profiler(1M) profiler(1M)
NAME
profiler: prfld, prfstat, prfdc, prfsnap, prfpr - UNIX system
profiler
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/prfld [system_namelist]
/usr/sbin/prfstat [off | on [system_namelist]]
/usr/sbin/prfdc file [period [off_hour [system_namelist]]]
/usr/sbin/prfsnap file [system_namelist]
/usr/sbin/prfpr [-P processor_id[, . . . ] | ALL] [-t] file [cutoff]
DESCRIPTION
prfld, prfstat, prfdc, prfsnap, and prfpr form a system of
programs to facilitate an activity study of the UNIX operating
system.
prfld is used to initialize the recording mechanism in the
system. It generates a table containing the starting address
of each system subroutine as extracted from the
system_namelist and the modules in /etc/conf/mod.d. It locks
all currently loaded modules into memory. It is no longer
necessary to use prfld, as this is done automatically by
prfstat on, prfsnap, and prfdc. To unlock modules after
profiling activities are complete, be sure to run prfstat off.
prfstat is used to enable or disable the sampling mechanism.
Profiler overhead is less than 4% as calculated for 3000 text
addresses. prfstat will also reveal the number of text
addresses being measured.
prfdc and prfsnap perform the data collection function of the
profiler by copying the current value of all the text address
counters to a file where the data can be analyzed. prfdc will
store the counters into file every period minutes and will
turn off at off_hour. The valid values for off_hour are
0-24); the default value is 17. Data collection never stops
when off_hour is set to 24. The default period is 10.
prfsnap collects data at the time of invocation only,
appending the counter values to file.
prfpr formats the data collected by prfdc or prfsnap. Each
text address is converted to the nearest text symbol and is
printed if the percent activity for that range is greater than
cutoff. cutoff can be any decimal value greater than or equal
to zero and less than, or equal to, 100. The -t option
reports time in clock ticks instead of in percentages. The -P
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 1
profiler(1M) profiler(1M)
option allows the user to examine the data for each of one or
more specified processors, or for all processors. When the -P
option is not used, aggregate profiling information is
displayed.
FILES
/dev/prf interface to profile data and text
addresses
/stand/unix default system namelist file for
non-loadable modules
/etc/conf/mod.d/* system namelists for loadable
modules
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 2