| =================== | 
 | Block IO Controller | 
 | =================== | 
 |  | 
 | Overview | 
 | ======== | 
 | cgroup subsys "blkio" implements the block io controller. There seems to be | 
 | a need of various kinds of IO control policies (like proportional BW, max BW) | 
 | both at leaf nodes as well as at intermediate nodes in a storage hierarchy. | 
 | Plan is to use the same cgroup based management interface for blkio controller | 
 | and based on user options switch IO policies in the background. | 
 |  | 
 | One IO control policy is throttling policy which can be used to | 
 | specify upper IO rate limits on devices. This policy is implemented in | 
 | generic block layer and can be used on leaf nodes as well as higher | 
 | level logical devices like device mapper. | 
 |  | 
 | HOWTO | 
 | ===== | 
 |  | 
 | Throttling/Upper Limit policy | 
 | ----------------------------- | 
 | Enable Block IO controller:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP=y | 
 |  | 
 | Enable throttling in block layer:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	CONFIG_BLK_DEV_THROTTLING=y | 
 |  | 
 | Mount blkio controller (see cgroups.txt, Why are cgroups needed?):: | 
 |  | 
 |         mount -t cgroup -o blkio none /sys/fs/cgroup/blkio | 
 |  | 
 | Specify a bandwidth rate on particular device for root group. The format | 
 | for policy is "<major>:<minor>  <bytes_per_second>":: | 
 |  | 
 |         echo "8:16  1048576" > /sys/fs/cgroup/blkio/blkio.throttle.read_bps_device | 
 |  | 
 | This will put a limit of 1MB/second on reads happening for root group | 
 | on device having major/minor number 8:16. | 
 |  | 
 | Run dd to read a file and see if rate is throttled to 1MB/s or not:: | 
 |  | 
 |         # dd iflag=direct if=/mnt/common/zerofile of=/dev/null bs=4K count=1024 | 
 |         1024+0 records in | 
 |         1024+0 records out | 
 |         4194304 bytes (4.2 MB) copied, 4.0001 s, 1.0 MB/s | 
 |  | 
 | Limits for writes can be put using blkio.throttle.write_bps_device file. | 
 |  | 
 | Hierarchical Cgroups | 
 | ==================== | 
 |  | 
 | Throttling implements hierarchy support; however, | 
 | throttling's hierarchy support is enabled iff "sane_behavior" is | 
 | enabled from cgroup side, which currently is a development option and | 
 | not publicly available. | 
 |  | 
 | If somebody created a hierarchy like as follows:: | 
 |  | 
 | 			root | 
 | 			/  \ | 
 | 		     test1 test2 | 
 | 			| | 
 | 		     test3 | 
 |  | 
 | Throttling with "sane_behavior" will handle the | 
 | hierarchy correctly. For throttling, all limits apply | 
 | to the whole subtree while all statistics are local to the IOs | 
 | directly generated by tasks in that cgroup. | 
 |  | 
 | Throttling without "sane_behavior" enabled from cgroup side will | 
 | practically treat all groups at same level as if it looks like the | 
 | following:: | 
 |  | 
 | 				pivot | 
 | 			     /  /   \  \ | 
 | 			root  test1 test2  test3 | 
 |  | 
 | Various user visible config options | 
 | =================================== | 
 |  | 
 |   CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP | 
 | 	  Block IO controller. | 
 |  | 
 |   CONFIG_BFQ_CGROUP_DEBUG | 
 | 	  Debug help. Right now some additional stats file show up in cgroup | 
 | 	  if this option is enabled. | 
 |  | 
 |   CONFIG_BLK_DEV_THROTTLING | 
 | 	  Enable block device throttling support in block layer. | 
 |  | 
 | Details of cgroup files | 
 | ======================= | 
 |  | 
 | Proportional weight policy files | 
 | -------------------------------- | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.bfq.weight | 
 | 	  Specifies per cgroup weight. This is default weight of the group | 
 | 	  on all the devices until and unless overridden by per device rule | 
 | 	  (see `blkio.bfq.weight_device` below). | 
 |  | 
 | 	  Currently allowed range of weights is from 1 to 1000. For more details, | 
 |           see Documentation/block/bfq-iosched.rst. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 |           Specifies per cgroup per device weights, overriding the default group | 
 |           weight. For more details, see Documentation/block/bfq-iosched.rst. | 
 |  | 
 | 	  Following is the format:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	    # echo dev_maj:dev_minor weight > blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 |  | 
 | 	  Configure weight=300 on /dev/sdb (8:16) in this cgroup:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	    # echo 8:16 300 > blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 | 	    # cat blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 | 	    dev     weight | 
 | 	    8:16    300 | 
 |  | 
 | 	  Configure weight=500 on /dev/sda (8:0) in this cgroup:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	    # echo 8:0 500 > blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 | 	    # cat blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 | 	    dev     weight | 
 | 	    8:0     500 | 
 | 	    8:16    300 | 
 |  | 
 | 	  Remove specific weight for /dev/sda in this cgroup:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	    # echo 8:0 0 > blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 | 	    # cat blkio.bfq.weight_device | 
 | 	    dev     weight | 
 | 	    8:16    300 | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.time | 
 | 	  Disk time allocated to cgroup per device in milliseconds. First | 
 | 	  two fields specify the major and minor number of the device and | 
 | 	  third field specifies the disk time allocated to group in | 
 | 	  milliseconds. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.sectors | 
 | 	  Number of sectors transferred to/from disk by the group. First | 
 | 	  two fields specify the major and minor number of the device and | 
 | 	  third field specifies the number of sectors transferred by the | 
 | 	  group to/from the device. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.io_service_bytes | 
 | 	  Number of bytes transferred to/from the disk by the group. These | 
 | 	  are further divided by the type of operation - read or write, sync | 
 | 	  or async. First two fields specify the major and minor number of the | 
 | 	  device, third field specifies the operation type and the fourth field | 
 | 	  specifies the number of bytes. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.io_serviced | 
 | 	  Number of IOs (bio) issued to the disk by the group. These | 
 | 	  are further divided by the type of operation - read or write, sync | 
 | 	  or async. First two fields specify the major and minor number of the | 
 | 	  device, third field specifies the operation type and the fourth field | 
 | 	  specifies the number of IOs. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.io_service_time | 
 | 	  Total amount of time between request dispatch and request completion | 
 | 	  for the IOs done by this cgroup. This is in nanoseconds to make it | 
 | 	  meaningful for flash devices too. For devices with queue depth of 1, | 
 | 	  this time represents the actual service time. When queue_depth > 1, | 
 | 	  that is no longer true as requests may be served out of order. This | 
 | 	  may cause the service time for a given IO to include the service time | 
 | 	  of multiple IOs when served out of order which may result in total | 
 | 	  io_service_time > actual time elapsed. This time is further divided by | 
 | 	  the type of operation - read or write, sync or async. First two fields | 
 | 	  specify the major and minor number of the device, third field | 
 | 	  specifies the operation type and the fourth field specifies the | 
 | 	  io_service_time in ns. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.io_wait_time | 
 | 	  Total amount of time the IOs for this cgroup spent waiting in the | 
 | 	  scheduler queues for service. This can be greater than the total time | 
 | 	  elapsed since it is cumulative io_wait_time for all IOs. It is not a | 
 | 	  measure of total time the cgroup spent waiting but rather a measure of | 
 | 	  the wait_time for its individual IOs. For devices with queue_depth > 1 | 
 | 	  this metric does not include the time spent waiting for service once | 
 | 	  the IO is dispatched to the device but till it actually gets serviced | 
 | 	  (there might be a time lag here due to re-ordering of requests by the | 
 | 	  device). This is in nanoseconds to make it meaningful for flash | 
 | 	  devices too. This time is further divided by the type of operation - | 
 | 	  read or write, sync or async. First two fields specify the major and | 
 | 	  minor number of the device, third field specifies the operation type | 
 | 	  and the fourth field specifies the io_wait_time in ns. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.io_merged | 
 | 	  Total number of bios/requests merged into requests belonging to this | 
 | 	  cgroup. This is further divided by the type of operation - read or | 
 | 	  write, sync or async. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.io_queued | 
 | 	  Total number of requests queued up at any given instant for this | 
 | 	  cgroup. This is further divided by the type of operation - read or | 
 | 	  write, sync or async. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.avg_queue_size | 
 | 	  Debugging aid only enabled if CONFIG_BFQ_CGROUP_DEBUG=y. | 
 | 	  The average queue size for this cgroup over the entire time of this | 
 | 	  cgroup's existence. Queue size samples are taken each time one of the | 
 | 	  queues of this cgroup gets a timeslice. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.group_wait_time | 
 | 	  Debugging aid only enabled if CONFIG_BFQ_CGROUP_DEBUG=y. | 
 | 	  This is the amount of time the cgroup had to wait since it became busy | 
 | 	  (i.e., went from 0 to 1 request queued) to get a timeslice for one of | 
 | 	  its queues. This is different from the io_wait_time which is the | 
 | 	  cumulative total of the amount of time spent by each IO in that cgroup | 
 | 	  waiting in the scheduler queue. This is in nanoseconds. If this is | 
 | 	  read when the cgroup is in a waiting (for timeslice) state, the stat | 
 | 	  will only report the group_wait_time accumulated till the last time it | 
 | 	  got a timeslice and will not include the current delta. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.empty_time | 
 | 	  Debugging aid only enabled if CONFIG_BFQ_CGROUP_DEBUG=y. | 
 | 	  This is the amount of time a cgroup spends without any pending | 
 | 	  requests when not being served, i.e., it does not include any time | 
 | 	  spent idling for one of the queues of the cgroup. This is in | 
 | 	  nanoseconds. If this is read when the cgroup is in an empty state, | 
 | 	  the stat will only report the empty_time accumulated till the last | 
 | 	  time it had a pending request and will not include the current delta. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.idle_time | 
 | 	  Debugging aid only enabled if CONFIG_BFQ_CGROUP_DEBUG=y. | 
 | 	  This is the amount of time spent by the IO scheduler idling for a | 
 | 	  given cgroup in anticipation of a better request than the existing ones | 
 | 	  from other queues/cgroups. This is in nanoseconds. If this is read | 
 | 	  when the cgroup is in an idling state, the stat will only report the | 
 | 	  idle_time accumulated till the last idle period and will not include | 
 | 	  the current delta. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.dequeue | 
 | 	  Debugging aid only enabled if CONFIG_BFQ_CGROUP_DEBUG=y. This | 
 | 	  gives the statistics about how many a times a group was dequeued | 
 | 	  from service tree of the device. First two fields specify the major | 
 | 	  and minor number of the device and third field specifies the number | 
 | 	  of times a group was dequeued from a particular device. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.*_recursive | 
 | 	  Recursive version of various stats. These files show the | 
 |           same information as their non-recursive counterparts but | 
 |           include stats from all the descendant cgroups. | 
 |  | 
 | Throttling/Upper limit policy files | 
 | ----------------------------------- | 
 |   blkio.throttle.read_bps_device | 
 | 	  Specifies upper limit on READ rate from the device. IO rate is | 
 | 	  specified in bytes per second. Rules are per device. Following is | 
 | 	  the format:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	    echo "<major>:<minor>  <rate_bytes_per_second>" > /cgrp/blkio.throttle.read_bps_device | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.throttle.write_bps_device | 
 | 	  Specifies upper limit on WRITE rate to the device. IO rate is | 
 | 	  specified in bytes per second. Rules are per device. Following is | 
 | 	  the format:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	    echo "<major>:<minor>  <rate_bytes_per_second>" > /cgrp/blkio.throttle.write_bps_device | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.throttle.read_iops_device | 
 | 	  Specifies upper limit on READ rate from the device. IO rate is | 
 | 	  specified in IO per second. Rules are per device. Following is | 
 | 	  the format:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	   echo "<major>:<minor>  <rate_io_per_second>" > /cgrp/blkio.throttle.read_iops_device | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.throttle.write_iops_device | 
 | 	  Specifies upper limit on WRITE rate to the device. IO rate is | 
 | 	  specified in io per second. Rules are per device. Following is | 
 | 	  the format:: | 
 |  | 
 | 	    echo "<major>:<minor>  <rate_io_per_second>" > /cgrp/blkio.throttle.write_iops_device | 
 |  | 
 |           Note: If both BW and IOPS rules are specified for a device, then IO is | 
 |           subjected to both the constraints. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.throttle.io_serviced | 
 | 	  Number of IOs (bio) issued to the disk by the group. These | 
 | 	  are further divided by the type of operation - read or write, sync | 
 | 	  or async. First two fields specify the major and minor number of the | 
 | 	  device, third field specifies the operation type and the fourth field | 
 | 	  specifies the number of IOs. | 
 |  | 
 |   blkio.throttle.io_service_bytes | 
 | 	  Number of bytes transferred to/from the disk by the group. These | 
 | 	  are further divided by the type of operation - read or write, sync | 
 | 	  or async. First two fields specify the major and minor number of the | 
 | 	  device, third field specifies the operation type and the fourth field | 
 | 	  specifies the number of bytes. | 
 |  | 
 | Common files among various policies | 
 | ----------------------------------- | 
 |   blkio.reset_stats | 
 | 	  Writing an int to this file will result in resetting all the stats | 
 | 	  for that cgroup. |