Benchmarking SAS® I/O: Verifying I/O Performance Using fio

Input/Output (I/O) throughput is typically the most important computing aspect of a SAS® environment. Bandwidth requirements ranging from 25MB/sec/core to 135MB/sec/core are common in a high-performance SAS system. Insuring that the storage subsystem can meet the demands of SAS is critical to delivering the performance required by the business and user community. Ideally, SAS administrators could run real-world SAS jobs to benchmark the I/O subsystem. However, technical and logistical challenges frequently make that option impractical. The open source software tool called “fio” provides a method for accurately simulating I/O workloads. It is configurable to match closely the existing or expected I/O profile for a SAS environment.