Re: [PATCH] kvm: add flightrecorder script

[Anthony Liguori <aliguori@us.ibm.com>]

On 03/09/2012 08:13 AM, Stefan Hajnoczi wrote:
> The kvm kernel module includes a number of trace events which can be
> useful when debugging system behavior.  Even on production systems these
> trace events can be used to observe guest behavior and identify the
> source of problems.
>
> The kvm_flightrecorder script is a command-line wrapper for the
> /sys/kernel/debug/tracing interface.  Kernel symbols do not need to be
> installed.
>
> This script captures a fixed-size buffer of KVM trace events.  Recent
> events overwrite the oldest events when the buffer size is exceeded and
> it is possible to leave KVM tracing enabled for any period of time with
> just a fixed-size buffer.  If the buffer is large enough this script is
> a useful tool for collecting detailed information after an issue occurs
> with a guest.  Hence the name "flight recorder".
>
> The script can also be used in 'tail' mode to simply view KVM trace
> events as they occur.  This is handy for development and to ensure that
> the guest is indeed running.
>
> Signed-off-by: Stefan Hajnoczi<stefanha@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> ---
>   scripts/kvm/kvm_flightrecorder |  126 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   1 files changed, 126 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
>   create mode 100755 scripts/kvm/kvm_flightrecorder

I assume this should go through uq/master...

Thanks for sending this out.

Regards,

Anthony Liguori

>
> diff --git a/scripts/kvm/kvm_flightrecorder b/scripts/kvm/kvm_flightrecorder
> new file mode 100755
> index 0000000..7fb1c2d
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/scripts/kvm/kvm_flightrecorder
> @@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
> +#!/usr/bin/env python
> +#
> +# KVM Flight Recorder - ring buffer tracing script
> +#
> +# Copyright (C) 2012 IBM Corp
> +#
> +# Author: Stefan Hajnoczi<stefanha@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> +#
> +# This script provides a command-line interface to kvm ftrace and is designed
> +# to be used as a flight recorder that is always running.  To start in-memory
> +# recording:
> +#
> +# sudo kvm_flightrecorder start 8192  # 8 MB per-cpu ring buffers
> +#
> +# The per-cpu ring buffer size can be given in KB as an optional argument to
> +# the 'start' subcommand.
> +#
> +# To stop the flight recorder:
> +#
> +# sudo kvm_flightrecorder stop
> +#
> +# To dump the contents of the flight recorder (this can be done when the
> +# recorder is stopped or while it is running):
> +#
> +# sudo kvm_flightrecorder dump>/path/to/dump.txt
> +#
> +# To observe the trace while it is running, use the 'tail' subcommand:
> +#
> +# sudo kvm_flightrecorder tail
> +#
> +# Note that the flight recorder may impact overall system performance by
> +# consuming CPU cycles.  No disk I/O is performed since the ring buffer holds a
> +# fixed-size in-memory trace.
> +
> +import sys
> +import os
> +
> +tracing_dir = '/sys/kernel/debug/tracing'
> +
> +def trace_path(*args):
> +    return os.path.join(tracing_dir, *args)
> +
> +def write_file(path, data):
> +    open(path, 'wb').write(data)
> +
> +def enable_event(subsystem, event, enable):
> +    write_file(trace_path('events', subsystem, event, 'enable'), '1' if enable else '0')
> +
> +def enable_subsystem(subsystem, enable):
> +    write_file(trace_path('events', subsystem, 'enable'), '1' if enable else '0')
> +
> +def start_tracing():
> +    enable_subsystem('kvm', True)
> +    write_file(trace_path('tracing_on'), '1')
> +
> +def stop_tracing():
> +    write_file(trace_path('tracing_on'), '0')
> +    enable_subsystem('kvm', False)
> +    write_file(trace_path('events', 'enable'), '0')
> +    write_file(trace_path('current_tracer'), 'nop')
> +
> +def dump_trace():
> +    tracefile = open(trace_path('trace'), 'r')
> +    try:
> +        lines = True
> +        while lines:
> +            lines = tracefile.readlines(64 * 1024)
> +            sys.stdout.writelines(lines)
> +    except KeyboardInterrupt:
> +        pass
> +
> +def tail_trace():
> +    try:
> +        for line in open(trace_path('trace_pipe'), 'r'):
> +            sys.stdout.write(line)
> +    except KeyboardInterrupt:
> +        pass
> +
> +def usage():
> +    print 'Usage: %s start [buffer_size_kb] | stop | dump | tail' % sys.argv[0]
> +    print 'Control the KVM flight recorder tracing.'
> +    sys.exit(0)
> +
> +def main():
> +    if len(sys.argv)<  2:
> +        usage()
> +
> +    cmd = sys.argv[1]
> +    if cmd == '--version':
> +        print 'kvm_flightrecorder version 1.0'
> +        sys.exit(0)
> +
> +    if not os.path.isdir(tracing_dir):
> +        print 'Unable to tracing debugfs directory, try:'
> +        print 'mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug'
> +        sys.exit(1)
> +    if not os.access(tracing_dir, os.W_OK):
> +        print 'Unable to write to tracing debugfs directory, please run as root'
> +        sys.exit(1)
> +
> +    if cmd == 'start':
> +        stop_tracing() # clean up first
> +
> +        if len(sys.argv) == 3:
> +            try:
> +                buffer_size_kb = int(sys.argv[2])
> +            except ValueError:
> +                print 'Invalid per-cpu trace buffer size in KB'
> +                sys.exit(1)
> +            write_file(trace_path('buffer_size_kb'), str(buffer_size_kb))
> +            print 'Per-CPU ring buffer size set to %d KB' % buffer_size_kb
> +
> +        start_tracing()
> +        print 'KVM flight recorder enabled'
> +    elif cmd == 'stop':
> +        stop_tracing()
> +        print 'KVM flight recorder disabled'
> +    elif cmd == 'dump':
> +        dump_trace()
> +    elif cmd == 'tail':
> +        tail_trace()
> +    else:
> +        usage()
> +
> +if __name__ == '__main__':
> +    sys.exit(main())