
104.BI directory \fR=\fPstr
105Prefix filenames with this directory. Used to place files in a location other
106than `./'.
107.TP
108.BI filename \fR=\fPstr
109.B fio
110normally makes up a file name based on the job name, thread number, and file
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200111number. If you want to share files between threads in a job or several jobs,
112specify a \fIfilename\fR for each of them to override the default. If the I/O
113engine used is `net', \fIfilename\fR is the host and port to connect to in the
114format \fIhost\fR/\fIport\fR. If the I/O engine is file-based, you can specify
115a number of files by separating the names with a `:' character. `\-' is a
116reserved name, meaning stdin or stdout, depending on the read/write direction
117set.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200118.TP
Jens Axboe3ce9dca2009-06-10 08:55:21 +0200119.BI lockfile \fR=\fPstr
120Fio defaults to not locking any files before it does IO to them. If a file or
121file descriptor is shared, fio can serialize IO to that file to make the end
122result consistent. This is usual for emulating real workloads that share files.
123The lock modes are:
124.RS
125.RS
126.TP
127.B none
128No locking. This is the default.
129.TP
130.B exclusive
131Only one thread or process may do IO at the time, excluding all others.
132.TP
133.B readwrite
134Read-write locking on the file. Many readers may access the file at the same
135time, but writes get exclusive access.
136.RE
137.P
138The option may be post-fixed with a lock batch number. If set, then each
139thread/process may do that amount of IOs to the file before giving up the lock.
140Since lock acquisition is expensive, batching the lock/unlocks will speed up IO.
141.RE
142.P
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200143.BI opendir \fR=\fPstr
144Recursively open any files below directory \fIstr\fR.
145.TP
146.BI readwrite \fR=\fPstr "\fR,\fP rw" \fR=\fPstr
147Type of I/O pattern. Accepted values are:
148.RS
149.RS
150.TP
151.B read
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200152Sequential reads.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200153.TP
154.B write
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200155Sequential writes.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200156.TP
157.B randread
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200158Random reads.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200159.TP
160.B randwrite
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200161Random writes.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200162.TP
163.B rw
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200164Mixed sequential reads and writes.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200165.TP
166.B randrw
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200167Mixed random reads and writes.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200168.RE
169.P
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200170For mixed I/O, the default split is 50/50. For random I/O, the number of I/Os
171to perform before getting a new offset can be specified by appending
172`:\fIint\fR' to the pattern type. The default is 1.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200173.RE
174.TP
175.BI randrepeat \fR=\fPbool
176Seed the random number generator in a predictable way so results are repeatable
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200177across runs. Default: true.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200178.TP
179.BI fadvise_hint \fR=\fPbool
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200180Disable use of \fIposix_fadvise\fR\|(2) to advise the kernel what I/O patterns
181are likely to be issued. Default: true.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200182.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100183.BI size \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200184Total size of I/O for this job. \fBfio\fR will run until this many bytes have
185been transfered, unless limited by other options (\fBruntime\fR, for instance).
186Unless \fBnr_files\fR and \fBfilesize\fR options are given, this amount will be
187divided between the available files for the job.
188.TP
Jens Axboe3ce9dca2009-06-10 08:55:21 +0200189.BI fill_device \fR=\fPbool
190Sets size to something really large and waits for ENOSPC (no space left on
191device) as the terminating condition. Only makes sense with sequential write.
192For a read workload, the mount point will be filled first then IO started on
193the result.
194.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200195.BI filesize \fR=\fPirange
196Individual file sizes. May be a range, in which case \fBfio\fR will select sizes
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200197for files at random within the given range, limited to \fBsize\fR in total (if
198that is given). If \fBfilesize\fR is not specified, each created file is the
199same size.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200200.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100201.BI blocksize \fR=\fPint[,int] "\fR,\fB bs" \fR=\fPint[,int]
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200202Block size for I/O units. Default: 4k. Values for reads and writes can be
203specified seperately in the format \fIread\fR,\fIwrite\fR, either of
204which may be empty to leave that value at its default.
205.TP
Jens Axboe91837882008-02-05 12:02:07 +0100206.BI blocksize_range \fR=\fPirange[,irange] "\fR,\fB bsrange" \fR=\fPirange[,irange]
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200207Specify a range of I/O block sizes. The issued I/O unit will always be a
208multiple of the minimum size, unless \fBblocksize_unaligned\fR is set. Applies
Jens Axboe91837882008-02-05 12:02:07 +0100209to both reads and writes if only one range is given, but can be specified
210seperately with a comma seperating the values. Example: bsrange=1k-4k,2k-8k.
211Also (see \fBblocksize\fR).
212.TP
213.BI bssplit \fR=\fPstr
214This option allows even finer grained control of the block sizes issued,
215not just even splits between them. With this option, you can weight various
216block sizes for exact control of the issued IO for a job that has mixed
217block sizes. The format of the option is bssplit=blocksize/percentage,
218optionally adding as many definitions as needed seperated by a colon.
219Example: bssplit=4k/10:64k/50:32k/40 would issue 50% 64k blocks, 10% 4k
Jens Axboec83cdd32009-04-24 14:23:59 +0200220blocks and 40% 32k blocks. \fBbssplit\fR also supports giving separate
221splits to reads and writes. The format is identical to what the
222\fBbs\fR option accepts, the read and write parts are separated with a
223comma.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200224.TP
225.B blocksize_unaligned\fR,\fP bs_unaligned
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200226If set, any size in \fBblocksize_range\fR may be used. This typically won't
227work with direct I/O, as that normally requires sector alignment.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200228.TP
Jens Axboe2b7a01d2009-03-11 11:00:13 +0100229.BI blockalign \fR=\fPint[,int] "\fR,\fB ba" \fR=\fPint[,int]
Martin Steigerwald639ce0f2009-05-20 11:33:49 +0200230At what boundary to align random IO offsets. Defaults to the same as 'blocksize'
231the minimum blocksize given. Minimum alignment is typically 512b
Jens Axboe2b7a01d2009-03-11 11:00:13 +0100232for using direct IO, though it usually depends on the hardware block size.
233This option is mutually exclusive with using a random map for files, so it
234will turn off that option.
Jens Axboe43602662009-03-14 20:08:47 +0100235.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200236.B zero_buffers
237Initialise buffers with all zeros. Default: fill buffers with random data.
238.TP
Jens Axboe901bb992009-03-14 20:17:36 +0100239.B refill_buffers
240If this option is given, fio will refill the IO buffers on every submit. The
241default is to only fill it at init time and reuse that data. Only makes sense
242if zero_buffers isn't specified, naturally. If data verification is enabled,
243refill_buffers is also automatically enabled.
244.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200245.BI nrfiles \fR=\fPint
246Number of files to use for this job. Default: 1.
247.TP
248.BI openfiles \fR=\fPint
249Number of files to keep open at the same time. Default: \fBnrfiles\fR.
250.TP
251.BI file_service_type \fR=\fPstr
252Defines how files to service are selected. The following types are defined:
253.RS
254.RS
255.TP
256.B random
257Choose a file at random
258.TP
259.B roundrobin
260Round robin over open files (default).
Jens Axboe6b7f6852009-03-09 14:22:56 +0100261.B sequential
262Do each file in the set sequentially.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200263.RE
264.P
265The number of I/Os to issue before switching a new file can be specified by
266appending `:\fIint\fR' to the service type.
267.RE
268.TP
269.BI ioengine \fR=\fPstr
270Defines how the job issues I/O. The following types are defined:
271.RS
272.RS
273.TP
274.B sync
275Basic \fIread\fR\|(2) or \fIwrite\fR\|(2) I/O. \fIfseek\fR\|(2) is used to
276position the I/O location.
277.TP
gurudas paia31041e2007-10-23 15:12:30 +0200278.B psync
279Basic \fIpread\fR\|(2) or \fIpwrite\fR\|(2) I/O.
280.TP
Jens Axboe91837882008-02-05 12:02:07 +0100281.B vsync
282Basic \fIreadv\fR\|(2) or \fIwritev\fR\|(2) I/O. Will emulate queuing by
283coalescing adjacents IOs into a single submission.
284.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200285.B libaio
286Linux native asynchronous I/O.
287.TP
288.B posixaio
289glibc POSIX asynchronous I/O using \fIaio_read\fR\|(3) and \fIaio_write\fR\|(3).
290.TP
291.B mmap
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200292File is memory mapped with \fImmap\fR\|(2) and data copied using
293\fImemcpy\fR\|(3).
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200294.TP
295.B splice
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200296\fIsplice\fR\|(2) is used to transfer the data and \fIvmsplice\fR\|(2) to
297transfer data from user-space to the kernel.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200298.TP
299.B syslet-rw
300Use the syslet system calls to make regular read/write asynchronous.
301.TP
302.B sg
303SCSI generic sg v3 I/O. May be either synchronous using the SG_IO ioctl, or if
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200304the target is an sg character device, we use \fIread\fR\|(2) and
305\fIwrite\fR\|(2) for asynchronous I/O.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200306.TP
307.B null
308Doesn't transfer any data, just pretends to. Mainly used to exercise \fBfio\fR
309itself and for debugging and testing purposes.
310.TP
311.B net
312Transfer over the network. \fBfilename\fR must be set appropriately to
313`\fIhost\fR/\fIport\fR' regardless of data direction. If receiving, only the
314\fIport\fR argument is used.
315.TP
316.B netsplice
317Like \fBnet\fR, but uses \fIsplice\fR\|(2) and \fIvmsplice\fR\|(2) to map data
318and send/receive.
319.TP
gurudas pai53aec0a2007-10-05 13:20:18 +0200320.B cpuio
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200321Doesn't transfer any data, but burns CPU cycles according to \fBcpuload\fR and
322\fBcpucycles\fR parameters.
323.TP
324.B guasi
325The GUASI I/O engine is the Generic Userspace Asynchronous Syscall Interface
326approach to asycnronous I/O.
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200327.br
328See <http://www.xmailserver.org/guasi\-lib.html>.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200329.TP
330.B external
331Loads an external I/O engine object file. Append the engine filename as
332`:\fIenginepath\fR'.
333.RE
334.RE
335.TP
336.BI iodepth \fR=\fPint
337Number of I/O units to keep in flight against the file. Default: 1.
338.TP
339.BI iodepth_batch \fR=\fPint
340Number of I/Os to submit at once. Default: \fBiodepth\fR.
341.TP
Jens Axboe3ce9dca2009-06-10 08:55:21 +0200342.BI iodepth_batch_complete \fR=\fPint
343This defines how many pieces of IO to retrieve at once. It defaults to 1 which
344 means that we'll ask for a minimum of 1 IO in the retrieval process from the
345kernel. The IO retrieval will go on until we hit the limit set by
346\fBiodepth_low\fR. If this variable is set to 0, then fio will always check for
347completed events before queuing more IO. This helps reduce IO latency, at the
348cost of more retrieval system calls.
349.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200350.BI iodepth_low \fR=\fPint
351Low watermark indicating when to start filling the queue again. Default:
352\fBiodepth\fR.
353.TP
354.BI direct \fR=\fPbool
355If true, use non-buffered I/O (usually O_DIRECT). Default: false.
356.TP
357.BI buffered \fR=\fPbool
358If true, use buffered I/O. This is the opposite of the \fBdirect\fR parameter.
359Default: true.
360.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100361.BI offset \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200362Offset in the file to start I/O. Data before the offset will not be touched.
363.TP
364.BI fsync \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200365How many I/Os to perform before issuing an \fBfsync\fR\|(2) of dirty data. If
3660, don't sync. Default: 0.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200367.TP
368.BI overwrite \fR=\fPbool
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200369If writing, setup the file first and do overwrites. Default: false.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200370.TP
371.BI end_fsync \fR=\fPbool
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200372Sync file contents when job exits. Default: false.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200373.TP
374.BI fsync_on_close \fR=\fPbool
375If true, sync file contents on close. This differs from \fBend_fsync\fR in that
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200376it will happen on every close, not just at the end of the job. Default: false.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200377.TP
378.BI rwmixcycle \fR=\fPint
379How many milliseconds before switching between reads and writes for a mixed
380workload. Default: 500ms.
381.TP
382.BI rwmixread \fR=\fPint
383Percentage of a mixed workload that should be reads. Default: 50.
384.TP
385.BI rwmixwrite \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200386Percentage of a mixed workload that should be writes. If \fBrwmixread\fR and
Jens Axboec35dd7a2009-06-10 08:39:16 +0200387\fBrwmixwrite\fR are given and do not sum to 100%, the latter of the two
388overrides the first. This may interfere with a given rate setting, if fio is
389asked to limit reads or writes to a certain rate. If that is the case, then
390the distribution may be skewed. Default: 50.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200391.TP
392.B norandommap
393Normally \fBfio\fR will cover every block of the file when doing random I/O. If
394this parameter is given, a new offset will be chosen without looking at past
395I/O history. This parameter is mutually exclusive with \fBverify\fR.
396.TP
Jens Axboe3ce9dca2009-06-10 08:55:21 +0200397.B softrandommap
398See \fBnorandommap\fR. If fio runs with the random block map enabled and it
399fails to allocate the map, if this option is set it will continue without a
400random block map. As coverage will not be as complete as with random maps, this
401option is disabled by default.
402.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200403.BI nice \fR=\fPint
404Run job with given nice value. See \fInice\fR\|(2).
405.TP
406.BI prio \fR=\fPint
407Set I/O priority value of this job between 0 (highest) and 7 (lowest). See
408\fIionice\fR\|(1).
409.TP
410.BI prioclass \fR=\fPint
411Set I/O priority class. See \fIionice\fR\|(1).
412.TP
413.BI thinktime \fR=\fPint
414Stall job for given number of microseconds between issuing I/Os.
415.TP
416.BI thinktime_spin \fR=\fPint
417Pretend to spend CPU time for given number of microseconds, sleeping the rest
418of the time specified by \fBthinktime\fR. Only valid if \fBthinktime\fR is set.
419.TP
420.BI thinktime_blocks \fR=\fPint
421Number of blocks to issue before waiting \fBthinktime\fR microseconds.
422Default: 1.
423.TP
424.BI rate \fR=\fPint
Jens Axboec35dd7a2009-06-10 08:39:16 +0200425Cap bandwidth used by this job. The number is in bytes/sec, the normal postfix
426rules apply. You can use \fBrate\fR=500k to limit reads and writes to 500k each,
427or you can specify read and writes separately. Using \fBrate\fR=1m,500k would
428limit reads to 1MB/sec and writes to 500KB/sec. Capping only reads or writes
429can be done with \fBrate\fR=,500k or \fBrate\fR=500k,. The former will only
430limit writes (to 500KB/sec), the latter will only limit reads.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200431.TP
432.BI ratemin \fR=\fPint
433Tell \fBfio\fR to do whatever it can to maintain at least the given bandwidth.
Jens Axboec35dd7a2009-06-10 08:39:16 +0200434Failing to meet this requirement will cause the job to exit. The same format
435as \fBrate\fR is used for read vs write separation.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200436.TP
437.BI rate_iops \fR=\fPint
Jens Axboec35dd7a2009-06-10 08:39:16 +0200438Cap the bandwidth to this number of IOPS. Basically the same as rate, just
439specified independently of bandwidth. The same format as \fBrate\fR is used for
440read vs write seperation. If \fBblocksize\fR is a range, the smallest block
441size is used as the metric.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200442.TP
443.BI rate_iops_min \fR=\fPint
Jens Axboec35dd7a2009-06-10 08:39:16 +0200444If this rate of I/O is not met, the job will exit. The same format as \fBrate\fR
445is used for read vs write seperation.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200446.TP
447.BI ratecycle \fR=\fPint
448Average bandwidth for \fBrate\fR and \fBratemin\fR over this number of
449milliseconds. Default: 1000ms.
450.TP
451.BI cpumask \fR=\fPint
452Set CPU affinity for this job. \fIint\fR is a bitmask of allowed CPUs the job
453may run on. See \fBsched_setaffinity\fR\|(2).
454.TP
455.BI cpus_allowed \fR=\fPstr
456Same as \fBcpumask\fR, but allows a comma-delimited list of CPU numbers.
457.TP
458.BI startdelay \fR=\fPint
459Delay start of job for the specified number of seconds.
460.TP
461.BI runtime \fR=\fPint
462Terminate processing after the specified number of seconds.
463.TP
464.B time_based
465If given, run for the specified \fBruntime\fR duration even if the files are
466completely read or written. The same workload will be repeated as many times
467as \fBruntime\fR allows.
468.TP
Jens Axboe901bb992009-03-14 20:17:36 +0100469.BI ramp_time \fR=\fPint
470If set, fio will run the specified workload for this amount of time before
471logging any performance numbers. Useful for letting performance settle before
472logging results, thus minimizing the runtime required for stable results. Note
Jens Axboec35dd7a2009-06-10 08:39:16 +0200473that the \fBramp_time\fR is considered lead in time for a job, thus it will
474increase the total runtime if a special timeout or runtime is specified.
Jens Axboe901bb992009-03-14 20:17:36 +0100475.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200476.BI invalidate \fR=\fPbool
477Invalidate buffer-cache for the file prior to starting I/O. Default: true.
478.TP
479.BI sync \fR=\fPbool
480Use synchronous I/O for buffered writes. For the majority of I/O engines,
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200481this means using O_SYNC. Default: false.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200482.TP
483.BI iomem \fR=\fPstr "\fR,\fP mem" \fR=\fPstr
484Allocation method for I/O unit buffer. Allowed values are:
485.RS
486.RS
487.TP
488.B malloc
489Allocate memory with \fImalloc\fR\|(3).
490.TP
491.B shm
492Use shared memory buffers allocated through \fIshmget\fR\|(2).
493.TP
494.B shmhuge
495Same as \fBshm\fR, but use huge pages as backing.
496.TP
497.B mmap
498Use \fImmap\fR\|(2) for allocation. Uses anonymous memory unless a filename
499is given after the option in the format `:\fIfile\fR'.
500.TP
501.B mmaphuge
502Same as \fBmmap\fR, but use huge files as backing.
503.RE
504.P
505The amount of memory allocated is the maximum allowed \fBblocksize\fR for the
506job multiplied by \fBiodepth\fR. For \fBshmhuge\fR or \fBmmaphuge\fR to work,
507the system must have free huge pages allocated. \fBmmaphuge\fR also needs to
508have hugetlbfs mounted, and \fIfile\fR must point there.
509.RE
510.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100511.BI hugepage\-size \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200512Defines the size of a huge page. Must be at least equal to the system setting.
513Should be a multiple of 1MiB. Default: 4MiB.
514.TP
515.B exitall
516Terminate all jobs when one finishes. Default: wait for each job to finish.
517.TP
518.BI bwavgtime \fR=\fPint
519Average bandwidth calculations over the given time in milliseconds. Default:
520500ms.
521.TP
522.BI create_serialize \fR=\fPbool
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200523If true, serialize file creation for the jobs. Default: true.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200524.TP
525.BI create_fsync \fR=\fPbool
526\fIfsync\fR\|(2) data file after creation. Default: true.
527.TP
Jens Axboe6b7f6852009-03-09 14:22:56 +0100528.BI create_on_open \fR=\fPbool
529If true, the files are not created until they are opened for IO by the job.
530.TP
Jens Axboee9f48472009-06-03 12:14:08 +0200531.BI pre_read \fR=\fPbool
532If this is given, files will be pre-read into memory before starting the given
533IO operation. This will also clear the \fR \fBinvalidate\fR flag, since it is
534pointless to pre-read and then drop the cache.
535.TP
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200536.BI unlink \fR=\fPbool
537Unlink job files when done. Default: false.
538.TP
539.BI loops \fR=\fPint
540Specifies the number of iterations (runs of the same workload) of this job.
541Default: 1.
542.TP
543.BI do_verify \fR=\fPbool
544Run the verify phase after a write phase. Only valid if \fBverify\fR is set.
545Default: true.
546.TP
547.BI verify \fR=\fPstr
548Method of verifying file contents after each iteration of the job. Allowed
549values are:
550.RS
551.RS
552.TP
553.B md5 crc16 crc32 crc64 crc7 sha256 sha512
554Store appropriate checksum in the header of each block.
555.TP
556.B meta
557Write extra information about each I/O (timestamp, block number, etc.). The
558block number is verified.
559.TP
560.B pattern
561Fill I/O buffers with a specific pattern that is used to verify. The pattern is
562specified by appending `:\fIint\fR' to the parameter. \fIint\fR cannot be larger
563than 32-bits.
564.TP
565.B null
566Pretend to verify. Used for testing internals.
567.RE
568.RE
569.TP
570.BI verify_sort \fR=\fPbool
571If true, written verify blocks are sorted if \fBfio\fR deems it to be faster to
572read them back in a sorted manner. Default: true.
573.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100574.BI verify_offset \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200575Swap the verification header with data somewhere else in the block before
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200576writing. It is swapped back before verifying.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200577.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100578.BI verify_interval \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200579Write the verification header for this number of bytes, which should divide
580\fBblocksize\fR. Default: \fBblocksize\fR.
581.TP
582.BI verify_fatal \fR=\fPbool
583If true, exit the job on the first observed verification failure. Default:
584false.
585.TP
586.B stonewall
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200587Wait for preceeding jobs in the job file to exit before starting this one.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200588\fBstonewall\fR implies \fBnew_group\fR.
589.TP
590.B new_group
591Start a new reporting group. If not given, all jobs in a file will be part
592of the same reporting group, unless separated by a stonewall.
593.TP
594.BI numjobs \fR=\fPint
595Number of clones (processes/threads performing the same workload) of this job.
596Default: 1.
597.TP
598.B group_reporting
599If set, display per-group reports instead of per-job when \fBnumjobs\fR is
600specified.
601.TP
602.B thread
603Use threads created with \fBpthread_create\fR\|(3) instead of processes created
604with \fBfork\fR\|(2).
605.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100606.BI zonesize \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200607Divide file into zones of the specified size in bytes. See \fBzoneskip\fR.
608.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100609.BI zoneskip \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200610Skip the specified number of bytes when \fBzonesize\fR bytes of data have been
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200611read.
612.TP
613.BI write_iolog \fR=\fPstr
614Write the issued I/O patterns to the specified file.
615.TP
616.BI read_iolog \fR=\fPstr
617Replay the I/O patterns contained in the specified file generated by
618\fBwrite_iolog\fR, or may be a \fBblktrace\fR binary file.
619.TP
Jens Axboe901bb992009-03-14 20:17:36 +0100620.B write_bw_log \fR=\fPstr
621If given, write a bandwidth log of the jobs in this job file. Can be used to
622store data of the bandwidth of the jobs in their lifetime. The included
623fio_generate_plots script uses gnuplot to turn these text files into nice
624graphs. See \fBwrite_log_log\fR for behaviour of given filename. For this
625option, the postfix is _bw.log.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200626.TP
627.B write_lat_log
Jens Axboe901bb992009-03-14 20:17:36 +0100628Same as \fBwrite_bw_log\fR, but writes I/O completion latencies. If no
629filename is given with this option, the default filename of "jobname_type.log"
630is used. Even if the filename is given, fio will still append the type of log.
631.TP
632.B disable_clat \fR=\fPbool
633Disable measurements of completion latency numbers. Useful only for cutting
634back the number of calls to gettimeofday, as that does impact performance at
635really high IOPS rates. Note that to really get rid of a large amount of these
636calls, this option must be used with disable_slat and disable_bw as well.
637.TP
638.B disable_slat \fR=\fPbool
639Disable measurements of submission latency numbers. See \fBdisable_clat\fR.
640.TP
641.B disable_bw_measurement \fR=\fPbool
642Disable measurements of throughput/bandwidth numbers. See \fBdisable_clat\fR.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200643.TP
Jens Axboef7fa2652009-03-09 14:20:20 +0100644.BI lockmem \fR=\fPint
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200645Pin the specified amount of memory with \fBmlock\fR\|(2). Can be used to
646simulate a smaller amount of memory.
647.TP
648.BI exec_prerun \fR=\fPstr
649Before running the job, execute the specified command with \fBsystem\fR\|(3).
650.TP
651.BI exec_postrun \fR=\fPstr
652Same as \fBexec_prerun\fR, but the command is executed after the job completes.
653.TP
654.BI ioscheduler \fR=\fPstr
655Attempt to switch the device hosting the file to the specified I/O scheduler.
656.TP
657.BI cpuload \fR=\fPint
658If the job is a CPU cycle-eater, attempt to use the specified percentage of
659CPU cycles.
660.TP
661.BI cpuchunks \fR=\fPint
662If the job is a CPU cycle-eater, split the load into cycles of the
663given time in milliseconds.
664.TP
665.BI disk_util \fR=\fPbool
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200666Generate disk utilization statistics if the platform supports it. Default: true.
Jens Axboe901bb992009-03-14 20:17:36 +0100667.TP
668.BI gtod_reduce \fR=\fPbool
669Enable all of the gettimeofday() reducing options (disable_clat, disable_slat,
670disable_bw) plus reduce precision of the timeout somewhat to really shrink the
671gettimeofday() call count. With this option enabled, we only do about 0.4% of
672the gtod() calls we would have done if all time keeping was enabled.
673.TP
674.BI gtod_cpu \fR=\fPint
675Sometimes it's cheaper to dedicate a single thread of execution to just getting
676the current time. Fio (and databases, for instance) are very intensive on
677gettimeofday() calls. With this option, you can set one CPU aside for doing
678nothing but logging current time to a shared memory location. Then the other
679threads/processes that run IO workloads need only copy that segment, instead of
680entering the kernel with a gettimeofday() call. The CPU set aside for doing
681these time calls will be excluded from other uses. Fio will manually clear it
682from the CPU mask of other jobs.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200683.SH OUTPUT
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200684While running, \fBfio\fR will display the status of the created jobs. For
685example:
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200686.RS
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200687.P
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200688Threads: 1: [_r] [24.8% done] [ 13509/ 8334 kb/s] [eta 00h:01m:31s]
689.RE
690.P
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200691The characters in the first set of brackets denote the current status of each
692threads. The possible values are:
693.P
694.PD 0
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200695.RS
696.TP
697.B P
698Setup but not started.
699.TP
700.B C
701Thread created.
702.TP
703.B I
704Initialized, waiting.
705.TP
706.B R
707Running, doing sequential reads.
708.TP
709.B r
710Running, doing random reads.
711.TP
712.B W
713Running, doing sequential writes.
714.TP
715.B w
716Running, doing random writes.
717.TP
718.B M
719Running, doing mixed sequential reads/writes.
720.TP
721.B m
722Running, doing mixed random reads/writes.
723.TP
724.B F
725Running, currently waiting for \fBfsync\fR\|(2).
726.TP
727.B V
728Running, verifying written data.
729.TP
730.B E
731Exited, not reaped by main thread.
732.TP
733.B \-
734Exited, thread reaped.
735.RE
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200736.PD
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200737.P
738The second set of brackets shows the estimated completion percentage of
739the current group. The third set shows the read and write I/O rate,
740respectively. Finally, the estimated run time of the job is displayed.
741.P
742When \fBfio\fR completes (or is interrupted by Ctrl-C), it will show data
743for each thread, each group of threads, and each disk, in that order.
744.P
745Per-thread statistics first show the threads client number, group-id, and
746error code. The remaining figures are as follows:
747.RS
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200748.TP
749.B io
750Number of megabytes of I/O performed.
751.TP
752.B bw
753Average data rate (bandwidth).
754.TP
755.B runt
756Threads run time.
757.TP
758.B slat
759Submission latency minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation. This is
760the time it took to submit the I/O.
761.TP
762.B clat
763Completion latency minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation. This
764is the time between submission and completion.
765.TP
766.B bw
767Bandwidth minimum, maximum, percentage of aggregate bandwidth received, average
768and standard deviation.
769.TP
770.B cpu
771CPU usage statistics. Includes user and system time, number of context switches
772this thread went through and number of major and minor page faults.
773.TP
774.B IO depths
775Distribution of I/O depths. Each depth includes everything less than (or equal)
776to it, but greater than the previous depth.
777.TP
778.B IO issued
779Number of read/write requests issued, and number of short read/write requests.
780.TP
781.B IO latencies
782Distribution of I/O completion latencies. The numbers follow the same pattern
783as \fBIO depths\fR.
784.RE
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200785.P
786The group statistics show:
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200787.PD 0
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200788.RS
789.TP
790.B io
791Number of megabytes I/O performed.
792.TP
793.B aggrb
794Aggregate bandwidth of threads in the group.
795.TP
796.B minb
797Minimum average bandwidth a thread saw.
798.TP
799.B maxb
800Maximum average bandwidth a thread saw.
801.TP
802.B mint
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200803Shortest runtime of threads in the group.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200804.TP
805.B maxt
806Longest runtime of threads in the group.
807.RE
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200808.PD
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200809.P
810Finally, disk statistics are printed with reads first:
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200811.PD 0
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200812.RS
813.TP
814.B ios
815Number of I/Os performed by all groups.
816.TP
817.B merge
818Number of merges in the I/O scheduler.
819.TP
820.B ticks
821Number of ticks we kept the disk busy.
822.TP
823.B io_queue
824Total time spent in the disk queue.
825.TP
826.B util
827Disk utilization.
828.RE
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200829.PD
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200830.SH TERSE OUTPUT
831If the \fB\-\-minimal\fR option is given, the results will be printed in a
832semicolon-delimited format suitable for scripted use. The fields are:
833.P
834.RS
835.B jobname, groupid, error
836.P
837Read status:
838.RS
839.B KiB I/O, bandwidth \fR(KiB/s)\fP, runtime \fR(ms)\fP
840.P
841Submission latency:
842.RS
843.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
844.RE
845Completion latency:
846.RS
847.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
848.RE
849Bandwidth:
850.RS
851.B min, max, aggregate percentage of total, mean, standard deviation
852.RE
853.RE
854.P
855Write status:
856.RS
857.B KiB I/O, bandwidth \fR(KiB/s)\fP, runtime \fR(ms)\fP
858.P
859Submission latency:
860.RS
861.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
862.RE
863Completion latency:
864.RS
865.B min, max, mean, standard deviation
866.RE
867Bandwidth:
868.RS
869.B min, max, aggregate percentage of total, mean, standard deviation
870.RE
871.RE
872.P
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200873CPU usage:
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200874.RS
Carl Henrik Lundebd2626f2008-06-12 09:17:46 +0200875.B user, system, context switches, major page faults, minor page faults
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200876.RE
877.P
878IO depth distribution:
879.RS
880.B <=1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, >=64
881.RE
882.P
883IO latency distribution (ms):
884.RS
885.B <=2, 4, 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, >=2000
886.RE
887.P
888.B text description
889.RE
890.SH AUTHORS
891.B fio
892was written by Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@oracle.com>.
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200893.br
894This man page was written by Aaron Carroll <aaronc@cse.unsw.edu.au> based
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200895on documentation by Jens Axboe.
896.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Jens Axboe482900c2009-06-02 12:15:51 +0200897Report bugs to the \fBfio\fR mailing list <fio@vger.kernel.org>.
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200898See \fBREADME\fR.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200899.SH "SEE ALSO"
Aaron Carrolld1429b52007-09-18 08:10:57 +0200900For further documentation see \fBHOWTO\fR and \fBREADME\fR.
901.br
902Sample jobfiles are available in the \fBexamples\fR directory.
Aaron Carrolld60e92d2007-09-17 10:32:59 +0200903