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NAME
perf-intel-pt - Support for Intel Processor Trace within perf tools
SYNOPSIS
perf record -e intel_pt//
DESCRIPTION
Intel Processor Trace (Intel PT) is an extension of Intel Architecture that collects
information about software execution such as control flow, execution modes and timings and
formats it into highly compressed binary packets. Technical details are documented in the
Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer Manuals, Chapter 36 Intel Processor
Trace.
Intel PT is first supported in Intel Core M and 5th generation Intel Core processors that
are based on the Intel micro-architecture code name Broadwell.
Trace data is collected by perf record and stored within the perf.data file. See below for
options to perf record.
Trace data must be decoded which involves walking the object code and matching the trace
data packets. For example a TNT packet only tells whether a conditional branch was taken
or not taken, so to make use of that packet the decoder must know precisely which
instruction was being executed.
Decoding is done on-the-fly. The decoder outputs samples in the same format as samples
output by perf hardware events, for example as though the "instructions" or "branches"
events had been recorded. Presently 3 tools support this: perf script, perf report and
perf inject. See below for more information on using those tools.
The main distinguishing feature of Intel PT is that the decoder can determine the exact
flow of software execution. Intel PT can be used to understand why and how did software
get to a certain point, or behave a certain way. The software does not have to be
recompiled, so Intel PT works with debug or release builds, however the executed images
are needed - which makes use in JIT-compiled environments, or with self-modified code, a
challenge. Also symbols need to be provided to make sense of addresses.
A limitation of Intel PT is that it produces huge amounts of trace data (hundreds of
megabytes per second per core) which takes a long time to decode, for example two or three
orders of magnitude longer than it took to collect. Another limitation is the performance
impact of tracing, something that will vary depending on the use-case and architecture.
QUICKSTART
It is important to start small. That is because it is easy to capture vastly more data
than can possibly be processed.
The simplest thing to do with Intel PT is userspace profiling of small programs. Data is
captured with perf record e.g. to trace ls userspace-only:
perf record -e intel_pt//u ls
And profiled with perf report e.g.
perf report
To also trace kernel space presents a problem, namely kernel self-modifying code. A fairly
good kernel image is available in /proc/kcore but to get an accurate image a copy of
/proc/kcore needs to be made under the same conditions as the data capture. perf record
can make a copy of /proc/kcore if the option --kcore is used, but access to /proc/kcore is
restricted e.g.
sudo perf record -o pt_ls --kcore -e intel_pt// -- ls
which will create a directory named pt_ls and put the perf.data file (named simply data)
and copies of /proc/kcore, /proc/kallsyms and /proc/modules into it. The other tools
understand the directory format, so to use perf report becomes:
sudo perf report -i pt_ls
Because samples are synthesized after-the-fact, the sampling period can be selected for
reporting. e.g. sample every microsecond
sudo perf report pt_ls --itrace=i1usge
See the sections below for more information about the --itrace option.
Beware the smaller the period, the more samples that are produced, and the longer it takes
to process them.
Also note that the coarseness of Intel PT timing information will start to distort the
statistical value of the sampling as the sampling period becomes smaller.
To represent software control flow, "branches" samples are produced. By default a branch
sample is synthesized for every single branch. To get an idea what data is available you
can use the perf script tool with all itrace sampling options, which will list all the
samples.
perf record -e intel_pt//u ls
perf script --itrace=ibxwpe
An interesting field that is not printed by default is flags which can be displayed as
follows:
perf script --itrace=ibxwpe -F+flags
The flags are "bcrosyiABExghDt" which stand for branch, call, return, conditional, system,
asynchronous, interrupt, transaction abort, trace begin, trace end, in transaction,
VM-entry, VM-exit, interrupt disabled, and interrupt disable toggle respectively.
perf script also supports higher level ways to dump instruction traces:
perf script --insn-trace --xed
Dump all instructions. This requires installing the xed tool (see XED below) Dumping all
instructions in a long trace can be fairly slow. It is usually better to start with higher
level decoding, like
perf script --call-trace
or
perf script --call-ret-trace
and then select a time range of interest. The time range can then be examined in detail
with
perf script --time starttime,stoptime --insn-trace --xed
While examining the trace it’s also useful to filter on specific CPUs using the -C option
perf script --time starttime,stoptime --insn-trace --xed -C 1
Dump all instructions in time range on CPU 1.
Another interesting field that is not printed by default is ipc which can be displayed as
follows:
perf script --itrace=be -F+ipc
There are two ways that instructions-per-cycle (IPC) can be calculated depending on the
recording.
If the cyc config term (see config terms section below) was used, then IPC is calculated
using the cycle count from CYC packets, otherwise MTC packets are used - refer to the mtc
config term. When MTC is used, however, the values are less accurate because the timing is
less accurate.
Because Intel PT does not update the cycle count on every branch or instruction, the
values will often be zero. When there are values, they will be the number of instructions
and number of cycles since the last update, and thus represent the average IPC since the
last IPC for that event type. Note IPC for "branches" events is calculated separately from
IPC for "instructions" events.
Also note that the IPC instruction count may or may not include the current instruction.
If the cycle count is associated with an asynchronous branch (e.g. page fault or
interrupt), then the instruction count does not include the current instruction, otherwise
it does. That is consistent with whether or not that instruction has retired when the
cycle count is updated.
Another note, in the case of "branches" events, non-taken branches are not presently
sampled, so IPC values for them do not appear e.g. a CYC packet with a TNT packet that
starts with a non-taken branch. To see every possible IPC value, "instructions" events can
be used e.g. --itrace=i0ns
While it is possible to create scripts to analyze the data, an alternative approach is
available to export the data to a sqlite or postgresql database. Refer to script
export-to-sqlite.py or export-to-postgresql.py for more details, and to script
exported-sql-viewer.py for an example of using the database.
There is also script intel-pt-events.py which provides an example of how to unpack the raw
data for power events and PTWRITE. The script also displays branches, and supports 2
additional modes selected by option:
--insn-trace - instruction trace
--src-trace - source trace
As mentioned above, it is easy to capture too much data. One way to limit the data
captured is to use snapshot mode which is explained further below. Refer to new snapshot
option and Intel PT modes of operation further below.
Another problem that will be experienced is decoder errors. They can be caused by
inability to access the executed image, self-modified or JIT-ed code, or the inability to
match side-band information (such as context switches and mmaps) which results in the
decoder not knowing what code was executed.
There is also the problem of perf not being able to copy the data fast enough, resulting
in data lost because the buffer was full. See Buffer handling below for more details.
PERF RECORD
new event
The Intel PT kernel driver creates a new PMU for Intel PT. PMU events are selected by
providing the PMU name followed by the "config" separated by slashes. An enhancement has
been made to allow default "config" e.g. the option
-e intel_pt//
will use a default config value. Currently that is the same as
-e intel_pt/tsc,noretcomp=0/
which is the same as
-e intel_pt/tsc=1,noretcomp=0/
Note there are now new config terms - see section config terms further below.
The config terms are listed in /sys/devices/intel_pt/format. They are bit fields within
the config member of the struct perf_event_attr which is passed to the kernel by the
perf_event_open system call. They correspond to bit fields in the IA32_RTIT_CTL MSR. Here
is a list of them and their definitions:
$ grep -H . /sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/*
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc:config:1
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/cyc_thresh:config:19-22
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc:config:9
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/mtc_period:config:14-17
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/noretcomp:config:11
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/psb_period:config:24-27
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/format/tsc:config:10
Note that the default config must be overridden for each term i.e.
-e intel_pt/noretcomp=0/
is the same as:
-e intel_pt/tsc=1,noretcomp=0/
So, to disable TSC packets use:
-e intel_pt/tsc=0/
It is also possible to specify the config value explicitly:
-e intel_pt/config=0x400/
Note that, as with all events, the event is suffixed with event modifiers:
u userspace
k kernel
h hypervisor
G guest
H host
p precise ip
h, G and H are for virtualization which is not supported by Intel PT. p is also not
relevant to Intel PT. So only options u and k are meaningful for Intel PT.
perf_event_attr is displayed if the -vv option is used e.g.
------------------------------------------------------------
perf_event_attr:
type 6
size 112
config 0x400
{ sample_period, sample_freq } 1
sample_type IP|TID|TIME|CPU|IDENTIFIER
read_format ID
disabled 1
inherit 1
exclude_kernel 1
exclude_hv 1
enable_on_exec 1
sample_id_all 1
------------------------------------------------------------
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 0 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 1 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 2 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 3 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
------------------------------------------------------------
config terms
The June 2015 version of Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer Manuals,
Chapter 36 Intel Processor Trace, defined new Intel PT features. Some of the features are
reflect in new config terms. All the config terms are described below.
tsc Always supported. Produces TSC timestamp packets to provide timing information. In
some cases it is possible to decode without timing information, for example a per-thread
context that does not overlap executable memory maps.
The default config selects tsc (i.e. tsc=1).
noretcomp Always supported. Disables "return compression" so a TIP packet is produced when
a function returns. Causes more packets to be produced but might make decoding more
reliable.
The default config does not select noretcomp (i.e. noretcomp=0).
psb_period Allows the frequency of PSB packets to be specified.
The PSB packet is a synchronization packet that provides a
starting point for decoding or recovery from errors.
Support for psb_period is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and "0"
otherwise.
Valid values are given by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_periods
which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
The psb_period value is converted to the approximate number of
trace bytes between PSB packets as:
2 ^ (value + 11)
e.g. value 3 means 16KiB bytes between PSBs
If an invalid value is entered, the error message
will give a list of valid values e.g.
$ perf record -e intel_pt/psb_period=15/u uname
Invalid psb_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-5
If MTC packets are selected, the default config selects a value
of 3 (i.e. psb_period=3) or the nearest lower value that is
supported (0 is always supported). Otherwise the default is 0.
If decoding is expected to be reliable and the buffer is large
then a large PSB period can be used.
Because a TSC packet is produced with PSB, the PSB period can
also affect the granularity to timing information in the absence
of MTC or CYC.
mtc Produces MTC timing packets.
MTC packets provide finer grain timestamp information than TSC
packets. MTC packets record time using the hardware crystal
clock (CTC) which is related to TSC packets using a TMA packet.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
The frequency of MTC packets can also be specified - see
mtc_period below.
mtc_period Specifies how frequently MTC packets are produced - see mtc above for how to
determine if MTC packets are supported.
Valid values are given by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/mtc_periods
which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
The mtc_period value is converted to the MTC frequency as:
CTC-frequency / (2 ^ value)
e.g. value 3 means one eighth of CTC-frequency
Where CTC is the hardware crystal clock, the frequency of which
can be related to TSC via values provided in cpuid leaf 0x15.
If an invalid value is entered, the error message
will give a list of valid values e.g.
$ perf record -e intel_pt/mtc_period=15/u uname
Invalid mtc_period for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0,3,6,9
The default value is 3 or the nearest lower value
that is supported (0 is always supported).
cyc Produces CYC timing packets.
CYC packets provide even finer grain timestamp information than
MTC and TSC packets. A CYC packet contains the number of CPU
cycles since the last CYC packet. Unlike MTC and TSC packets,
CYC packets are only sent when another packet is also sent.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/psb_cyc
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
The number of CYC packets produced can be reduced by specifying
a threshold - see cyc_thresh below.
cyc_thresh Specifies how frequently CYC packets are produced - see cyc above for how to
determine if CYC packets are supported.
Valid cyc_thresh values are given by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/cycle_thresholds
which contains a hexadecimal value, the bits of which represent
valid values e.g. bit 2 set means value 2 is valid.
The cyc_thresh value represents the minimum number of CPU cycles
that must have passed before a CYC packet can be sent. The
number of CPU cycles is:
2 ^ (value - 1)
e.g. value 4 means 8 CPU cycles must pass before a CYC packet
can be sent. Note a CYC packet is still only sent when another
packet is sent, not at, e.g. every 8 CPU cycles.
If an invalid value is entered, the error message
will give a list of valid values e.g.
$ perf record -e intel_pt/cyc,cyc_thresh=15/u uname
Invalid cyc_thresh for intel_pt. Valid values are: 0-12
CYC packets are not requested by default.
pt Specifies pass-through which enables the branch config term.
The default config selects 'pt' if it is available, so a user will
never need to specify this term.
branch Enable branch tracing. Branch tracing is enabled by default so to disable branch
tracing use branch=0.
The default config selects 'branch' if it is available.
ptw Enable PTWRITE packets which are produced when a ptwrite instruction is executed.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/ptwrite
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
As an alternative, refer to "Emulated PTWRITE" further below.
fup_on_ptw Enable a FUP packet to follow the PTWRITE packet. The FUP packet provides the
address of the ptwrite instruction. In the absence of fup_on_ptw, the decoder will use the
address of the previous branch if branch tracing is enabled, otherwise the address will be
zero. Note that fup_on_ptw will work even when branch tracing is disabled.
pwr_evt Enable power events. The power events provide information about changes to the CPU
C-state.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/power_event_trace
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
event Enable Event Trace. The events provide information about asynchronous events.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/event_trace
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
notnt Disable TNT packets. Without TNT packets, it is not possible to walk executable code
to reconstruct control flow, however FUP, TIP, TIP.PGE and TIP.PGD packets still indicate
asynchronous control flow, and (if return compression is disabled - see noretcomp) return
statements. The advantage of eliminating TNT packets is reducing the size of the trace and
corresponding tracing overhead.
Support for this feature is indicated by:
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/tnt_disable
which contains "1" if the feature is supported and
"0" otherwise.
AUX area sampling option
To select Intel PT "sampling" the AUX area sampling option can be used:
--aux-sample
Optionally it can be followed by the sample size in bytes e.g.
--aux-sample=8192
In addition, the Intel PT event to sample must be defined e.g.
-e intel_pt//u
Samples on other events will be created containing Intel PT data e.g. the following will
create Intel PT samples on the branch-misses event, note the events must be grouped using
{}:
perf record --aux-sample -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses:u}'
An alternative to --aux-sample is to add the config term aux-sample-size to events. In
this case, the grouping is implied e.g.
perf record -e intel_pt//u -e branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u
is the same as:
perf record -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u}'
but allows for also using an address filter e.g.:
perf record -e intel_pt//u --filter 'filter * @/bin/ls' -e branch-misses/aux-sample-size=8192/u -- ls
It is important to select a sample size that is big enough to contain at least one PSB
packet. If not a warning will be displayed:
Intel PT sample size (%zu) may be too small for PSB period (%zu)
The calculation used for that is: if sample_size ⟨ psb_period + 256 display the warning.
When sampling is used, psb_period defaults to 0 (2KiB).
The default sample size is 4KiB.
The sample size is passed in aux_sample_size in struct perf_event_attr. The sample size is
limited by the maximum event size which is 64KiB. It is difficult to know how big the
event might be without the trace sample attached, but the tool validates that the sample
size is not greater than 60KiB.
new snapshot option
The difference between full trace and snapshot from the kernel’s perspective is that in
full trace we don’t overwrite trace data that the user hasn’t collected yet (and indicated
that by advancing aux_tail), whereas in snapshot mode we let the trace run and overwrite
older data in the buffer so that whenever something interesting happens, we can stop it
and grab a snapshot of what was going on around that interesting moment.
To select snapshot mode a new option has been added:
-S
Optionally it can be followed by the snapshot size e.g.
-S0x100000
The default snapshot size is the auxtrace mmap size. If neither auxtrace mmap size nor
snapshot size is specified, then the default is 4MiB for privileged users (or if
/proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid < 0), 128KiB for unprivileged users. If an
unprivileged user does not specify mmap pages, the mmap pages will be reduced as described
in the new auxtrace mmap size option section below.
The snapshot size is displayed if the option -vv is used e.g.
Intel PT snapshot size: %zu
new auxtrace mmap size option
Intel PT buffer size is specified by an addition to the -m option e.g.
-m,16
selects a buffer size of 16 pages i.e. 64KiB.
Note that the existing functionality of -m is unchanged. The auxtrace mmap size is
specified by the optional addition of a comma and the value.
The default auxtrace mmap size for Intel PT is 4MiB/page_size for privileged users (or if
/proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid < 0), 128KiB for unprivileged users. If an
unprivileged user does not specify mmap pages, the mmap pages will be reduced from the
default 512KiB/page_size to 256KiB/page_size, otherwise the user is likely to get an error
as they exceed their mlock limit (Max locked memory as shown in /proc/self/limits). Note
that perf does not count the first 512KiB (actually /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_mlock_kb
minus 1 page) per cpu against the mlock limit so an unprivileged user is allowed 512KiB
per cpu plus their mlock limit (which defaults to 64KiB but is not multiplied by the
number of cpus).
In full-trace mode, powers of two are allowed for buffer size, with a minimum size of 2
pages. In snapshot mode or sampling mode, it is the same but the minimum size is 1 page.
The mmap size and auxtrace mmap size are displayed if the -vv option is used e.g.
mmap length 528384
auxtrace mmap length 4198400
Intel PT modes of operation
Intel PT can be used in 3 modes: full-trace mode sample mode snapshot mode
Full-trace mode traces continuously e.g.
perf record -e intel_pt//u uname
Sample mode attaches a Intel PT sample to other events e.g.
perf record --aux-sample -e intel_pt//u -e branch-misses:u
Snapshot mode captures the available data when a signal is sent or "snapshot" control
command is issued. e.g. using a signal
perf record -v -e intel_pt//u -S ./loopy 1000000000 &
[1] 11435
kill -USR2 11435
Recording AUX area tracing snapshot
Note that the signal sent is SIGUSR2. Note that "Recording AUX area tracing snapshot" is
displayed because the -v option is used.
The advantage of using "snapshot" control command is that the access is controlled by
access to a FIFO e.g.
$ mkfifo perf.control
$ mkfifo perf.ack
$ cat perf.ack &
[1] 15235
$ sudo ~/bin/perf record --control fifo:perf.control,perf.ack -S -e intel_pt//u -- sleep 60 &
[2] 15243
$ ps -e | grep perf
15244 pts/1 00:00:00 perf
$ kill -USR2 15244
bash: kill: (15244) - Operation not permitted
$ echo snapshot > perf.control
ack
The 3 Intel PT modes of operation cannot be used together.
Buffer handling
There may be buffer limitations (i.e. single ToPa entry) which means that actual buffer
sizes are limited to powers of 2 up to 4MiB (MAX_ORDER). In order to provide other sizes,
and in particular an arbitrarily large size, multiple buffers are logically concatenated.
However an interrupt must be used to switch between buffers. That has two potential
problems: a) the interrupt may not be handled in time so that the current buffer becomes
full and some trace data is lost. b) the interrupts may slow the system and affect the
performance results.
If trace data is lost, the driver sets truncated in the PERF_RECORD_AUX event which the
tools report as an error.
In full-trace mode, the driver waits for data to be copied out before allowing the
(logical) buffer to wrap-around. If data is not copied out quickly enough, again truncated
is set in the PERF_RECORD_AUX event. If the driver has to wait, the intel_pt event gets
disabled. Because it is difficult to know when that happens, perf tools always re-enable
the intel_pt event after copying out data.
Intel PT and build ids
By default "perf record" post-processes the event stream to find all build ids for
executables for all addresses sampled. Deliberately, Intel PT is not decoded for that
purpose (it would take too long). Instead the build ids for all executables encountered
(due to mmap, comm or task events) are included in the perf.data file.
To see buildids included in the perf.data file use the command:
perf buildid-list
If the perf.data file contains Intel PT data, that is the same as:
perf buildid-list --with-hits
Snapshot mode and event disabling
In order to make a snapshot, the intel_pt event is disabled using an IOCTL, namely
PERF_EVENT_IOC_DISABLE. However doing that can also disable the collection of side-band
information. In order to prevent that, a dummy software event has been introduced that
permits tracking events (like mmaps) to continue to be recorded while intel_pt is
disabled. That is important to ensure there is complete side-band information to allow the
decoding of subsequent snapshots.
A test has been created for that. To find the test:
perf test list
...
23: Test using a dummy software event to keep tracking
To run the test:
perf test 23
23: Test using a dummy software event to keep tracking : Ok
perf record modes (nothing new here)
perf record essentially operates in one of three modes: per thread per cpu workload only
"per thread" mode is selected by -t or by --per-thread (with -p or -u or just a workload).
"per cpu" is selected by -C or -a. "workload only" mode is selected by not using the other
options but providing a command to run (i.e. the workload).
In per-thread mode an exact list of threads is traced. There is no inheritance. Each
thread has its own event buffer.
In per-cpu mode all processes (or processes from the selected cgroup i.e. -G option, or
processes selected with -p or -u) are traced. Each cpu has its own buffer. Inheritance is
allowed.
In workload-only mode, the workload is traced but with per-cpu buffers. Inheritance is
allowed. Note that you can now trace a workload in per-thread mode by using the
--per-thread option.
Privileged vs non-privileged users
Unless /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid is set to -1, unprivileged users have memory
limits imposed upon them. That affects what buffer sizes they can have as outlined above.
The v4.2 kernel introduced support for a context switch metadata event,
PERF_RECORD_SWITCH, which allows unprivileged users to see when their processes are
scheduled out and in, just not by whom, which is left for the PERF_RECORD_SWITCH_CPU_WIDE,
that is only accessible in system wide context, which in turn requires CAP_PERFMON or
CAP_SYS_ADMIN.
Please see the 45ac1403f564 ("perf: Add PERF_RECORD_SWITCH to indicate context switches")
commit, that introduces these metadata events for further info.
When working with kernels < v4.2, the following considerations must be taken, as the
sched:sched_switch tracepoints will be used to receive such information:
Unless /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid is set to -1, unprivileged users are not
permitted to use tracepoints which means there is insufficient side-band information to
decode Intel PT in per-cpu mode, and potentially workload-only mode too if the workload
creates new processes.
Note also, that to use tracepoints, read-access to debugfs is required. So if debugfs is
not mounted or the user does not have read-access, it will again not be possible to decode
Intel PT in per-cpu mode.
sched_switch tracepoint
The sched_switch tracepoint is used to provide side-band data for Intel PT decoding in
kernels where the PERF_RECORD_SWITCH metadata event isn’t available.
The sched_switch events are automatically added. e.g. the second event shown below:
$ perf record -vv -e intel_pt//u uname
------------------------------------------------------------
perf_event_attr:
type 6
size 112
config 0x400
{ sample_period, sample_freq } 1
sample_type IP|TID|TIME|CPU|IDENTIFIER
read_format ID
disabled 1
inherit 1
exclude_kernel 1
exclude_hv 1
enable_on_exec 1
sample_id_all 1
------------------------------------------------------------
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 0 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 1 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 2 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 3 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
------------------------------------------------------------
perf_event_attr:
type 2
size 112
config 0x108
{ sample_period, sample_freq } 1
sample_type IP|TID|TIME|CPU|PERIOD|RAW|IDENTIFIER
read_format ID
inherit 1
sample_id_all 1
exclude_guest 1
------------------------------------------------------------
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 0 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 1 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 2 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid -1 cpu 3 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
------------------------------------------------------------
perf_event_attr:
type 1
size 112
config 0x9
{ sample_period, sample_freq } 1
sample_type IP|TID|TIME|IDENTIFIER
read_format ID
disabled 1
inherit 1
exclude_kernel 1
exclude_hv 1
mmap 1
comm 1
enable_on_exec 1
task 1
sample_id_all 1
mmap2 1
comm_exec 1
------------------------------------------------------------
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 0 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 1 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 2 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
sys_perf_event_open: pid 31104 cpu 3 group_fd -1 flags 0x8
mmap size 528384B
AUX area mmap length 4194304
perf event ring buffer mmapped per cpu
Synthesizing auxtrace information
Linux
[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
[ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.042 MB perf.data ]
Note, the sched_switch event is only added if the user is permitted to use it and only in
per-cpu mode.
Note also, the sched_switch event is only added if TSC packets are requested. That is
because, in the absence of timing information, the sched_switch events cannot be matched
against the Intel PT trace.
PERF SCRIPT
By default, perf script will decode trace data found in the perf.data file. This can be
further controlled by new option --itrace.
New --itrace option
Having no option is the same as
--itrace
which, in turn, is the same as
--itrace=cepwx
The letters are:
i synthesize "instructions" events
b synthesize "branches" events
x synthesize "transactions" events
w synthesize "ptwrite" events
p synthesize "power" events (incl. PSB events)
c synthesize branches events (calls only)
r synthesize branches events (returns only)
o synthesize PEBS-via-PT events
I synthesize Event Trace events
e synthesize tracing error events
d create a debug log
g synthesize a call chain (use with i or x)
G synthesize a call chain on existing event records
l synthesize last branch entries (use with i or x)
L synthesize last branch entries on existing event records
s skip initial number of events
q quicker (less detailed) decoding
Z prefer to ignore timestamps (so-called "timeless" decoding)
"Instructions" events look like they were recorded by "perf record -e instructions".
"Branches" events look like they were recorded by "perf record -e branches". "c" and "r"
can be combined to get calls and returns.
"Transactions" events correspond to the start or end of transactions. The flags field can
be used in perf script to determine whether the event is a transaction start, commit or
abort.
Note that "instructions", "branches" and "transactions" events depend on code flow packets
which can be disabled by using the config term "branch=0". Refer to the config terms
section above.
"ptwrite" events record the payload of the ptwrite instruction and whether "fup_on_ptw"
was used. "ptwrite" events depend on PTWRITE packets which are recorded only if the "ptw"
config term was used. Refer to the config terms section above. perf script "synth" field
displays "ptwrite" information like this: "ip: 0 payload: 0x123456789abcdef0" where "ip"
is 1 if "fup_on_ptw" was used.
"Power" events correspond to power event packets and CBR (core-to-bus ratio) packets.
While CBR packets are always recorded when tracing is enabled, power event packets are
recorded only if the "pwr_evt" config term was used. Refer to the config terms section
above. The power events record information about C-state changes, whereas CBR is
indicative of CPU frequency. perf script "event,synth" fields display information like
this: cbr: cbr: 22 freq: 2189 MHz (200%) mwait: hints: 0x60 extensions: 0x1 pwre: hw: 0
cstate: 2 sub-cstate: 0 exstop: ip: 1 pwrx: deepest cstate: 2 last cstate: 2 wake reason:
0x4 Where: "cbr" includes the frequency and the percentage of maximum non-turbo "mwait"
shows mwait hints and extensions "pwre" shows C-state transitions (to a C-state deeper
than C0) and whether initiated by hardware "exstop" indicates execution stopped and
whether the IP was recorded exactly, "pwrx" indicates return to C0 For more details refer
to the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer Manuals.
PSB events show when a PSB+ occurred and also the byte-offset in the trace. Emitting a
PSB+ can cause a CPU a slight delay. When doing timing analysis of code with Intel PT, it
is useful to know if a timing bubble was caused by Intel PT or not.
Error events show where the decoder lost the trace. Error events are quite important.
Users must know if what they are seeing is a complete picture or not. The "e" option may
be followed by flags which affect what errors will or will not be reported. Each flag must
be preceded by either + or -. The flags supported by Intel PT are: -o Suppress overflow
errors -l Suppress trace data lost errors For example, for errors but not overflow or data
lost errors:
--itrace=e-o-l
The "d" option will cause the creation of a file "intel_pt.log" containing all decoded
packets and instructions. Note that this option slows down the decoder and that the
resulting file may be very large. The "d" option may be followed by flags which affect
what debug messages will or will not be logged. Each flag must be preceded by either + or
-. The flags support by Intel PT are: -a Suppress logging of perf events +a Log all perf
events By default, logged perf events are filtered by any specified time ranges, but flag
+a overrides that.
In addition, the period of the "instructions" event can be specified. e.g.
--itrace=i10us
sets the period to 10us i.e. one instruction sample is synthesized for each 10
microseconds of trace. Alternatives to "us" are "ms" (milliseconds), "ns" (nanoseconds),
"t" (TSC ticks) or "i" (instructions).
"ms", "us" and "ns" are converted to TSC ticks.
The timing information included with Intel PT does not give the time of every instruction.
Consequently, for the purpose of sampling, the decoder estimates the time since the last
timing packet based on 1 tick per instruction. The time on the sample is not adjusted and
reflects the last known value of TSC.
For Intel PT, the default period is 100us.
Setting it to a zero period means "as often as possible".
In the case of Intel PT that is the same as a period of 1 and a unit of instructions (i.e.
--itrace=i1i).
Also the call chain size (default 16, max. 1024) for instructions or transactions events
can be specified. e.g.
--itrace=ig32
--itrace=xg32
Also the number of last branch entries (default 64, max. 1024) for instructions or
transactions events can be specified. e.g.
--itrace=il10
--itrace=xl10
Note that last branch entries are cleared for each sample, so there is no overlap from one
sample to the next.
The G and L options are designed in particular for sample mode, and work much like g and l
but add call chain and branch stack to the other selected events instead of synthesized
events. For example, to record branch-misses events for ls and then add a call chain
derived from the Intel PT trace:
perf record --aux-sample -e '{intel_pt//u,branch-misses:u}' -- ls
perf report --itrace=Ge
Although in fact G is a default for perf report, so that is the same as just:
perf report
One caveat with the G and L options is that they work poorly with "Large PEBS". Large PEBS
means PEBS records will be accumulated by hardware and the written into the event buffer
in one go. That reduces interrupts, but can give very late timestamps. Because the Intel
PT trace is synchronized by timestamps, the PEBS events do not match the trace. Currently,
Large PEBS is used only in certain circumstances: - hardware supports it - PEBS is used -
event period is specified, instead of frequency - the sample type is limited to the
following flags: PERF_SAMPLE_IP | PERF_SAMPLE_TID | PERF_SAMPLE_ADDR | PERF_SAMPLE_ID |
PERF_SAMPLE_CPU | PERF_SAMPLE_STREAM_ID | PERF_SAMPLE_DATA_SRC | PERF_SAMPLE_IDENTIFIER |
PERF_SAMPLE_TRANSACTION | PERF_SAMPLE_PHYS_ADDR | PERF_SAMPLE_REGS_INTR |
PERF_SAMPLE_REGS_USER | PERF_SAMPLE_PERIOD (and sometimes) | PERF_SAMPLE_TIME Because
Intel PT sample mode uses a different sample type to the list above, Large PEBS is not
used with Intel PT sample mode. To avoid Large PEBS in other cases, avoid specifying the
event period i.e. avoid the perf record -c option, --count option, or period config term.
To disable trace decoding entirely, use the option --no-itrace.
It is also possible to skip events generated (instructions, branches, transactions) at the
beginning. This is useful to ignore initialization code.
--itrace=i0nss1000000
skips the first million instructions.
The q option changes the way the trace is decoded. The decoding is much faster but much
less detailed. Specifically, with the q option, the decoder does not decode TNT packets,
and does not walk object code, but gets the ip from FUP and TIP packets. The q option can
be used with the b and i options but the period is not used. The q option decodes more
quickly, but is useful only if the control flow of interest is represented or indicated by
FUP, TIP, TIP.PGE, or TIP.PGD packets (refer below). However the q option could be used to
find time ranges that could then be decoded fully using the --time option.
What will not be decoded with the (single) q option:
• direct calls and jmps
• conditional branches
• non-branch instructions
What will be decoded with the (single) q option:
• asynchronous branches such as interrupts
• indirect branches
• function return target address if the noretcomp config term (refer config terms
section) was used
• start of (control-flow) tracing
• end of (control-flow) tracing, if it is not out of context
• power events, ptwrite, transaction start and abort
• instruction pointer associated with PSB packets
Note the q option does not specify what events will be synthesized e.g. the p option must
be used also to show power events.
Repeating the q option (double-q i.e. qq) results in even faster decoding and even less
detail. The decoder decodes only extended PSB (PSB+) packets, getting the instruction
pointer if there is a FUP packet within PSB+ (i.e. between PSB and PSBEND). Note PSB
packets occur regularly in the trace based on the psb_period config term (refer config
terms section). There will be a FUP packet if the PSB+ occurs while control flow is being
traced.
What will not be decoded with the qq option:
• everything except instruction pointer associated with PSB packets
What will be decoded with the qq option:
• instruction pointer associated with PSB packets
The Z option is equivalent to having recorded a trace without TSC (i.e. config term
tsc=0). It can be useful to avoid timestamp issues when decoding a trace of a virtual
machine.
dump option
perf script has an option (-D) to "dump" the events i.e. display the binary data.
When -D is used, Intel PT packets are displayed. The packet decoder does not pay attention
to PSB packets, but just decodes the bytes - so the packets seen by the actual decoder may
not be identical in places where the data is corrupt. One example of that would be when
the buffer-switching interrupt has been too slow, and the buffer has been filled
completely. In that case, the last packet in the buffer might be truncated and immediately
followed by a PSB as the trace continues in the next buffer.
To disable the display of Intel PT packets, combine the -D option with --no-itrace.
PERF REPORT
By default, perf report will decode trace data found in the perf.data file. This can be
further controlled by new option --itrace exactly the same as perf script, with the
exception that the default is --itrace=igxe.
PERF INJECT
perf inject also accepts the --itrace option in which case tracing data is removed and
replaced with the synthesized events. e.g.
perf inject --itrace -i perf.data -o perf.data.new
Below is an example of using Intel PT with autofdo. It requires autofdo
(https://github.com/google/autofdo) and gcc version 5. The bubble sort example is from the
AutoFDO tutorial (https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/AutoFDO/Tutorial) amended to take the number of
elements as a parameter.
$ gcc-5 -O3 sort.c -o sort_optimized
$ ./sort_optimized 30000
Bubble sorting array of 30000 elements
2254 ms
$ cat ~/.perfconfig
[intel-pt]
mispred-all = on
$ perf record -e intel_pt//u ./sort 3000
Bubble sorting array of 3000 elements
58 ms
[ perf record: Woken up 2 times to write data ]
[ perf record: Captured and wrote 3.939 MB perf.data ]
$ perf inject -i perf.data -o inj --itrace=i100usle --strip
$ ./create_gcov --binary=./sort --profile=inj --gcov=sort.gcov -gcov_version=1
$ gcc-5 -O3 -fauto-profile=sort.gcov sort.c -o sort_autofdo
$ ./sort_autofdo 30000
Bubble sorting array of 30000 elements
2155 ms
Note there is currently no advantage to using Intel PT instead of LBR, but that may change
in the future if greater use is made of the data.
PEBS VIA INTEL PT
Some hardware has the feature to redirect PEBS records to the Intel PT trace. Recording is
selected by using the aux-output config term e.g.
perf record -c 10000 -e '{intel_pt/branch=0/,cycles/aux-output/ppp}' uname
Note that currently, software only supports redirecting at most one PEBS event.
To display PEBS events from the Intel PT trace, use the itrace o option e.g.
perf script --itrace=oe
XED
For --xed the xed tool is needed. Here is how to install it:
$ git clone https://github.com/intelxed/mbuild.git mbuild
$ git clone https://github.com/intelxed/xed
$ cd xed
$ ./mfile.py --share
$ ./mfile.py examples
$ sudo ./mfile.py --prefix=/usr/local install
$ sudo ldconfig
$ sudo cp obj/examples/xed /usr/local/bin
Basic xed testing:
$ xed | head -3
ERROR: required argument(s) were missing
Copyright (C) 2017, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
XED version: [v10.0-328-g7d62c8c49b7b]
$
TRACING VIRTUAL MACHINES
Currently, only kernel tracing is supported and only with either "timeless" decoding (i.e.
no TSC timestamps) or VM Time Correlation. VM Time Correlation is an extra step using perf
inject and requires unchanging VMX TSC Offset and no VMX TSC Scaling.
Other limitations and caveats
VMX controls may suppress packets needed for decoding resulting in decoding errors
VMX controls may block the perf NMI to the host potentially resulting in lost trace data
Guest kernel self-modifying code (e.g. jump labels or JIT-compiled eBPF) will result in decoding errors
Guest thread information is unknown
Guest VCPU is unknown but may be able to be inferred from the host thread
Callchains are not supported
Example using "timeless" decoding
Start VM
$ sudo virsh start kubuntu20.04
Domain kubuntu20.04 started
Mount the guest file system. Note sshfs needs -o direct_io to enable reading of proc
files. root access is needed to read /proc/kcore.
$ mkdir vm0
$ sshfs -o direct_io root@vm0:/ vm0
Copy the guest /proc/kallsyms, /proc/modules and /proc/kcore
$ perf buildid-cache -v --kcore vm0/proc/kcore
kcore added to build-id cache directory /home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/9600f316a53a0f54278885e8d9710538ec5f6a08/2021021807494306
$ KALLSYMS=/home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/9600f316a53a0f54278885e8d9710538ec5f6a08/2021021807494306/kallsyms
Find the VM process
$ ps -eLl | grep 'KVM\|PID'
F S UID PID PPID LWP C PRI NI ADDR SZ WCHAN TTY TIME CMD
3 S 64055 1430 1 1440 1 80 0 - 1921718 - ? 00:02:47 CPU 0/KVM
3 S 64055 1430 1 1441 1 80 0 - 1921718 - ? 00:02:41 CPU 1/KVM
3 S 64055 1430 1 1442 1 80 0 - 1921718 - ? 00:02:38 CPU 2/KVM
3 S 64055 1430 1 1443 2 80 0 - 1921718 - ? 00:03:18 CPU 3/KVM
Start an open-ended perf record, tracing the VM process, do something on the VM, and then
ctrl-C to stop. TSC is not supported and tsc=0 must be specified. That means mtc is
useless, so add mtc=0. However, IPC can still be determined, hence cyc=1 can be added.
Only kernel decoding is supported, so k must be specified. Intel PT traces both the host
and the guest so --guest and --host need to be specified. Without timestamps, --per-thread
must be specified to distinguish threads.
$ sudo perf kvm --guest --host --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS record --kcore -e intel_pt/tsc=0,mtc=0,cyc=1/k -p 1430 --per-thread
^C
[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
[ perf record: Captured and wrote 5.829 MB ]
perf script can be used to provide an instruction trace
$ perf script --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --insn-trace --xed -F+ipc | grep -C10 vmresume | head -21
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133cdd __vmx_vcpu_run+0x3d ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x48(%rax), %r9
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133ce1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x41 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x50(%rax), %r10
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133ce5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x45 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x58(%rax), %r11
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133ce9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x60(%rax), %r12
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133ced __vmx_vcpu_run+0x4d ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x68(%rax), %r13
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133cf1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x51 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x70(%rax), %r14
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133cf5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x55 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x78(%rax), %r15
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133cf9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq (%rax), %rax
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133cfc __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5c ([kernel.kallsyms]) callq 0xffffffff82133c40
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133c40 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) jz 0xffffffff82133c46
CPU 0/KVM 1440 ffffffff82133c42 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms]) vmresume IPC: 0.11 (50/445)
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb678b06 native_write_msr+0x6 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) nopl %eax, (%rax,%rax,1)
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb678b0b native_write_msr+0xb ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) retq IPC: 0.04 (2/41)
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb666646 lapic_next_deadline+0x26 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) data16 nop
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb666648 lapic_next_deadline+0x28 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) xor %eax, %eax
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb66664a lapic_next_deadline+0x2a ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) popq %rbp
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb66664b lapic_next_deadline+0x2b ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) retq IPC: 0.16 (4/25)
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb74607f clockevents_program_event+0x8f ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) test %eax, %eax
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb746081 clockevents_program_event+0x91 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) jz 0xffffffffbb74603c IPC: 0.06 (2/30)
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb74603c clockevents_program_event+0x4c ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) popq %rbx
:1440 1440 ffffffffbb74603d clockevents_program_event+0x4d ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) popq %r12
Example using VM Time Correlation
Start VM
$ sudo virsh start kubuntu20.04
Domain kubuntu20.04 started
Mount the guest file system. Note sshfs needs -o direct_io to enable reading of proc
files. root access is needed to read /proc/kcore.
$ mkdir -p vm0
$ sshfs -o direct_io root@vm0:/ vm0
Copy the guest /proc/kallsyms, /proc/modules and /proc/kcore
$ perf buildid-cache -v --kcore vm0/proc/kcore
same kcore found in /home/user/.debug/[kernel.kcore]/cc9c55a98c5e4ec0aeda69302554aabed5cd6491/2021021312450777
$ KALLSYMS=/home/user/.debug/\[kernel.kcore\]/cc9c55a98c5e4ec0aeda69302554aabed5cd6491/2021021312450777/kallsyms
Find the VM process
$ ps -eLl | grep 'KVM\|PID'
F S UID PID PPID LWP C PRI NI ADDR SZ WCHAN TTY TIME CMD
3 S 64055 16998 1 17005 13 80 0 - 1818189 - ? 00:00:16 CPU 0/KVM
3 S 64055 16998 1 17006 4 80 0 - 1818189 - ? 00:00:05 CPU 1/KVM
3 S 64055 16998 1 17007 3 80 0 - 1818189 - ? 00:00:04 CPU 2/KVM
3 S 64055 16998 1 17008 4 80 0 - 1818189 - ? 00:00:05 CPU 3/KVM
Start an open-ended perf record, tracing the VM process, do something on the VM, and then
ctrl-C to stop. IPC can be determined, hence cyc=1 can be added. Only kernel decoding is
supported, so k must be specified. Intel PT traces both the host and the guest so --guest
and --host need to be specified.
$ sudo perf kvm --guest --host --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS record --kcore -e intel_pt/cyc=1/k -p 16998
^C[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
[ perf record: Captured and wrote 9.041 MB perf.data.kvm ]
Now perf inject can be used to determine the VMX TCS Offset. Note, Intel PT TSC packets
are only 7-bytes, so the TSC Offset might differ from the actual value in the 8th byte.
That will have no effect i.e. the resulting timestamps will be correct anyway.
$ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation=dry-run
ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1bff6a
VMCS: 0x1bff6a TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1cbc08
VMCS: 0x1cbc08 TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1c3ce8
VMCS: 0x1c3ce8 TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
ERROR: Unknown TSC Offset for VMCS 0x1cbce9
VMCS: 0x1cbce9 TSC Offset 0xffffe42722c64c41
Each virtual CPU has a different Virtual Machine Control Structure (VMCS) shown above with
the calculated TSC Offset. For an unchanging TSC Offset they should all be the same for
the same virtual machine.
Now that the TSC Offset is known, it can be provided to perf inject
$ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation="dry-run 0xffffe42722c64c41"
Note the options for perf inject --vm-time-correlation are:
[ dry-run ] [ <TSC Offset> [ : <VMCS> [ , <VMCS> ]... ] ]...
So it is possible to specify different TSC Offsets for different VMCS. The option
"dry-run" will cause the file to be processed but without updating it. Note it is also
possible to get a intel_pt.log file by adding option --itrace=d
There were no errors so, do it for real
$ perf inject -i perf.data.kvm --vm-time-correlation=0xffffe42722c64c41 --force
perf script can be used to see if there are any decoder errors
$ perf script -i perf.data.kvm --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --itrace=e-o
There were none.
perf script can be used to provide an instruction trace showing timestamps
$ perf script -i perf.data.kvm --guestkallsyms $KALLSYMS --insn-trace --xed -F+ipc | grep -C10 vmresume | head -21
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133cdd __vmx_vcpu_run+0x3d ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x48(%rax), %r9
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133ce1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x41 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x50(%rax), %r10
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133ce5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x45 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x58(%rax), %r11
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133ce9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x49 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x60(%rax), %r12
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133ced __vmx_vcpu_run+0x4d ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x68(%rax), %r13
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133cf1 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x51 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x70(%rax), %r14
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133cf5 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x55 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x78(%rax), %r15
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133cf9 __vmx_vcpu_run+0x59 ([kernel.kallsyms]) movq (%rax), %rax
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133cfc __vmx_vcpu_run+0x5c ([kernel.kallsyms]) callq 0xffffffff82133c40
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262865593: ffffffff82133c40 vmx_vmenter+0x0 ([kernel.kallsyms]) jz 0xffffffff82133c46
CPU 1/KVM 17006 [001] 11500.262866075: ffffffff82133c42 vmx_vmenter+0x2 ([kernel.kallsyms]) vmresume IPC: 0.05 (40/769)
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff82200cb0 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x0 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) clac
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff82200cb3 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x3 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) pushq $0xffffffffffffffff
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff82200cb5 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x5 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) callq 0xffffffff82201160
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff82201160 error_entry+0x0 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) cld
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff82201161 error_entry+0x1 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) pushq %rsi
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff82201162 error_entry+0x2 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) movq 0x8(%rsp), %rsi
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff82201167 error_entry+0x7 ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) movq %rdi, 0x8(%rsp)
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff8220116c error_entry+0xc ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) pushq %rdx
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff8220116d error_entry+0xd ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) pushq %rcx
:17006 17006 [001] 11500.262869216: ffffffff8220116e error_entry+0xe ([guest.kernel.kallsyms]) pushq %rax
EVENT TRACE
Event Trace records information about asynchronous events, for example interrupts, faults,
VM exits and entries. The information is recorded in CFE and EVD packets, and also the
Interrupt Flag is recorded on the MODE.Exec packet. The CFE packet contains a type field
to identify one of the following:
1 INTR interrupt, fault, exception, NMI
2 IRET interrupt return
3 SMI system management interrupt
4 RSM resume from system management mode
5 SIPI startup interprocessor interrupt
6 INIT INIT signal
7 VMENTRY VM-Entry
8 VMEXIT VM-Entry
9 VMEXIT_INTR VM-Exit due to interrupt
10 SHUTDOWN Shutdown
For more details, refer to the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer Manuals
(version 076 or later).
The capability to do Event Trace is indicated by the
/sys/bus/event_source/devices/intel_pt/caps/event_trace file.
Event trace is selected for recording using the "event" config term. e.g.
perf record -e intel_pt/event/u uname
Event trace events are output using the --itrace I option. e.g.
perf script --itrace=Ie
perf script displays events containing CFE type, vector and event data, in the form:
evt: hw int (t) cfe: INTR IP: 1 vector: 3 PFA: 0x8877665544332211
The IP flag indicates if the event binds to an IP, which includes any case where flow
control packet generation is enabled, as well as when CFE packet IP bit is set.
perf script displays events containing changes to the Interrupt Flag in the form:
iflag: t IFLAG: 1->0 via branch
where "via branch" indicates a branch (interrupt or return from interrupt) and "non
branch" indicates an instruction such as CFI, STI or POPF).
In addition, the current state of the interrupt flag is indicated by the presence or
absence of the "D" (interrupt disabled) perf script flag. If the interrupt flag is
changed, then the "t" flag is also included i.e.
no flag, interrupts enabled IF=1
t interrupts become disabled IF=1 -> IF=0
D interrupts are disabled IF=0
Dt interrupts become enabled IF=0 -> IF=1
The intel-pt-events.py script illustrates how to access Event Trace information using a
Python script.
TNT DISABLE
TNT packets are disabled using the "notnt" config term. e.g.
perf record -e intel_pt/notnt/u uname
In that case the --itrace q option is forced because walking executable code to
reconstruct the control flow is not possible.
EMULATED PTWRITE
Later perf tools support a method to emulate the ptwrite instruction, which can be useful
if hardware does not support the ptwrite instruction.
Instead of using the ptwrite instruction, a function is used which produces a trace that
encodes the payload data into TNT packets. Here is an example of the function:
#include <stdint.h>
void perf_emulate_ptwrite(uint64_t x)
__attribute__((externally_visible, noipa, no_instrument_function, naked));
#define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n" \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n" \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n" \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n" \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n" \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n" \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n" \
"1: shl %rax\n" \
" jc 1f\n"
/* Undefined instruction */
#define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_UD2 ".byte 0x0f, 0x0b\n"
#define PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_MAGIC PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_UD2 ".ascii \"perf,ptwrite \"\n"
void perf_emulate_ptwrite(uint64_t x __attribute__ ((__unused__)))
{
/* Assumes SysV ABI : x passed in rdi */
__asm__ volatile (
"jmp 1f\n"
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_MAGIC
"1: mov %rdi, %rax\n"
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
PERF_EMULATE_PTWRITE_8_BITS
"1: ret\n"
);
}
For example, a test program with the function above:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "perf_emulate_ptwrite.h"
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
uint64_t x = 0;
if (argc > 1)
x = strtoull(argv[1], NULL, 0);
perf_emulate_ptwrite(x);
return 0;
}
Can be compiled and traced:
$ gcc -Wall -Wextra -O3 -g -o eg_ptw eg_ptw.c
$ perf record -e intel_pt//u ./eg_ptw 0x1234567890abcdef
[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
[ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.017 MB perf.data ]
$ perf script --itrace=ew
eg_ptw 19875 [007] 8061.235912: ptwrite: IP: 0 payload: 0x1234567890abcdef 55701249a196 perf_emulate_ptwrite+0x16 (/home/user/eg_ptw)
$
PIPE MODE
Pipe mode is a problem for Intel PT and possibly other auxtrace users. It’s not
recommended to use a pipe as data output with Intel PT because of the following reason.
Essentially the auxtrace buffers do not behave like the regular perf event buffers. That
is because the head and tail are updated by software, but in the auxtrace case the data is
written by hardware. So the head and tail do not get updated as data is written.
In the Intel PT case, the head and tail are updated only when the trace is disabled by
software, for example: - full-trace, system wide : when buffer passes watermark -
full-trace, not system-wide : when buffer passes watermark or context switches - snapshot
mode : as above but also when a snapshot is made - sample mode : as above but also when a
sample is made
That means finished-round ordering doesn’t work. An auxtrace buffer can turn up that has
data that extends back in time, possibly to the very beginning of tracing.
For a perf.data file, that problem is solved by going through the trace and queuing up the
auxtrace buffers in advance.
For pipe mode, the order of events and timestamps can presumably be messed up.
EXAMPLE
Examples can be found on perf wiki page "Perf tools support for Intel® Processor Trace":
https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Perf_tools_support_for_Intel%C2%AE_Processor_Trace
SEE ALSO
perf-record(1), perf-script(1), perf-report(1), perf-inject(1)