Trade-Offs Between Supported Tracing Interfaces

At the time of writing, ARCUS supports tracing via Perf or a modified Linux kernel called Griffin. Perf is the recommended tracing interface at this time and Griffin is kept only for legacy purposes.

Below are the known trade-offs between the supported tracing interfaces.

Perf

Pros:

Easier to setup (no custom kernel).
Works on newer Linux kernels (maintained by Linux developers).

Cons:

While Intel PT traces are never guaranteed to be complete (see the OVF packet definition in the Intel ASDM) Perf introduces additional potential sources of data loss due to how it buffers data.

Griffin

Pros:

Guarantees no software level data loss of traces. Note that hardware level data loss is always possible due to Intel PT's design.

Cons:

Requires compiling and installing a custom Linux kernel.
Kernel will not work on newer systems. Griffin is currently verified to work on Debian Stretch and Buster. It will not work on Debian Bullseye or newer.