Linode Linode Block Storage - Early Access

Linode.com are finally chasing Vultr.com's and DigitalOcean's block storage offerings https://forum.linode.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=14906

Will be free during beta testing and only available for beta period at Newark, New Jersey datacenter. Triple replication like OVH's ceph is sort of worrying as OVH's ceph was very very slow for write speeds so interesting to see how Linode's block storage fairs performance wise

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Just did a quick $5 Linode VPS test with 20GB block storage mounted as /home/nginx and block storage is definitely slower ~1/5th the speed of local SSD.

Code (Text):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Curl Installer YUM or DNF Time: 111.7093 seconds
Total YUM Time: 12.132566469 seconds
Total YUM or DNF + Source Download Time: 40.5412
Total Nginx First Time Install Time: 409.5826
Total PHP First Time Install Time: 719.5636
Download Zip From Github Time: 3.7432
Total Time Other eg. source compiles: 391.3836
Total Centmin Mod Install Time: 1561.0710
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Install Time (curl yum + cm install + zip download): 1676.5235 seconds
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Code (Text):

df -hT
Filesystem     Type      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root      ext4       20G  5.3G   13G  29% /
devtmpfs       devtmpfs  493M  4.0K  493M   1% /dev
tmpfs          tmpfs     495M     0  495M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs          tmpfs     495M  7.7M  488M   2% /run
tmpfs          tmpfs     495M     0  495M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs          tmpfs      99M     0   99M   0% /run/user/0
/dev/sdc       ext4       20G   45M   19G   1% /home/nginx
/dev/loop0     ext4      976M  2.6M  907M   1% /tmp

Code (Text):

ls -lah /home/nginx/domains/
total 12K
drwxr-s--- 3 nginx nginx 4.0K Jul 23 00:09 .
drwxr-sr-x 4 nginx nginx 4.0K Jul 23 00:09 ..
drwxr-x--- 6 nginx nginx 4.0K Jul 23 00:09 demodomain.com

Running Intel Xeon E5-2697v4 @2.30Ghz Broadwell-EP based cpu

Code (Text):

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 79
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2697 v4 @ 2.30GHz
stepping        : 1
microcode       : 0x1
cpu MHz         : 2299.992
cache size      : 16384 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 1
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
apicid          : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 13
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon rep_good nopl xtopology eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq ssse3 fma cx16 pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand hypervisor lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch fsgsbase tsc_adjust bmi1 hle avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rtm rdseed adx smap xsaveopt arat
bugs            :
bogomips        : 4601.65
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

dd Benchmarks

test	bandwidth MB/s
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k conv=fdatasync - local ssd	536.0
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k conv=fdatasync - local ssd	521.0
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k oflag=dsync - local ssd	106.0
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k oflag=dsync - local ssd	13.6
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k conv=fdatasync - block storage	392.0
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k conv=fdatasync - block storage	565.0
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k oflag=dsync - block storage	24.8
dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k oflag=dsync - block storage	1.6

FIO Benchmarks

test	bandwidth KB/s	IOPs
fio read - local ssd	272635	68158
fio writes - local ssd	244882	61220
fio read - block storage	54265	14476
fio writes - block storage	45667	11419

ioping Benchmarks

test	bandwidth MiB/s	IOPs
ioping default - local ssd	12.6	3230
ioping seek - local ssd	46.0	11800
ioping sequential - local ssd	848.6	3390
ioping sequential cached - local ssd	4170	17100
ioping default - block storage	10.1	2570
ioping seek - block storage	6.96	1780
ioping sequential - block storage	162.2	608
ioping sequential cached - block storage	4030	16500

Linode Local SSD Benchmarks

FIO reads

Code (Text):

./fio reads.ini
randomreads: (g=0): rw=randread, bs=4K-4K/4K-4K, ioengine=libaio, iodepth=64
fio-2.0.9
Starting 1 process
randomreads: Laying out IO file(s) (1 file(s) / 1024MB)
Jobs: 1 (f=1): [r] [100.0% done] [274.9M/0K /s] [70.4K/0  iops] [eta 00m:00s]
randomreads: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=27590: Sun Jul 23 01:30:25 2017
  read : io=1024.3MB, bw=272635KB/s, iops=68158 , runt=  3847msec
  cpu          : usr=6.14%, sys=71.22%, ctx=12252, majf=0, minf=70
  IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.1%, >=64=100.0%
     submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
     complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.1%, >=64=0.0%
     issued    : total=r=262207/w=0/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0

Run status group 0 (all jobs):
   READ: io=1024.3MB, aggrb=272635KB/s, minb=272635KB/s, maxb=272635KB/s, mint=3847msec, maxt=3847msec

Disk stats (read/write):
  sda: ios=262014/0, merge=0/0, ticks=74153/0, in_queue=74060, util=85.58%

FIO writes

Code (Text):

./fio writes.ini
randomwrites: (g=0): rw=randwrite, bs=4K-4K/4K-4K, ioengine=libaio, iodepth=64
fio-2.0.9
Starting 1 process
Jobs: 1 (f=1): [w] [100.0% done] [0K/267.6M /s] [0 /68.6K iops] [eta 00m:00s]
randomwrites: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=27595: Sun Jul 23 01:30:44 2017
  write: io=1024.3MB, bw=244882KB/s, iops=61220 , runt=  4283msec
  cpu          : usr=4.97%, sys=77.67%, ctx=17501, majf=0, minf=5
  IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.1%, >=64=100.0%
     submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
     complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.1%, >=64=0.0%
     issued    : total=r=0/w=262207/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0

Run status group 0 (all jobs):
  WRITE: io=1024.3MB, aggrb=244881KB/s, minb=244881KB/s, maxb=244881KB/s, mint=4283msec, maxt=4283msec

Disk stats (read/write):
  sda: ios=0/252978, merge=0/2, ticks=0/57120, in_queue=57167, util=88.29%

Code (Text):

ioping -c 5 /
4 KiB <<< / (ext4 /dev/root): request=1 time=104.5 us (warmup)
4 KiB <<< / (ext4 /dev/root): request=2 time=282.9 us
4 KiB <<< / (ext4 /dev/root): request=3 time=404.5 us
4 KiB <<< / (ext4 /dev/root): request=4 time=261.2 us
4 KiB <<< / (ext4 /dev/root): request=5 time=290.3 us

--- / (ext4 /dev/root) ioping statistics ---
4 requests completed in 1.24 ms, 16 KiB read, 3.23 k iops, 12.6 MiB/s
generated 5 requests in 4.00 s, 20 KiB, 1 iops, 5.00 KiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 261.2 us / 309.7 us / 404.5 us / 55.8 us

Code (Text):

ioping -R /

--- / (ext4 /dev/root) ioping statistics ---
33.5 k requests completed in 2.84 s, 130.9 MiB read, 11.8 k iops, 46.0 MiB/s
generated 33.5 k requests in 3.00 s, 130.9 MiB, 11.2 k iops, 43.6 MiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 58.6 us / 84.8 us / 3.39 ms / 49.6 us

Code (Text):

ioping -RL /

--- / (ext4 /dev/root) ioping statistics ---
9.28 k requests completed in 2.73 s, 2.27 GiB read, 3.39 k iops, 848.6 MiB/s
generated 9.28 k requests in 3.00 s, 2.27 GiB, 3.09 k iops, 773.3 MiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 216.7 us / 294.6 us / 3.71 ms / 76.9 us

Code (Text):

ioping -RLC /

--- / (ext4 /dev/root) ioping statistics ---
51.2 k requests completed in 2.99 s, 12.5 GiB read, 17.1 k iops, 4.17 GiB/s
generated 51.2 k requests in 3.00 s, 12.5 GiB, 17.1 k iops, 4.17 GiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 46.7 us / 58.5 us / 336.6 us / 5.47 us

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k conv=fdatasync
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 0.250513 s, 536 MB/s

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k conv=fdatasync
16384+0 records in
16384+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 0.257688 s, 521 MB/s
 

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k oflag=dsync
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 1.26446 s, 106 MB/s

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k oflag=dsync
16384+0 records in
16384+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 9.86406 s, 13.6 MB/s

Linode Block Storage Benchmarks

FIO reads

Code (Text):

./fio reads.ini
randomreads: (g=0): rw=randread, bs=4K-4K/4K-4K, ioengine=libaio, iodepth=64
fio-2.0.9
Starting 1 process
randomreads: Laying out IO file(s) (1 file(s) / 1024MB)
Jobs: 1 (f=1): [r] [100.0% done] [54265K/0K /s] [13.6K/0  iops] [eta 00m:00s]
randomreads: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=27618: Sun Jul 23 01:32:02 2017
  read : io=1024.3MB, bw=57908KB/s, iops=14476 , runt= 18112msec
  cpu          : usr=5.46%, sys=33.71%, ctx=102866, majf=0, minf=70
  IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.1%, >=64=100.0%
     submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
     complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.1%, >=64=0.0%
     issued    : total=r=262207/w=0/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0

Run status group 0 (all jobs):
   READ: io=1024.3MB, aggrb=57907KB/s, minb=57907KB/s, maxb=57907KB/s, mint=18112msec, maxt=18112msec

Disk stats (read/write):
  sdc: ios=261316/2, merge=0/1, ticks=1121087/20, in_queue=1121543, util=99.34%

FIO writes

Code (Text):

./fio writes.ini       
randomwrites: (g=0): rw=randwrite, bs=4K-4K/4K-4K, ioengine=libaio, iodepth=64
fio-2.0.9
Starting 1 process
Jobs: 1 (f=1): [w] [100.0% done] [0K/45594K /s] [0 /11.4K iops] [eta 00m:00s]
randomwrites: (groupid=0, jobs=1): err= 0: pid=27622: Sun Jul 23 01:32:44 2017
  write: io=1024.3MB, bw=45677KB/s, iops=11419 , runt= 22962msec
  cpu          : usr=3.42%, sys=19.32%, ctx=69312, majf=0, minf=5
  IO depths    : 1=0.1%, 2=0.1%, 4=0.1%, 8=0.1%, 16=0.1%, 32=0.1%, >=64=100.0%
     submit    : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.0%, >=64=0.0%
     complete  : 0=0.0%, 4=100.0%, 8=0.0%, 16=0.0%, 32=0.0%, 64=0.1%, >=64=0.0%
     issued    : total=r=0/w=262207/d=0, short=r=0/w=0/d=0

Run status group 0 (all jobs):
  WRITE: io=1024.3MB, aggrb=45676KB/s, minb=45676KB/s, maxb=45676KB/s, mint=22962msec, maxt=22962msec

Disk stats (read/write):
  sdc: ios=0/261895, merge=0/5, ticks=0/1409780, in_queue=1409714, util=99.04%

Code (Text):

ioping -c 5 /home/nginx
4 KiB <<< /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc): request=1 time=224.7 us (warmup)
4 KiB <<< /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc): request=2 time=398.3 us
4 KiB <<< /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc): request=3 time=379.6 us
4 KiB <<< /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc): request=4 time=411.3 us
4 KiB <<< /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc): request=5 time=364.2 us

--- /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc) ioping statistics ---
4 requests completed in 1.55 ms, 16 KiB read, 2.57 k iops, 10.1 MiB/s
generated 5 requests in 4.00 s, 20 KiB, 1 iops, 5.00 KiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 364.2 us / 388.4 us / 411.3 us / 17.9 us

Code (Text):

ioping -R /home/nginx

--- /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc) ioping statistics ---
5.27 k requests completed in 2.96 s, 20.6 MiB read, 1.78 k iops, 6.96 MiB/s
generated 5.27 k requests in 3.00 s, 20.6 MiB, 1.76 k iops, 6.86 MiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 79.3 us / 561.0 us / 9.59 ms / 560.2 us

Code (Text):

ioping -RL /home/nginx

--- /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc) ioping statistics ---
1.79 k requests completed in 2.93 s, 446.8 MiB read, 608 iops, 152.2 MiB/s
generated 1.79 k requests in 3.00 s, 447 MiB, 595 iops, 148.9 MiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 312.8 us / 1.64 ms / 23.3 ms / 1.02 ms

Code (Text):

ioping -RLC /home/nginx

--- /home/nginx (ext4 /dev/sdc) ioping statistics ---
49.4 k requests completed in 2.99 s, 12.1 GiB read, 16.5 k iops, 4.03 GiB/s
generated 49.4 k requests in 3.00 s, 12.1 GiB, 16.5 k iops, 4.02 GiB/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 47.1 us / 60.6 us / 415.6 us / 7.91 us

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k conv=fdatasync
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 0.342264 s, 392 MB/s

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k conv=fdatasync
16384+0 records in
16384+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 0.237358 s, 565 MB/s
 

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=128k count=1k oflag=dsync
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 5.42164 s, 24.8 MB/s

Code (Text):

dd if=/dev/zero of=sb-io-test bs=8k count=16k oflag=dsync
16384+0 records in
16384+0 records out
134217728 bytes (134 MB) copied, 82.1537 s, 1.6 MB/s

 

Fairly easy to add more block storage. Added a 2nd 20GB block storage device mounted as /backup directory. Literally just a few seconds between adding the block storage volume in Linode control panel and having it attached to Linode VPS !

Code (Text):

df -hT
Filesystem     Type      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root      ext4       20G  5.3G   13G  29% /
devtmpfs       devtmpfs  493M     0  493M   0% /dev
tmpfs          tmpfs     495M     0  495M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs          tmpfs     495M   14M  481M   3% /run
tmpfs          tmpfs     495M     0  495M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop0     ext4      976M  2.6M  907M   1% /tmp
/dev/sdc       ext4       20G  181M   19G   1% /home/nginx
tmpfs          tmpfs      99M     0   99M   0% /run/user/0
/dev/sdd       ext4       20G   45M   19G   1% /backup

 

Linode Fremont, California is next Linode block storage target ~4-5 weeks out Linode Forum :: Linode Block Storage (beta)

 

Doesn't inspire confidence but the test Linode VPS with block storage just got an emergency email for raid failure needing VPS data migration. Good thing is Linode so far has had a flawless track record when it comes to such migrations - one of benefits of Linode cloud based VPS and their setups

migration complete automated Linode VPS migration to new Linode host KVM node server in ~3 minutes 40 seconds

 

Guess that's one usage case that would work fine even if the disk i/o performance is much lower on block storage. Though if you're remote backup can do 100+MB/s, then the block storage would be limiting transfer speeds.

 

Linode now also has Linode Block Storage non-ssd beta in Fremont, CA for US West Coast. Linode just notified me of this forum's Fremont, CA VPS needing host node migration for future new features and performance so I suspect it's related to Linode Block Storage

So planning when I'll manually enter the migration queue

forums migrated