Iometer User's Guide - Pace

1 Iometer User s Guide Version project, Information in this document is provided in connection withIntel products. No license, express orimplied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted by this as provided in Intel s Terms and Conditions of Sale for such products, Intel assumes noliability whatsoever, and Intel disclaims any express or implied warranty, relating to sale and/oruse of Intel products including liability or warranties relating to fitness for a particular purpose,merchantability, or infringement of any patent, copyrightor other intellectual property right. Intelproducts are not intended for use in medical, life saving, or life sustaining may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without Intel Corporation 1996-1999.

2 *Third-party brands and names are the property oftheir respective owners. Table of Contents1. About this About What's new?.. System Obtaining License Bug Reports and Feature Use of Iometer Installing Running Quick Start ..105. Using Toolbar Status Bar Topology Panel Disk Targets Tab Network Targets Tab Access Specifications Tab Edit Access Specification Dialog Results Display Tab Presentation Meter Dialog Test Setup Tab Save Test Configuration File Open Test Configuration File Toolbar Reference ..337. Status Bar Topology Panel Disk Targets Tab Maximum Disk Starting Disk # of Outstanding Test Connection Network Targets Tab Network Interface to Use for Max # Outstanding Test Connection Access Specifications Tab Global Access Specifications Assigned Access Specifications Access Specifications Edit Access Specification Dialog Default Access Specification Transfer Request Percent of Access Percent Read/Write Percent Random/Sequential Align I/Os Reply OK and Results Display Tab Results Update Bar Selecting a Manager or Worker for Selecting a

3 Statistic for Presentation Meter Dialog Result to Show Test Test Setup Tab Test Run Ramp Up Number of Workers to Spawn Record Cycling # of Outstanding Save Test Configuration File Settings to Test Setup Tab Results Display Tab Global Access Specification Managers and Access Specification Target Open Test Configuration File Current Settings to Test Setup Tab Results Display Tab Global Access Specifications Managers and Implementation Access Specification Target Iometer Command Line Getting Command Line Syntax Specifying a Configuration Specifying a Results Specifying a Timeout Omitting Batch Dynamo Command Line Getting Command Line Syntax Specifying a Computer Specifying a Manager Specifying a Manager Network Specifying excluded filesystem Omitting The Iometer Configuration File (.)

4 Icf).. File Backward Configuring Windows NT* and Windows 2000* to CollectNetwork Performance To configure Windows NT*:.. To configure Windows 2000*:..8222. Using Iometer to Simulate a Real 1. IntroductionIometeris an I/O subsystem measurement and characterization tool for single andclustered systems. Iometer is pronounced eye-OM-i-ter, to rhyme with thermometer. Iometer does for a computer s I/O subsystem what adynamometerdoes for an engine: it measures performance under a controlled load. Iometer wasformerly known as Galileo. Iometer is both aworkload generator(that is, it performs I/O operations in order tostress the system) and ameasurement tool(that is, it examines and records theperformance of its I/O operations and their impact on the system).

5 It can be configuredto emulate the disk or network I/O load of any program or benchmark, or can be usedto generate entirely synthetic I/O loads. It can generate and measure loads on single ormultiple (networked) can be used for measurement and characterization of: Performance of disk and network controllers. Bandwidth and latency capabilities of buses. Network throughput to attached drives. Shared bus performance. System-level hard drive performance. System-level network About this DocumentThis document is a combination User s Guide and External Product Specification forIometer. It provides a description of each external interface element (GUI control) andsome guidance on using the controls to achieve desired version of the document is dated July 30, About IometerIometer consists of two programs, Iometer and Dynamo.

6 Iometeris the controlling program. Using Iometer s graphical user interface, youconfigure the workload, set operating parameters, and start and stop tests. Iometertells Dynamo what to do, collects the resulting data, and summarizes the results inoutput files. Only one copy of Iometer should be running at atime; it is typicallyrun on the server machine. Dynamois the workload generator. It has no user interface. At Iometer scommand, Dynamo performs I/O operations and records performance information,then returns the data to Iometer . There can be more than one copy of Dynamorunning at a time; typically one copy runs on the server machine and one additionalcopy runs on each client machine. Dynamo is multithreaded; each copy can simulate the workload of multiple clientprograms.

7 Each running copy of Dynamo is called amanager; each thread within acopy of Dynamo is called a What's new?The current version of Iometer Here are some of the more significantchanges since the last version ( ):New ports: NetWare on i386. linux on PowerPC. linux on features: Enormous code changes due to code cleanup and portability enhancements. An optional linux kernel module to even more reduce the system overhead tocapture the performance statistics. Build in list of standard Access Specifications to select from. Scrolling Access Specification list in case the list is longer then the visible spaceon the fixes: All: Corrected the rounding of detected CPU frequencies.

8 linux : Improved the block size detection of devices. linux : Statistics can now be gathered for kernels as well. linux : More robust gathering of network statistics even ifthe hostname is notsetup properly. Windows: Fixed the background capability of Iometer itself. Windows: Updated the Iometer Import Wizard to work with newer versions of MSAccess and MS : All: hanged the dynamo command line options in terms of mandatory switches. Windows: Introduced a Installer for the Windows binaries/ a complete list of all enhancements and bug fixes since the previous version, pleasesee the file "CHANGELOG".NOTEIt is important to keep in mind, that results might not be comparable betweentwo different Iometer versions.

9 For example if there was an error in the oldversion you might see this System RequirementsIometer currently runs under Windows only (the detailed list of supported versions canbe found following URL: ).Dynamo currently runs under NetWare, linux , Solaris and Windows (the detailed listofsupportedversionscanbefoundfollowi ngURL: ). Obtaining IometerThe latest version of Iometer , including the documentation, can be obtained from theIometer project Web Site at the following URL: License AgreementIf you use Iometer , you agree to be bound by the Intel Open Software License that isdisplayed the first time you run a new version of Iometer . Some important terms of theagreement are highlighted below:1. Iometer is provided as-is , without warranty or guarantee of any Intel does not endorse, support, or guarantee Iometer performance Bug Reports and Feature RequestsIometer is provided as-is ,but shure we are interested in input from you.

10 If you havea problem while running Iometer our found a bug you should consult theKnow Issuespage first: you will find workarounds for this known issues. If youhave a new issue youmightjointheiometer-usermailinglist( ) and ask the community for it is a real bug, then please provide a patch or go ahead and file the bug at: cannot promise to fix any bugs or provide any requested features, but we try toread and respond to all our mail. Be sure to include all information necessary toreproduce the problem, including the version number of Iometer . If you aren't usingthe current version, you will be asked to reproduce the problem using the currentversion before any action is taken on the bug Use of Iometer ResultsIntel does not endorse, support, or guarantee performance results obtained usingIometer.