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authorAaron Carroll <aaronc@gelato.unsw.edu.au>2008-08-14 18:17:15 +1000
committerJens Axboe <jens.axboe@oracle.com>2008-10-09 08:56:03 +0200
commit6a421c1dc94b12923294a359822346f12492de5e (patch)
tree4fcc60ba25a8ca9abc8607afae4a0eec46d38240 /Documentation/block
parent4fb72f7646e86874eb2798256eaa6bf3fbe4edcf (diff)
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block: update documentation for deadline fifo_batch tunable
Update the description of fifo_batch to match the current implementation, and include a description of how to tune it. Signed-off-by: Aaron Carroll <aaronc@gelato.unsw.edu.au> Signed-off-by: Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@oracle.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/block')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt14
1 files changed, 10 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt b/Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt
index c23cab13c3d1..72576769e0f4 100644
--- a/Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt
+++ b/Documentation/block/deadline-iosched.txt
@@ -30,12 +30,18 @@ write_expire (in ms)
Similar to read_expire mentioned above, but for writes.
-fifo_batch
+fifo_batch (number of requests)
----------
-When a read request expires its deadline, we must move some requests from
-the sorted io scheduler list to the block device dispatch queue. fifo_batch
-controls how many requests we move.
+Requests are grouped into ``batches'' of a particular data direction (read or
+write) which are serviced in increasing sector order. To limit extra seeking,
+deadline expiries are only checked between batches. fifo_batch controls the
+maximum number of requests per batch.
+
+This parameter tunes the balance between per-request latency and aggregate
+throughput. When low latency is the primary concern, smaller is better (where
+a value of 1 yields first-come first-served behaviour). Increasing fifo_batch
+generally improves throughput, at the cost of latency variation.
writes_starved (number of dispatches)