path: root/Documentation/block/null_blk.txt

Null block device driver
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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.