sg_read man page on Scientific
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SG_READ(8) SG3_UTILS SG_READ(8)
NAME
sg_read - read blocks of data continually from same offset
SYNOPSIS
sg_read [blk_sgio=0|1] [bpt=BPT] [bs=BS] [cdbsz=6|10|12|16] count=COUNT
[dio=0|1] [dpo=0|1] [fua=0|1] if=IFILE [mmap=0|1] [no_dxfer=0|1]
[odir=0|1] [skip=SKIP] [time=TI] [verbose=VERB] [--help] [--version]
DESCRIPTION
Read data from a Linux SCSI generic (sg) device, a block device or a
normal file with each read command issued to the same offset or logical
block address (lba). This can be used to test (or time) disk caching,
SCSI (or some other) transport throughput, and/or SCSI command over‐
head.
When the COUNT value is positive, then up to BPT blocks are read at a
time, until the COUNT is exhausted. Each read operation starts at the
same lba which, if SKIP is not given, is the beginning of the file or
device.
The COUNT value may be negative when IFILE is a sg device or is a block
device with 'blk_sgio=1' set. Alternatively 'bpt=0' may be given. In
these cases |COUNT| "zero block" SCSI READ commands are issued. "Zero
block" means "do nothing" for SCSI READ 10, 12 and 16 byte commands
(but not for the 6 byte variant). In practice "zero block" SCSI READ
commands have low latency and so are one way to measure SCSI command
overhead.
OPTIONS
blk_sgio=0 | 1
The default action of this utility is to use the Unix read()
command when the IFILE is a block device. In lk 2.6 many block
devices can handle SCSI commands issued via the SG_IO ioctl. So
when this option is set the SG_IO ioctl sends SCSI READ commands
to IFILE if it is a block device.
bpt=BPT
where BPT is the maximum number of blocks each read operation
fetches. Fewer blocks will be fetched when the remaining COUNT
is less than BPT. The default value for BPT is 128. Note that
each read operation starts at the same lba (as given by
skip=SKIP or 0). If 'bpt=0' then the COUNT is interpreted as
the number of zero block SCSI READ commands to issue.
bs=BS where BS is the size (in bytes) of each block read. This must be
the block size of the physical device (defaults to 512) if SCSI
commands are being issued to IFILE.
cdbsz=6 | 10 | 12 | 16
size of SCSI READ commands issued on sg device names, or block
devices if 'blk_sgio=1' is given. Default is 10 byte SCSI READ
cdbs.
count=COUNT
when COUNT is a positive number, read that number of blocks,
typically with multiple read operations. When COUNT is negative
then |COUNT| SCSI READ commands are performed requesting zero
blocks to be transferred. This option is mandatory.
dio=0 | 1
default is 0 which selects indirect IO. Value of 1 attempts
direct IO which, if not available, falls back to indirect IO and
notes this at completion. This option is only active if IFILE is
an sg device. If direct IO is selected and
/proc/scsi/sg/allow_dio has the value of 0 then a warning is
issued (and indirect IO is performed)
dpo=0 | 1
when set the disable page out (DPO) bit in SCSI READ commands is
set. Otherwise the DPO bit is cleared (default).
fua=0 | 1
when set the force unit access (FUA) bit in SCSI READ commands
is set. Otherwise the FUA bit is cleared (default).
if=IFILE
read from this IFILE. This argument must be given. If the IFILE
is a normal file then it must be seekable (if (COUNT > BPT) or
skip=SKIP is given). Hence stdin is not acceptable (and giving
"-" as the IFILE argument is reported as an error).
mmap=0 | 1
default is 0 which selects indirect IO. Value of 1 causes memory
mapped IO to be performed. Selecting both dio and mmap is an
error. This option is only active if IFILE is an sg device.
no_dxfer=0 | 1
when set then DMA transfers from the device are made into kernel
buffers but no further (i.e. there is no second copy into the
user space). The default value is 0 in which case transfers are
made into the user space. When neither mmap nor dio is set then
data transfer are copied via kernel buffers (i.e. a double
copy). Mainly for testing.
odir=0 | 1
when set opens an IFILE which is a block device with an addi‐
tional O_DIRECT flag. The default value is 0 (i.e. don't open
block devices O_DIRECT).
skip=SKIP
all read operations will start offset by SKIP bs-sized blocks
from the start of the input file (or device).
time=TI
When TI is 0 (default) doesn't perform timing. When 1, times
transfer and does throughput calculation, starting at the first
issued command until completion. When 2, times transfer and does
throughput calculation, starting at the second issued command
until completion. When 3 times from third command, etc. An aver‐
age number of commands (SCSI READs or Unix read()s) executed per
second is also output.
verbose=VERB
as VERB increases so does the amount of debug output sent to
stderr. Default value is zero which yields the minimum amount
of debug output. A value of 1 reports extra information that is
not repetitive.
--help Output the usage message then exit.
--version
Output the version string then exit.
NOTES
Various numeric arguments (e.g. SKIP) may include multiplicative suf‐
fixes or be given in hexadecimal. See the "NUMERIC ARGUMENTS" section
in the sg3_utils(8) man page.
Data usually gets to the user space in a 2 stage process: first the
SCSI adapter DMAs into kernel buffers and then the sg driver copies
this data into user memory. This is called "indirect IO" and there is
a "dio" option to select "direct IO" which will DMA directly into user
memory. Due to some issues "direct IO" is disabled in the sg driver and
needs a configuration change to activate it. This is typically done
with "echo 1 > /proc/scsi/sg/allow_dio". An alternate way to avoid the
2 stage copy is to select memory mapped IO with 'mmap=1'.
SIGNALS
The signal handling has been borrowed from dd: SIGINT, SIGQUIT and SIG‐
PIPE output the number of remaining blocks to be transferred; then they
have their default action. SIGUSR1 causes the same information to be
output yet the copy continues. All output caused by signals is sent to
stderr.
EXAMPLES
Let us assume that /dev/sg0 is a disk and we wish to time the disk's
cache performance.
sg_read if=/dev/sg0 bs=512 count=1MB mmap=1 time=2
This command will continually read 128 512 byte blocks from block 0.
The "128" is the default value for 'bpt' while "block 0" is chosen
because the 'skip' argument was not given. This will continue until
1,000,000 blocks are read. The idea behind using 'time=2' is that the
first 64 KiB read operation will involve reading the magnetic media
while the remaining read operations will "hit" the disk's cache. The
output of third command will look like this:
time from second command to end was 4.50 secs, 113.70 MB/sec
Average number of READ commands per second was 1735.27
1000000+0 records in, SCSI commands issued: 7813
EXIT STATUS
The exit status of sg_read is 0 when it is successful. Otherwise see
the sg3_utils(8) man page.
AUTHORS
Written by Doug Gilbert.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to <dgilbert at interlog dot com>.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2000-2009 Douglas Gilbert
This software is distributed under the GPL version 2. There is NO war‐
ranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR‐
POSE.
SEE ALSO
To time streaming media read or write time see sg_dd is in the
sg3_utils package. The lmbench package contains lmdd which is also
interesting. raw(8), dd(1)
sg3_utils-1.27 March 2009 SG_READ(8)
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