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Intel RDT

Overview​

The intel_rdt plugin collects information provided by monitoring features of the Intel Resource Director Technology (Intel(R) RDT). Intel RDT provides the hardware framework to monitor and control the utilization of shared resources (ex: last level cache, memory bandwidth).

About Intel RDT​

Intel’s Resource Director Technology (RDT) framework consists of:

  • Cache Monitoring Technology (CMT)
  • Memory Bandwidth Monitoring (MBM)
  • Cache Allocation Technology (CAT)
  • Code and Data Prioritization (CDP)

As multithreaded and multicore platform architectures emerge, the last level cache and memory bandwidth are key resources to manage for running workloads in single-threaded, multithreaded, or complex virtual machine environments. Intel introduces CMT, MBM, CAT and CDP to manage these workloads across shared resources.

Prerequsities - PQoS Tool​

To gather Intel RDT metrics, the intel_rdt plugin uses pqos cli tool which is a part of Intel(R) RDT Software Package. Before using this plugin please be sure pqos is properly installed and configured regarding that the plugin run pqos to work with OS Interface mode. This plugin supports pqos version 4.0.0 and above. Note: pqos tool needs root privileges to work properly.

Metrics will be constantly reported from the following pqos commands within the given interval:

In case of cores monitoring:​

pqos -r --iface-os --mon-file-type=csv --mon-interval=INTERVAL --mon-core=all:[CORES]\;mbt:[CORES]

where CORES is equal to group of cores provided in config. User can provide many groups.

In case of process monitoring:​

pqos -r --iface-os --mon-file-type=csv --mon-interval=INTERVAL --mon-pid=all:[PIDS]\;mbt:[PIDS]

where PIDS is group of processes IDs which name are equal to provided process name in a config. User can provide many process names which lead to create many processes groups.

In both cases INTERVAL is equal to sampling_interval from config.

Because PIDs association within system could change in every moment, Intel RDT plugin provides a functionality to check on every interval if desired processes change their PIDs association. If some change is reported, plugin will restart pqos tool with new arguments. If provided by user process name is not equal to any of available processes, will be omitted and plugin will constantly check for process availability.

Pqos installation process: https://github.com/intel/intel-cmt-cat/blob/master/INSTALL
Enabling OS interface: https://github.com/intel/intel-cmt-cat/wiki, https://github.com/intel/intel-cmt-cat/wiki/resctrl
More about Intel RDT: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/resource-director-technology.html

Configuration​

# Read Intel RDT metrics
[[inputs.intel_rdt]]
  ## Optionally set sampling interval to Nx100ms.
  ## This value is propagated to pqos tool. Interval format is defined by pqos itself.
  ## If not provided or provided 0, will be set to 10 = 10x100ms = 1s.
  # sampling_interval = "10"

  ## Optionally specify the path to pqos executable.
  ## If not provided, auto discovery will be performed.
  # pqos_path = "/usr/local/bin/pqos"

  ## Optionally specify if IPC and LLC_Misses metrics shouldn't be propagated.
  ## If not provided, default value is false.
  # shortened_metrics = false

  ## Specify the list of groups of CPU core(s) to be provided as pqos input.
  ## Mandatory if processes aren't set and forbidden if processes are specified.
  ## e.g. ["0-3", "4,5,6"] or ["1-3,4"]
  # cores = ["0-3"]

  ## Specify the list of processes for which Metrics will be collected.
  ## Mandatory if cores aren't set and forbidden if cores are specified.
  ## e.g. ["qemu", "pmd"]
  # processes = ["process"]