<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE section PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
]>


<section id="topsyssect">
<title>Tracking Most Frequently Used System Calls</title>
<indexterm>
<primary>script examples</primary>
<secondary>monitoring system calls</secondary>
</indexterm>

<indexterm>
<primary>examples of SystemTap scripts</primary>
<secondary>monitoring system calls</secondary>
</indexterm>

<indexterm>
<primary>monitoring system calls</primary>
<secondary>examples of SystemTap scripts</secondary>
</indexterm>		
		
<!--
<indexterm>
<primary>counting function calls</primary>
<secondary>examples of SystemTap scripts</secondary>
</indexterm>
-->

<indexterm>
<primary>system calls, monitoring</primary>
<secondary>examples of SystemTap scripts</secondary>
</indexterm>
		
<remark>
uses systemtap/testsuite/systemtap.examples/profiling/topsys.stp
</remark>	
				
		
	<para>
		<xref linkend="timeouts"/> from <xref linkend="timeoutssect"/> helps you identify which applications
		are polling by pointing out which ones used the following system calls most frequently:
	</para>
	
	<itemizedlist>
		<listitem><para><command>poll</command></para></listitem>
		<listitem><para><command>select</command></para></listitem>
		<listitem><para><command>epoll</command></para></listitem>
		<listitem><para><command>itimer</command></para></listitem>
		<listitem><para><command>futex</command></para></listitem>
		<listitem><para><command>nanosleep</command></para></listitem>
		<listitem><para><command>signal</command></para></listitem>
	</itemizedlist>		
		
	<para>
		However, in some systems, a different system call might be responsible for excessive polling. If you suspect 
		that a polling application might is using a different system call to poll, you need to identify first the top
		system calls used by the system. To do this, use <xref linkend="topsys"/>.
	</para>	

<formalpara id="topsys">
	<title>topsys.stp</title>
<para>
<programlisting>
<xi:include parse="text" href="../testsuite/systemtap.examples/profiling/topsys.stp" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" />
</programlisting>
</para>
</formalpara>		
	
<para>
	<xref linkend="topsys"/> lists the top 20 system calls used by the system per 5-second interval. It also lists 
	how many times each system call was used during that period. Refer to <xref linkend="topsysoutput"/> for a sample output. 
</para>	
	
<indexterm>
<primary>script examples</primary>
<secondary>timer.s(), sample usage</secondary>
</indexterm>

<indexterm>
<primary>examples of SystemTap scripts</primary>
<secondary>timer.s(), sample usage</secondary>
</indexterm>

<indexterm>
<primary>timer.s(), sample usage</primary>
<secondary>examples of SystemTap scripts</secondary>
</indexterm>


<example id="topsysoutput">
	<title><xref linkend="topsys"/> Sample Output</title>
<screen>
--------------------------------------------------------------
                  SYSCALL      COUNT
             gettimeofday       1857
                     read       1821
                    ioctl       1568
                     poll       1033
                    close        638
                     open        503
                   select        455
                    write        391
                   writev        335
                    futex        303
                  recvmsg        251
                   socket        137
            clock_gettime        124
           rt_sigprocmask        121
                   sendto        120
                setitimer        106
                     stat         90
                     time         81
                sigreturn         72
                    fstat         66
--------------------------------------------------------------
</screen>
</example>
<!--probe kernel.function(@1) {  # probe function passed as argument from stdin
called[probefunc()] &lt;&lt;&lt; 1  # add a count efficiently
}
global called          
probe end,timer.ms(30000) {
foreach (fn+ in called)  # Sort by function name
#       (fn in called-)  # Sort by call count (in decreasing order)
printf("%s %d\n", fn, @count(called[fn]))
exit()
}-->

	</section>

