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WindowsPerf support for Event Tracing for Windows (ETW)

WindowsPerf supports Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) in both the wperf CLI application and the Kernel Driver (wperf-driver). This integration allows for comprehensive performance monitoring and analysis. Additionally, we have dedicated WPA plugins called WPA-plugin-etl, which enhance the capabilities of Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA) by providing specialized tools for analyzing ETW data.

Event Tracing for Windows (ETW)

Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) provides a mechanism to trace and log events that are raised by user-mode applications and kernel-mode drivers. ETW is implemented in the Windows operating system and provides developers a fast, reliable, and versatile set of event tracing features.

Microsoft Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) is a high-speed tracing facility built into the Windows operating system. It provides a mechanism to trace and log events raised by both user-mode applications and kernel-mode driver. Using a buffering and logging mechanism implemented in the operating system kernel, ETW offers developers a fast, reliable, and versatile set of event tracing features. It can be used for system and application diagnosis, troubleshooting, and performance monitoring.

The architecture of Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) is designed to be robust, dynamic, and lightweight. It involves event providers, which are software components instrumented for ETW to report critical errors and other important events. These providers register with ETW and raise corresponding events when they encounter an error condition or other important execution state. The events are initially written to an ETW Session, which can deliver the event data live to a consumer or log it for later processing and analysis. An ETW Controller starts and stops ETW Sessions and dynamically enables providers.

WindowsPerf raises corresponding PMU events from wperf application and wperf-driver. These can be recorded (and saved) with Windows Performance Recorder (WPR) and analyzed using Windows Performance Analyzer with installed WPA-plugin-etl.

Windows Performance Analyzer

Windows Performance Analyzer is a tool that creates graphs and data tables of Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) events that are recorded by Windows Performance Recorder (WPR), Xperf and WindowsPerf via WPA-plugin-etl.

WindowsPerf ETW Architecture

WPA-plugin-etl

The WPA-plugin-etl is a dedicated plugin developed for the Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA). Its primary function is to interpret and present event traces that have been injected by the WindowsPerf ETW (Event Tracing for Windows). These events can be injected through two main sources: the wperf application and the wperf-driver. The wperf application is a user-mode application, while the wperf-driver is a Windows Kernel Driver.

Together, they provide a comprehensive view of system performance and behavior, making the WPA-plugin-etl a valuable tool for system analysis and debugging. This plugin enhances the capabilities of WPA, allowing users to delve deeper into the Arm core and uncore PMU performance characteristics of their Windows on Arm systems. It’s an essential tool for anyone looking to optimize system performance or troubleshoot issues.

How To Use WindowsPerf With ETW

Dependencies

These are the tools and resources required to configure usage of WindowsPerf with ETW:

  • wevtutil enables you to retrieve information about event logs and publishers. You can also use this command to install and uninstall event manifests, to run queries, and to export, archive, and clear logs.

Note: The WevtUtil.exe tool is included in %windir%\System32 directory. You can check its presence with below command:

> %windir%\System32\WevtUtil.exe /?

Configuration Instructions For wperf ETW Support

  1. Download locally wperf-etw-manifest.xml manifest file.

Note: Make sure the XML file corresponds to the wperf version you are using on your system.

  1. Run Command Prompt as Admin with the Run command window. Press Windows+R to open the Run window. Type cmd into the box and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run the command as an Administrator.

  2. Change directory to where you've downloaded the wperf-etw-manifest.xml manifest file. For example if you've downloaded the file to Downloads directory, simply:

Note: By default, Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge download files to the Downloads folder located at %USERPROFILE%\Downloads.

> cd %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
  1. Uninstall (um) the manifest with wevtutil.exe um command in case you already have a manifest installed.
> %windir%\System32\wevtutil.exe um .\wperf-etw-manifest.xml

Note: Command wevtutil.exe {um | uninstall-manifest} <Manifest> uninstalls all publishers and logs from a manifest.

  1. Install (im) the manifest wperf-etw-manifest.xml with the wevtutil tool using the below command.

Note: Let's assume full path to wperf.exe is %USERPROFILE%\Workspace\3.8.0\wperf.exe. /resourceFilePath: and /messageFilePath: require full path to be set.

> %windir%\System32\wevtutil.exe /resourceFilePath:%USERPROFILE%\Workspace\3.8.0\wperf.exe /messageFilePath:%USERPROFILE%\Workspace\3.8.0\wperf.exe im .\wperf-etw-manifest.xml

You may see the warning below. To (optionally) solve this you need to add the NT SERVICE\EventLog user to the access list of wperf.exe before installing.

**** Warning: Publisher WindowsPerf App resources could not be found or are not accessible
to the EventLog service account (NT SERVICE\EventLog).

Note: Command {im | install-manifest} <Manifest> installs event publishers and logs from a manifest.

Collecting ETW Data With WindowsPerf

Now you've installed the ETW manifest. You are ready to capture the ETW trace provided with WindowsPerf using WPR and visualize it with WPA. Follow below steps to collect the data and plot the results for your workload.

  1. Run WPR session from Start -> Search and type wpr. Launch WPR.
  • Download locally wperf-app-wpr-profile.wprp.
  • Select Show options and select Add profiles.
  • Find and select wperf-app-wpr-profile.wprp file locally. Open profile. You should now see in Select additional profiles tree view WindowsPerf App ETW profile.
  • Select other profiles if needed and press Start to record the ETW trace.
  1. Run wperf.exe to collect core PMU events and inject them to ETW trace.
  • Now you can run wperf.exe. The application will inject to the ETW core PMU events. When your tracing session is over stop wperf and also stop recording with WPR.
  • WPR will ask you to store the ETL file locally with the trace. Note that by default ETL files are stored in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\WPR files\ folder.
  • You can now open an ETL file and visualize with WPA all traces, including one with WindowsPerf data.
  1. Visualize with WPA and WPA-plugin-etl captured ETW trace (stored with WPR in local ETL file).
> wpa -addsearchdir %USERPROFILE%\Workspace\3.8.0

WPA Graph Explorer should contain PMU From WindowsPerf data present.