Visualization techniques for system performance characterization

As computer environments increase in size and complexity, it is becoming more challenging to analyze and identify factors that limit performance and scalability. Application developers and system administrators need easy-to-use tools that enable them to quickly identify system bottlenecks and configure system for best performance. In this paper, we present techniques that allow users to view the load on all major system component simultaneously, with negligible overhead, and no changes in the application. We include several case studies where such techniques have been used to characterize and improve performance of applications, system software, and future CPU/platform designs.