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1 | Null block device driver | ||
2 | ================================================================================ | ||
3 | |||
4 | I. Overview | ||
5 | |||
6 | The null block device (/dev/nullb*) is used for benchmarking the various | ||
7 | block-layer implementations. It emulates a block device of X gigabytes in size. | ||
8 | The following instances are possible: | ||
9 | |||
10 | Single-queue block-layer | ||
11 | - Request-based. | ||
12 | - Single submission queue per device. | ||
13 | - Implements IO scheduling algorithms (CFQ, Deadline, noop). | ||
14 | Multi-queue block-layer | ||
15 | - Request-based. | ||
16 | - Configurable submission queues per device. | ||
17 | No block-layer (Known as bio-based) | ||
18 | - Bio-based. IO requests are submitted directly to the device driver. | ||
19 | - Directly accepts bio data structure and returns them. | ||
20 | |||
21 | All of them have a completion queue for each core in the system. | ||
22 | |||
23 | II. Module parameters applicable for all instances: | ||
24 | |||
25 | queue_mode=[0-2]: Default: 2-Multi-queue | ||
26 | Selects which block-layer the module should instantiate with. | ||
27 | |||
28 | 0: Bio-based. | ||
29 | 1: Single-queue. | ||
30 | 2: Multi-queue. | ||
31 | |||
32 | home_node=[0--nr_nodes]: Default: NUMA_NO_NODE | ||
33 | Selects what CPU node the data structures are allocated from. | ||
34 | |||
35 | gb=[Size in GB]: Default: 250GB | ||
36 | The size of the device reported to the system. | ||
37 | |||
38 | bs=[Block size (in bytes)]: Default: 512 bytes | ||
39 | The block size reported to the system. | ||
40 | |||
41 | nr_devices=[Number of devices]: Default: 2 | ||
42 | Number of block devices instantiated. They are instantiated as /dev/nullb0, | ||
43 | etc. | ||
44 | |||
45 | irq_mode=[0-2]: Default: 1-Soft-irq | ||
46 | The completion mode used for completing IOs to the block-layer. | ||
47 | |||
48 | 0: None. | ||
49 | 1: Soft-irq. Uses IPI to complete IOs across CPU nodes. Simulates the overhead | ||
50 | when IOs are issued from another CPU node than the home the device is | ||
51 | connected to. | ||
52 | 2: Timer: Waits a specific period (completion_nsec) for each IO before | ||
53 | completion. | ||
54 | |||
55 | completion_nsec=[ns]: Default: 10.000ns | ||
56 | Combined with irq_mode=2 (timer). The time each completion event must wait. | ||
57 | |||
58 | submit_queues=[0..nr_cpus]: | ||
59 | The number of submission queues attached to the device driver. If unset, it | ||
60 | defaults to 1 on single-queue and bio-based instances. For multi-queue, | ||
61 | it is ignored when use_per_node_hctx module parameter is 1. | ||
62 | |||
63 | hw_queue_depth=[0..qdepth]: Default: 64 | ||
64 | The hardware queue depth of the device. | ||
65 | |||
66 | III: Multi-queue specific parameters | ||
67 | |||
68 | use_per_node_hctx=[0/1]: Default: 0 | ||
69 | 0: The number of submit queues are set to the value of the submit_queues | ||
70 | parameter. | ||
71 | 1: The multi-queue block layer is instantiated with a hardware dispatch | ||
72 | queue for each CPU node in the system. | ||