Performance Overhead of Perf Event Subsystem in Linux Kernel

Posted by Bo Xiao on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Bo Xiao
Published on 2010-05-08T13:11:50Z Indexed on 2010/05/08 13:18 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 253

Filed under:

linux

|

performancecounter

|

overhead

|

ftrace

|

profiler

Performance counters for Linux are a new kernel-based subsystem that provide a framework for all things performance analysis. It covers hardware level (CPU/PMU, Performance Monitoring Unit) features and software features (software counters, tracepoints) as well. Since 2.6.33, the kernel provide 'perf_event_create_kernel_counter' kernel api for developers to create kernel counter to collect system runtime information. What I concern most is the performance impact on overall system when tracepoint/ftrace is enabled. There are no docs I can find about them. I was once told that ftrace was implemented by dynamically patching code, will it slow the system dramatically?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about performancecounter

.NET PerformanceCounter for Hard Faults/sec

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Vista's Resource Monitor includes a reading for "Hard Faults/sec". Is there an equivalent performance counter I can use in C# to get this reading? I've tried the "Page Faults/sec" under the memory category, but that appears to be something different. >>> More
PerformanceCounter.NextValue hangs on some machines.

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I don't know why, but many computers hangs on following operation: void Init() { net1 = new List<PerformanceCounter>(); net2 = new List<PerformanceCounter>(); foreach (string instance in new PerformanceCounterCategory("Network Interface").GetInstanceNames()) { … >>> More
How can I use Performance Counters in C# to monitor 4 processes with the same name?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm trying to create a performance counter that can monitor the performance time of applications, one of which is Google Chrome. However, I notice that the performance time I get for chrome is unnaturally low - I look under the task-manager to realize my problem that chrome has more than one process… >>> More
C#: Accessing PerformanceCounters for the ".NET CLR Memory category"

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm trying to access the performance counters located in ".NET CLR Memory category" through C# using the PerformanceCounter class. However a cannot instantiate the categories with what I would expect was the correct category/counter name new PerformanceCounter(".NET CLR Memory", "# bytes in all heaps"… >>> More
Impersonation - Access is denied

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am having trouble using impersonation to delete a PerformanceCounterCategory from an MVC website. I have a static class and when the application starts it checks whether or not a PerformanceCounterCategory exists, and if it contains the correct counters. If not, it deletes the category and creates… >>> More