This repository collects perf-script and patches to measure the boot time of a Linux VM with QEMU. Using I/O writes, we can trace events in the firmware and Linux kernel.
We extended the I/O port addresses and values defined in qboot [https://github.com/bonzini/qboot/blob/master/benchmark.h] adding new trace points to trace the kernel boot time.
Apply the patches/linux.patch
to your Linux kernel in order to trace kernel
events
git checkout -b benchmark
git am qemu-boot-time/patches/linux.patch
Apply the patches/qemu.patch
to your QEMU in order to trace optionrom
events
git checkout -b benchmark
git am qemu-boot-time/patches/qemu.patch
cd build-benchmark
../configure --target-list=x86_64-softmmu ...
make
You can use qemu-system-x86_64 -L qemu/build-benchmark/pc-bios/optionrom/ ...
to use the optionrom patched.
Apply the patches/seabios.patch
to your SeaBIOS in order to trace bios
events
git checkout -b benchmark
git am qemu-boot-time/patches/seabios.patch
make clean distclean
cp /path/to/qemu/roms/config.seabios-256k .config
make oldnoconfig
You can use qemu-system-x86_64 -bios seabios/out/bios.bin ...
to use the
SeaBIOS image patched.
qboot already defines trace points, we just need to compile it defining
BENCHMARK_HACK
BIOS_CFLAGS="-DBENCHMARK_HACK=1" make
You can use qemu-system-x86_64 -bios qboot/bios.bin ...
to use the qboot
image.
The following steps allow perf record
to get the kvm trace events:
echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kvm/enable
echo -1 > /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid
mount -o remount,mode=755 /sys/kernel/debug
mount -o remount,mode=755 /sys/kernel/debug/tracing
# Start perf record to collect the trace events
PERF_DATA="qemu_perf.data"
perf record -a -e kvm:kvm_entry -e kvm:kvm_pio -e sched:sched_process_exec \
-o $PERF_DATA &
PERF_PID=$!
# Wait some seconds to have perf record ready
sleep 3
# You can run QEMU multiple times to get also some statistics (Avg/Min/Max)
qemu-system-x86_64 -machine q35,accel=kvm \
-bios seabios/out/bios.bin \
-L qemu/build-benchmark/pc-bios/optionrom/ \
-kernel linux/bzImage ...
qemu-system-x86_64 -machine q35,accel=kvm \
-bios seabios/out/bios.bin \
-L qemu/build-benchmark/pc-bios/optionrom/ \
-kernel linux/bzImage ...
qemu-system-x86_64 -machine q35,accel=kvm \
-bios seabios/out/bios.bin \
-L qemu/build-benchmark/pc-bios/optionrom/ \
-kernel linux/bzImage ...
# Stop perf record
kill $PERF_PID
# Get the measurements
perf script -s qemu-boot-time/perf-script/qemu-perf-script.py -i $PERF_DATA
The benchmark.h
file contains the following trace points used in the
patches
:
- QEMU
qemu_init_end
: first kvm_entry (i.e. QEMU initialized has finished)
- Firmware (SeaBIOS + optionrom or qboot)
fw_start
: first entry of the firmwarefw_do_boot
: after the firmware initialization (e.g. PCI setup, etc.)linux_start_boot
: before the jump to the Linux kernellinux_start_pvhboot
: before the jump to the Linux PVH kernel
- Linux Kernel
linux_start_kernel
: first entry of the Linux kernellinux_start_user
: before starting the init process
Trace points are printed only if they are recorded, so you can only enable few of them.
If you want to add new trace points, you can simply add an I/O write to
LINUX_EXIT_PORT
or FW_EXIT_PORT
with a value (> 7) that identifies the
trace point:
outb(10, LINUX_EXIT_PORT);
The perf script
output will contain Exit point 10
line that identifies your
trace point:
qemu_init_end: 143.770419
fw_start: 143.964328 (+0.193909)
fw_do_boot: 164.71107 (+20.746742)
Exit point 10: 165.396804 (+0.685734)
linux_start_kernel: 165.979486 (+0.582682)
linux_start_user: 272.178335 (+106.198849)
$ perf script -s qemu-boot-time/perf-script/qemu-perf-script.py -i $PERF_DATA
in trace_begin
sched__sched_process_exec 1 55061.435418353 289738 qemu-system-x86
kvm__kvm_entry 1 55061.466887708 289741 qemu-system-x86
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55061.467070650 289741 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf5, size=1, count=1, val=1
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55061.475818073 289741 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf5, size=1, count=1, val=4
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55061.477168037 289741 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=3
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55061.558779540 289741 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=5
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55061.686849663 289741 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=6
sched__sched_process_exec 4 55067.461869075 289793 qemu-system-x86
kvm__kvm_entry 4 55067.496402472 289796 qemu-system-x86
kvm__kvm_pio 4 55067.496555385 289796 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf5, size=1, count=1, val=1
kvm__kvm_pio 4 55067.505067184 289796 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf5, size=1, count=1, val=4
kvm__kvm_pio 4 55067.506395502 289796 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=3
kvm__kvm_pio 4 55067.584029910 289796 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=5
kvm__kvm_pio 4 55067.704751791 289796 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=6
sched__sched_process_exec 0 55070.073823767 289827 qemu-system-x86
kvm__kvm_entry 0 55070.110507211 289830 qemu-system-x86
kvm__kvm_pio 0 55070.110694645 289830 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf5, size=1, count=1, val=1
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55070.120092692 289830 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf5, size=1, count=1, val=4
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55070.121437922 289830 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=3
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55070.198628779 289830 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=5
kvm__kvm_pio 1 55070.315734630 289830 qemu-system-x86 rw=1, port=0xf4, size=1, count=1, val=6
in trace_end
Trace qemu-system-x86
1) pid 289738
qemu_init_end: 31.469355
fw_start: 31.652297 (+0.182942)
fw_do_boot: 40.39972 (+8.747423)
linux_start_boot: 41.749684 (+1.349964)
linux_start_kernel: 123.361187 (+81.611503)
linux_start_user: 251.43131 (+128.070123)
2) pid 289793
qemu_init_end: 34.533397
fw_start: 34.68631 (+0.152913)
fw_do_boot: 43.198109 (+8.511799)
linux_start_boot: 44.526427 (+1.328318)
linux_start_kernel: 122.160835 (+77.634408)
linux_start_user: 242.882716 (+120.721881)
3) pid 289827
qemu_init_end: 36.683444
fw_start: 36.870878 (+0.187434)
fw_do_boot: 46.268925 (+9.398047)
linux_start_boot: 47.614155 (+1.34523)
linux_start_kernel: 124.805012 (+77.190857)
linux_start_user: 241.910863 (+117.105851)
Avg
qemu_init_end: 34.228732
fw_start: 34.403161 (+0.174429)
fw_do_boot: 43.288918 (+8.885757)
linux_start_boot: 44.630088 (+1.34117)
linux_start_kernel: 123.442344 (+78.812256)
linux_start_user: 245.408296 (+121.965952)
Min
qemu_init_end: 31.469355
fw_start: 31.652297 (+0.182942)
fw_do_boot: 40.39972 (+8.747423)
linux_start_boot: 41.749684 (+1.349964)
linux_start_kernel: 122.160835 (+80.411151)
linux_start_user: 241.910863 (+119.750028)
Max
qemu_init_end: 36.683444
fw_start: 36.870878 (+0.187434)
fw_do_boot: 46.268925 (+9.398047)
linux_start_boot: 47.614155 (+1.34523)
linux_start_kernel: 124.805012 (+77.190857)
linux_start_user: 242.882716 (+118.077704)