2010-11-17 21:55:56

by Douglas Santos

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Benchmarks of kernel tracing options 2 (ftrace, lttng and perf)

Hi all,

This is a response to a benchmark, submitted a few weeks ago, comparing kernel
tracing options.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/422

We followed the methodology described in the link bellow,
but using the shellscripts posted there to reproduce autotest scripts.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/261

We disabled the extra syscall tracing on lttng, for a fair comparison.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/290

Average results with tracing "on":

lttng: 220 ns
ftrace: 260 ns
perf: 740 ns


E5405 system
kernel 2.6.36

-lttng 0.239 + 0.19.2modules + sys_getuid tracepoint + sys_getuid probe
+ remove syscall_trace

-ftrace and perf + sys_getuid tracepoint


2010-11-17 21:41:50

by Steven Rostedt

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Benchmarks of kernel tracing options 2 (ftrace, lttng and perf)

On Wed, 2010-11-17 at 16:31 -0500, Douglas Santos wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> This is a response to a benchmark, submitted a few weeks ago, comparing kernel
> tracing options.
> http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/422
>
> We followed the methodology described in the link bellow,
> but using the shellscripts posted there to reproduce autotest scripts.
> http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/261
>
> We disabled the extra syscall tracing on lttng, for a fair comparison.
> http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/290
>
> Average results with tracing "on":
>
> lttng: 220 ns
> ftrace: 260 ns

Heh, so ftrace got worse with the new kernel?

-- Steve

> perf: 740 ns
>
>
> E5405 system
> kernel 2.6.36
>
> -lttng 0.239 + 0.19.2modules + sys_getuid tracepoint + sys_getuid probe
> + remove syscall_trace
>
> -ftrace and perf + sys_getuid tracepoint

2010-11-17 22:56:55

by Douglas Santos

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Benchmarks of kernel tracing options 2 (ftrace, lttng and perf)

Quoting Steven Rostedt <[email protected]>:

> On Wed, 2010-11-17 at 16:31 -0500, Douglas Santos wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > This is a response to a benchmark, submitted a few weeks ago, comparing
> kernel
> > tracing options.
> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/422
> >
> > We followed the methodology described in the link bellow,
> > but using the shellscripts posted there to reproduce autotest scripts.
> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/261
> >
> > We disabled the extra syscall tracing on lttng, for a fair comparison.
> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/290
> >
> > Average results with tracing "on":
> >
> > lttng: 220 ns
> > ftrace: 260 ns
>
> Heh, so ftrace got worse with the new kernel?

The previous bench was doing tracing "on" minus "off"
average results. They also used autotest scripts, not sure if
it does exactly the same thing.

I'll check if we missed something.

2010-11-17 23:22:40

by David Sharp

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Benchmarks of kernel tracing options 2 (ftrace, lttng and perf)

On Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 2:56 PM, Douglas Santos
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Quoting Steven Rostedt <[email protected]>:
>> On Wed, 2010-11-17 at 16:31 -0500, Douglas Santos wrote:
>> > Hi all,
>> >
>> > This is a response to a benchmark, submitted a few weeks ago, comparing
>> kernel
>> > tracing options.
>> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/422
>> >
>> > We followed the methodology described in the link bellow,
>> > but using the shellscripts posted there to reproduce autotest scripts.
>> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/261
>> >
>> > We disabled the extra syscall tracing on lttng, for a fair comparison.
>> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/290
>> >
>> > Average results with tracing "on":
>> >
>> > lttng:  220 ns
>> > ftrace: 260 ns
>>
>> Heh, so ftrace got worse with the new kernel?

Steve, can you explain how you're drawing that conclusion? Did Douglas
run this benchmark before on a previous kernel (I didn't see it if
so)?

- You can't directly compare to my results because of different hardware.
- The methodology for lttng is different (syscall tracing was removed).
- My results were also on 2.6.36

> The previous bench was doing tracing "on" minus "off"
> average results. They also used autotest scripts, not sure if
> it does exactly the same thing.

I think the subtraction is important, or it is at least important to
see what the "off" result is as a baseline of comparison. Otherwise, a
huge portion of the measurement is the cost of making the syscall
itself.

>
> I'll check if we missed something.
>
>
>

2010-11-17 23:33:07

by Steven Rostedt

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Benchmarks of kernel tracing options 2 (ftrace, lttng and perf)

On Wed, 2010-11-17 at 15:22 -0800, David Sharp wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 2:56 PM, Douglas Santos
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Quoting Steven Rostedt <[email protected]>:
> >> On Wed, 2010-11-17 at 16:31 -0500, Douglas Santos wrote:
> >> > Hi all,
> >> >
> >> > This is a response to a benchmark, submitted a few weeks ago, comparing
> >> kernel
> >> > tracing options.
> >> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/422
> >> >
> >> > We followed the methodology described in the link bellow,
> >> > but using the shellscripts posted there to reproduce autotest scripts.
> >> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/261
> >> >
> >> > We disabled the extra syscall tracing on lttng, for a fair comparison.
> >> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/10/28/290
> >> >
> >> > Average results with tracing "on":
> >> >
> >> > lttng: 220 ns
> >> > ftrace: 260 ns
> >>
> >> Heh, so ftrace got worse with the new kernel?
>
> Steve, can you explain how you're drawing that conclusion? Did Douglas
> run this benchmark before on a previous kernel (I didn't see it if
> so)?

Oops, no, I was thinking that this was from your tests. I remember
asking you to try the new kernel. I think I got you and Douglas
confused :-)

-- Steve