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authorAndré Fabian Silva Delgado <emulatorman@parabola.nu>2015-08-05 17:04:01 -0300
committerAndré Fabian Silva Delgado <emulatorman@parabola.nu>2015-08-05 17:04:01 -0300
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+zram: Compressed RAM based block devices
+----------------------------------------
+
+* Introduction
+
+The zram module creates RAM based block devices named /dev/zram<id>
+(<id> = 0, 1, ...). Pages written to these disks are compressed and stored
+in memory itself. These disks allow very fast I/O and compression provides
+good amounts of memory savings. Some of the usecases include /tmp storage,
+use as swap disks, various caches under /var and maybe many more :)
+
+Statistics for individual zram devices are exported through sysfs nodes at
+/sys/block/zram<id>/
+
+* Usage
+
+Following shows a typical sequence of steps for using zram.
+
+1) Load Module:
+ modprobe zram num_devices=4
+ This creates 4 devices: /dev/zram{0,1,2,3}
+ (num_devices parameter is optional. Default: 1)
+
+2) Set max number of compression streams
+ Compression backend may use up to max_comp_streams compression streams,
+ thus allowing up to max_comp_streams concurrent compression operations.
+ By default, compression backend uses single compression stream.
+
+ Examples:
+ #show max compression streams number
+ cat /sys/block/zram0/max_comp_streams
+
+ #set max compression streams number to 3
+ echo 3 > /sys/block/zram0/max_comp_streams
+
+Note:
+In order to enable compression backend's multi stream support max_comp_streams
+must be initially set to desired concurrency level before ZRAM device
+initialisation. Once the device initialised as a single stream compression
+backend (max_comp_streams equals to 1), you will see error if you try to change
+the value of max_comp_streams because single stream compression backend
+implemented as a special case by lock overhead issue and does not support
+dynamic max_comp_streams. Only multi stream backend supports dynamic
+max_comp_streams adjustment.
+
+3) Select compression algorithm
+ Using comp_algorithm device attribute one can see available and
+ currently selected (shown in square brackets) compression algortithms,
+ change selected compression algorithm (once the device is initialised
+ there is no way to change compression algorithm).
+
+ Examples:
+ #show supported compression algorithms
+ cat /sys/block/zram0/comp_algorithm
+ lzo [lz4]
+
+ #select lzo compression algorithm
+ echo lzo > /sys/block/zram0/comp_algorithm
+
+4) Set Disksize
+ Set disk size by writing the value to sysfs node 'disksize'.
+ The value can be either in bytes or you can use mem suffixes.
+ Examples:
+ # Initialize /dev/zram0 with 50MB disksize
+ echo $((50*1024*1024)) > /sys/block/zram0/disksize
+
+ # Using mem suffixes
+ echo 256K > /sys/block/zram0/disksize
+ echo 512M > /sys/block/zram0/disksize
+ echo 1G > /sys/block/zram0/disksize
+
+Note:
+There is little point creating a zram of greater than twice the size of memory
+since we expect a 2:1 compression ratio. Note that zram uses about 0.1% of the
+size of the disk when not in use so a huge zram is wasteful.
+
+5) Set memory limit: Optional
+ Set memory limit by writing the value to sysfs node 'mem_limit'.
+ The value can be either in bytes or you can use mem suffixes.
+ In addition, you could change the value in runtime.
+ Examples:
+ # limit /dev/zram0 with 50MB memory
+ echo $((50*1024*1024)) > /sys/block/zram0/mem_limit
+
+ # Using mem suffixes
+ echo 256K > /sys/block/zram0/mem_limit
+ echo 512M > /sys/block/zram0/mem_limit
+ echo 1G > /sys/block/zram0/mem_limit
+
+ # To disable memory limit
+ echo 0 > /sys/block/zram0/mem_limit
+
+6) Activate:
+ mkswap /dev/zram0
+ swapon /dev/zram0
+
+ mkfs.ext4 /dev/zram1
+ mount /dev/zram1 /tmp
+
+7) Stats:
+Per-device statistics are exported as various nodes under /sys/block/zram<id>/
+
+A brief description of exported device attritbutes. For more details please
+read Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-block-zram.
+
+Name access description
+---- ------ -----------
+disksize RW show and set the device's disk size
+initstate RO shows the initialization state of the device
+reset WO trigger device reset
+num_reads RO the number of reads
+failed_reads RO the number of failed reads
+num_write RO the number of writes
+failed_writes RO the number of failed writes
+invalid_io RO the number of non-page-size-aligned I/O requests
+max_comp_streams RW the number of possible concurrent compress operations
+comp_algorithm RW show and change the compression algorithm
+notify_free RO the number of notifications to free pages (either
+ slot free notifications or REQ_DISCARD requests)
+zero_pages RO the number of zero filled pages written to this disk
+orig_data_size RO uncompressed size of data stored in this disk
+compr_data_size RO compressed size of data stored in this disk
+mem_used_total RO the amount of memory allocated for this disk
+mem_used_max RW the maximum amount memory zram have consumed to
+ store compressed data
+mem_limit RW the maximum amount of memory ZRAM can use to store
+ the compressed data
+num_migrated RO the number of objects migrated migrated by compaction
+
+
+WARNING
+=======
+per-stat sysfs attributes are considered to be deprecated.
+The basic strategy is:
+-- the existing RW nodes will be downgraded to WO nodes (in linux 4.11)
+-- deprecated RO sysfs nodes will eventually be removed (in linux 4.11)
+
+The list of deprecated attributes can be found here:
+Documentation/ABI/obsolete/sysfs-block-zram
+
+Basically, every attribute that has its own read accessible sysfs node
+(e.g. num_reads) *AND* is accessible via one of the stat files (zram<id>/stat
+or zram<id>/io_stat or zram<id>/mm_stat) is considered to be deprecated.
+
+User space is advised to use the following files to read the device statistics.
+
+File /sys/block/zram<id>/stat
+
+Represents block layer statistics. Read Documentation/block/stat.txt for
+details.
+
+File /sys/block/zram<id>/io_stat
+
+The stat file represents device's I/O statistics not accounted by block
+layer and, thus, not available in zram<id>/stat file. It consists of a
+single line of text and contains the following stats separated by
+whitespace:
+ failed_reads
+ failed_writes
+ invalid_io
+ notify_free
+
+File /sys/block/zram<id>/mm_stat
+
+The stat file represents device's mm statistics. It consists of a single
+line of text and contains the following stats separated by whitespace:
+ orig_data_size
+ compr_data_size
+ mem_used_total
+ mem_limit
+ mem_used_max
+ zero_pages
+ num_migrated
+
+8) Deactivate:
+ swapoff /dev/zram0
+ umount /dev/zram1
+
+9) Reset:
+ Write any positive value to 'reset' sysfs node
+ echo 1 > /sys/block/zram0/reset
+ echo 1 > /sys/block/zram1/reset
+
+ This frees all the memory allocated for the given device and
+ resets the disksize to zero. You must set the disksize again
+ before reusing the device.
+
+Nitin Gupta
+ngupta@vflare.org