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2 ways to check disk IOPS in Linux

The document outlines two methods to check disk IOPS in Linux: using the iostat command and the sar command. IOPS, or Input/Output Operations Per Second, is a critical performance metric for storage devices that impacts application responsiveness. The document also provides guidance on interpreting command outputs and troubleshooting disk performance issues.

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Nguyen Ngoc Trac
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7 views5 pages

2 ways to check disk IOPS in Linux

The document outlines two methods to check disk IOPS in Linux: using the iostat command and the sar command. IOPS, or Input/Output Operations Per Second, is a critical performance metric for storage devices that impacts application responsiveness. The document also provides guidance on interpreting command outputs and troubleshooting disk performance issues.

Uploaded by

Nguyen Ngoc Trac
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2 ways to check disk IOPS in Linux

Procedure to check disk iops in Linux


 Open a terminal window.
 Type fdisk -l to list all of the disks attached to your server.
 Note the name of the disk you want to check. In this example, we will use
/dev/sda.
 Type iostat -xd 1 /dev/sda to start monitoring I/O statistics.
 Press Ctrl+C to stop the I/O monitor. The r/s + w/s in the command output is
the IOPS for this disk.

 what is disk IOPS in Linux?


 “IOPS” stands for “Input/Output Operations Per Second.”
It is a measure of the number of read/write operations
that a storage device can perform per second.
 This is an important performance metric for storage
devices, as it can impact the speed and responsiveness
of an application or system that relies on that storage.

 For example, our environment is a high-performance


database. It requires a storage device with a high IOPS
capability to ensure that database queries are processed
quickly and efficiently.

 A high IOPS number means that a storage device is


capable of performing a large number of read and write
operations in a very short amount of time.

 This can be beneficial for applications and systems that


require fast and efficient access to storage resources.

 This metric can be helpful in determining the


workload, health, and performance of your disk.
 IOPS= r/s + w/s
 If there is a sudden drop in IOPS, it could indicate a
problem with the storage system or with one of the
applications running on the system.
 By identifying the cause of the problem, we can take
steps to resolve it and improve performance.

 To learn more how to fix disk performance issue, I


highly recommend the following guide.
 Check Disk IOPS with iostat in Linux
 The best command to check disk IOPS in Linux is using
the iostat command. It provides statistics on IOPS for all
storage devices on the system. It is used to monitor disk
workload in real-time.
 This tool is part of the sysstat package, which is a
collection of Linux system monitoring tools.
 This is my favorite command when dealing with disk
issues in Linux.
 It can provide detailed statistics on various aspects of
disk and storage performance, including transfer rates,
read/write percentages, and more. This can be
particularly useful for identifying bottlenecks.
 Another advantage that I have experienced is that the
iostat command is highly customizable. It allows users to
specify various options and flags to control the output
format, refresh rate, and other parameters.
The basic syntax of the iostat command is as follows:
iostat [options] [interval [count]]
 options: options can be used to specify the type of statistics to be displayed,
such as disk statistics, CPU utilization statistics, etc.
 interval: The interval parameter specifies the amount of time in seconds
between each report
 count:The count parameter can be specified in conjunction with the interval
parameter. If the count parameter is specified, the value of count determines
the number of reports generated at interval seconds apart. If the interval
parameter is specified without the count parameter, the iostat command
generates reports continuously.

Iostat command would not stop by default if we don’t specify the count. You can
simply press the CTRL + C key combination. This will interrupt the execution of the
command and return control back to the terminal prompt.
Let’s see some examples how to use iostat command.
To display disk I/O statistics every 2 seconds for 5 times, the following command can
be used:
iostat -xd 2 5
The “-d” option tells iostat to display information about the disk, and the “-x” option
tells iostat to display extended statistics.
If I need to check the IOPS for a specific device, such as /dev/sda, I will run the
command like this. Here the interval is 3s.
iostat -xd 3 /dev/sda
Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rkB/s wkB/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util
sda 0.00 0.00 100 50 50 100 10 3.00 0.00 0.00 5.00
The IOPS for this device xvda is r/s + w/s = 100 + 50 =150
This output can be a bit confusing, so let’s break it down.
 The “rrqm/s” column shows the number of read requests that were merged
per second. The “wrqm/s” column shows the number of write requests that
were merged per second.
 The “r/s” column shows the number of reads per second, and the “w/s”
column shows the number of writes per second.
 The “rkB/s” column shows the number of kilobytes read per second, and the
“wkB/s” column shows the number of kilobytes written per second.
 The “avgrq-sz” column shows the average size of each request in sectors.
 The “avgqu-sz” column shows the average queue length of the requests. The
“await” column shows the average time (in milliseconds) that each request
spent in the queue.
 The “svctm” column shows the average service time (in milliseconds) for
each request. And finally, the “%util” column shows the percentage of time
that the disk was active.

 If using iostat without the -x option, the IOPS value is


output under the tps (transactions per second) column.
 The iostat command is widely available on most Linux
distributions, making it a convenient and accessible tool
for system administrators, developers, and other users
who need to monitor and optimize their system
performance.
 Check Disk IOPS with sar command in Linux
 The second method we will discuss is using sar
command.
It stands for “System Activity Reporter” and provides a wide range of metrics
related to system usage, including CPU utilization, memory usage, disk I/O, network
activity, and more.
We need to make sure that the sysstat package is installed on our system. Once it’s
installed, we can use the sar -d command to view disk I/O statistics, including IOPS.
From the output, tps=IOPS.
How to check disk iops with sar command in Linx
 Install the sysstat package, if it’s not already installed, using the following
command: sudo apt-get install sysstat
 Run the sar command with the -d option to monitor I/O statistics: sar -d
 The tps column in the output will show the number of blocks read and written
to disk per second, which can be used to calculate IOPS.

09:20:01 AM DEV tps rd_sec/s wr_sec/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util
09:30:01 AM dev253-0 2.32 0.00 19.90 8.56 0.01 3.32 0.11 0.03
09:30:01 AM dev253-16 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
09:40:01 AM dev253-0 3.13 0.00 28.63 9.15 0.00 1.47 0.06 0.02
09:40:01 AM dev253-16 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
09:50:01 AM dev253-0 3.05 0.00 25.88 8.47 0.01 2.31 0.09 0.03
How to fix disk IO issue in Linux
Here are a few tips to check disk issue:
 Make sure that your disks are in good condition. If they are damaged or worn
out, they will not perform as well.
 Make sure that your disks are properly configured. If they are not configured
correctly, they will not be able to handle the load.

 If you are having problems with disk io, you can try using
a tool like iotop to help identify the problem.
 iotop is a Linux tool that allows you to see what
processes are using the most I/O. This can be
helpful in identifying which process is causing the
problem.
 You can install iotop using the following command: sudo
apt-get install iotop.
 Once it is installed, you can use the following command
to see which processes are using the most I/O: iotop.

 This will show you a list of the processes that are


using the most I/O, as well as the amount of I/O
that they are using. You can then use this
information to try and solve the problem.

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