Re: [PATCH V2 3/3] x86, bm: Add documentation on Intel Branch Monitoring

[Jiri Olsa]

On Fri, Nov 17, 2017 at 05:54:06PM -0800, Megha Dey wrote:

SNIP

> +IV. User-configurable inputs
> +============================
> +
> +Several sysfs entries are provided in /sys/devices/intel_bm/ to configure
> +controls for the supported hardware heuristics.
> +
> +1. LBR freeze: /sys/devices/intel-bm/lbr_freeze
> +   possible values are 0 or 1. By default this is disabled(0). When enabled,
> +   an LBR freeze is observed on threshold trip
> +
> +2. Guest Disable: /sys/devices/intel-bm/guest_disable
> +   Possible values are 0 or 1. By default it is 0. When set to â1â, branch
> +   monitoring feature is disabled when operating at VMX non-root operation.
> +
> +3. Window size: /sys/devices/intel-bm/window_size
> +   By default, window size is 1023. It can take values from 0 to 1023. This
> +   represents the number of instructions to be executed before the event
> +   counters are reset.
> +
> +4. Window count select: /sys/devices/intel-bm/window_cnt_sel
> +   Possible values are:
> +   â00 = instructions retired
> +   â01 = branches retired
> +   â10 = returned instructions retired
> +   â11 = indirect branch instructions retired
> +   By default, it has a value of 0.
> +
> +5. Count and mode: /sys/devices/intel-bm/cnt_and_mode
> +   Possible values are 0 or 1. By default it is 0. When set to â1â, the
> +   overall event triggering condition is true only if both enabled
> +   counterâs threshold conditions are true. When â0â, the threshold
> +   tripping condition is true if either enabled counterâs threshold is
> +   true. If a counter is not enabled, then it does not factor into the
> +   ANDâing logic
> +
> +6. Threshold: /sys/devices/intel-bm/threshold
> +   An unsigned value of 0 to 127 is supported. The value 0 of counter
> +   threshold will result in branch monitoring event signaled after every
> +   instruction. By default, it has a value of 127.
> +
> +7. Mispredict counting behaviour: /sys/devices/intel-bm/mispred_evt_cnt
> +   Possible values are:
> +   0 = mispredict events are counted in a window
> +   1 = mispredict events are counted based on a consecutive occurrence.
> +   By default, it has a value of 0.

you use all those value to configure the event:

        event->hw.bm_ctrl = (bm_window_size << BM_WINDOW_SIZE_SHIFT) |
                            (bm_guest_disable << BM_GUEST_DISABLE_SHIFT) |
                            (bm_lbr_freeze << BM_LBR_FREEZE_SHIFT) |
                            (bm_window_cnt_sel << BM_WINDOW_CNT_SEL_SHIFT) |
                            (bm_cnt_and_mode << BM_CNT_AND_MODE_SHIFT) |
                                                                BM_ENABLE;
        event->hw.bm_counter_conf = (bm_threshold << BM_THRESHOLD_SHIFT) |
                        (bm_mispred_evt_cnt << BM_MISPRED_EVT_CNT_SHIFT) |
                        (cfg << BM_EVENT_TYPE_SHIFT) | BM_CNTR_ENABLE;

I wonder you should place this under perf_event_attr::config/config1
and define them in /sys/devices/intel_bm/format/... like we do for
cpu pmu

then you could use perf stat -e like: '-e intel_bm/call-ret,threshold=...,lbr_freeze/'

jirka