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[lttng-tools.git] / doc / man / lttng-enable-channel.1.txt

lttng-enable-channel(1)
=======================


NAME
----
lttng-enable-channel - Create or enable LTTng channels


SYNOPSIS
--------
Create a Linux kernel channel:

[verse]
*lttng* ['linkgenoptions:(GENERAL OPTIONS)'] *enable-channel* option:--kernel
      [option:--discard | option:--overwrite] [option:--output=(`mmap` | `splice`)]
      [option:--subbuf-size='SIZE'] [option:--num-subbuf='COUNT']
      [option:--switch-timer='PERIODUS'] [option:--read-timer='PERIODUS']
      [option:--tracefile-size='SIZE'] [option:--tracefile-count='COUNT']
      [option:--session='SESSION'] 'CHANNEL'

Create a user space channel:

[verse]
*lttng* ['linkgenoptions:(GENERAL OPTIONS)'] *enable-channel* option:--userspace
      [option:--discard | option:--overwrite] [option:--buffers-pid]
      [option:--subbuf-size='SIZE'] [option:--num-subbuf='COUNT']
      [option:--switch-timer='PERIODUS'] [option:--read-timer='PERIODUS']
      [option:--tracefile-size='SIZE'] [option:--tracefile-count='COUNT']
      [option:--session='SESSION'] 'CHANNEL'

Enable existing channel(s):

[verse]
*lttng* ['linkgenoptions:(GENERAL OPTIONS)'] *enable-channel* (option:--userspace | option:--kernel)
      [option:--session='SESSION'] 'CHANNEL'[,'CHANNEL']...


DESCRIPTION
-----------
The `lttng enable-channel` command can create a new channel, or enable
one or more existing and disabled ones.

A channel is the owner of sub-buffers holding recorded events. Event,
rules, when created using man:lttng-enable-event(1), are always
assigned to a channel. When creating a new channel, many parameters
related to those sub-buffers can be fine-tuned. They are described in
the subsections below.

When 'CHANNEL' does not name an existing channel, a channel named
'CHANNEL' is created. Otherwise, the disabled channel named 'CHANNEL'
is enabled.

Note that the man:lttng-enable-event(1) command can automatically
create default channels when no channel exist.

A channel is always contained in a tracing session
(see man:lttng-create(1) for creating a tracing session). The
session in which a channel is created using `lttng enable-channel` can
be specified using the option:--session option. If the option:--session
option is omitted, the current tracing session is targeted.

Existing enabled channels can be disabled using
man:lttng-disable-channel(1). Channels of a given session can be
listed using man:lttng-list(1).

See the <<limitations,LIMITATIONS>> section below for a list of
limitations of this command to consider.


Event loss modes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LTTng tracers are non-blocking: when no empty sub-buffer exists,
losing events is acceptable when the alternative would be to cause
substantial delays in the instrumented application's execution.

LTTng privileges performance over integrity, aiming at perturbing the
traced system as little as possible in order to make tracing of subtle
race conditions and rare interrupt cascades possible.

When it comes to losing events because no empty sub-buffer is available,
the channel's event loss mode, specified by one of the option:--discard
and option:--overwrite options, determines what to do amongst:

Discard::
    Drop the newest events until a sub-buffer is released.

Overwrite::
    Clear the sub-buffer containing the oldest recorded events and start
    recording the newest events there. This mode is sometimes called
    _flight recorder mode_ because it behaves like a flight recorder:
    always keep a fixed amount of the latest data.

Which mechanism to choose depends on the context: prioritize the newest
or the oldest events in the ring buffer?

Beware that, in overwrite mode (option:--overwrite option), a whole
sub-buffer is abandoned as soon as a new event doesn't find an empty
sub-buffer, whereas in discard mode (option:--discard option), only the
event that doesn't fit is discarded.

Also note that a count of lost events is incremented and saved in the
trace itself when an event is lost in discard mode, whereas no
information is kept when a sub-buffer gets overwritten before being
committed.

The probability of losing events, if it is experience in a given
context, can be reduced by fine-tuning the sub-buffers count and size
(see next subsection).


Sub-buffers count and size
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The option:--num-subbuf and option:--subbuf-size options respectively
set the number of sub-buffers and their individual size when creating
a new channel.

Note that there is a noticeable tracer's CPU overhead introduced when
switching sub-buffers (marking a full one as consumable and switching
to an empty one for the following events to be recorded). Knowing this,
the following list presents a few practical situations along with how
to configure sub-buffers for them when creating a channel in overwrite
mode (option:--overwrite option):

High event throughput::
    In general, prefer bigger sub-buffers to lower the risk of losing
    events. Having bigger sub-buffers also ensures a lower sub-buffer
    switching frequency. The number of sub-buffers is only meaningful
    if the channel is enabled in overwrite mode: in this case, if a
    sub-buffer overwrite happens, the other sub-buffers
    are left unaltered.

Low event throughput::
    In general, prefer smaller sub-buffers since the risk of losing
    events is already low. Since events happen less frequently, the
    sub-buffer switching frequency should remain low and thus the
    tracer's overhead should not be a problem.

Low memory system::
    If the target system has a low memory limit, prefer fewer first,
    then smaller sub-buffers. Even if the system is limited in memory,
    it is recommended to keep the sub-buffers as big as possible to
    avoid a high sub-buffer switching frequency.

In discard mode (option:--discard option), the sub-buffers count
parameter is pointless: using two sub-buffers and setting their size
according to the requirements of the context is fine.


Switch and read timers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When a channel's switch timer fires, a sub-buffer switch happens. This
timer may be used to ensure that event data is consumed and committed
to trace files periodically in case of a low event throughput.

It's also convenient when big sub-buffers are used to cope with sporadic
high event throughput, even if the throughput is normally lower.

By default, a notification mechanism is used to signal a full sub-buffer
so that it can be consumed. When such notifications must be avoided,
for example in real-time applications, the channel's read timer can be
used instead. When the read timer fires, sub-buffers are checked for
consumption when they are full.


Buffering scheme
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the user space tracing domain, two buffering schemes are available
when creating a channel:

Per-process buffering (option:--buffers-pid option)::
    Keep one ring buffer per process.

Per-user buffering (option:--buffers-uid option)::
    Keep one ring buffer for all the processes of a single user.

The per-process buffering scheme consumes more memory than the per-user
option if more than one process is instrumented for LTTng-UST.
However, per-process buffering ensures that one process having a high
event throughput won't fill all the shared sub-buffers, only its own.

The Linux kernel tracing domain only has one available buffering scheme
which is to use a single ring buffer for the whole system
(option:--buffers-global option).


Trace files limit and size
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By default, trace files can grow as large as needed. The maximum size
of each trace file written by a channel can be set on creation using the
option:--tracefile-size option. When such a trace file's size reaches
the channel's fixed maximum size, another trace file is created to hold
the next recorded events. A file count is appended to each trace file
name in this case.

If the option:--tracefile-size option is used, the maximum number of
created trace files is unlimited. To limit them, the
option:--tracefile-count option can be used. This option is always used
in conjunction with the option:--tracefile-size option.

For example, consider this command:

[role="term"]
-----------------------------------------------------
lttng enable-channel --kernel --tracefile-size=4096 \
                     --tracefile-count=32 my-channel
-----------------------------------------------------

Here, for each stream, the maximum size of each trace file is
4 kiB and there can be a maximum of 32 different files. When there is
no space left in the last file, _trace file rotation_ happens: the first
file is cleared and new sub-buffers containing events are written there.


include::common-cmd-options-head.txt[]


Domain
~~~~~~
One of:

option:-k, option:--kernel::
    Enable channel in the Linux kernel domain.

option:-u, option:--userspace::
    Enable channel in the user space domain.


Target
~~~~~~
option:-s, option:--session='SESSION'::
    Create or enable channel in the tracing session named 'SESSION'
    instead of the current tracing session.


Event loss mode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of:

option:--discard::
    Discard events when sub-buffers are full (default).

option:--overwrite::
    Flight recorder mode: always keep a fixed amount of the latest
    data.


Sub-buffers
~~~~~~~~~~~
option:--num-subbuf='COUNT'::
    Use 'COUNT' sub-buffers. Rounded up to the next power of two.
+
Default values:
+
* `metadata` channel: 2
* Everything else: 4

option:--subbuf-size='SIZE'::
    Set the individual size of sub-buffers to 'SIZE' bytes.
    The `k` (kiB), `M` (MiB), and `G` (GiB) suffixes are supported.
    Rounded up to the next power of two.
+
The minimum sub-buffer size, for each tracer, is the maximum value
between the default below and the system's page size. The following
command shows the current system's page size: `getconf PAGE_SIZE`.
+
Default values:
+
* option:--userspace and option:--buffers-uid options: `128k`
* option:--userspace and option:--buffers-pid options: `4k`
* option:--kernel option: `256k`
* `metadata` channel: `4k`

option:--output='TYPE'::
    Set channel's output type to 'TYPE'.
+
Available types: `mmap` (always available) and `splice` (only available
with the option:--kernel option).
+
Default values:
+
* option:--userspace and option:--buffers-uid options: `mmap`
* option:--userspace and option:--buffers-pid options: `mmap`
* option:--kernel option: `splice`
* `metadata` channel: `mmap`

Buffering scheme
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of:

option:--buffers-global::
    Use shared sub-buffers for the whole system (only available with the
    option:--kernel option).

option:--buffers-pid::
    Use different sub-buffers for each traced process (only available
    with the the option:--userspace option). This is the default
    buffering scheme for user space channels.

option:--buffers-uid::
    Use shared sub-buffers for all the processes of the user running
    the command (only available with the option:--userspace option).


Trace files
~~~~~~~~~~~
option:--tracefile-count='COUNT'::
    Limit the number of trace files created by this channel to
    'COUNT'. 0 means unlimited. Default: 0.
+
Use this option in conjunction with the option:--tracefile-size option.
+
The file count within a stream is appended to each created trace
file. If 'COUNT' files are created and more events need to be recorded,
the first trace file of the stream is cleared and used again.

option:--tracefile-size='SIZE'::
    Set the maximum size of each trace file written by
    this channel within a stream to 'SIZE' bytes. 0 means unlimited.
    Default: 0.
+
Note: traces generated with this option may inaccurately report
discarded events as of CTF 1.8.


Timers
~~~~~~
option:--read-timer::
    Set the channel's read timer's period to 'PERIODUS' µs. 0 means a
    disabled read timer.
+
Default values:
+
* option:--userspace and option:--buffers-uid options: 0
* option:--userspace and option:--buffers-pid options: 0
* option:--kernel option: 200000
* `metadata` channel: 0

option:--switch-timer='PERIODUS'::
    Set the channel's switch timer's period to 'PERIODUS' µs. 0 means
    a disabled switch timer. Default: 0.


include::common-cmd-help-options.txt[]


[[limitations]]
LIMITATIONS
-----------
As of this version of LTTng, it is not possible to perform the following
actions with the `lttng enable-channel` command:

* Reconfigure a channel once it is created.
* Re-enable a disabled channel once its tracing session has been active
  at least once.
* Create a channel once its tracing session has been active
  at least once.
* Create a user space channel with a given buffering scheme
  (option:--buffers-uid or option:--buffers-pid options) and create
  a second user space channel with a different buffering scheme in the
  same tracing session.


include::common-cmd-footer.txt[]


SEE ALSO
--------
man:lttng-disable-channel(1),
man:lttng(1)