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authorPeter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org>2018-10-01 18:22:55 +0100
committerPeter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org>2018-10-01 18:22:55 +0100
commite32e62f2533cf33a14110a2358526e43d6f362d7 (patch)
tree4e8232bc4a33b6f4f16f4ded017399b718fa70a5 /docs
parenta2ef4d9e95400cd387ab4ae19a317741e458fb07 (diff)
parentdd353157942a59c21da07da5ac8749a871f7c3ed (diff)
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/kevin/tags/for-upstream' into staging
Block layer patches: - qcow2 cache option default changes (Linux: 32 MB maximum, limited by whatever cache size can be made use of with the specific image; default cache-clean-interval of 10 minutes) - reopen: Allow specifying unchanged child node references, and changing a few generic options (discard, detect-zeroes) - Fix werror/rerror defaults for -device drive=<node-name> - Test case fixes # gpg: Signature made Mon 01 Oct 2018 18:17:35 BST # gpg: using RSA key 7F09B272C88F2FD6 # gpg: Good signature from "Kevin Wolf <kwolf@redhat.com>" # Primary key fingerprint: DC3D EB15 9A9A F95D 3D74 56FE 7F09 B272 C88F 2FD6 * remotes/kevin/tags/for-upstream: (23 commits) tests/test-bdrv-drain: Fix too late qemu_event_reset() test-replication: Lock AioContext around blk_unref() qcow2: Fix cache-clean-interval documentation block-backend: Set werror/rerror defaults in blk_new() qcow2: Explicit number replaced by a constant qcow2: Set the default cache-clean-interval to 10 minutes qcow2: Resize the cache upon image resizing qcow2: Increase the default upper limit on the L2 cache size qcow2: Assign the L2 cache relatively to the image size qcow2: Avoid duplication in setting the refcount cache size qcow2: Make sizes more humanly readable include: Add a lookup table of sizes qcow2: Options' documentation fixes block: Allow changing 'detect-zeroes' on reopen block: Allow changing 'discard' on reopen file-posix: Forbid trying to change unsupported options during reopen block: Forbid trying to change unsupported options during reopen block: Allow child references on reopen block: Don't look for child references in append_open_options() block: Remove child references from bs->{options,explicit_options} ... Signed-off-by: Peter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'docs')
-rw-r--r--docs/qcow2-cache.txt59
1 files changed, 37 insertions, 22 deletions
diff --git a/docs/qcow2-cache.txt b/docs/qcow2-cache.txt
index 8a09a5cc5f..c459bf5dd3 100644
--- a/docs/qcow2-cache.txt
+++ b/docs/qcow2-cache.txt
@@ -79,14 +79,14 @@ Choosing the right cache sizes
In order to choose the cache sizes we need to know how they relate to
the amount of allocated space.
-The amount of virtual disk that can be mapped by the L2 and refcount
+The part of the virtual disk that can be mapped by the L2 and refcount
caches (in bytes) is:
disk_size = l2_cache_size * cluster_size / 8
disk_size = refcount_cache_size * cluster_size * 8 / refcount_bits
With the default values for cluster_size (64KB) and refcount_bits
-(16), that is
+(16), this becomes:
disk_size = l2_cache_size * 8192
disk_size = refcount_cache_size * 32768
@@ -97,12 +97,16 @@ need:
l2_cache_size = disk_size_GB * 131072
refcount_cache_size = disk_size_GB * 32768
-QEMU has a default L2 cache of 1MB (1048576 bytes) and a refcount
-cache of 256KB (262144 bytes), so using the formulas we've just seen
-we have
+For example, 1MB of L2 cache is needed to cover every 8 GB of the virtual
+image size (given that the default cluster size is used):
- 1048576 / 131072 = 8 GB of virtual disk covered by that cache
- 262144 / 32768 = 8 GB
+ 8 GB / 8192 = 1 MB
+
+The refcount cache is 4 times the cluster size by default. With the default
+cluster size of 64 KB, it is 256 KB (262144 bytes). This is sufficient for
+8 GB of image size:
+
+ 262144 * 32768 = 8 GB
How to configure the cache sizes
@@ -121,8 +125,15 @@ There are a few things that need to be taken into account:
- Both caches must have a size that is a multiple of the cluster size
(or the cache entry size: see "Using smaller cache sizes" below).
- - The default L2 cache size is 8 clusters or 1MB (whichever is more),
- and the minimum is 2 clusters (or 2 cache entries, see below).
+ - The maximum L2 cache size is 32 MB by default on Linux platforms (enough
+ for full coverage of 256 GB images, with the default cluster size). This
+ value can be modified using the "l2-cache-size" option. QEMU will not use
+ more memory than needed to hold all of the image's L2 tables, regardless
+ of this max. value.
+ On non-Linux platforms the maximal value is smaller by default (8 MB) and
+ this difference stems from the fact that on Linux the cache can be cleared
+ periodically if needed, using the "cache-clean-interval" option (see below).
+ The minimal L2 cache size is 2 clusters (or 2 cache entries, see below).
- The default (and minimum) refcount cache size is 4 clusters.
@@ -130,6 +141,9 @@ There are a few things that need to be taken into account:
memory as possible to the L2 cache before increasing the refcount
cache size.
+ - At most two of "l2-cache-size", "refcount-cache-size", and "cache-size"
+ can be set simultaneously.
+
Unlike L2 tables, refcount blocks are not used during normal I/O but
only during allocations and internal snapshots. In most cases they are
accessed sequentially (even during random guest I/O) so increasing the
@@ -177,9 +191,10 @@ Some things to take into account:
always uses the cluster size as the entry size.
- If the L2 cache is big enough to hold all of the image's L2 tables
- (as explained in the "Choosing the right cache sizes" section
- earlier in this document) then none of this is necessary and you
- can omit the "l2-cache-entry-size" parameter altogether.
+ (as explained in the "Choosing the right cache sizes" and "How to
+ configure the cache sizes" sections in this document) then none of
+ this is necessary and you can omit the "l2-cache-entry-size"
+ parameter altogether.
Reducing the memory usage
@@ -187,18 +202,18 @@ Reducing the memory usage
It is possible to clean unused cache entries in order to reduce the
memory usage during periods of low I/O activity.
-The parameter "cache-clean-interval" defines an interval (in seconds).
-All cache entries that haven't been accessed during that interval are
-removed from memory.
+The parameter "cache-clean-interval" defines an interval (in seconds),
+after which all the cache entries that haven't been accessed during the
+interval are removed from memory. Setting this parameter to 0 disables this
+feature.
-This example removes all unused cache entries every 15 minutes:
+The following example removes all unused cache entries every 15 minutes:
-drive file=hd.qcow2,cache-clean-interval=900
-If unset, the default value for this parameter is 0 and it disables
-this feature.
+If unset, the default value for this parameter is 600 on platforms which
+support this functionality, and is 0 (disabled) on other platforms.
-Note that this functionality currently relies on the MADV_DONTNEED
-argument for madvise() to actually free the memory. This is a
-Linux-specific feature, so cache-clean-interval is not supported in
-other systems.
+This functionality currently relies on the MADV_DONTNEED argument for
+madvise() to actually free the memory. This is a Linux-specific feature,
+so cache-clean-interval is not supported on other systems.