As a Linux server administrator, optimizing performance and troubleshooting issues is essential to ensure smooth operations. Fortunately, the BCC/BPF (Berkley Packet Filter) ecosystem offers a powerful set of tools that can aid in this process. Discover popular BCC/BPF tools and their functionalities.
As seen in the image above, BCC/BPF tools provide powerful capabilities for performance analysis and troubleshooting on Linux servers.
Strace – Unveiling Linux System Call Secrets
Strace is a powerful tool that allows you to trace system calls made by processes. You can capture and analyze information about system calls, signals, and other interactions between processes and the Linux kernel. Identify delays or errors in processes and understand process interactions with the operating system.
For example, to trace the system calls of a specific process, you can use the following command
strace -p <PID>Tcpdump – Capturing Network Traffic performance:
Tcpdump is a widely used tool for capturing and analyzing network traffic. It provides detailed information about packets on network interfaces, allowing you to filter and analyze network protocols. Making it valuable for network troubleshooting and monitoring. Tcpdump can help you identify network-related performance issues, diagnose network connectivity problems, and analyze network traffic patterns.
Usage example: To capture network traffic on a specific network interface, you can use the following command:
sudo tcpdump -i <INTERFACE>Perf – Profiling System Performance:
Perf is a powerful performance profiling tool that provides various monitoring and profiling capabilities for analyzing system performance. Collect data from CPU counters, tracepoints, and dynamic tracing with bcc/BPF tools on Ubuntu 22.04. Optimize system performance with detailed data analysis. Additionally, Perf is particularly useful for identifying CPU bottlenecks, analyzing system-wide performance, and optimizing system resource usage.
For example, To profile CPU performance counters, you can use the following command:
sudo perf stat -p <PID>
sudo perf record -a -g -- sleep <duration>Trace – Tracing Linux Function Calls:
Opensnoop is a useful tool for monitoring file system activity. It captures and displays information about files that are being opened, closed, read, or written in real-time. Opensnoop is helpful for tracking file system activity, identifying file I/O issues, and understanding which processes are accessing specific files.
For example, To monitor file system activity in real-time, you can use the following command:
sudo trace -p <PID>Opensnoop – Monitoring Linux File System Activity:
Opensnoop is a useful tool for monitoring file system activity. It captures and displays information about files that are being opened, closed, read, or written in real-time. Opensnoop is helpful for tracking file system activity, identifying file I/O issues, and understanding which processes are accessing specific files.
For example, To monitor file system activity in real-time, you can use the following command:
sudo opensnoopExecsnoop – Tracing Process Creation and Termination:
Execsnoop is a handy tool for tracing process creation and termination events. It captures and displays information about processes that are being created or terminated in real-time. Helping you track process lifecycle events and understand process behavior. Execsnoop is particularly useful for monitoring process creation and termination patterns, identifying process-related issues, and understanding process lifecycle events.
For example, To trace process creation and termination events in real-time, you can
sudo execsnoopSS – Detailed information about network sockets
Along with the popular BCC/BPF tools discussed above, another valuable tool for Linux server administrators is ‘SS‘. ‘SS‘ is a command-line utility that provides detailed information about network sockets and connections on a Linux system, including TCP, UDP, and UNIX sockets. Follow this link for more informations.
These tools, including Strace, Tcpdump, Perf, Trace, Opensnoop, and Execsnoop, can be powerful aids in performance analysis and troubleshooting on Linux servers. They provide valuable insights into system calls, network traffic, system performance, function calls, file system activity, and process creation/termination events, helping you identify and resolve performance issues, debug problems, and optimize system resource usage
