Richard L. Sites wrote his first computer program in 1959 and has spent most of his career at the boundary between hardware and software, with a particular interest in CPU/software performance interactions. His past work includes VAX microcode, DEC Alpha co-architect, and inventing the performance counters found in nearly all processors today. He has done low-overhead microcode and software tracing at DEC, Adobe, Google, and Tesla. Dr. Sites earned his PhD at Stanford in 1974; he holds 66 patents and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

Foreword xix
Preface xxi
Acknowledgments xxv
About the Author xxvii

Part I: Measurement 1
Chapter 1: My Program Is Too Slow 3
Chapter 2: Measuring CPUs 15
Chapter 3: Measuring Memory 31
Chapter 4: CPU and Memory Interaction 49
Chapter 5: Measuring Disk/SSD 61
Chapter 6: Measuring Networks 85
Chapter 7: Disk and Network Database Interaction 111

Part II: Observation 131
Chapter 8: Logging 133
Chapter 9: Aggregate Measures 141
Chapter 10: Dashboards 157
Chapter 11: Other Existing Tools 167
Chapter 12: Traces 193
Chapter 13: Observation Tool Design Principles 209

Part III: Kernel-User Trace 217
Chapter 14: KUtrace: Goals, Design, Implementation 219
Chapter 15: KUtrace: Linux Kernel Patches 227
Chapter 16: KUtrace: Linux Loadable Module 239
Chapter 17: KUtrace: User-Mode Runtime Control 245
Chapter 18: KUtrace: Postprocessing 249
Chapter 19: KUtrace: Display of Software Dynamics 257

Part IV: Reasoning 267
Chapter 20: What to Look For 269
Chapter 21: Executing Too Much 271
Chapter 22: Executing Slowly 279
Chapter 23: Waiting for CPU 289
Chapter 24: Waiting for Memory 299
Chapter 25: Waiting for Disk 307
Chapter 26: Waiting for Network 319
Chapter 27: Waiting for Locks 337
Chapter 28: Waiting for Time 357
Chapter 29: Waiting for Queues 361
Chapter 30: Recap 383

Appendix A: Sample Servers 387
Appendix B: Trace Entries 391

Glossary 397
References 405
Index 415