Intel® VTune™ Profiler User Guide

User Guide

Contents

Embedded Linux* Targets

Use the
Intel® VTune™
Profiler
 for performance analysis on Embedded Linux* systems, Wind River*, Yocto Project*, FreeBSD* and others.
Embedded device performance data can be collected remotely on the embedded device and running the analysis from an instance of
VTune
Profiler
 installed on the host system. This is useful when the target system is not capable of local data analysis (low performance, limited disk space, or lack of user interface control).
Root access to the operating system kernel is required to install the collectors and drivers required for performance analysis using
VTune
Profiler
.
To enable performance analysis on an embedded device, use any of the following:

Use the Intel System Studio Integration Layer

The Intel System Studio integration layer works for embedded systems with Wind River Linux or Yocto Project installed.
The Intel System Studio integration layer allows the Intel System Studio products to be fully integrated with a target operating system by building the drivers and corresponding target packages into the operating system image automatically. Use this option in the case where a platform build engineer has control over the kernel sources and signature files, but the application engineer does not. The platform build engineer can integrate the product drivers with the target package and include them in the embedded device image that is delivered to the application engineer.
  1. Install Intel System Studio using the installer GUI.
  2. Install the Intel System Studio integration layer.
    1. Copy the integration layer from the Intel System Studio installation folder to the target operating system development folder.
    2. Run the post-installation script:
      <iss-install-dir>/YoctoProject/meta-intel-iss/yp-setup/postinst_<OS>_iss.sh <ISS_BASE_dir>
      For example, for Wind River Linux:
      /YoctoProject/meta-intel-iss/yp-setup/postinst_wr_iss.sh
  3. Build the recipe that includes the appropriate
    VTune
    Profiler
     package.
    1. Add the path to the
      /YoctoProject/meta-intel-iss
       to the
      bblayers.conf
       file:
      BBLAYERS= "\
      ...
      <OS_INSTALL_DIR>/YoctoProject/meta-intel-iss\
      ...
      "
    2. Add the
      VTune
      Profiler
       recipes to
      conf/local.conf
      . Possible recipes include:
      • intel-vtune-drivers
        : integrates all
        VTune
        Profiler
         drivers for PMU-based analysis with stacks and context switches. Requires additional kernel options to be enabled.
      • intel-vtune-sep-driver
        : integrates drivers for PMU-based analysis with minimal requirements for kernel options.
      For more information about these collection methods, see Remote Linux Target Setup.
  4. Build the target operating system, which will complete the integration of the
    VTune
    Profiler
     collectors and drivers.
  5. Flash the operating system to the target embedded device.
    After flashing the operating system to the target embedded device, ensure that the appropriate
    VTune
    Profiler
     drivers are present. For more information, see Building the Sampling Drivers for Linux Targets.
  6. Run the analysis on the target embedded device from the host system using an SSH connection or using the SEP commands.
    1. Set up a password-less SSH access to the target using RSA keys.
    2. Specify your target application and remote system.
      After configuring the remote connection,
      VTune
      Profiler
       will install the appropriate collectors on the target system.
    3. Choose an analysis type.
    4. Run the analysis from the host.
    Use the information available in the
    Sampling Enabling Product User's Guide
     to run the SEP commands.
  7. View results in the
    VTune
    Profiler
     GUI on the host.

Use the
Intel VTune
Profiler
 Yocto Project Integration Layer

Intel VTune Profiler Yocto Project integration layer builds the drivers into the operating system image automatically. Use this option in the case where a platform build engineer has control over the kernel sources and signature files, but the application engineer does not. The platform build engineer can integrate the product drivers with the target package and include them in the embedded device image that is delivered to the application engineer.
  1. Install
    Intel VTune
    Profiler
    .
  2. Configure the integration layer.
    1. Extract the
      <install-dir>
      /target/linux/vtune_
      profiler
      _target_x86.tgz
       or
      <install-dir>
      /target/linux/vtune_
      profiler
      _target_x86_64.tgz
       package.
    2. Modify the
      sepdk/vtune-layer/conf/user.conf
       file to specify user settings.
      1. Specify one of the following paths:
        • Path to unzipped target package:
          VTUNE_TARGET_PACKAGE_DIR = "<PATH>"
        • Path to
          VTune
          Profiler
           installation directory:
          VTUNE_PROFILER_2020_DIR = "<PATH>"
      2. (Optional) To integrate the SEP driver during system book, specify
        ADD_TO_INITD = "y"
        .
    3. Copy the integration layer to the Yocto Project development environment.
    4. Add the path to the layer to the
      bblayers.conf
       file:
      BBLAYERS= "\
      ...
      <OS_INSTALL_DIR>/vtune-layer\
      ...
      "
    5. Add the
      VTune
      Profiler
       recipes to
      conf/local.conf
      . Possible recipes include:
      • intel-vtune-drivers
        : integrates all
        VTune
        Profiler
         drivers for PMU-based analysis with stacks and context switches. Requires additional kernel options to be enabled.
      • intel-vtune-sep-driver
        : integrates drivers for PMU-based analysis with minimal requirements for kernel options.
      For more information about these collection methods, see Remote Linux Target Setup.
  3. Build the target operating system, which will complete the integration of the
    VTune
    Profiler
     collectors and drivers.
  4. Flash the operating system to the target embedded device.
    After flashing the operating system to the target embedded device, ensure that the appropriate
    VTune
    Profiler
     drivers are present.
  5. 5. Run the analysis on the target embedded device from the host system using an SSH connection or using the SEP commands.
    1. Set up a password-less SSH access to the target using RSA keys.
    2. Specify your target application and remote system.
    3. Choose an analysis type.
    4. Run the analysis from the host.
    Use the information available in the
    Sampling Enabling Product User's Guide
     to run the SEP commands.
  6. View results in the
    VTune
    Profiler
     GUI.

Use the Bundled
Intel VTune
Profiler
 Installation Packages

You can build the appropriate drivers and install the
VTune
Profiler
 collectors on your kernel image manually with a command line. This option requires root access to the configured kernel source.
  1. Install
    Intel VTune
    Profiler
     using the installer GUI.
  2. Run the analysis on the target embedded device.
    1. Set up a password-less SSH access for the root user to the target using RSA keys.
    2. Specify your target application and remote system. The collectors and drivers within the package should be automatically installed.
    3. Choose an analysis type.
    4. Run the analysis from the host.
  3. 3. View results in the
    VTune
    Profiler
     GUI on the host.
Troubleshooting
If the drivers were not built during collector installation, the installation output should inform you that building the sampling driver is required.
The drivers are built either on the target system or on the host system, depending on compiler toolchain availability:
  1. If the compiler toolchain is available on the target system:
    1. On the target embedded device, build the driver from the
      <install-dir>/sepdk/src
       directory using the
      ./build-driver
       command.
    2. Load the driver into the kernel using the
      ./insmod-sep
       command.
  2. If the compiler toolchain is not available on the target system:
    1. On the host system, cross-build the driver using the driver source from the target package
      sepdk/src
       directory with the
      ./build-driver
       command. Provide the cross-compiler (if necessary) and the target kernel source tree for the build.
    2. Copy the
      sepdk/src
       folder to the target system.
    3. Load the driver into the kernel using the
      ./insmod-sep
       command.

Product and Performance Information

1

Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex.