diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block | 37 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | block/blk-settings.c | 19 |
2 files changed, 36 insertions, 20 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block index cbbd3e069945..5f3bedaf8e35 100644 --- a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block +++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block @@ -94,28 +94,37 @@ What: /sys/block/<disk>/queue/physical_block_size Date: May 2009 Contact: Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com> Description: - This is the smallest unit the storage device can write - without resorting to read-modify-write operation. It is - usually the same as the logical block size but may be - bigger. One example is SATA drives with 4KB sectors - that expose a 512-byte logical block size to the - operating system. + This is the smallest unit a physical storage device can + write atomically. It is usually the same as the logical + block size but may be bigger. One example is SATA + drives with 4KB sectors that expose a 512-byte logical + block size to the operating system. For stacked block + devices the physical_block_size variable contains the + maximum physical_block_size of the component devices. What: /sys/block/<disk>/queue/minimum_io_size Date: April 2009 Contact: Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com> Description: - Storage devices may report a preferred minimum I/O size, - which is the smallest request the device can perform - without incurring a read-modify-write penalty. For disk - drives this is often the physical block size. For RAID - arrays it is often the stripe chunk size. + Storage devices may report a granularity or preferred + minimum I/O size which is the smallest request the + device can perform without incurring a performance + penalty. For disk drives this is often the physical + block size. For RAID arrays it is often the stripe + chunk size. A properly aligned multiple of + minimum_io_size is the preferred request size for + workloads where a high number of I/O operations is + desired. What: /sys/block/<disk>/queue/optimal_io_size Date: April 2009 Contact: Martin K. Petersen <martin.petersen@oracle.com> Description: Storage devices may report an optimal I/O size, which is - the device's preferred unit of receiving I/O. This is - rarely reported for disk drives. For RAID devices it is - usually the stripe width or the internal block size. + the device's preferred unit for sustained I/O. This is + rarely reported for disk drives. For RAID arrays it is + usually the stripe width or the internal track size. A + properly aligned multiple of optimal_io_size is the + preferred request size for workloads where sustained + throughput is desired. If no optimal I/O size is + reported this file contains 0. diff --git a/block/blk-settings.c b/block/blk-settings.c index e1327ddfc13b..476d87065073 100644 --- a/block/blk-settings.c +++ b/block/blk-settings.c @@ -413,10 +413,13 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(blk_limits_io_min); * @min: smallest I/O size in bytes * * Description: - * Some devices have an internal block size bigger than the reported - * hardware sector size. This function can be used to signal the - * smallest I/O the device can perform without incurring a performance - * penalty. + * Storage devices may report a granularity or preferred minimum I/O + * size which is the smallest request the device can perform without + * incurring a performance penalty. For disk drives this is often the + * physical block size. For RAID arrays it is often the stripe chunk + * size. A properly aligned multiple of minimum_io_size is the + * preferred request size for workloads where a high number of I/O + * operations is desired. */ void blk_queue_io_min(struct request_queue *q, unsigned int min) { @@ -430,8 +433,12 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(blk_queue_io_min); * @opt: optimal request size in bytes * * Description: - * Drivers can call this function to set the preferred I/O request - * size for devices that report such a value. + * Storage devices may report an optimal I/O size, which is the + * device's preferred unit for sustained I/O. This is rarely reported + * for disk drives. For RAID arrays it is usually the stripe width or + * the internal track size. A properly aligned multiple of + * optimal_io_size is the preferred request size for workloads where + * sustained throughput is desired. */ void blk_queue_io_opt(struct request_queue *q, unsigned int opt) { |