filetop(8)

NAME
filetop - File reads and writes by filename and process. Top for files.

SYNOPSIS
filetop [-h] [-a] [-C] [-r MAXROWS] [-s {reads,writes,rbytes,wbytes}] [-p PID] [--read-only] [--write-only] [interval] [count]

DESCRIPTION
This is top for files.

This traces file reads and writes, and prints a per-file summary every interval (by default, 1 second). By default the summary is sorted on the highest read throughput (Kbytes). Sorting order can be changed via -s option. By default only IO on regular files is shown. The -a option will list all file types (sockets, FIFOs, etc). Only read or only write operations can be traced using --read-only or --write-only options respectively. By default both are traced. Using both options at once will raise an Exception.

This uses in-kernel eBPF maps to store per process summaries for efficiency.

This script works by tracing the __vfs_read() and __vfs_write() functions using kernel dynamic tracing, which instruments explicit read and write calls. If files are read or written using another means (eg, via mmap()), then they will not be visible using this tool. Also, this tool will need updating to match any code changes to those vfs functions.

This should be useful for file system workload characterization when analyzing the performance of applications.

Note that tracing VFS level reads and writes can be a frequent activity, and this tool can begin to cost measurable overhead at high I/O rates.

Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.

REQUIREMENTS
CONFIG_BPF and bcc.

OPTIONS

-a  Include non-regular file types (sockets, FIFOs, etc).

-C  Don't clear the screen.

-r MAXROWS
    Maximum number of rows to print. Default is 20.

-s {reads,writes,rbytes,wbytes}
    Sort column. Default is rbytes (read throughput).

-p PID
    Trace this PID only.

--read-only
    Trace read operations only

--write-only
    Trace write operations only

interval
    Interval between updates, seconds.

count
    Number of interval summaries.

EXAMPLES

Summarize block device I/O by process, 1 second screen refresh:
    # filetop

Don't clear the screen, and top 8 rows only:
    # filetop -Cr 8

5 second summaries, 10 times only:
    # filetop 5 10

FIELDS

loadavg:
    The contents of /proc/loadavg

PID Process ID.

COMM
    Process name.

READS
    Count of reads during interval.

WRITES
    Count of writes during interval.

R_Kb
    Total read Kbytes during interval.

W_Kb
    Total write Kbytes during interval.

T   Type of file: R == regular, S == socket, O == other (pipe, etc).

FILE
    Filename.

OVERHEAD
Depending on the frequency of application reads and writes, overhead can become significant, in the worst case slowing applications by over 50%. Hopefully for real world workloads the overhead is much less -- test before use. The reason for the high overhead is that VFS reads and writes can be a frequent event, and despite the eBPF overhead being very small per event, if you multiply this small overhead by a million events per second, it becomes a million times worse. Literally. You can gauge the number of reads and writes using the vfsstat(8) tool, also from bcc.

SOURCE
This is from bcc.

    https://github.com/iovisor/bcc

Also look in the bcc distribution for a companion _examples.txt file containing example usage, output, and commentary for this tool.

OS
Linux

STABILITY
Unstable - in development.

AUTHOR
Brendan Gregg

INSPIRATION
top(1) by William LeFebvre

SEE ALSO
vfsstat(8), vfscount(8), fileslower(8)