Provided by: nbdkit_1.16.2-1ubuntu3_amd64 bug

NAME

       nbdkit-memory-plugin - nbdkit virtual memory (RAM disk) plugin

SYNOPSIS

        nbdkit memory [size=]SIZE

DESCRIPTION

       "nbdkit-memory-plugin" is a plugin for nbdkit(1) which stores a single disk image in
       virtual memory, and discards it when nbdkit exits.  This plugin can be used for testing or
       where you don't care about the final content of the disk image.

       All nbdkit clients will see the same disk content, initially all zeroes.

       The disk image is stored in memory using a sparse array.  The allocated parts of the disk
       image cannot be larger than physical RAM plus swap, less whatever is being used by the
       rest of the system.  If you want to allocate more space than this use
       nbdkit-file-plugin(1) backed by a temporary file instead.

       However the virtual size can be as large as you like, up to the maximum supported by
       nbdkit (2⁶³-1 bytes).  This limit is tested when nbdkit is compiled, and it should work on
       all platforms and architectures supported by nbdkit.

EXAMPLES

       Create a one gigabyte sparse RAM disk:

        nbdkit memory 1G

       If you want to loop mount the above disk, see nbdkit-loop(1).

       Create the largest possible RAM disk:

        nbdkit memory $(( 2**63 - 1 ))

PARAMETERS

       [size=]SIZE
           Specify the virtual size of the disk image.

           This parameter is required.

           "size=" is a magic config key and may be omitted in most cases.  See "Magic
           parameters" in nbdkit(1).

NOTES

   Preloading small amounts of data
       If you want an in-memory disk image preinitialized with a small amount of data specified
       on the command line, look at nbdkit-data-plugin(1) instead.  Note by "small" this does not
       mean that the virtual disk image must be small, but that the amount of data initially
       stored sparsely is small enough to specify on the command line.

   Preloading large amounts of data
       If you want to preload a large amount of data (eg. a disk image) into the memory plugin,
       use qemu-img(1):

        $ rm -f pid
        $ nbdkit -P pid memory 10G

        # wait for nbdkit to become ready to accept connections:
        $ while [ ! -f pid ]; do sleep 1; done

        # preload Fedora disk image:
        $ virt-builder fedora-28 --size=10G
        $ qemu-img convert -p -n fedora-28.img nbd:localhost:10809

FILES

       $plugindir/nbdkit-memory-plugin.so
           The plugin.

           Use "nbdkit --dump-config" to find the location of $plugindir.

VERSION

       "nbdkit-memory-plugin" first appeared in nbdkit 1.2.

SEE ALSO

       nbdkit(1), nbdkit-plugin(3), nbdkit-loop(1), nbdkit-data-plugin(1), nbdkit-file-plugin(1),
       nbdkit-info-plugin(1).

AUTHORS

       Richard W.M. Jones

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2017-2018 Red Hat Inc.

LICENSE

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