.. _ch_profiling: Profiling --------- PETSc includes a consistent, lightweight scheme to allow the profiling of application programs. The PETSc routines automatically log performance data if certain options are specified at runtime. The user can also log information about application codes for a complete picture of performance. In addition, as described in :any:`sec_ploginfo`, PETSc provides a mechanism for printing informative messages about computations. :any:`sec_profbasic` introduces the various profiling options in PETSc, while the remainder of the chapter focuses on details such as monitoring application codes and tips for accurate profiling. .. _sec_profbasic: Basic Profiling Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If an application code and the PETSc libraries have been configured with ``--with-log=1``, the default, then various kinds of profiling of code between calls to ``PetscInitialize()`` and ``PetscFinalize()`` can be activated at runtime. The profiling options include the following: - ``-log_view`` - Prints an ASCII version of performance data at program’s conclusion. These statistics are comprehensive and concise and require little overhead; thus, ``-log_view`` is intended as the primary means of monitoring the performance of PETSc codes. - ``-info [infofile]`` - Prints verbose information about code to stdout or an optional file. This option provides details about algorithms, data structures, etc. Since the overhead of printing such output slows a code, this option should not be used when evaluating a program’s performance. - ``-log_trace [logfile]`` - Traces the beginning and ending of all PETSc events. This option, which can be used in conjunction with ``-info``, is useful to see where a program is hanging without running in the debugger. As discussed in :any:`sec_mpelogs`, additional profiling can be done with MPE. .. _sec_ploginfo: Interpreting ``-log_view`` Output: The Basics ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ As shown in `the listing `__ in :any:`sec_profiling_programs`, the option ``-log_view`` activates printing of profile data to standard output at the conclusion of a program. Profiling data can also be printed at any time within a program by calling ``PetscLogView()``. We print performance data for each routine, organized by PETSc libraries, followed by any user-defined events (discussed in :any:`sec_profileuser`). For each routine, the output data include the maximum time and floating point operation (flop) rate over all processes. Information about parallel performance is also included, as discussed in the following section. For the purpose of PETSc floating point operation counting, we define one *flop* as one operation of any of the following types: multiplication, division, addition, or subtraction. For example, one ``VecAXPY()`` operation, which computes :math:`y = \alpha x + y` for vectors of length :math:`N`, requires :math:`2N` flop (consisting of :math:`N` additions and :math:`N` multiplications). Bear in mind that flop rates present only a limited view of performance, since memory loads and stores are the real performance barrier. For simplicity, the remainder of this discussion focuses on interpreting profile data for the ``KSP`` library, which provides the linear solvers at the heart of the PETSc package. Recall the hierarchical organization of the PETSc library, as shown in :any:`fig_library`. Each ``KSP`` solver is composed of a ``PC`` (preconditioner) and a ``KSP`` (Krylov subspace) part, which are in turn built on top of the ``Mat`` (matrix) and ``Vec`` (vector) modules. Thus, operations in the ``KSP`` module are composed of lower-level operations in these packages. Note also that the nonlinear solvers library, ``SNES``, is built on top of the ``KSP`` module, and the timestepping library, ``TS``, is in turn built on top of ``SNES``. We briefly discuss interpretation of the sample output in `the listing `__, which was generated by solving a linear system on one process using restarted GMRES and ILU preconditioning. The linear solvers in ``KSP`` consist of two basic phases, ``KSPSetUp()`` and ``KSPSolve()``, each of which consists of a variety of actions, depending on the particular solution technique. For the case of using the ``PCILU`` preconditioner and ``KSPGMRES`` Krylov subspace method, the breakdown of PETSc routines is listed below. As indicated by the levels of indentation, the operations in ``KSPSetUp()`` include all of the operations within ``PCSetUp()``, which in turn include ``MatILUFactor()``, and so on. - ``KSPSetUp`` - Set up linear solver - ``PCSetUp`` - Set up preconditioner - ``MatILUFactor`` - Factor preconditioning matrix - ``MatILUFactorSymbolic`` - Symbolic factorization phase - ``MatLUFactorNumeric`` - Numeric factorization phase - ``KSPSolve`` - Solve linear system - ``PCApply`` - Apply preconditioner - ``MatSolve`` - Forward/backward triangular solves - ``KSPGMRESOrthog`` - Orthogonalization in GMRES - ``VecDot`` or ``VecMDot`` - Inner products - ``MatMult`` - Matrix-vector product - ``MatMultAdd`` - Matrix-vector product + vector addition - ``VecScale``, ``VecNorm``, ``VecAXPY``, ``VecCopy``, ... The summaries printed via ``-log_view`` reflect this routine hierarchy. For example, the performance summaries for a particular high-level routine such as ``KSPSolve()`` include all of the operations accumulated in the lower-level components that make up the routine. Admittedly, we do not currently present the output with ``-log_view`` so that the hierarchy of PETSc operations is completely clear, primarily because we have not determined a clean and uniform way to do so throughout the library. Improvements may follow. However, for a particular problem, the user should generally have an idea of the basic operations that are required for its implementation (e.g., which operations are performed when using GMRES and ILU, as described above), so that interpreting the ``-log_view`` data should be relatively straightforward. .. _sec_parperformance: Interpreting ``-log_view`` Output: Parallel Performance ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ We next discuss performance summaries for parallel programs, as shown within the `listings `__ `below `__ , which present the combined output generated by the ``-log_view`` option. The program that generated this data is `KSP Tutorial ex10 `__. The code loads a matrix and right-hand-side vector from a binary file and then solves the resulting linear system; the program then repeats this process for a second linear system. This particular case was run on four processors of an Intel x86_64 Linux cluster, using restarted GMRES and the block Jacobi preconditioner, where each block was solved with ILU. The two input files ``medium`` and ``arco6`` can be downloaded from `this FTP link `__. `The first listing `__ presents an overall performance summary, including times, floating-point operations, computational rates, and message-passing activity (such as the number and size of messages sent and collective operations). Summaries for various user-defined stages of monitoring (as discussed in :any:`sec_profstages`) are also given. Information about the various phases of computation then follow (as shown separately here in `the second listing `__). Finally, a summary of memory usage and object creation and destruction is presented. .. _listing_exparprof: .. code-block:: none mpiexec -n 4 ./ex10 -f0 medium -f1 arco6 -ksp_gmres_classicalgramschmidt -log_view -mat_type baij \ -matload_block_size 3 -pc_type bjacobi -options_left Number of iterations = 19 Residual norm 1.088292e-05 Number of iterations = 59 Residual norm 3.871022e-02 ---------------------------------------------- PETSc Performance Summary: ---------------------------------------------- ./ex10 on a intel-bdw-opt named beboplogin4 with 4 processors, by jczhang Mon Apr 23 13:36:54 2018 Using Petsc Development GIT revision: v3.9-163-gbe3efd42 GIT Date: 2018-04-16 10:45:40 -0500 Max Max/Min Avg Total Time (sec): 1.849e-01 1.00002 1.849e-01 Objects: 1.060e+02 1.00000 1.060e+02 Flop: 2.361e+08 1.00684 2.353e+08 9.413e+08 Flop/sec: 1.277e+09 1.00685 1.273e+09 5.091e+09 MPI Messages: 2.360e+02 1.34857 2.061e+02 8.245e+02 MPI Message Lengths: 1.256e+07 2.24620 4.071e+04 3.357e+07 MPI Reductions: 2.160e+02 1.00000 Summary of Stages: ----- Time ------ ----- Flop ----- --- Messages --- -- Message Lengths -- -- Reductions -- Avg %Total Avg %Total counts %Total Avg %Total counts %Total 0: Main Stage: 5.9897e-04 0.3% 0.0000e+00 0.0% 0.000e+00 0.0% 0.000e+00 0.0% 2.000e+00 0.9% 1: Load System 0: 2.9113e-03 1.6% 0.0000e+00 0.0% 3.550e+01 4.3% 5.984e+02 0.1% 2.200e+01 10.2% 2: KSPSetUp 0: 7.7349e-04 0.4% 9.9360e+03 0.0% 0.000e+00 0.0% 0.000e+00 0.0% 2.000e+00 0.9% 3: KSPSolve 0: 1.7690e-03 1.0% 2.9673e+05 0.0% 1.520e+02 18.4% 1.800e+02 0.1% 3.900e+01 18.1% 4: Load System 1: 1.0056e-01 54.4% 0.0000e+00 0.0% 3.700e+01 4.5% 5.657e+05 62.4% 2.200e+01 10.2% 5: KSPSetUp 1: 5.6883e-03 3.1% 2.1205e+07 2.3% 0.000e+00 0.0% 0.000e+00 0.0% 2.000e+00 0.9% 6: KSPSolve 1: 7.2578e-02 39.3% 9.1979e+08 97.7% 6.000e+02 72.8% 2.098e+04 37.5% 1.200e+02 55.6% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .... [Summary of various phases, see part II below] ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Memory usage is given in bytes: Object Type Creations Destructions Memory Descendants' Mem. Reports information only for process 0. ... --- Event Stage 3: KSPSolve 0 Matrix 0 4 23024 0. Vector 20 30 60048 0. Index Set 0 3 2568 0. Vec Scatter 0 1 1264 0. Krylov Solver 0 2 19592 0. Preconditioner 0 2 1912 0. We next focus on the summaries for the various phases of the computation, as given in the table within `the following listing `__. The summary for each phase presents the maximum times and flop rates over all processes, as well as the ratio of maximum to minimum times and flop rates for all processes. A ratio of approximately 1 indicates that computations within a given phase are well balanced among the processes; as the ratio increases, the balance becomes increasingly poor. Also, the total computational rate (in units of MFlop/sec) is given for each phase in the final column of the phase summary table. .. math:: {\rm Total\: Mflop/sec} \:=\: 10^{-6} * ({\rm sum\; of\; flop\; over\; all\; processors})/({\rm max\; time\; over\; all\; processors}) *Note*: Total computational rates :math:`<` 1 MFlop are listed as 0 in this column of the phase summary table. Additional statistics for each phase include the total number of messages sent, the average message length, and the number of global reductions. .. _listing_exparprof2: .. code-block:: none mpiexec -n 4 ./ex10 -f0 medium -f1 arco6 -ksp_gmres_classicalgramschmidt -log_view -mat_type baij \ -matload_block_size 3 -pc_type bjacobi -options_left ---------------------------------------------- PETSc Performance Summary: ---------------------------------------------- .... [Overall summary, see part I] ... Phase summary info: Count: number of times phase was executed Time and Flop/sec: Max - maximum over all processors Ratio - ratio of maximum to minimum over all processors Mess: number of messages sent AvgLen: average message length Reduct: number of global reductions Global: entire computation Stage: optional user-defined stages of a computation. Set stages with PetscLogStagePush() and PetscLogStagePop(). %T - percent time in this phase %F - percent flop in this phase %M - percent messages in this phase %L - percent message lengths in this phase %R - percent reductions in this phase Total Mflop/s: 10^6 * (sum of flop over all processors)/(max time over all processors) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phase Count Time (sec) Flop/sec --- Global --- --- Stage ---- Total Max Ratio Max Ratio Mess AvgLen Reduct %T %F %M %L %R %T %F %M %L %R Mflop/s ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ... --- Event Stage 5: KSPSetUp 1 MatLUFactorNum 1 1.0 3.6440e-03 1.1 5.30e+06 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 2 2 0 0 0 62100 0 0 0 5819 MatILUFactorSym 1 1.0 1.7111e-03 1.4 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 1 0 0 0 0 26 0 0 0 0 0 MatGetRowIJ 1 1.0 1.1921e-06 1.2 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 MatGetOrdering 1 1.0 3.0041e-05 1.1 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 KSPSetUp 2 1.0 6.6495e-04 1.5 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 2.0e+00 0 0 0 0 1 9 0 0 0100 0 PCSetUp 2 1.0 5.4271e-03 1.2 5.30e+06 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 3 2 0 0 0 90100 0 0 0 3907 PCSetUpOnBlocks 1 1.0 5.3999e-03 1.2 5.30e+06 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 3 2 0 0 0 90100 0 0 0 3927 --- Event Stage 6: KSPSolve 1 MatMult 60 1.0 2.4068e-02 1.1 6.54e+07 1.0 6.0e+02 2.1e+04 0.0e+00 12 27 73 37 0 32 28100100 0 10731 MatSolve 61 1.0 1.9177e-02 1.0 5.99e+07 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 10 25 0 0 0 26 26 0 0 0 12491 VecMDot 59 1.0 1.4741e-02 1.3 4.86e+07 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 5.9e+01 7 21 0 0 27 18 21 0 0 49 13189 VecNorm 61 1.0 3.0417e-03 1.4 3.29e+06 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 6.1e+01 1 1 0 0 28 4 1 0 0 51 4332 VecScale 61 1.0 9.9802e-04 1.0 1.65e+06 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 6602 VecCopy 2 1.0 5.9128e-05 1.4 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 VecSet 64 1.0 8.0323e-04 1.0 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 VecAXPY 3 1.0 7.4387e-05 1.1 1.62e+05 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8712 VecMAXPY 61 1.0 8.8558e-03 1.1 5.18e+07 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 5 22 0 0 0 12 23 0 0 0 23393 VecScatterBegin 60 1.0 9.6416e-04 1.8 0.00e+00 0.0 6.0e+02 2.1e+04 0.0e+00 0 0 73 37 0 1 0100100 0 0 VecScatterEnd 60 1.0 6.1543e-03 1.2 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 3 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 VecNormalize 61 1.0 4.2675e-03 1.3 4.94e+06 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 6.1e+01 2 2 0 0 28 5 2 0 0 51 4632 KSPGMRESOrthog 59 1.0 2.2627e-02 1.1 9.72e+07 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 5.9e+01 11 41 0 0 27 29 42 0 0 49 17185 KSPSolve 1 1.0 7.2577e-02 1.0 2.31e+08 1.0 6.0e+02 2.1e+04 1.2e+02 39 98 73 37 56 99100100100100 12673 PCSetUpOnBlocks 1 1.0 9.5367e-07 0.0 0.00e+00 0.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCApply 61 1.0 2.0427e-02 1.0 5.99e+07 1.0 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 0.0e+00 11 25 0 0 0 28 26 0 0 0 11726 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ .... [Conclusion of overall summary, see part I] ... As discussed in the preceding section, the performance summaries for higher-level PETSc routines include the statistics for the lower levels of which they are made up. For example, the communication within matrix-vector products ``MatMult()`` consists of vector scatter operations, as given by the routines ``VecScatterBegin()`` and ``VecScatterEnd()``. The final data presented are the percentages of the various statistics (time (``%T``), flop/sec (``%F``), messages(``%M``), average message length (``%L``), and reductions (``%R``)) for each event relative to the total computation and to any user-defined stages (discussed in :any:`sec_profstages`). These statistics can aid in optimizing performance, since they indicate the sections of code that could benefit from various kinds of tuning. :any:`ch_performance` gives suggestions about achieving good performance with PETSc codes. .. _sec_mpelogs: Using ``-log_mpe`` with Jumpshot ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It is also possible to use the *Jumpshot* package :cite:`upshot` to visualize PETSc events. This package comes with the MPE software, which is part of the MPICH :cite:`mpich-web-page` implementation of MPI. The option .. code-block:: none -log_mpe [logfile] creates a logfile of events appropriate for viewing with *Jumpshot*. The user can either use the default logging file or specify a name via ``logfile``. Events can be deactivated as described in :any:`sec_deactivate`. The user can also log MPI events. To do this, simply consider the PETSc application as any MPI application, and follow the MPI implementation’s instructions for logging MPI calls. For example, when using MPICH, this merely required adding ``-llmpich`` to the library list *before* ``-lmpich``. .. _sec_profileuser: Profiling Application Codes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PETSc automatically logs object creation, times, and floating-point counts for the library routines. Users can easily supplement this information by monitoring their application codes as well. The basic steps involved in logging a user-defined portion of code, called an *event*, are shown in the code fragment below: :: PetscLogEvent USER_EVENT; PetscClassId classid; PetscLogDouble user_event_flops; PetscClassIdRegister("class name",&classid); PetscLogEventRegister("User event name",classid,&USER_EVENT); PetscLogEventBegin(USER_EVENT,0,0,0,0); /* code segment to monitor */ PetscLogFlops(user_event_flops); PetscLogEventEnd(USER_EVENT,0,0,0,0); One must register the event by calling ``PetscLogEventRegister()``, which assigns a unique integer to identify the event for profiling purposes: :: PetscLogEventRegister(const char string[],PetscClassId classid,PetscLogEvent *e); Here ``string`` is a user-defined event name, and ``color`` is an optional user-defined event color (for use with *Jumpshot* logging; see :any:`sec_mpelogs`); one should see the manual page for details. The argument returned in ``e`` should then be passed to the ``PetscLogEventBegin()`` and ``PetscLogEventEnd()`` routines. Events are logged by using the pair :: PetscLogEventBegin(int event,PetscObject o1,PetscObject o2,PetscObject o3,PetscObject o4); PetscLogEventEnd(int event,PetscObject o1,PetscObject o2,PetscObject o3,PetscObject o4); The four objects are the PETSc objects that are most closely associated with the event. For instance, in a matrix-vector product they would be the matrix and the two vectors. These objects can be omitted by specifying 0 for ``o1`` - ``o4``. The code between these two routine calls will be automatically timed and logged as part of the specified event. The user can log the number of floating-point operations for this segment of code by calling :: PetscLogFlops(number of flop for this code segment); between the calls to ``PetscLogEventBegin()`` and ``PetscLogEventEnd()``. This value will automatically be added to the global flop counter for the entire program. .. _sec_profstages: Profiling Multiple Sections of Code ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By default, the profiling produces a single set of statistics for all code between the ``PetscInitialize()`` and ``PetscFinalize()`` calls within a program. One can independently monitor up to ten stages of code by switching among the various stages with the commands :: PetscLogStagePush(PetscLogStage stage); PetscLogStagePop(); where ``stage`` is an integer (0-9); see the manual pages for details. The command :: PetscLogStageRegister(const char *name,PetscLogStage *stage) allows one to associate a name with a stage; these names are printed whenever summaries are generated with ``-log_view`` or ``PetscLogView()``. The following code fragment uses three profiling stages within an program. :: PetscInitialize(int *argc,char ***args,0,0); /* stage 0 of code here */ PetscLogStageRegister("Stage 0 of Code", &stagenum0); for (i=0; i`__ `above `__ Figures `[fig_exparprof] <#fig_exparprof>`__ and show output generated by ``-log_view`` for a program that employs several profiling stages. In particular, this program is subdivided into six stages except the Main stage: loading a matrix and right-hand-side vector from a binary file, setting up the preconditioner, and solving the linear system; this sequence is then repeated for a second linear system. For simplicity, `the second listing `__ contains output only for stages 5 and 6 (linear solve of the second system), which comprise the part of this computation of most interest to us in terms of performance monitoring. This code organization (solving a small linear system followed by a larger system) enables generation of more accurate profiling statistics for the second system by overcoming the often considerable overhead of paging, as discussed in :any:`sec_profaccuracy`. .. _sec_deactivate: Restricting Event Logging ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By default, all PETSc operations are logged. To enable or disable the PETSc logging of individual events, one uses the commands :: PetscLogEventActivate(int event); PetscLogEventDeactivate(int event); The ``event`` may be either a predefined PETSc event (as listed in the file ``${PETSC_DIR}/include/petsclog.h``) or one obtained with ``PetscLogEventRegister()`` (as described in :any:`sec_profileuser`). PETSc also provides routines that deactivate (or activate) logging for entire components of the library. Currently, the components that support such logging (de)activation are ``Mat`` (matrices), ``Vec`` (vectors), ``KSP`` (linear solvers, including ``KSP`` and ``PC``), and ``SNES`` (nonlinear solvers): :: PetscLogEventDeactivateClass(MAT_CLASSID); PetscLogEventDeactivateClass(KSP_CLASSID); /* includes PC and KSP */ PetscLogEventDeactivateClass(VEC_CLASSID); PetscLogEventDeactivateClass(SNES_CLASSID); and :: PetscLogEventActivateClass(MAT_CLASSID); PetscLogEventActivateClass(KSP_CLASSID); /* includes PC and KSP */ PetscLogEventActivateClass(VEC_CLASSID); PetscLogEventActivateClass(SNES_CLASSID); Recall that the option ``-log_all`` produces extensive profile data, which can be a challenge for PETScView to handle due to the memory limitations of Tcl/Tk. Thus, one should generally use ``-log_all`` when running programs with a relatively small number of events or when disabling some of the events that occur many times in a code (e.g., ``VecSetValues()``, ``MatSetValues()``). .. _sec_PetscLoginfo: Interpreting ``-log_info`` Output: Informative Messages ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Users can activate the printing of verbose information about algorithms, data structures, etc. to the screen by using the option ``-info`` or by calling ``PetscInfoAllow(PETSC_TRUE)``. Such logging, which is used throughout the PETSc libraries, can aid the user in understanding algorithms and tuning program performance. For example, as discussed in :any:`sec_matsparse`, ``-info`` activates the printing of information about memory allocation during matrix assembly. Application programmers can employ this logging as well, by using the routine :: PetscInfo(void* obj,char *message,...) where ``obj`` is the PETSc object associated most closely with the logging statement, ``message``. For example, in the line search Newton methods, we use a statement such as :: PetscInfo(snes,"Cubically determined step, lambda %g\n",lambda); One can selectively turn off informative messages about any of the basic PETSc objects (e.g., ``Mat``, ``SNES``) with the command :: PetscInfoDeactivateClass(int object_classid) where ``object_classid`` is one of ``MAT_CLASSID``, ``SNES_CLASSID``, etc. Messages can be reactivated with the command :: PetscInfoActivateClass(int object_classid) Such deactivation can be useful when one wishes to view information about higher-level PETSc libraries (e.g., ``TS`` and ``SNES``) without seeing all lower level data as well (e.g., ``Mat``). One can deactivate events at runtime for matrix and linear solver libraries via ``-info [no_mat, no_ksp]``. Time ~~~~ PETSc application programmers can access the wall clock time directly with the command :: PetscLogDouble time; PetscTime(&time);CHKERRQ(ierr); which returns the current time in seconds since the epoch, and is commonly implemented with ``MPI_Wtime``. A floating point number is returned in order to express fractions of a second. In addition, as discussed in :any:`sec_profileuser`, PETSc can automatically profile user-defined segments of code. Saving Output to a File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All output from PETSc programs (including informative messages, profiling information, and convergence data) can be saved to a file by using the command line option ``-history [filename]``. If no file name is specified, the output is stored in the file ``${HOME}/.petschistory``. Note that this option only saves output printed with the ``PetscPrintf()`` and ``PetscFPrintf()`` commands, not the standard ``printf()`` and ``fprintf()`` statements. .. _sec_profaccuracy: Accurate Profiling and Paging Overheads ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One factor that often plays a significant role in profiling a code is paging by the operating system. Generally, when running a program, only a few pages required to start it are loaded into memory rather than the entire executable. When the execution proceeds to code segments that are not in memory, a pagefault occurs, prompting the required pages to be loaded from the disk (a very slow process). This activity distorts the results significantly. (The paging effects are noticeable in the log files generated by ``-log_mpe``, which is described in :any:`sec_mpelogs`.) To eliminate the effects of paging when profiling the performance of a program, we have found an effective procedure is to run the *exact same code* on a small dummy problem before running it on the actual problem of interest. We thus ensure that all code required by a solver is loaded into memory during solution of the small problem. When the code proceeds to the actual (larger) problem of interest, all required pages have already been loaded into main memory, so that the performance numbers are not distorted. When this procedure is used in conjunction with the user-defined stages of profiling described in :any:`sec_profstages`, we can focus easily on the problem of interest. For example, we used this technique in the program `KSP Tutorial ex10 `__ to generate the timings within the `listings `__ `above `__ In this case, the profiled code of interest (solving the linear system for the larger problem) occurs within event stages 5 and 6. :any:`sec_parperformance` provides details about interpreting such profiling data. In particular, the macros :: PetscPreLoadBegin(PetscBool flag,char* stagename) PetscPreLoadStage(char *stagename) and :: PetscPreLoadEnd() can be used to easily convert a regular PETSc program to one that uses preloading. The command line options ``-preload`` ``true`` and ``-preload`` ``false`` may be used to turn on and off preloading at run time for PETSc programs that use these macros. .. raw:: html
.. bibliography:: ../../tex/petsc.bib :filter: docname in docnames .. bibliography:: ../../tex/petscapp.bib :filter: docname in docnames