Man Linux: Main Page and Category List

NAME

       schedtool - query and set CPU scheduling parameters

SYNOPSIS

       schedtool
              [-0|-N] [-1|-F] [-2|-R] [-3|-B] [-4|-I] [-5|-D]
              [-M policy]
              [-a affinity]
              [-p prio]
              [-n nice_level]
              [-e command [arg ...]]
              [-r]
              [-v]
              [-h]
              [LIST OF PIDs]

DESCRIPTION

       schedtool  can set all CPU scheduling parameters Linux is capable of or
       display information for given processes.

       Long-running, non-interactive tasks may  benefit  from  SCHED_BATCH  as
       timeslices are longer, less system-time is wasted by computing the next
       runnable process and the caches stay stable.

       Audio/video or other  near-realtime  applications  may  run  with  less
       skipping  if  set  to  SCHED_RR.   Use the static priority-switch -p to
       designate inter-process-hierarchies.

       schedtool now supports setting the  CPU-affinity  introduced  in  linux
       2.5.8.

OPTIONS

       -N or -0
              set all PIDs to SCHED_NORMAL/OTHER

       -F or -1
              to SCHED_FIFO   root-credentials required

       -R or -2
              to SCHED_RR     root-credentials required

       -B or -3
              to SCHED_BATCH

       -I or -4
              to SCHED_ISO

       -D or -5
              to SCHED_IDLEPRIO

       -M policy
              for manual/raw mode; policy is  the  number  of  the  scheduling
              policy  (see  above  for 0-4).  This option is mostly for kernel
              guys that want to test their new implementations.

       -p prio
              specify static priority required for  SCHED_FIFO  and  SCHED_RR.
              Usually ranged from 1-99.

       -a affinity
              set   the   PID’s   affinity   to  this  bitmask  (hexadecimal);
              alternatively, a list mode is supported.

       -n nice_level
              set the PID’s nice level; see nice(2), nice(1).

       -e command [arg ...]
              execute command with  given  scheduling  parameters  (overwrites
              schedtool’s process image). See EXAMPLES.

       -r     display min and max priority for each policy.

       -v     be verbose.

       -h     help

EXAMPLES

       To query the $SHELL’s policies:

           #> schedtool $$

       To query some PIDs, namely 1 2 and 3:

           #> schedtool 1 2 3

       To  execute  mplayer  in SCHED_RR with priority 20. The priority arg is
       needed for both SCHED_RR and SCHED_FIFO.

           #> schedtool -R -p 20 -e mplayer -quiet some_file.avi

       To set current shell to  SCHED_BATCH,  which  all  programs  the  shell
       starts will inherit:

           #> schedtool -3 $$

       To set all processes with the name ’cpu_hog’ to SCHED_BATCH:

           #> schedtool -3 ‘pidof cpu_hog‘

       To set a process’ affinity to only the first CPU (CPU0):

           #> schedtool -a 0x1 <PID>

       Using the list mode and affinty of CPU0 and CPU3:

           #> schedtool -a 0,3 <PID>

       A  combination  of  an  affinity and a policy-argument is - of course -
       always possible.

          #> schedtool -B -a 0x1 <PID>

AFFINITY MASK

       The affinity-argument determines on which CPUs a process is allowed  to
       run.  It consists of a simple bitmask represented in hexadecimal.  CPU0
       is  denoted  by  the  least-significant  bit,  CPU1   by   the   second
       least-significant and so on, thus giving:

           0x1 -> only run on CPU0

           0x2 -> only run on CPU1

           0x4 -> only run on CPU2

           0x8 -> only run on CPU3 ... and so on.

       Multi-target CPUs may be specified using bitwise OR of the values:

           0x7 -> run on CPUs 0, 1, 2 but NOT on 4

           0x3 -> run only on CPUs 0 and 1

       The default is to run a process on all CPUs, giving a mask of

           0xf for all 4 CPUs

           0xff for all 8 CPUs

AFFINITY MASK - LIST MODE

       Alternatively  a  list mode is supported where you can specify the CPUs
       delimited  by  ",".   The  following  runs  <PID>  on  CPU0  and   CPU1
       (equivalent to 0x3):

          #> schedtool -a 0,1 <PID>

POLICY OVERVIEW

       SCHED_NORMAL  /  SCHED_OTHER  This  is  the  default policy and for the
       average  program  with  some  interaction.  Does  preemption  of  other
       processes.

       SCHED_FIFO  First-In,  First  Out  Scheduler,  used  only for real-time
       contraints.  Processes in this  class  are  usually  not  preempted  by
       others, they need to free themselves from the CPU via sched_yield() and
       as such you need special designed applications. Use with extreme  care.
       ROOT-credentials required.

       SCHED_RR  Round-Robin  Scheduler,  also used for real-time constraints.
       CPU-time is assigned in an round-robin  fashion  with  a  much  smaller
       timeslice  than  with  SCHED_NORMAL  and  processes  in  this group are
       favoured over SCHED_NORMAL. Usable for  audio/video  applications  near
       peak rate of the system.  ROOT-credentials required.

       SCHED_BATCH  [  since 2.6.16 in mainline ] SCHED_BATCH was designed for
       non-interactive, CPU-bound applications.  It uses longer timeslices (to
       better  exploit  the  cache),  but  can be interrupted anytime by other
       processes in other classes  to  guaratee  interaction  of  the  system.
       Processes  in  this  class  are  selected  last  but  may  result  in a
       considerable speed-up (up to 300%). No interactive boosting is done.

       SCHED_ISO [ patch needed ] SCHED_ISO  was  designed  to  give  users  a
       SCHED_RR-similar  class.  To quote Con Kolivas: "This is a non-expiring
       scheduler policy designed to guarantee a timeslice within a  reasonable
       latency  while  preventing  starvation.   Good for gaming, video at the
       limits of hardware, video capture etc."

       SCHED_IDLEPRIO  [  patch  needed  ]  SCHED_IDLEPRIO   is   similar   to
       SCHED_BATCH,  but was explicitely designed to consume only the time the
       CPU is idle. No interactive boosting is done.  If you used  SCHED_BATCH
       in the -ck kernels this is what you want since 2.6.16

HINTS

       PID  0  means "current process", in our case, schedtool. May occur when
       using the -e switch.

       Be careful with SCHED_FIFO! You may lock out other processes  from  the
       CPU, including your shell.

       For SCHED_BATCH you certainly need the a recent 2.6 kernel.

       A  short  overview  is  given  in  SCHED_DESIGN and the README contains
       thourough discussion. The INSTALL file also lists all prerequisites and
       where you can get patches.

       Affinity 0x0 should never be used.

SEE ALSO

       sched_setscheduler(2),    sched_setaffinity(2),    nice(2),    nice(1),
       renice(3).

BUGS

       You need some knowledge about the kernel and scheduling. The author  is
       a grumpy little elitist.

AUTHOR

       Freek

       Please   contact   me   via  freshmeat.net’s  "contact  author"-feature
       (http://freshmeat.net/projects/schedtool).

                                1 November 2006