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Re: [Xen-tools] Dprobe and Systemtap for Xen Tracing and Debugging.

To: xen-tools@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-tools] Dprobe and Systemtap for Xen Tracing and Debugging.
From: Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 14:50:31 +0100
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> Can xen use this kind of tools for xen tracing and debugging ? As we know
> ,the capability of performace tracing tools (xenoprof)for xen is limited
> comparing with dprobe and systemtap.Dose anyone have any good idea about
> this ?

IIRC Linux's dynamic kernel probing relies on being able to load kernel 
modules with custom probing code included.  There's currently not loadable 
module support in Xen, so if we wanted to be able to do this, we'd have to 
find a way to add it.

> My idea is we cab make use of dprobe and systemtap to build a more powerful
> and covenient tool for xen performance tracing and debugging.

You could get quite a long way by inserting probes into all the guest kernels 
(and apps) and implementing some tools to tie all the results together - that 
could give you quite a bit of insight into what was going on.

You could probably also usefully gather other data from the Xen trace buffers 
(scheduling events, etc) to correlate with this data for the final analysis.  
This could be quite powerful without needing to insert code into Xen itself.

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Dave: Just a question. What use is a unicyle with no seat?  And no pedals!
Mark: To answer a question with a question: What use is a skateboard?
Dave: Skateboards have wheels.
Mark: My wheel has a wheel!

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