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Diffstat (limited to 'kernel/Documentation/block/null_blk.txt')
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diff --git a/kernel/Documentation/block/null_blk.txt b/kernel/Documentation/block/null_blk.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..2f6c6ff71 --- /dev/null +++ b/kernel/Documentation/block/null_blk.txt @@ -0,0 +1,72 @@ +Null block device driver +================================================================================ + +I. Overview + +The null block device (/dev/nullb*) is used for benchmarking the various +block-layer implementations. It emulates a block device of X gigabytes in size. +The following instances are possible: + + Single-queue block-layer + - Request-based. + - Single submission queue per device. + - Implements IO scheduling algorithms (CFQ, Deadline, noop). + Multi-queue block-layer + - Request-based. + - Configurable submission queues per device. + No block-layer (Known as bio-based) + - Bio-based. IO requests are submitted directly to the device driver. + - Directly accepts bio data structure and returns them. + +All of them have a completion queue for each core in the system. + +II. Module parameters applicable for all instances: + +queue_mode=[0-2]: Default: 2-Multi-queue + Selects which block-layer the module should instantiate with. + + 0: Bio-based. + 1: Single-queue. + 2: Multi-queue. + +home_node=[0--nr_nodes]: Default: NUMA_NO_NODE + Selects what CPU node the data structures are allocated from. + +gb=[Size in GB]: Default: 250GB + The size of the device reported to the system. + +bs=[Block size (in bytes)]: Default: 512 bytes + The block size reported to the system. + +nr_devices=[Number of devices]: Default: 2 + Number of block devices instantiated. They are instantiated as /dev/nullb0, + etc. + +irqmode=[0-2]: Default: 1-Soft-irq + The completion mode used for completing IOs to the block-layer. + + 0: None. + 1: Soft-irq. Uses IPI to complete IOs across CPU nodes. Simulates the overhead + when IOs are issued from another CPU node than the home the device is + connected to. + 2: Timer: Waits a specific period (completion_nsec) for each IO before + completion. + +completion_nsec=[ns]: Default: 10.000ns + Combined with irqmode=2 (timer). The time each completion event must wait. + +submit_queues=[0..nr_cpus]: + The number of submission queues attached to the device driver. If unset, it + defaults to 1 on single-queue and bio-based instances. For multi-queue, + it is ignored when use_per_node_hctx module parameter is 1. + +hw_queue_depth=[0..qdepth]: Default: 64 + The hardware queue depth of the device. + +III: Multi-queue specific parameters + +use_per_node_hctx=[0/1]: Default: 0 + 0: The number of submit queues are set to the value of the submit_queues + parameter. + 1: The multi-queue block layer is instantiated with a hardware dispatch + queue for each CPU node in the system. |