183 lines
8.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
183 lines
8.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
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###############
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Timerlat tracer
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###############
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The timerlat tracer aims to help the preemptive kernel developers to
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find sources of wakeup latencies of real-time threads. Like cyclictest,
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the tracer sets a periodic timer that wakes up a thread. The thread then
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computes a *wakeup latency* value as the difference between the *current
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time* and the *absolute time* that the timer was set to expire. The main
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goal of timerlat is tracing in such a way to help kernel developers.
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Usage
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-----
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Write the ASCII text "timerlat" into the current_tracer file of the
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tracing system (generally mounted at /sys/kernel/tracing).
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For example::
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[root@f32 ~]# cd /sys/kernel/tracing/
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[root@f32 tracing]# echo timerlat > current_tracer
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It is possible to follow the trace by reading the trace file::
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[root@f32 tracing]# cat trace
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# tracer: timerlat
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#
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# _-----=> irqs-off
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# / _----=> need-resched
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# | / _---=> hardirq/softirq
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# || / _--=> preempt-depth
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# || /
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# |||| ACTIVATION
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# TASK-PID CPU# |||| TIMESTAMP ID CONTEXT LATENCY
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# | | | |||| | | | |
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<idle>-0 [000] d.h1 54.029328: #1 context irq timer_latency 932 ns
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<...>-867 [000] .... 54.029339: #1 context thread timer_latency 11700 ns
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<idle>-0 [001] dNh1 54.029346: #1 context irq timer_latency 2833 ns
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<...>-868 [001] .... 54.029353: #1 context thread timer_latency 9820 ns
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<idle>-0 [000] d.h1 54.030328: #2 context irq timer_latency 769 ns
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<...>-867 [000] .... 54.030330: #2 context thread timer_latency 3070 ns
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<idle>-0 [001] d.h1 54.030344: #2 context irq timer_latency 935 ns
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<...>-868 [001] .... 54.030347: #2 context thread timer_latency 4351 ns
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The tracer creates a per-cpu kernel thread with real-time priority that
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prints two lines at every activation. The first is the *timer latency*
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observed at the *hardirq* context before the activation of the thread.
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The second is the *timer latency* observed by the thread. The ACTIVATION
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ID field serves to relate the *irq* execution to its respective *thread*
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execution.
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The *irq*/*thread* splitting is important to clarify in which context
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the unexpected high value is coming from. The *irq* context can be
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delayed by hardware-related actions, such as SMIs, NMIs, IRQs,
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or by thread masking interrupts. Once the timer happens, the delay
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can also be influenced by blocking caused by threads. For example, by
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postponing the scheduler execution via preempt_disable(), scheduler
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execution, or masking interrupts. Threads can also be delayed by the
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interference from other threads and IRQs.
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Tracer options
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---------------------
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The timerlat tracer is built on top of osnoise tracer.
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So its configuration is also done in the osnoise/ config
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directory. The timerlat configs are:
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- cpus: CPUs at which a timerlat thread will execute.
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- timerlat_period_us: the period of the timerlat thread.
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- stop_tracing_us: stop the system tracing if a
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timer latency at the *irq* context higher than the configured
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value happens. Writing 0 disables this option.
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- stop_tracing_total_us: stop the system tracing if a
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timer latency at the *thread* context is higher than the configured
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value happens. Writing 0 disables this option.
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- print_stack: save the stack of the IRQ occurrence. The stack is printed
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after the *thread context* event, or at the IRQ handler if *stop_tracing_us*
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is hit.
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timerlat and osnoise
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----------------------------
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The timerlat can also take advantage of the osnoise: traceevents.
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For example::
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[root@f32 ~]# cd /sys/kernel/tracing/
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[root@f32 tracing]# echo timerlat > current_tracer
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[root@f32 tracing]# echo 1 > events/osnoise/enable
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[root@f32 tracing]# echo 25 > osnoise/stop_tracing_total_us
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[root@f32 tracing]# tail -10 trace
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cc1-87882 [005] d..h... 548.771078: #402268 context irq timer_latency 13585 ns
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cc1-87882 [005] dNLh1.. 548.771082: irq_noise: local_timer:236 start 548.771077442 duration 7597 ns
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cc1-87882 [005] dNLh2.. 548.771099: irq_noise: qxl:21 start 548.771085017 duration 7139 ns
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cc1-87882 [005] d...3.. 548.771102: thread_noise: cc1:87882 start 548.771078243 duration 9909 ns
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timerlat/5-1035 [005] ....... 548.771104: #402268 context thread timer_latency 39960 ns
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In this case, the root cause of the timer latency does not point to a
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single cause but to multiple ones. Firstly, the timer IRQ was delayed
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for 13 us, which may point to a long IRQ disabled section (see IRQ
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stacktrace section). Then the timer interrupt that wakes up the timerlat
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thread took 7597 ns, and the qxl:21 device IRQ took 7139 ns. Finally,
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the cc1 thread noise took 9909 ns of time before the context switch.
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Such pieces of evidence are useful for the developer to use other
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tracing methods to figure out how to debug and optimize the system.
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It is worth mentioning that the *duration* values reported
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by the osnoise: events are *net* values. For example, the
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thread_noise does not include the duration of the overhead caused
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by the IRQ execution (which indeed accounted for 12736 ns). But
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the values reported by the timerlat tracer (timerlat_latency)
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are *gross* values.
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The art below illustrates a CPU timeline and how the timerlat tracer
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observes it at the top and the osnoise: events at the bottom. Each "-"
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in the timelines means circa 1 us, and the time moves ==>::
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External timer irq thread
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clock latency latency
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event 13585 ns 39960 ns
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| ^ ^
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v | |
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|-------------| |
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|-------------+-------------------------|
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^ ^
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========================================================================
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[tmr irq] [dev irq]
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[another thread...^ v..^ v.......][timerlat/ thread] <-- CPU timeline
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=========================================================================
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|-------| |-------|
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|--^ v-------|
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| | + thread_noise: 9909 ns
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| +-> irq_noise: 6139 ns
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+-> irq_noise: 7597 ns
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IRQ stacktrace
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---------------------------
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The osnoise/print_stack option is helpful for the cases in which a thread
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noise causes the major factor for the timer latency, because of preempt or
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irq disabled. For example::
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[root@f32 tracing]# echo 500 > osnoise/stop_tracing_total_us
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[root@f32 tracing]# echo 500 > osnoise/print_stack
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[root@f32 tracing]# echo timerlat > current_tracer
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[root@f32 tracing]# tail -21 per_cpu/cpu7/trace
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insmod-1026 [007] dN.h1.. 200.201948: irq_noise: local_timer:236 start 200.201939376 duration 7872 ns
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insmod-1026 [007] d..h1.. 200.202587: #29800 context irq timer_latency 1616 ns
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insmod-1026 [007] dN.h2.. 200.202598: irq_noise: local_timer:236 start 200.202586162 duration 11855 ns
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insmod-1026 [007] dN.h3.. 200.202947: irq_noise: local_timer:236 start 200.202939174 duration 7318 ns
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insmod-1026 [007] d...3.. 200.203444: thread_noise: insmod:1026 start 200.202586933 duration 838681 ns
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timerlat/7-1001 [007] ....... 200.203445: #29800 context thread timer_latency 859978 ns
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timerlat/7-1001 [007] ....1.. 200.203446: <stack trace>
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=> timerlat_irq
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=> __hrtimer_run_queues
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=> hrtimer_interrupt
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=> __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt
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=> asm_call_irq_on_stack
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=> sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt
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=> asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt
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=> delay_tsc
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=> dummy_load_1ms_pd_init
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=> do_one_initcall
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=> do_init_module
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=> __do_sys_finit_module
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=> do_syscall_64
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=> entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
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In this case, it is possible to see that the thread added the highest
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contribution to the *timer latency* and the stack trace, saved during
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the timerlat IRQ handler, points to a function named
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dummy_load_1ms_pd_init, which had the following code (on purpose)::
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static int __init dummy_load_1ms_pd_init(void)
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{
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preempt_disable();
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mdelay(1);
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preempt_enable();
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return 0;
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}
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