N-Lane Bridge Performance Antipattern Analysis Using System-Level Execution Tracing

Abstract

Performance problems caused by the improper use of multi-threading can be incredibly difficult to diagnose. There are countless resources that could introduce latency into an application when multiple cooperating threads interact improperly. As a matter of program comprehension, it is crucial to know which resources are being misused by the program causing that program to run slower. The concept of performance antipatterns has been introduced in order to classify common performance problems and bundle them with a solution. The One Lane Bridge (OLB) antipattern in particular deals with latency due to the incorrect use of multi-threading. However, existing methods to detect the OLB antipattern do not consider latency caused by active resources and use imprecise metrics. In this paper, we present a new category of OLB, the N-Lane Bridge antipattern, to cover situations of latency caused by the overuse of active resources. Moreover, a novel system-level execution tracing approach is presented to detect both categories of OLB antipatterns. As a proof-of-concept, we applied our approach to the popular Firefox web browser application and we were able to identify several OLB antipatterns, enabling us to diagnose and understand a critical performance issue.