[lttng-dev] large liblttng-ust startup overhead (ust_lock)

Milian Wolff milian.wolff at kdab.com
Tue Sep 5 15:08:34 UTC 2017


On Tuesday, September 5, 2017 4:51:42 PM CEST Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:
> ----- On Sep 5, 2017, at 10:34 AM, Milian Wolff milian.wolff at kdab.com wrote:
> > Hey all,
> > 
> > I have noticed a very large overhead when linking against liblttng-ust:
> > 
> > ~~~~~
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ cat lttng-test.c
> > int main()
> > {
> > 
> >  return 0;
> > 
> > }
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ gcc -O2 -g -ldl lttng-test.c
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ perf stat -r 5 ./a.out
> > 
> > Performance counter stats for './a.out' (5 runs):
> >          0.209587      task-clock (msec)         #    0.596 CPUs utilized
> > 
> > ( +-  8.76% )
> > 
> >                 0      context-switches          #    0.000 K/sec
> >                 0      cpu-migrations            #    0.000 K/sec
> >                
> >                49      page-faults               #    0.235 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  1.19% )
> > 
> >           706,854      cycles                    #    3.373 GHz
> > 
> > ( +-  8.82% )
> > 
> >           773,603      instructions              #    1.09  insn per cycle
> > 
> > ( +-  0.75% )
> > 
> >           147,128      branches                  #  701.987 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  0.70% )
> > 
> >             4,096      branch-misses             #    2.78% of all
> >             branches
> > 
> > ( +-  5.27% )
> > 
> >       0.000351422 seconds time elapsed
> > 
> > ( +- 11.85% )
> > 
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ gcc -O2 -g -ldl -llttng-ust lttng-test.c
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ perf stat -r 5 ./a.out
> > 
> > Performance counter stats for './a.out' (5 runs):
> >          2.063040      task-clock (msec)         #    0.009 CPUs utilized
> > 
> > ( +-  1.37% )
> > 
> >                44      context-switches          #    0.021 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  1.95% )
> > 
> >                 2      cpu-migrations            #    0.776 K/sec
> > 
> > ( +- 25.00% )
> > 
> >               209      page-faults               #    0.101 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  0.34% )
> > 
> >         7,053,686      cycles                    #    3.419 GHz
> > 
> > ( +-  2.03% )
> > 
> >         6,893,783      instructions              #    0.98  insn per cycle
> > 
> > ( +-  0.25% )
> > 
> >         1,342,492      branches                  #  650.735 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  0.20% )
> > 
> >            29,390      branch-misses             #    2.19% of all
> >            branches
> > 
> > ( +-  0.61% )
> > 
> >       0.225597302 seconds time elapsed
> > 
> > ( +-  6.68% )
> > ~~~~~
> > 
> > This is without any LTTng session configured. If I enable LTTng kernel and
> > userspace events, this becomes even worse:
> > 
> > ~~~~~
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ cat $(which run_lttng_trace.sh)
> > #!/bin/sh
> > 
> > if [ -z "$(pidof lttng-sessiond)" ]; then
> > 
> >    sudo lttng-sessiond --daemonize
> > 
> > fi
> > 
> > sudo lttng create -o ~/lttng-traces/$(date -Iseconds)
> > sudo lttng enable-channel kernel -k --subbuf-size 16M --num-subbuf 8
> > sudo lttng enable-event -c kernel -k -a
> > sudo lttng enable-channel ust -u --subbuf-size 16M --num-subbuf 8
> > sudo lttng enable-event -c ust -u lttng_ust_tracef:*
> > sudo lttng start
> > $@
> > sudo lttng stop
> > 
> > sudo chmod a+rx -R ~/lttng-traces
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ run_lttng_trace.sh perf stat -r 5 ./a.out
> > Session auto-20170905-162818 created.
> > Traces will be written in
> > /home/milian/lttng-traces/2017-09-05T16:28:18+02:00 Kernel channel kernel
> > enabled for session auto-20170905-162818
> > All Kernel events are enabled in channel kernel
> > UST channel ust enabled for session auto-20170905-162818
> > UST event lttng_ust_tracef:* created in channel ust
> > Tracing started for session auto-20170905-162818
> > 
> > Performance counter stats for './a.out' (5 runs):
> >          4.937820      task-clock (msec)         #    0.005 CPUs utilized
> > 
> > ( +-  1.28% )
> > 
> >               117      context-switches          #    0.024 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  0.70% )
> > 
> >                 3      cpu-migrations            #    0.608 K/sec
> > 
> > ( +- 23.57% )
> > 
> >               245      page-faults               #    0.050 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  0.20% )
> > 
> >        16,541,355      cycles                    #    3.350 GHz
> > 
> > ( +-  0.94% )
> > 
> >        20,611,637      instructions              #    1.25  insn per cycle
> > 
> > ( +-  0.23% )
> > 
> >         3,580,525      branches                  #  725.123 M/sec
> > 
> > ( +-  0.19% )
> > 
> >            52,093      branch-misses             #    1.45% of all
> >            branches
> > 
> > ( +-  1.73% )
> > 
> >       0.965545882 seconds time elapsed
> > 
> > ( +- 16.96% )
> > 
> > Waiting for data availability...
> > Tracing stopped for session auto-20170905-162818
> > ~~~~~
> > 
> > I see this ~1s delay during startup in nearly all test applications where
> > I
> > wanted to use lttng-ust. In tracecompass, and according to perf sleep time
> > profiling, this seems to be mostly due to extensive sleeping on mutex
> > locks
> > (from ust_lock in liblttng-ust). With perf trace, I also see membarrier
> > taking a lot of time:
> > 
> > ~~~~~
> > # without a running lttng session:
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ perf trace --duration 1 ./a.out
> > 
> >     6.492 (52.468 ms): a.out/23672 recvmsg(fd: 3<socket:[1178439]>, msg:
> > 0x7fbe2fbb1070                  ) = 1
> > 
> >     5.077 (54.271 ms): a.out/23671 futex(uaddr: 0x7fbe30d508a0, op:
> > WAIT_BITSET|PRIV|CLKRT, utime: 0x7ffc474ff5a0, val3: 4294967295) = 0
> > 
> >    59.598 (79.379 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   138.984 (39.945 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >    59.621 (119.324 ms): a.out/23672 futex(uaddr: 0x7fbe303e54c0, op: WAIT|
> > 
> > PRIV, val: 2                    ) = 0
> > 
> >   179.045 (79.918 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   258.971 (39.997 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   299.052 (79.883 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   378.942 (59.988 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   439.022 (69.908 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   508.937 (80.027 ms): a.out/23671 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> > # with a running lttng session:
> > ┌milian at milian-kdab2:/tmp
> > └$ run_lttng_trace.sh perf trace --duration 1 ./a.out
> > 
> >     6.666 (392.496 ms): a.out-ust/23790 recvmsg(fd: 3<socket:[1185362]>, 
msg:
> > 0x7fcd81d8a0b0                  ) = 612
> > 
> >   400.238 (68.452 ms): a.out-ust/23790 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   468.698 (39.983 ms): a.out-ust/23790 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   510.567 (98.113 ms): a.out-ust/23790 recvmsg(fd: 3<socket:[1185362]>, 
msg:
> > 0x7fcd81d8a070                  ) = 1
> > 
> >     6.467 (603.500 ms): a.out/23789 futex(uaddr: 0x7fcd82f298a0, op:
> > WAIT_BITSET|PRIV|CLKRT, utime: 0x7fff4df6c970, val3: 4294967295) = 0
> > 
> >   610.020 ( 6.307 ms): a.out/23789 futex(uaddr: 0x7fcd82f29960, op: WAIT|
> > 
> > PRIV, val: 2                    ) = 0
> > 
> >   616.446 (62.265 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   678.721 (59.916 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   616.332 (122.335 ms): a.out-ust/23790 futex(uaddr: 0x7fcd82f29960, op:
> > WAIT|PRIV, val: 2                    ) = 0
> > 
> >   738.976 (49.658 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   788.642 (49.987 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   739.014 (99.644 ms): a.out-ust/23790 futex(uaddr: 0x7fcd825be4c0, op:
> >   WAIT|
> > 
> > PRIV, val: 2                    ) = 0
> > 
> >   838.651 (49.977 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   888.636 (69.983 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >   838.662 (119.978 ms): a.out-ust/23790 futex(uaddr: 0x7fcd825be4c0, op:
> > WAIT|PRIV, val: 2                    ) = 0
> > 
> >   958.739 (59.873 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >  1018.621 (80.058 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >  1098.782 (49.844 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >  1148.634 (59.998 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >  1208.731 (69.940 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >  1278.680 (79.947 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >  1358.727 (39.881 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >  1398.616 (39.980 ms): a.out/23789 membarrier(cmd: 1
> > 
> > ) = 0
> > 
> >     6.640 (1432.157 ms): a.out-ust/23791 futex(uaddr: 0x7fcd82f90000
> > 
> > ) = -1 (null) INTERNAL ERROR: strerror_r(512, 0x7ffdbc5467a0, 128)=22
> > ~~~~~
> > 
> > This makes lttng-ust pretty much unusable for any short-lived application.
> > Is this a known limitation?
> 
> This kind of delay is not completely unexpected, but a bit higher than I
> would expect. I'm interested in figuring out if most of this delay happens
> to be caused by sys_membarrier, either directly, or indirectly (through a
> lock).

See my other email which adds some harder numbers from a perf sleep record.

> > I'm using lttng-ust on Arch from the AUR packages, i.e. LTTng 2.9.4. I've
> > seen this problem also on Ubuntu 17.04 though I didn't do any of the
> > above measurements there. So far, I suspected the ust statedump to take
> > too much time, but I disabled that one for the measurements above.
> > 
> > Any help would be appreciated
> 
> Can you reproduce with a Linux kernel that has CONFIG_MEMBARRIER=n and
> share the performance results ?

I'd have to recompile the kernel, which is something I don't like to do. Why 
is this required, or put differently - why would the kernel option influence 
the userspace LTTng library?

Thanks

-- 
Milian Wolff | milian.wolff at kdab.com | Senior Software Engineer
KDAB (Deutschland) GmbH&Co KG, a KDAB Group company
Tel: +49-30-521325470
KDAB - The Qt Experts
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