Profile-driven generation of trace samples

Abstract

Trace driven simulation is a common technique for evaluating different machine design options. Since the computing resources needed for simulation depend on the size of the trace, it is not always practical to use the complete trace of an application for simulation. This paper proposes a new technique, profile-driven sampling, for obtaining a reduced trace that is representative of the complete trace. Inaccuracy in the prediction of performance using such a reduced trace, is generally less than that from reduced traces using published techniques. For example, the prediction inaccuracy due to profile-driven sampling is 50 percent less than that using periodic time-based sampling. Profile-driven sampling also eliminates sensitivity to sampling parameters, such as sample size and inter-sample interval of periodic window based trace sampling, resulting in a simple and robust trace generation process.