Internally distributed monitoring system

• US 4,590,550 A
• Filed: 06/29/1983
• Issued: 05/20/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/1983
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Thomas Julian, Eilert, John H., Levin, Arthur L.
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Assistant Examiner(s): Niessen, William G.
• Application Number:
  US06/509,128
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File, 364/551, 364/552, 364/554, 371/16
• US Class Current: 714/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems

Abstract

The disclosure provides an embedded hardware/software monitor for a data processing system. It embeds and distributes a plurality of instrumentation table units (ITUs) within various hardware entities in the system to collect sampled hardware signals local in the hardware entity in which the respective ITU is embedded, e.g. in each CPU, I/O processor, system controller, main storage controller, etc. Instrumentation measurement is controlled centrally in the system. Sampling of the system signals is done periodically at a low-rate relative to the CPU machine cycle rate, and the sampled signal are collected in the ITUs for instrumentation analysis. Sampling pulses are synchronously provided in all ITUs in the system. The ITU collected hardware signals are related to software controlled trace entries made in a trace table (TT) in main storage by each CPU in the system executing tracing and other predetermined instructions. An asynchronous relationship between the TT entries and the ITU entries is bridged by the intervening table, called SAT, located in storage. The SAT entries receive time-of-day (TOD) values also found in associated TT entries to relate them.

Claims

1. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means for obtaining measurement data on the software/hardware operation of a data processing system having at least one CPU, a channel processor for controlling I/O of the system, and a main storage controller for controlling system main storage, the CPU having an instruction execution unit with an instruction address register for indicating the address of each instruction executed by the CPU, the monitoring means comprising:

an instrumentation table unit (ITU) being embedded internally within the CPU in local proximity to CPU signals which may be monitored,

the ITU having an instrumentation table array (ITA) that includes a plurality of entries, each entry being capable of storing an input signal to the ITA while the entry is being addressed,

means for connecting a selected set of internal CPU signal lines as input signals to the ITA,

addressing means for selecting a current entry in the ITA and for enabling the current entry to receive and record a current state of the input signals to the ITA,

sampling signal means connected to the addressing means for providing sampling signals to the addressing means to increment the address to a next entry in the ITA so that the next entry can then receive the input signals,

means for the input signals to the previously addressed entry when the sampling signal increments the address to the next entry in the ITA,

wherein a collection of stored input signal states in an entry being determined by the timing of the sampling signal that disables the input signals to the entry, a previously addressed entry receiving input signals thereby becomes a ITA collected entry of stored input signals upon having its input signals disabled,

instrumentation control means connected to the ITU to control when the ITU is active for recording the input signals in the ITA, in order to enable the ITA to record a statistically significant number of entries during a period of ITU measurement activity.

2. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

means for signalling when a predetermined set of entries in the ITA contains collected entries,

means for outputting the set of collected entries to an output buffer in response to a signal from the signalling means,

the outputted sets of collected entries from the ITA being stored external to the ITA until the number of set is statistically significant of CPU activity.

3. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 2, the moinitoring means further comprising:

an extension table (SAT) being provided in an area of main storage,

means for accessing a current SAT entry in the extension table at a relative address which corresponds to a current address in the ITA,

means for recording a value in the current SAT entry by overlaying any value of the same type previously recorded in the current SAT entry, the value last recorded for the current SAT entry at the time of a sampling pulse being the value collected in that entry in the SAT to provide a SAT collected entry,

each SAT collected entry corresponding to an ITU collected entry when both entries are collected by the same sampling pulse at the same relative addresses in the SAT and in the ITU.

4. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 3, further comprising:

instruction means for sensing a predetermined type of instruction being executed by the CPU,

tracing means for generating a tracing table (TT) entry in main storage in response to the predetermined instruction being sensed by the instruction means,

tracing control means for enabling and disabling the tracing means,

TT entry generation means for generating an entry in the TT when the instruction means senses the execution of an instruction of the predetermined type while the tracing control means is enabled,

the generation means copying a field of the TT entry as a value for the current SAT entry,

the same value in a TT collected entry and in a SAT collected entry relates the TT collected entry to the SAT collected entry and to a corresponding ITU collected entry having the same relative address as the SAT collected entry.

5. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 4, further comprising:

time-of-day (TOD) clock means in the system,

the instruction means reading a TOD value from the TOD clock means as the value to be recorded in both a current TT entry and in a current SAT entry only if the tracing control means is enabled,

the same TOD value recorded in the SAT entry and in the TT entry relating them to an ITU entry having the same relative address in the ITA as the relative address for the SAT entry in the SAT.

6. Internal system instrumentation monitorting means as defined in claim 5, further comprising:

the tracing means not generating a TT entry upon sensing an instruction of the predetermined type in the instruction stream of the CPU while the tracing control means is disabled,

but the tracing means reading an operand field of the predetermined instruction as a value to be recorded in the current SAT entry in response to the tracing control means being disabled,

the current SAT entry becoming a collected SAT entry containing a value derived from the disabled instruction of the predetermined type last observed in the CPU instruction stream in relation to the time of collection of the content of the collected SAT entry.

7. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 6, further comprising:

a tracing instruction being an instruction of the predetermined type capable of controlling the generation of an entry in the TT, the tracing instruction having a storage operand,

the instruction means partially executing each tracing instruction in the CPU instruction stream by accessing at least a part of the storage operand of the instruction to derive a value for recording in a current SAT entry when the tracing control means disables tracing by the CPU so that TT entries are not being generated,

the current SAT entry becoming a collected SAT entry containing the storage operand derived value from the last trace instruction observed in the CPU instruction stream in relation to the time of collection of the content of the collected SAT entry while tracing is disabled.

8. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 7, further comprising:

the tracing instrumentation being enabled by having a CPU controlling trace table enablement bit position (E) set on and a trace instruction operand tracing control bit position (T) set on.

9. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

a plurality of distributed ITUs in a data processing system, the ITUs being located in at least some major distributed hardware entities of the data processing system, including at least in each CPU, in each system control unit (SCU), and in at least one processor controller (PC) associated with an operator console for the system,

instruction control means in the PC providing instrumentation control commands for the data processing system,

a command decoder being provided in each ITU,

a PC bus connecting the PC to the command decoder in each ITU in the system to transfer each instrumentation control command from the PC to each ITU in the system,

the instrumentation control means providing an enablement command on the PC bus to the distributed ITUs to enable and disable instrumentation operation in the system.

10. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

rate control means connected to the sampling signal means to control the rate of the sampling signals.

11. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

outputting means including an ITA output control means in each ITU to control the outputting of collected entries in the distributed ITUs, the ITA output control means connected to the PC bus to selectively output ITU collected entries from the different ITUs to the PC bus for storage by the PC.

12. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 3, further comprising:

the outputting means also outputting collected entries in the ITU and SAT as sychronized sets of collected entries on each outputting operation,

the synchronized sets of collected entries from the plurality of ITU and SAT provided by the outputting means being related by their relative addresses.

13. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 2, further comprising:

another distributed hardware functional element in the system containing another ITU also connected to the sampling signal means, and

common address reset means connected to all ITUs in the system to reset the addressing means in all ITUs to a predetermined address to synchronize the current address in all ITUs.

14. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 13, the monitoring means further comprising:

a channel processor in the system being another distributed hardware functional element containing an ITU.

15. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 13, further comprising:

a system control element (SCE) for coordinating storage requests from a CPU to a main storage in the system,

the SCE being another distributed hardware functional element in the system containing an ITU.

16. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 13, the monitoring means further comprising:

a main storage controller element being another distributed hardware functional element containing an ITU.

17. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 2, further comprising:

a channel processor containing at least one ITU,

a main storage controller containing at least one ITU,

a system control element containing at least one ITU,

common address reset means connected to all ITUs in the system to reset the addressing means in all ITUs to a predetermined address to synchronize the current addresses in all ITUs,

the sampling signalling means being connected to the addressing means of all ITUs in the system to maintain address synchronism for the distributed ITUs by the sampling pulses simultaneously incrementing the addresses of the current entries in the ITUs.

18. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 1, the connecting means for the input signals further comprising:

means for also connecting an instruction address register in the CPU to an input of the ITA in order to provide an address of an executed instruction to the currently addressed entry in the ITA to enable the recording of selected instruction addresses in the ITA existing at the time of the sampling signals,

the instruction addresses recorded in entries of the ITA enabling a correlation between software instructions represented by the instruction addresses and ITA hardware signals recorded in the same ITA entries.

19. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means as defined in claim 18, the system including a plurality of CPUs, the monitoring means further comprising:

each CPU in the system having at least one ITU, the system having a plurality of distributed ITUs embedded in different parts of the system,

common address reset means connected to all ITUs in the system to reset the addressing means in all ITUs to a predetermined address to synchronize the current addresses in all ITUs,

the sampling signal means being connected to the addressing means of all ITUs in the system to maintain ITA address sychronism while simultaneously incrementing the addresses of the current entries in the ITAs,

the outputting means selectively outputting sets of entries from all ITUs as synchronized sets of collected entries on each outputting operation,

the synchronized sets of collected entries provided by the outputting means enabling a statistical analysis of interrelationships between the operations of the plural CPUs.

20. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means for a plurality of CPUs as defined in claim 19, further comprising:

a plurality of SATs and TTs in a main storage of the system, each CPU having an associated SAT and an associated TT,

accessing means for accessing a relative address for a current SAT entry in each of the plurality of SATs at the same relative address of a current ITA entry in each of the plurality of ITUs,

the outputting means outputting collected entries in all ITUs and SATs as synchronized sets of collected entries on each outputting operation,

the synchronized sets of collected entries outputted from the plurality of ITUs and SATs being related by their relative addresses.

21. Internal system instrumentation monitoring means for a plurality of CPUs as defined in claim 20 further comprising:

a rate control command being providable by an operator controller on a controller bus to all ITUs in the system,

sampling signal generating means in each ITU,

a command decoder in each ITU for decoding the rate control command and having an output connected to the sampling signal generating means in each ITU to control the same sampling pulse rate in all ITUs in the system.