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authorEric Paris <eparis@redhat.com>2014-03-07 20:41:32 +0400
committerEric Paris <eparis@redhat.com>2014-03-07 20:41:32 +0400
commitb7d3622a39fde7658170b7f3cf6c6889bb8db30d (patch)
tree64f4e781ecb2a85d675e234072b988560bcd25f1 /Documentation/block
parentf3411cb2b2e396a41ed3a439863f028db7140a34 (diff)
parentd8ec26d7f8287f5788a494f56e8814210f0e64be (diff)
downloadlinux-b7d3622a39fde7658170b7f3cf6c6889bb8db30d.tar.xz
Merge tag 'v3.13' into for-3.15
Linux 3.13 Conflicts: include/net/xfrm.h Simple merge where v3.13 removed 'extern' from definitions and the audit tree did s/u32/unsigned int/ to the same definitions.
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+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.