Sun Studio 12: Performance Analyzer

Preface

This manual describes the performance analysis tools in the Sun^TM Studio 12 software.

The Collector and Performance Analyzer are a pair of tools that perform statistical profiling of a wide range of performance data and tracing of various system calls, and relate the data to program structure at the function, source line and instruction level.

This manual is intended for application developers with a working knowledge of Fortran, C, C++, or Java^TM programming languages. Users of the performance tools need some understanding of the Solaris^TM Operating System (Solaris OS), or the Linux operating system, and UNIX® operating system commands. Some knowledge of performance analysis is helpful but is not required to use the tools.

How This Book Is Organized

Chapter 1, Overview of the Performance Analyzer introduces the performance analysis tools, briefly discussing what they do and when to use them.

Chapter 2, Performance Data describes the data collected by the Collector and how the data is converted into metrics of performance.

Chapter 3, Collecting Performance Data describes how to use the Collector to collect timing data, synchronization delay data, and hardware event data from your program.

Chapter 4, The Performance Analyzer Tool describes how to start the Performance Analyzer and how to use the tool to analyze performance data collected by the Collector.

Chapter 5, Kernel Profiling describes how you can use the Sun Studio performance tools to profile the kernel while the Solaris OS is running a load.

Chapter 6, The er_print Command Line Performance Analysis Tool describes how to use the er_print command line interface to analyze the data collected by the Collector.

Chapter 7, Understanding the Performance Analyzer and Its Data describes the process of converting the data collected by the Collector into performance metrics and how the metrics are related to program structure.

Chapter 8, Understanding Annotated Source and Disassembly Data describes how to use and understand the information in the source and disassembly windows of the Performance Analyzer.

Chapter 9, Manipulating Experiments presents information on the utilities that are provided for manipulating and converting performance experiments and viewing annotated source code and disassembly code without running an experiment.

Typographic Conventions

The following table describes the typographic conventions that are used in this book.

Table P–1 Typographic Conventions


Typeface	Meaning	Example
`AaBbCc123`	The names of commands, files, and directories, and onscreen computer output	Edit your `.login` file. Use `ls -a` to list all files. `machine_name% you have mail.`
`AaBbCc123`	What you type, contrasted with onscreen computer output	`machine_name%` `su` `Password:`
`aabbcc123`	Placeholder: replace with a real name or value	The command to remove a file is `rm` `filename`.
AaBbCc123	Book titles, new terms, and terms to be emphasized	Read Chapter 6 in the User's Guide. A cache is a copy that is stored locally. Do not save the file. Note: Some emphasized items appear bold online.

Shell Prompts in Command Examples

The following table shows the default UNIX system prompt and superuser prompt for the C shell, Bourne shell, and Korn shell.

Table P–2 Shell Prompts


Shell	Prompt
C shell	`machine_name%`
C shell for superuser	`machine_name#`
Bourne shell and Korn shell	`$`
Bourne shell and Korn shell for superuser	`#`

Supported Platforms

This Sun Studio release supports systems that use the SPARC® and x86 families of processor architectures: UltraSPARC®, SPARC64, AMD64, Pentium, and Xeon EM64T. The supported systems for the version of the Solaris Operating System you are running are available in the hardware compatibility lists at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl. These documents cite any implementation differences between the platform types.

In this document, these x86 related terms mean the following:

“x86” refers to the larger family of 64-bit and 32-bit x86 compatible products.
“x64’ points out specific 64-bit information about AMD64 or EM64T systems.
“32-bit x86” points out specific 32-bit information about x86 based systems.

For supported systems, see the hardware compatibility lists.

Accessing Sun Studio Documentation

You can access the documentation at the following locations:

The documentation is available from the documentation index that is installed with the software on your local system or network at file:/opt/SUNWspro/docs/index.html on Solaris platforms, and at file:/opt/sun/sunstudio12/docs/index.html on Linux platforms.

If your software is not installed in the /opt directory on a Solaris platform or the /opt/sun directory on a Linux platform, ask your system administrator for the equivalent path on your system.
The documentation index is also available online from the Sun Studio portal at http://developers.sun.com/sunstudio/documentation/ss12.
The latest release notes are available from the Sun Studio portal at http://developers.sun.com/sunstudio/documentation/ss12/release_notes.html.
Online help for all components of the IDE is available through the Help menu, as well as through Help buttons on many windows and dialog boxes, in the IDE.

The http://docs.sun.com/ web site enables you to read, print, and buy Sun Microsystems manuals through the Internet. If you cannot find a manual, see the documentation index that is installed with the software on your local system or network.

Note –

Sun is not responsible for the availability of third-party Web sites mentioned in this document. Sun does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products, or other materials that are available on or through such sites or resources. Sun will not be responsible or liable for any actual or alleged damage or loss caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such content, goods, or services that are available on or through such sites or resources.

Accessing Related Solaris Documentation

The following table describes related documentation that is available through the docs.sun.com web site.

Document Collection	Document Title	Description
Solaris 10 Reference Manual Collection	See the titles of man page sections.	Provides information about the Solaris OS.
Solaris 10 Software Developer Collection	Linker and Libraries Guide	Describes the operations of the Solaris link-editor and runtime linker.
Solaris 10 Software Developer Collection	Multithreaded Programming Guide	Covers the POSIX® and Solaris threads APIs, programming with synchronization objects, compiling multithreaded programs, and finding tools for multithreaded programs.
Solaris 10 Software Developer Collection	SPARC Assembly Language Reference Manual	Describes the assembly language for SPARC processors.
Solaris 10 System Administrator Collection	Solaris Tunable Parameters Reference Manual	Provides reference information on Solaris tunable parameters.

Resources for Developers

Visit http://developers.sun.com/sunstudio to find these frequently updated resources:

Articles on programming techniques and best practices
A knowledge base of short programming tips
Documentation of compilers and tools components, as well as corrections to the documentation that is installed with your software
Information on support levels
User forums
Downloadable code samples
New technology previews

You can find resources for the Performance Analyzer at http://developers.sun.com/sunstudio/analyzer_index.html.

Documentation, Support, and Training

The Sun web site provides information about the following additional resources:

Contacting Sun Technical Support

If you have technical questions about this product that are not answered in this document, go to:

http://www.sun.com/service/contacting

Sending Your Comments

Sun is interested in improving its documentation and welcomes your comments and suggestions. Submit your comments to Sun at this URL

http://www.sun.com/documentation/feedback/feedback.jsp

Please include the part number (819-5264-10) of your document.