Time Interpolation: So Many Metrics, So Few Registers

The performance of computer systems varies over the course of their execution. A system may perform well during some parts of its execution and poorly during others. To understand why a system behaves in this way performance analysts need to study its time-varying behavior. Fortunately, modern microprocessors support hardware performance monitors which enable performance analysts to collect time-varying metrics with relative ease. Unfortunately, even though modern microprocessors can collect hundreds of metrics, they can collect only a few of these metrics simultaneously. Prior work has proposed time-interpolation techniques for circumventing this limitation. Time interpolation collects different metrics at different points in time, either within the same trace (multiplexing) or in different traces (trace alignment), and interpolates the results to allow reasoning across all metrics at the same points in time. This paper introduces and uses a novel approach for evaluating time interpo...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: MICRO
• Authors: Todd Mytkowicz, Peter F. Sweeney, Matthias Hauswirth, Amer Diwan
• Keywords: Hardware, MICRO 2007, Performance Analysts, Time Interpolation, Trace Alignment