Tracing application program execution on the CRAY X-MP and CRAY-2

Abstract

Important insights into program operation can be gained by observing dynamic execution behavior. Unfortunately, many high-performance machines provide execution profile summaries as the only tool for performance investigation. We have developed a tracing library for the CRAY X-MP and CRAY-2 supercomputers that supports the low-overhead capture of execution events for sequential and multitasked programs. This library has been extended to use the automatic instrumentation facilities on these machines, allowing trace data from routine entry and exit, and other program segments, to be captured. To assess the utility of the trace-based tools, three of the Perfect Benchmark codes have been tested in scalar and vector modes with the tracing instrumentation. In addition to computing summary execution statistics from the traces, interesting execution dynamics appear when studying the trace histories. It is also possible to model application performance based on properties identified from traces. Our conclusion is that adding tracing support in Cray supercomputers can have significant returns in improved performance characterization and evaluation. © 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers.