summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/block
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorJens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>2013-12-31 20:51:02 +0400
committerJens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>2013-12-31 20:51:02 +0400
commitb28bc9b38c52f63f43e3fd875af982f2240a2859 (patch)
tree76cdb7b52b58f5685993cc15ed81d1c903023358 /Documentation/block
parent8d30726912cb39c3a3ebde06214d54861f8fdde2 (diff)
parent802eee95bde72fd0cd0f3a5b2098375a487d1eda (diff)
downloadlinux-b28bc9b38c52f63f43e3fd875af982f2240a2859.tar.xz
Merge tag 'v3.13-rc6' into for-3.14/core
Needed to bring blk-mq uptodate, since changes have been going in since for-3.14/core was established. Fixup merge issues related to the immutable biovec changes. Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk> Conflicts: block/blk-flush.c fs/btrfs/check-integrity.c fs/btrfs/extent_io.c fs/btrfs/scrub.c fs/logfs/dev_bdev.c
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/block')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/block/null_blk.txt72
1 files changed, 72 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/block/null_blk.txt b/Documentation/block/null_blk.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b2830b435895
--- /dev/null
+++ b/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.
+
+irq_mode=[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 irq_mode=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.