[RFC 00/11] perf: Enhancing perf to export processor hazard information

[Madhavan Srinivasan]

peterz,

     Can you please help. Is it okay to use PERF_SAMPLE_RAW to expose 
the pipeline stall details and
add tool side infrastructure to handle the PERF_SAMPLE_RAW for cpu-pmu 
samples.

Maddy

On 4/20/20 12:39 PM, Madhavan Srinivasan wrote:
>
>
> On 3/27/20 1:18 AM, Kim Phillips wrote:
>>
>> On 3/26/20 5:19 AM, maddy wrote:
>>>
>>> On 3/18/20 11:05 PM, Kim Phillips wrote:
>>>> Hi Maddy,
>>>>
>>>> On 3/17/20 1:50 AM, maddy wrote:
>>>>> On 3/13/20 4:08 AM, Kim Phillips wrote:
>>>>>> On 3/11/20 11:00 AM, Ravi Bangoria wrote:
>>>>>>> On 3/6/20 3:36 AM, Kim Phillips wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On 3/3/20 3:55 AM, Kim Phillips wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> On 3/2/20 2:21 PM, Stephane Eranian wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 2, 2020 at 2:13 AM Peter Zijlstra 
>>>>>>>>>>> <peterz at infradead.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 02, 2020 at 10:53:44AM +0530, Ravi Bangoria wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Modern processors export such hazard data in Performance
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Monitoring Unit (PMU) registers. Ex, 'Sampled Instruction 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Event
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Register' on IBM PowerPC[1][2] and 'Instruction-Based 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sampling' on
>>>>>>>>>>>>> AMD[3] provides similar information.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Implementation detail:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>> A new sample_type called PERF_SAMPLE_PIPELINE_HAZ is 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> introduced.
>>>>>>>>>>>>> If it's set, kernel converts arch specific hazard information
>>>>>>>>>>>>> into generic format:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>        struct perf_pipeline_haz_data {
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               /* Instruction/Opcode type: Load, Store, 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Branch .... */
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               __u8    itype;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               /* Instruction Cache source */
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               __u8    icache;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               /* Instruction suffered hazard in pipeline 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> stage */
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               __u8    hazard_stage;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               /* Hazard reason */
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               __u8    hazard_reason;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               /* Instruction suffered stall in pipeline 
>>>>>>>>>>>>> stage */
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               __u8    stall_stage;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               /* Stall reason */
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               __u8    stall_reason;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>               __u16   pad;
>>>>>>>>>>>>>        };
>>>>>>>>>>>> Kim, does this format indeed work for AMD IBS?
>>>>>>>>>> It's not really 1:1, we don't have these separations of stages
>>>>>>>>>> and reasons, for example: we have missed in L2 cache, for 
>>>>>>>>>> example.
>>>>>>>>>> So IBS output is flatter, with more cycle latency figures than
>>>>>>>>>> IBM's AFAICT.
>>>>>>>>> AMD IBS captures pipeline latency data incase Fetch sampling 
>>>>>>>>> like the
>>>>>>>>> Fetch latency, tag to retire latency, completion to retire 
>>>>>>>>> latency and
>>>>>>>>> so on. Yes, Ops sampling do provide more data on load/store 
>>>>>>>>> centric
>>>>>>>>> information. But it also captures more detailed data for 
>>>>>>>>> Branch instructions.
>>>>>>>>> And we also looked at ARM SPE, which also captures more 
>>>>>>>>> details pipeline
>>>>>>>>> data and latency information.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Personally, I don't like the term hazard. This is too IBM Power
>>>>>>>>>>> specific. We need to find a better term, maybe stall or 
>>>>>>>>>>> penalty.
>>>>>>>>>> Right, IBS doesn't have a filter to only count stalled or 
>>>>>>>>>> otherwise
>>>>>>>>>> bad events.  IBS' PPR descriptions has one occurrence of the
>>>>>>>>>> word stall, and no penalty.  The way I read IBS is it's just
>>>>>>>>>> reporting more sample data than just the precise IP: things like
>>>>>>>>>> hits, misses, cycle latencies, addresses, types, etc., so words
>>>>>>>>>> like 'extended', or the 'auxiliary' already used today even
>>>>>>>>>> are more appropriate for IBS, although I'm the last person to
>>>>>>>>>> bikeshed.
>>>>>>>>> We are thinking of using "pipeline" word instead of Hazard.
>>>>>>>> Hm, the word 'pipeline' occurs 0 times in IBS documentation.
>>>>>>> NP. We thought pipeline is generic hw term so we proposed 
>>>>>>> "pipeline"
>>>>>>> word. We are open to term which can be generic enough.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I realize there are a couple of core pipeline-specific pieces
>>>>>>>> of information coming out of it, but the vast majority
>>>>>>>> are addresses, latencies of various components in the memory
>>>>>>>> hierarchy, and various component hit/miss bits.
>>>>>>> Yes. we should capture core pipeline specific details. For example,
>>>>>>> IBS generates Branch unit information(IbsOpData1) and Icahce 
>>>>>>> related
>>>>>>> data(IbsFetchCtl) which is something that shouldn't be extended as
>>>>>>> part of perf-mem, IMO.
>>>>>> Sure, IBS Op-side output is more 'perf mem' friendly, and so it
>>>>>> should populate perf_mem_data_src fields, just like POWER9 can:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> union perf_mem_data_src {
>>>>>> ...
>>>>>>                    __u64   mem_rsvd:24,
>>>>>>                            mem_snoopx:2,   /* snoop mode, ext */
>>>>>>                            mem_remote:1,   /* remote */
>>>>>>                            mem_lvl_num:4,  /* memory hierarchy 
>>>>>> level number */
>>>>>>                            mem_dtlb:7,     /* tlb access */
>>>>>>                            mem_lock:2,     /* lock instr */
>>>>>>                            mem_snoop:5,    /* snoop mode */
>>>>>>                            mem_lvl:14,     /* memory hierarchy 
>>>>>> level */
>>>>>>                            mem_op:5;       /* type of opcode */
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> E.g., SIER[LDST] SIER[A_XLATE_SRC] can be used to populate
>>>>>> mem_lvl[_num], SIER_TYPE can be used to populate 'mem_op',
>>>>>> 'mem_lock', and the Reload Bus Source Encoding bits can
>>>>>> be used to populate mem_snoop, right?
>>>>> Hi Kim,
>>>>>
>>>>> Yes. We do expose these data as part of perf-mem for POWER.
>>>> OK, I see relevant PERF_MEM_S bits in 
>>>> arch/powerpc/perf/isa207-common.c:
>>>> isa207_find_source now, thanks.
>>>>
>>>>>> For IBS, I see PERF_SAMPLE_ADDR and PERF_SAMPLE_PHYS_ADDR can be
>>>>>> used for the ld/st target addresses, too.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What's needed here is a vendor-specific extended
>>>>>>>> sample information that all these technologies gather,
>>>>>>>> of which things like e.g., 'L1 TLB cycle latency' we
>>>>>>>> all should have in common.
>>>>>>> Yes. We will include fields to capture the latency cycles (like 
>>>>>>> Issue
>>>>>>> latency, Instruction completion latency etc..) along with other 
>>>>>>> pipeline
>>>>>>> details in the proposed structure.
>>>>>> Latency figures are just an example, and from what I
>>>>>> can tell, struct perf_sample_data already has a 'weight' member,
>>>>>> used with PERF_SAMPLE_WEIGHT, that is used by intel-pt to
>>>>>> transfer memory access latency figures.  Granted, that's
>>>>>> a bad name given all other vendors don't call latency
>>>>>> 'weight'.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I didn't see any latency figures coming out of POWER9,
>>>>>> and do not expect this patchseries to implement those
>>>>>> of other vendors, e.g., AMD's IBS; leave each vendor
>>>>>> to amend perf to suit their own h/w output please.
>>>>> Reference structure proposed in this patchset did not have members
>>>>> to capture latency info for that exact reason. But idea here is to
>>>>> abstract  as vendor specific as possible. So if we include u16 array,
>>>>> then this format can also capture data from IBS since it provides
>>>>> few latency details.
>>>> OK, that sounds a bit different from the 6 x u8's + 1 u16 padded
>>>> struct presented in this patchset.
>>>>
>>>> IBS Ops can report e.g.:
>>>>
>>>> 15 tag-to-retire cycles bits,
>>>> 15 completion to retire count bits,
>>>> 15 L1 DTLB refill latency bits,
>>>> 15 DC miss latency bits,
>>>> 5 outstanding memory requests on mem refill bits, and so on.
>>>>
>>>> IBS Fetch reports 15 bits of fetch latency, and another 16
>>>> for iTLB latency, among others.
>>>>
>>>> Some of these may/may not be valid simultaneously, and
>>>> there are IBS specific rules to establish validity.
>>>>
>>>>>> My main point there, however, was that each vendor should
>>>>>> use streamlined record-level code to just copy the data
>>>>>> in the proprietary format that their hardware produces,
>>>>>> and then then perf tooling can synthesize the events
>>>>>> from the raw data at report/script/etc. time.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I'm not sure why a new PERF_SAMPLE_PIPELINE_HAZ is needed
>>>>>>>> either.  Can we use PERF_SAMPLE_AUX instead?
>>>>>>> We took a look at PERF_SAMPLE_AUX. IIUC, PERF_SAMPLE_AUX is 
>>>>>>> intended when
>>>>>>> large volume of data needs to be captured as part of perf.data 
>>>>>>> without
>>>>>>> frequent PMIs. But proposed type is to address the capture of 
>>>>>>> pipeline
>>>>>> SAMPLE_AUX shouldn't care whether the volume is large, or how 
>>>>>> frequent
>>>>>> PMIs are, even though it may be used in those environments.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> information on each sample using PMI at periodic intervals. 
>>>>>>> Hence proposing
>>>>>>> PERF_SAMPLE_PIPELINE_HAZ.
>>>>>> And that's fine for any extra bits that POWER9 has to convey
>>>>>> to its users beyond things already represented by other sample
>>>>>> types like PERF_SAMPLE_DATA_SRC, but the capturing of both POWER9
>>>>>> and other vendor e.g., AMD IBS data can be made vendor-independent
>>>>>> at record time by using SAMPLE_AUX, or SAMPLE_RAW even, which is
>>>>>> what IBS currently uses.
>>>>> My bad. Not sure what you mean by this. We are trying to abstract
>>>>> as much vendor specific data as possible with this (like perf-mem).
>>>> Perhaps if I say it this way: instead of doing all the
>>>> isa207_get_phazard_data() work past the mfspr(SPRN_SIER)
>>>> in patch 4/11, rather/instead just put the raw sier value in a
>>>> PERF_SAMPLE_RAW or _AUX event, and call perf_event_update_userpage.
>>>> Specific SIER capabilities can be written as part of the perf.data
>>>> header.  Then synthesize the true pipe events from the raw SIER
>>>> values later, and in userspace.
>>> Hi Kim,
>>>
>>> Would like to stay away from SAMPLE_RAW type for these comments in 
>>> perf_events.h
>>>
>>> *      #
>>> *      # The RAW record below is opaque data wrt the ABI
>>> *      #
>>> *      # That is, the ABI doesn't make any promises wrt to
>>> *      # the stability of its content, it may vary depending
>>> *      # on event, hardware, kernel version and phase of
>>> *      # the moon.
>>> *      #
>>> *      # In other words, PERF_SAMPLE_RAW contents are not an ABI.
>>> *      #
>> The "it may vary depending on ... hardware" clause makes it sound
>> appropriate for the use-case where the raw hardware register contents
>> are copied directly into the user buffer.
>
>
> Hi Kim,
>
> Sorry for the delayed response.
>
> But perf tool side needs infrastructure to handle the raw sample
> data from cpu-pmu (used by tracepoints). I am not sure whether
> his is the approach we should look here.
>
> peterz any comments?
>
>>
>>> Secondly, sorry I didn't understand your suggestion about using 
>>> PERF_SAMPLE_AUX.
>>> IIUC, SAMPLE_AUX will go to AUX ring buffer, which is more memory 
>>> and more
>>> challenging when correlating and presenting the pipeline details for 
>>> each IP.
>>> IMO, having a new sample type can be useful to capture the pipeline 
>>> data
>>> both in perf_sample_data and if _AUX is enabled, can be made to push to
>>> AUX buffer.
>> OK, I didn't think SAMPLE_AUX and the aux ring buffer were
>> interdependent, sorry.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kim
>