A technique for obtaining kernel mode address traces on a pentium-based Linux system

Abstract

Simulation and performance analysis of memory hierarchies require traces of memory address references. There are several software-based techniques to obtain the address references of user application programs, and cache and TLB simulations are usually driven by these sorts of traces. However, kernel mode address references are typically not captured by user tracing methods and are thus absent from the simulations. For some workloads, operating system activity has a significant impact on cache and TLB performance and therefore should be represented in the traces. This paper examines a single-step interrupt technique to obtain kernel-mode address references made by a Linux operating system running on an Intel x86 processor. Kernel address traces also allow a systems programmer to identify the frequent paths within the operating system and to guide optimizations.