HMTT: a platform independent full-system memory trace monitoring system

Memory trace analysis is an important technology for architecture research, system software (i.e., OS, compiler) optimization, and application performance improvements. Many approaches have been used to track memory trace, such as simulation, binary instrumentation and hardware snooping. However, they usually have limitations of time, accuracy and capacity. In this paper we propose a platform independent memory trace monitoring system, which is able to track virtual memory reference trace of full systems (including OS, VMMs, libraries, and applications). The system adopts a DIMM-snooping mechanism that uses hardware boards plugged in DIMM slots to snoop. There are several advantages in this approach, such as fast, complete, undistorted, and portable. Three key techniques are proposed to address the system design challenges with this mechanism: (1) To keep up with memory speeds, the DDR protocol state machine is simplified, and large FIFOs are added between the state machine and the tr...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: SIGMETRICS
• Authors: Yungang Bao, Mingyu Chen, Yuan Ruan, Li Liu, Jianping Fan 0002, Qingbo Yuan, Bo Song, Jianwei Xu
• Keywords: Hardware, Independent Memory Trace, Memory Trace, Memory Trace Analysis, SIGMETRICS 2008