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IOPRIO_SET(2)		   Linux Programmers Manual		IOPRIO_SET(2)



NAME
       ioprio_get, ioprio_set - get/set I/O scheduling class and priority

SYNOPSIS
       int ioprio_get(int which, int who);
       int ioprio_set(int which, int who, int ioprio);

DESCRIPTION
       The ioprio_get() and ioprio_set() system calls respectively get and set
       the I/O scheduling class and priority of one or more processes.

       The which and who arguments identify the process(es) on which the  sys
       tem  calls  operate.   The  which argument determines how who is inter
       preted, and has one of the following values:

       IOPRIO_WHO_PROCESS
	      who is a process ID identifying a single process.

       IOPRIO_WHO_PGRP
	      who is a process group ID identifying all the members of a  pro
	      cess group.

       IOPRIO_WHO_USER
	      who  is  a  user ID identifying all of the processes that have a
	      matching real UID.

       If which is specified as IOPRIO_WHO_PGRP or IOPRIO_WHO_USER when  call
       ing  ioprio_get(),  and	more  than  one  process matches who, then the
       returned priority will be the highest one found among all of the match
       ing  processes.	 One priority is said to be higher than another one if
       it belongs to a higher priority class (IOPRIO_CLASS_RT is  the  highest
       priority  class;  IOPRIO_CLASS_IDLE  is the lowest) or if it belongs to
       the same priority class as the other process but has a higher  priority
       level (a lower priority number means a higher priority level).

       The  ioprio argument given to ioprio_set() is a bit mask that specifies
       both the scheduling class and the priority to be assigned to the target
       process(es).  The following macros are used for assembling and dissect
       ing ioprio values:

       IOPRIO_PRIO_VALUE(class, data)
	      Given a scheduling class and priority (data),  this  macro  com
	      bines  the  two  values  to  produce  an	ioprio value, which is
	      returned as the result of the macro.

       IOPRIO_PRIO_CLASS(mask)
	      Given mask (an ioprio value), this macro returns its  I/O  class
	      component,   that   is,	one  of  the  values  IOPRIO_CLASS_RT,
	      IOPRIO_CLASS_BE, or IOPRIO_CLASS_IDLE.

       IOPRIO_PRIO_DATA(mask)
	      Given mask (an ioprio value), this macro	returns  its  priority
	      (data) component.

       See  the  NOTES	section for more information on scheduling classes and
       priorities.

       I/O priorities are supported for reads and for  synchronous  (O_DIRECT,
       O_SYNC)	writes.   I/O  priorities  are	not supported for asynchronous
       writes because they are issued  outside	the  context  of  the  program
       dirtying the memory, and thus program-specific priorities do not apply.

RETURN VALUE
       On success, ioprio_get() returns the ioprio value of the  process  with
       highest	I/O  priority  of any of the processes that match the criteria
       specified in which and who.  On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set
       to indicate the error.

       On  success,  ioprio_set()  returns  0.	 On error, -1 is returned, and
       errno is set to indicate the error.

ERRORS
       EINVAL Invalid value for which or ioprio.  Refer to the	NOTES  section
	      for  available scheduler classes and priority levels for ioprio.

       EPERM  The calling process does not have the privilege needed to assign
	      this ioprio to the specified process(es).  See the NOTES section
	      for more information on required privileges for ioprio_set().

       ESRCH  No process(es) could be found that matched the specification  in
	      which and who.

VERSIONS
       These system calls have been available on Linux since kernel 2.6.13.

CONFORMING TO
       These system calls are Linux-specific.

NOTES
       Glibc  does not provide wrapper for these system calls; call them using
       syscall(2).

       These system calls only have an effect when used in conjunction with an
       I/O  scheduler  that  supports I/O priorities.  As at kernel 2.6.17 the
       only such scheduler is the Completely Fair Queuing (CFQ) I/O scheduler.

   Selecting an I/O Scheduler
       I/O  Schedulers are selected on a per-device basis via the special file
       /sys/block//queue/scheduler.

       One can view the current I/O scheduler via the /sys file  system.   For
       example,  the  following command displays a list of all schedulers cur
       rently loaded in the kernel:

	      $ cat /sys/block/hda/queue/scheduler
	      noop anticipatory deadline [cfq]

       The scheduler surrounded by brackets is the one actually in use for the
       device  (hda  in  the  example).   Setting another scheduler is done by
       writing the name of the new scheduler to this file.  For  example,  the
       following command will set the scheduler for the hda device to cfq:

	      $ su
	      Password:
	      # echo cfq > /sys/block/hda/queue/scheduler

   The Completely Fair Queuing (CFQ) I/O Scheduler
       Since  v3  (aka CFQ Time Sliced) CFQ implements I/O nice levels similar
       to those of CPU scheduling.  These nice levels  are  grouped  in  three
       scheduling classes each one containing one or more priority levels:

       IOPRIO_CLASS_RT (1)
	      This is the real-time I/O class.	This scheduling class is given
	      higher priority than any other class: processes from this  class
	      are  given  first  access to the disk every time.  Thus this I/O
	      class needs to be used with some care: one I/O real-time process
	      can starve the entire system.  Within the real-time class, there
	      are 8 levels of class data (priority) that determine exactly how
	      much  time this process needs the disk for on each service.  The
	      highest real-time priority level is 0; the lowest is 7.  In  the
	      future this might change to be more directly mappable to perfor
	      mance, by passing in a desired data rate instead.

       IOPRIO_CLASS_BE (2)
	      This is the best-effort scheduling class, which is  the  default
	      for  any	process  that hasnt set a specific I/O priority.  The
	      class data (priority) determines how much I/O bandwidth the pro
	      cess will get.  Best-effort priority levels are analogous to CPU
	      nice values (see getpriority(2)).  The priority level determines
	      a  priority  relative  to  other	processes  in  the best-effort
	      scheduling class.  Priority levels range from 0 (highest)  to  7
	      (lowest).

       IOPRIO_CLASS_IDLE (3)
	      This  is	the  idle scheduling class.  Processes running at this
	      level only get I/O time when no-one else needs  the  disk.   The
	      idle  class  has	no  class  data.   Attention  is required when
	      assigning this priority class to a process, since it may	become
	      starved  if  higher  priority processes are constantly accessing
	      the disk.

       Refer to Documentation/block/ioprio.txt for more information on the CFQ
       I/O Scheduler and an example program.

   Required permissions to set I/O priorities
       Permission to change a processs priority is granted or denied based on
       two assertions:

       Process ownership
	      An unprivileged process may only set the I/O priority of a  pro
	      cess  whose  real  UID  matches the real or effective UID of the
	      calling process.	A process which has the CAP_SYS_NICE  capabil
	      ity can change the priority of any process.

       What is the desired priority
	      Attempts	to  set very high priorities (IOPRIO_CLASS_RT) require
	      the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability.  Kernel versions up to 2.6.24 also
	      required	  CAP_SYS_ADMIN   to   set   a	 very	low   priority
	      (IOPRIO_CLASS_IDLE), but since Linux 2.6.25, this is  no	longer
	      required.

       A  call	to  ioprio_set() must follow both rules, or the call will fail
       with the error EPERM.

BUGS
       Glibc does not yet provide a suitable header file defining the function
       prototypes and macros described on this page.  Suitable definitions can
       be found in linux/ioprio.h.

SEE ALSO
       getpriority(2), open(2), capabilities(7)

       Documentation/block/ioprio.txt in the kernel source tree.

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 3.05 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of	the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux				  2008-07-09			 IOPRIO_SET(2)




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