J K Rai <jk.anu...@yahoo.com> writes:
> I get same values for the two events (i.e. LAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES and
> L2_LINES_IN:SELF) in user mode while the two change when the same are
> collected for kernel+user mode. E.g.
FWIW, I see similar behaviour. I'm using libperfmon/pfmon 3.6 and kernel
2.6.27.9. Cpu is Intel Core 2 Duo.
In general, I would not expect these two events to be exactly the same, as
they count somewhat different things:
- One counts requests while the other counts line allocations (that is not
the same, as it is possible for multiple cache misses to the same cache
line to be serviced by the same single allocation).
- One seems to exclude prefetches, while the other seems to include them.
In any case, I agree it is interesting that the difference is so huge for
kernel mode.
I would suggest checking if you see the same behaviour with OProfile (or
another seperate tool) to learn more about whether this is something specific
to permon or a general behaviour of the CPU. This could also help you to
pinpoint exactly where in the kernel the difference occurs. And maybe use
something a bit heavier than ls, eg. I tried this:
$ pfmon -k -u -eLAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES,L2_LINES_IN:SELF perl
-MData::Dumper -MSocket -MIO::Handle -MLWP::UserAgent -le 42
20541 LAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES
66674 L2_LINES_IN:SELF
Here is some relevant information from showevtinfo and Intel manuals:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name : LAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES
Desc : count each cache miss condition for references to the last level
cache. The event count may include speculation, but excludes cache line fills
due to hardware prefetch. Alias to event L
2_RQSTS:SELF_DEMAND_I_STATE
Code : 0x412e
Counters : [ 0 1 ]
Name : L2_RQSTS
Desc : L2 cache requests
Code : 0x2e
Counters : [ 0 1 ]
Umask-00 : 0x0f : [MESI] : Any cacheline access
Umask-01 : 0x01 : [I_STATE] : Invalid cacheline
Umask-02 : 0x02 : [S_STATE] : Shared cacheline
Umask-03 : 0x04 : [E_STATE] : Exclusive cacheline
Umask-04 : 0x08 : [M_STATE] : Modified cacheline
Umask-05 : 0x40 : [SELF] : This core
Umask-06 : 0xc0 : [BOTH_CORES] : Both cores
Umask-07 : 0x30 : [ANY] : All inclusive
Umask-08 : 0x10 : [PREFETCH] : Hardware prefetch only
This event counts all completed L2 cache
demand requests from this core that miss
the L2 cache. This includes L1 data cache
reads, writes, and locked accesses, L1 data
prefetch requests, and instruction fetches.
This is an architectural performance event.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name : L2_LINES_IN
Desc : L2 cache misses
Code : 0x24
Counters : [ 0 1 ]
Umask-00 : 0x40 : [SELF] : This core
Umask-01 : 0xc0 : [BOTH_CORES] : Both cores
Umask-02 : 0x30 : [ANY] : All inclusive
Umask-03 : 0x10 : [PREFETCH] : Hardware prefetch only
This event counts the number of cache
lines allocated in the L2 cache. Cache lines
are allocated in the L2 cache as a result of
requests from the L1 data and instruction
caches and the L2 hardware prefetchers
to cache lines that are missing in the L2
cache.
This event can count occurrences for this
core or both cores. It can also count
demand requests and L2 hardware
prefetch requests together or separately.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> pfmon -u -eLAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES,L2_LINES_IN:SELF /bin/ls
> cpu_2006_mix_lim_random_order_pfmon_t.sh
> pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_Phasewise_improved.sh pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_t.sh
> cpu_2006_pfmon_t.sh
> pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_Phasewise_prefetch.sh
> pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_t.sh_old
> 827 LAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES
> 827 L2_LINES_IN:SELF
>
> pfmon -k -u -eLAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES,L2_LINES_IN:SELF /bin/ls
> cpu_2006_mix_lim_random_order_pfmon_t.sh
> pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_Phasewise_improved.sh pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_t.sh
> cpu_2006_pfmon_t.sh
> pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_Phasewise_prefetch.sh
> pair_lim_cpu_2006_pfmon_t.sh_old
> 1808 LAST_LEVEL_CACHE_MISSES
> 2267 L2_LINES_IN:SELF
>
> Explanation for this is welcomed.
> I also request people with latest release installed to check it.
> Thanks and regards,
> JK
- Kristian.
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