FIO Commands for Block Volume Performance Tests on Linux-based Instances

This topic describes sample FIO commands you can use to run performance tests for the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Block Volume service on instances created from Linux-based images.

Installing FIO

Oracle Linux and CentOS

Run the following command to install and configure FIO for your Oracle Linux or CentOS systems.

• Oracle Linux 8 and Oracle Linux Cloud Developer 8:
• sudo dnf install fio -y
• Oracle Autonomous Linux 7.x, Oracle Linux 6.x, Oracle Linux 7.x, CentOS 7, and CentOS Stream 8:
• sudo yum install fio -y

Ubuntu

Run the following commands to install and configure FIO for your Ubuntu systems:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install fio -y

This applies to Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu Minimal 18.04.

FIO Commands

IOPS Performance Tests

Use the following FIO example commands to test IOPS performance. You can run the commands directly or create a job file with the command and then run the job file.

Test random reads

Run the following command directly to test random reads:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=randread --bs=4k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=256 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting --name=iops-test-job --eta-newline=1 --readonly

In some cases you might see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following steps for this approach.

1. Create a job file, fiorandomread.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=4K iodepth=256 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=4 name=raw-randread rw=randread [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio randomread.fio

Test file random read/writes

Run the following command against the mount point to test file read/writes:

sudo fio --filename=/*custom mount point*/*file* --size=500GB --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=4k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=256 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting --name=iops-test-job --eta-newline=1

Add both the read IOPS and the write IOPS returned.

Test random read/writes

Caution Do not run FIO tests with a write workload (readwrite, randrw, write, trimwrite) directly against a device that is in use.

Run the following command to test random read/writes:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=4k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=256 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting --name=iops-test-job --eta-newline=1

Add both the read IOPS and the write IOPS returned.

In some cases you might see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following steps for this approach.

1. Create a job file, fiorandomreadwrite.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=4K iodepth=256 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=4 name=raw-randreadwrite rw=randrw [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio randomreadwrite.fio

Test sequential reads

For workloads that enable you to take advantage of sequential access patterns, such as database workloads, you can confirm performance for this pattern by testing sequential reads.

Run the following command to test sequential reads:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=read --bs=4k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=256 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting --name=iops-test-job --eta-newline=1 --readonly

In some cases you may see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following instructions for this approach:

1. Create a job file, fioread.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=4K iodepth=256 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=4 name=raw-read rw=read [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio read.fio

Throughput Performance Tests

Use the following FIO example commands to test throughput performance.

Test random reads

Run the following command to test random reads:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=randread --bs=64k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=64 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting -name=throughput-test-job --eta-newline=1 --readonly

In some cases you might see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following steps for this approach.

1. Create a job file, fiorandomread.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=64K iodepth=64 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=4 name=raw-randread rw=randread [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio randomread.fio

Test file random read/writes

Run the following command against the mount point to test file read/writes:

sudo fio --filename=/*custom mount point*/*file* --size=500GB --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=64k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=64 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting --name=throughput-test-job --eta-newline=1

Add both the read MBPs and the write MBPs returned.

Test random read/writes

Caution Do not run FIO tests with a write workload (readwrite, randrw, write, trimwrite) directly against a device that is in use.

Run the following command to test random read/writes:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=64k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=64 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting --name=throughput-test-job --eta-newline=1

Add both the read MBPs and the write MBPs returned.

In some cases you might see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following steps for this approach.

1. Create a job file, fiorandomread.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=64K iodepth=64 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=4 name=raw-randreadwrite rw=randrw [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio randomreadwrite.fio

Test sequential reads

For workloads that enable you to take advantage of sequential access patterns, such as database workloads, you can confirm performance for this pattern by testing sequential reads.

Run the following command to test sequential reads:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=read --bs=64k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=64 --runtime=120 --numjobs=4 --time_based --group_reporting --name=throughput-test-job --eta-newline=1 --readonly

In some cases you might see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following steps for this approach.

1. Create a job file, fioread.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=64K iodepth=64 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=4 name=raw-read rw=read [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio read.fio

Latency Performance Tests

Use the following FIO example commands to test latency performance. You can run the commands directly or create a job file with the command and then run the job file.

Test random reads for latency

Run the following command directly to test random reads for latency:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=randread --bs=4k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=1 --numjobs=1 --time_based --group_reporting --name=readlatency-test-job --runtime=120 --eta-newline=1 --readonly

In some cases you might see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following steps for this approach.

1. Create a job file, fiorandomreadlatency.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=4K iodepth=1 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=1 name=readlatency-test-job rw=randread [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio fiorandomreadlatency.fio

Test random read/writes for latency

Caution Do not run FIO tests with a write workload (readwrite, randrw, write, trimwrite) directly against a device that is in use.

Run the following command directly to test random read/writes for latency:

sudo fio --filename=*device name* --direct=1 --rw=randrw --bs=4k --ioengine=libaio --iodepth=1 --numjobs=1 --time_based --group_reporting --name=rwlatency-test-job --runtime=120 --eta-newline=1

In some cases you might see more consistent results if you use a job file instead of running the command directly. Use the following steps for this approach.

1. Create a job file, fiorandomrwlatency.fio, with the following:

   [global] bs=4K iodepth=1 direct=1 ioengine=libaio group_reporting time_based runtime=120 numjobs=1 name=rwlatency-test-job rw=randrw [job1] filename=*device name*

2. Run the job using the following command:

   fio fioradomrwlatency.fio