Iometer
Encyclopedia
Iometer is an I/O
subsystem measurement and characterization tool for single and clustered systems. It is used as a benchmark and troubleshooting tool and is easily configured to replicate the behaviour of many popular applications. One commonly quoted measurement provided by the tool is IOPS
.
(Sean Hefty, David Levine and Fab Tillier are listed by the Iometer About dialog as the developers), the tool was officially announced at the Intel Developer Forum
(IDF) on 17 February 1998. In 2001 Intel discontinued development and subsequently handed the sources to the Open Source Development Lab for release under the Intel Open Source License
. On 15 November 2001 the Iometer project was registered at SourceForge.net
and an initial version was made available. Experiencing no further development, the project was relaunched by Daniel Scheibli in February 2003. Since then it has been driven by an international group of individuals who have been improving and porting the product to additional platforms.
is managing multiple 'workers' (each one representing a separate Dynamo.exe process) which are doing the I/O
. Iometer performs Asynchronous I/O
- accessing files or block devices (later one allowing to bypass the file system buffers).
Iometer allows the configuration of disk parameters such as the 'Maximum Disk Size', 'Starting Disk Sector' and '# of Outstanding I/Os'. This allows a user to configure a test file upon which the 'Access Specifications' configure the I/O types to the file.
Configurable items within the Access Specifications are:
In conjunction with the Access Specifications, Iometer allows the specifications to be cycled with incrementing outstanding I/O's, either exponentially or linearity. The tool outputs 50 parameters into a .CSV file
, allowing multiple applications to analyse and generate graphs and reports on the measured performance.
Input/output
In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world, possibly a human, or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it...
subsystem measurement and characterization tool for single and clustered systems. It is used as a benchmark and troubleshooting tool and is easily configured to replicate the behaviour of many popular applications. One commonly quoted measurement provided by the tool is IOPS
IOPS
IOPS is a common performance measurement used to benchmark computer storage devices like hard disk drives , solid state drives , and storage area networks...
.
History
Created by Intel CorporationIntel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
(Sean Hefty, David Levine and Fab Tillier are listed by the Iometer About dialog as the developers), the tool was officially announced at the Intel Developer Forum
Intel Developer Forum
Intel Developer Forum , is a gathering of technologists to discuss Intel products and products based around Intel products. The first IDF was in 1997...
(IDF) on 17 February 1998. In 2001 Intel discontinued development and subsequently handed the sources to the Open Source Development Lab for release under the Intel Open Source License
Intel Open Source License
The Intel Open Source license is identical to the BSD license with the following section addedThe extra section does not add to the terms of the license, rather it reminds users of U.S. export laws...
. On 15 November 2001 the Iometer project was registered at SourceForge.net
SourceForge.net
SourceForge is a web-based source code repository. It acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open source software development. The website runs a version of SourceForge Enterprise Edition, forked from the last open-source version available...
and an initial version was made available. Experiencing no further development, the project was relaunched by Daniel Scheibli in February 2003. Since then it has been driven by an international group of individuals who have been improving and porting the product to additional platforms.
Functionality
Iometer is based on a client–server model, where one instance of the Iometer graphical user interfaceGraphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
is managing multiple 'workers' (each one representing a separate Dynamo.exe process) which are doing the I/O
Input/output
In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world, possibly a human, or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it...
. Iometer performs Asynchronous I/O
Asynchronous I/O
Asynchronous I/O, or non-blocking I/O, is a form of input/output processing that permits other processing to continue before the transmission has finished....
- accessing files or block devices (later one allowing to bypass the file system buffers).
Iometer allows the configuration of disk parameters such as the 'Maximum Disk Size', 'Starting Disk Sector' and '# of Outstanding I/Os'. This allows a user to configure a test file upon which the 'Access Specifications' configure the I/O types to the file.
Configurable items within the Access Specifications are:
- Transfer Request Size
- Percent Random/Sequential distribution.
- Percent Read/Write Distribution
- Aligned I/O's.
- Reply Size
- TCP/IP status
- Burstiness.
In conjunction with the Access Specifications, Iometer allows the specifications to be cycled with incrementing outstanding I/O's, either exponentially or linearity. The tool outputs 50 parameters into a .CSV file
Comma-separated values
A comma-separated values file stores tabular data in plain-text form. As a result, such a file is easily human-readable ....
, allowing multiple applications to analyse and generate graphs and reports on the measured performance.