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authorJoel Fernandes <joelagnelf@nvidia.com>2026-07-18 13:15:36 -0400
committerPaul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>2026-07-23 10:39:57 -0700
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tree7629759c1ec7148b95bc8ab3080df20a5ecd2273 /Documentation/block/null_blk.rst
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scftorture: Count single_rpc offline failures in statistics outputgrafted
scf_torture_stats_print() aggregates each invoker thread's counters into a local scf_statistics structure before printing, but the n_single_rpc_ofl field is missing from the aggregation loop. As a result, the "single_rpc_ofl" value printed in the statistics line is always zero, even when smp_call_function_single() invocations for the RPC test have failed due to offline CPUs and been counted by the invoker threads. Add the missing accumulation so that the printed value reflects the actual counts. Signed-off-by: Joel Fernandes <joelagnelf@nvidia.com> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+========================
+Null block device driver
+========================
+
+Overview
+========
+
+The null block device (``/dev/nullb*``) is used for benchmarking the various
+block-layer implementations. It emulates a block device of X gigabytes in size.
+It does not execute any read/write operation, just mark them as complete in
+the request queue. The following instances are possible:
+
+ Multi-queue block-layer
+
+ - Request-based.
+ - Configurable submission queues per device.
+
+ No block-layer (Known as bio-based)
+
+ - Bio-based. IO requests are submitted directly to the device driver.
+ - Directly accepts bio data structure and returns them.
+
+All of them have a completion queue for each core in the system.
+
+Module parameters
+=================
+
+queue_mode=[0-2]: Default: 2-Multi-queue
+ Selects which block-layer the module should instantiate with.
+
+ = ============
+ 0 Bio-based
+ 1 Single-queue (deprecated)
+ 2 Multi-queue
+ = ============
+
+home_node=[0--nr_nodes]: Default: NUMA_NO_NODE
+ Selects what CPU node the data structures are allocated from.
+
+gb=[Size in GB]: Default: 250GB
+ The size of the device reported to the system.
+
+bs=[Block size (in bytes)]: Default: 512 bytes
+ The block size reported to the system.
+
+nr_devices=[Number of devices]: Default: 1
+ Number of block devices instantiated. They are instantiated as /dev/nullb0,
+ etc.
+
+irqmode=[0-2]: Default: 1-Soft-irq
+ The completion mode used for completing IOs to the block-layer.
+
+ = ===========================================================================
+ 0 None.
+ 1 Soft-irq. Uses IPI to complete IOs across CPU nodes. Simulates the overhead
+ when IOs are issued from another CPU node than the home the device is
+ connected to.
+ 2 Timer: Waits a specific period (completion_nsec) for each IO before
+ completion.
+ = ===========================================================================
+
+completion_nsec=[ns]: Default: 10,000ns
+ Combined with irqmode=2 (timer). The time each completion event must wait.
+
+submit_queues=[1..nr_cpus]: Default: 1
+ The number of submission queues attached to the device driver. If unset, it
+ defaults to 1. For multi-queue, it is ignored when use_per_node_hctx module
+ parameter is 1.
+
+hw_queue_depth=[0..qdepth]: Default: 64
+ The hardware queue depth of the device.
+
+memory_backed=[0/1]: Default: 0
+ Whether or not to use a memory buffer to respond to IO requests
+
+ = =============================================
+ 0 Transfer no data in response to IO requests
+ 1 Use a memory buffer to respond to IO requests
+ = =============================================
+
+discard=[0/1]: Default: 0
+ Support discard operations (requires memory-backed null_blk device).
+
+ = =====================================
+ 0 Do not support discard operations
+ 1 Enable support for discard operations
+ = =====================================
+
+cache_size=[Size in MB]: Default: 0
+ Cache size in MB for memory-backed device.
+
+mbps=[Maximum bandwidth in MB/s]: Default: 0 (no limit)
+ Bandwidth limit for device performance.
+
+Multi-queue specific parameters
+-------------------------------
+
+use_per_node_hctx=[0/1]: Default: 0
+ Number of hardware context queues.
+
+ = =====================================================================
+ 0 The number of submit queues are set to the value of the submit_queues
+ parameter.
+ 1 The multi-queue block layer is instantiated with a hardware dispatch
+ queue for each CPU node in the system.
+ = =====================================================================
+
+no_sched=[0/1]: Default: 0
+ Enable/disable the io scheduler.
+
+ = ======================================
+ 0 nullb* use default blk-mq io scheduler
+ 1 nullb* doesn't use io scheduler
+ = ======================================
+
+blocking=[0/1]: Default: 0
+ Blocking behavior of the request queue.
+
+ = ===============================================================
+ 0 Register as a non-blocking blk-mq driver device.
+ 1 Register as a blocking blk-mq driver device, null_blk will set
+ the BLK_MQ_F_BLOCKING flag, indicating that it sometimes/always
+ needs to block in its ->queue_rq() function.
+ = ===============================================================
+
+shared_tags=[0/1]: Default: 0
+ Sharing tags between devices.
+
+ = ================================================================
+ 0 Tag set is not shared.
+ 1 Tag set shared between devices for blk-mq. Only makes sense with
+ nr_devices > 1, otherwise there's no tag set to share.
+ = ================================================================
+
+zoned=[0/1]: Default: 0
+ Device is a random-access or a zoned block device.
+
+ = ======================================================================
+ 0 Block device is exposed as a random-access block device.
+ 1 Block device is exposed as a host-managed zoned block device. Requires
+ CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ZONED.
+ = ======================================================================
+
+zone_size=[MB]: Default: 256
+ Per zone size when exposed as a zoned block device. Must be a power of two.
+
+zone_nr_conv=[nr_conv]: Default: 0
+ The number of conventional zones to create when block device is zoned. If
+ zone_nr_conv >= nr_zones, it will be reduced to nr_zones - 1.