---
name: "seivot"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "seivot"
version: "1.17-1"
release: "Debian 7 (Wheezy)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/seivot"
---

# seivot(1)

benchmark backup application (obnam)

## NAME

seivot - benchmark backup application (obnam)

## SYNOPSIS

**seivot** \[**--benchmark-fsck**\] \[**--config=*FILE***\] \[**--description=*TEXT***\] \[**--drop-caches**\] \[**--dump-config**\] \[**--dump-memory-profile=*METHOD***\] \[**--dump-setting-names**\] \[**--encrypt-with=*KEYID***\] \[**--file-size=*SIZE***\] \[**--generate-manpage=*TEMPLATE***\] \[**--generations=*COUNT***\] \[**-h**\] \[**--help**\] \[**--incremental-data=*SIZE***\] \[**--initial-data=*SIZE***\] \[**--larch-branch=*LARCH-BRANCH***\] \[**--list-config-files**\] \[**--log=*FILE***\] \[**--log-keep=*N***\] \[**--log-level=*LEVEL***\] \[**--log-max=*SIZE***\] \[**--log-mode=*MODE***\] \[**--no-default-configs**\] \[**--obnam-branch=*OBNAM-BRANCH***\] \[**--obnam-config=*FILE***\] \[**--obnam-profile=*NAMEPATTERN***\] \[**--output=*FILE***\] \[**--profile-name=*PROFILE-NAME***\] \[**--program=*PROGRAM***\] \[**--sftp-delay=*SFTP-DELAY***\] \[**--use-existing=*DIR***\] \[**--use-sftp-repository**\] \[**--use-sftp-root**\] \[**--verify**\] \[**--version**\] \[*FILE*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

**seivot** benchmarks a backup application. It has been written primarily for  [*obnam*(1)](/obnam/1.md), but could be extended for other backup applications.

**seivot** generates some live data using  [**genbackupdata**(1)](/genbackupdata/1.md), and then runs the backup application. It then generates some more live data, and runs a second backup generation, etc. It stores the measurements in an output file. See [**seivots-summary**(1)](/seivots-summary/1.md) for a tool to show data from such files in a tabular fashion. (**seivot** does not itself show the tabular data, because one is rarely interested in the output from just one run, and instead wants to contrast it with other runs).

## OPTIONS

- **--benchmark-fsck**

  benchmark fsck?

- **--config**=*FILE*

  add FILE to config files

- **--description**=*TEXT*

  free-form description of this backup run

- **--drop-caches**

  clear Linux kernel cache before running commands (will ask for sudo pasword

- **--dump-config**

  write out the entire current configuration

- **--dump-memory-profile**=*METHOD*

  make memory profiling dumps using METHOD, which is one of: none, simple, meliae, or heapy (default: simple)

- **--dump-setting-names**

  write out all names of settings and quit

- **--encrypt-with**=*KEYID*

  encrypt backups with KEYID

- **--file-size**=*SIZE*

  size of files to create

- **--generate-manpage**=*TEMPLATE*

  fill in manual page TEMPLATE

- **--generations**=*COUNT*

  total number of generations to measure (5)

- **-h**, **--help**

  show this help message and exit

- **--incremental-data**=*SIZE*

  add SIZE live data for additional generations (1024)

- **--initial-data**=*SIZE*

  size of initial live data (1024)

- **--larch-branch**=*LARCH-BRANCH*

  bzr branch from which to use larch (default is installed larch)

- **--list-config-files**

  list all possible config files

- **--log**=*FILE*

  write log entries to FILE (default is to not write log files at all); use "syslog" to log to system log, or "none" to disable logging

- **--log-keep**=*N*

  keep last N logs (10)

- **--log-level**=*LEVEL*

  log at LEVEL, one of debug, info, warning, error, critical, fatal (default: debug)

- **--log-max**=*SIZE*

  rotate logs larger than SIZE, zero for never (default: 0)

- **--log-mode**=*MODE*

  set permissions of new log files to MODE (octal; default 0600)

- **--no-default-configs**

  clear list of configuration files to read

- **--obnam-branch**=*OBNAM-BRANCH*

  bzr branch from which to run obnam (default is installed obnam)

- **--obnam-config**=*FILE*

  use FILE as an Obnam configuration file

- **--obnam-profile**=*NAMEPATTERN*

  store Python profiling output in files named after NAMEPATTERN (no profiling, unless set); %(foo)s in pattern gets filled in, where foo is op (for backup/restore/etc), gen, or order (cumulative/time)

- **--output**=*FILE*

  write output to FILE, instead of standard output

- **--profile-name**=*PROFILE-NAME*

  name of backup use-case profile name (for documentation purposes only)

- **--program**=*PROGRAM*

  program to benchmark (obnam)

- **--sftp-delay**=*SFTP-DELAY*

  add an artificial delay (in milliseconds) to all SFTP transfers

- **--use-existing**=*DIR*

  use exiting DIR for initial generation

- **--use-sftp-repository**

  access backup repository over the network via sftp

- **--use-sftp-root**

  access backup repository over the network via sftp

- **--verify**

  verify restored data

- **--version**

  show program's version number and exit

## EXAMPLE

To run a simple benchmark:

-

  seivot --initial-data=10G --incremental-data=1G

## SEE ALSO

[**seivots-summary**(1)](/seivots-summary/1.md), [**obnam**(1)](/obnam/1.md).