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README for Intel(R) RDT Software Package

March 2018

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Contents
========

- Overview
- Package Content
- Hardware Support
- OS Support
- Software Compatibility
- Legal Disclaimer


Overview
========

This software package provides basic support for
Intel(R) Resource Director Technology (Intel(R) RDT) including:
Cache Monitoring Technology (CMT), Memory Bandwidth Monitoring (MBM),
Cache Allocation Technology (CAT), Code and Data Prioritization (CDP)
and Memory Bandwidth Allocation (MBA).

In principle, the software programs the technologies via
Model Specific Registers (MSR) on a hardware thread basis.
MSR access is arranged via a standard operating system driver:
msr on Linux and cpuctl on FreeBSD. In the most common architectural
implementations, presence of the technologies is detected via the
CPUID instruction.

In a limited number of special cases where CAT is not architecturally
supported on a particular SKU (but instead a non-architectural
(model-specific) implementation exists) it can be detected via brand
string. This brand string is read from CPUID and compared to a table
of known-supported SKUs. If needed, a final check is to probe the
specific MSR’s to discover hardware capabilities, however it is
recommended that CPUID enumeration should be used wherever possible.

From software version v1.0.0 the library adds option to use Intel(R) RDT via
available OS interfaces (perf and resctrl on Linux). The library detects
presence of these interfaces and allows to select the preferred one through
a configuration option.
As the result, existing tools like 'pqos' or 'rdtset' can also be used
to manage Intel(R) RDT in an OS compatible way. MSR interface remains
the default option for now. 'pqos' tool wrappers have been added to help with
the interface selection. 'pqos-os' and 'pqos-msr' for OS and MSR interface
operations respectively.

PID API compile time option has been removed and the APIs are always available.
Note that proper operation of these APIs depends on availability and
selection of OS interface.

This software package is maintained, updated and developed on
https://github.com/01org/intel-cmt-cat

https://github.com/01org/intel-cmt-cat/wiki provides FAQ, usage examples and
useful links.

Please refer to INSTALL file for package installation instructions.


Package Content
===============

"lib" directory:
    Includes software library files providing API's for
    technology detection, monitoring and allocation.
    Please refer to the library README for more details (lib/README).
“lib/perl” directory:
    Includes PQoS library Perl wrapper.
    Please refer to the interface README for more details (lib/perl/README).
"pqos" directory:
    Includes utility files providing command line access to
    Intel(R) RDT. The utility links against the library and programs
    the technologies via its API's.
    Please refer to the utility README for more details "pqos/README".
    Manual page of "pqos" utility also provides information about tool usage:
    $ man pqos
"rdtset" directory:
    Includes files of utility that provides "taskset"-like functionality and
    CAT configuration.
    The utility links against the library and programs the technologies
    via its API's.
    Please refer to the utility README for more details "rdtset/README".
    Manual page of "rdtset" utility also provides information about tool usage:
    $ man rdtset
"examples" directory:
    Includes C and Perl examples of Intel(R) RDT usage via the library API's.
    Please refer to README file for more details "examples/README".
"snmp" directory:
    Includes Net-SNMP AgentX subagent written in Perl to demonstrate the use of
    the PQoS library Perl wrapper API.
    Please refer to README file for more details "snmp/README".
"tools" directory:
    Includes membw tool for stressing memory bandwidth with different operations
"srpm" directory:
    Includes *.src.rpm and *.spec files for the software package.
"ChangeLog" file:
    Brief description of changes between releases.
"INSTALL" file:
    Installation instructions.
"LICENSE" file:
    License of the package.


Hardware Support
================

Table 1. Intel(R) RDT hardware support
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                            | CMT | MBM | L3 CAT | L3 CDP | L2 CAT | MBA    |
|--------------------------------------------+-----+-----+--------+--------+--------+--------|
|Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5 v3            | Yes | No  | Yes (1)| No     | No     | No     |
|--------------------------------------------+-----+-----+--------+--------+--------+--------|
|Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor D                | Yes | Yes | Yes (2)| No     | No     | No     |
|--------------------------------------------+-----+-----+--------+--------+--------+--------|
|Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E3 v4            | No  | No  | Yes (3)| No     | No     | No     |
|--------------------------------------------+-----+-----+--------+--------+--------+--------|
|Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5 v4            | Yes | Yes | Yes (2)| Yes    | No     | No     |
|--------------------------------------------+-----+-----+--------+--------+--------+--------|
|Intel(R) Xeon(R) Scalable Processors (6)    | Yes | Yes | Yes (2)| Yes    | No     | Yes (5)|
|--------------------------------------------+-----+-----+--------+--------+--------+--------|
|Intel(R) Atom(R) processor for Server C3000 | No  | No  | No     | No     | Yes (4)| No     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

References:
(1) Selected SKU's only:
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5-2658 v3
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5-2648L v3
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5-2628L v3
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5-2618L v3
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5-2608L v3
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E5-2658A v3
    Four L3 CAT classes of service (CLOS) and a set of pre-defined classes that
    should not be changed at run time.
    L3 CAT CLOS to hardware thread association can be changed at run time.

(2) Sixteen L3 CAT classes of service (CLOS). There are no pre-defined
    classes of service and they can be changed at run time.
    L3 CAT CLOS to hardware thread association can be changed at run time.

(3) Selected SKU's only:
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E3-1258L v4
        Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor E3-1278L v4
    Four L3 CAT classes of service (CLOS) and a set of pre-defined classes that
    should not be changed at run time.
    L3 CAT CLOS to hardware thread association can be changed at run time.

(4) Four L2 CAT classes of service (CLOS) per L2 cluster.
    L2 CAT CLOS to hardware thread association can be changed at run time.

(5) Eight MBA classes of service (CLOS). There are no pre-defined
    classes of service and they can be changed at run time.
    MBA CLOS to hardware thread association can be changed at run time.

(6) Please find errata for Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor Scalable Family at:
    https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/specification-updates/xeon-scalable-spec-update.pdf?asset=14615


For additional Intel(R) RDT details please refer to the Intel(R)
Architecture Software Development Manuals available at:
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/architectures-software-developer-manuals.html
Specific information can be found in volume 3, Chapters 17.18 and 17.19 (revision 064).


OS Support
==========

1. Overview
Linux is the primary supported operating system at the moment. There is a
FreeBSD port of the software but due to limited validation scope it is rather
experimental at this stage. Although most modern Linux kernels include support
for Intel(R) RDT, the intel-cmt-cat software package predates these extensions
and can operate with and without kernel support. The intel-cmt-cat software can
detect and leverage these kernel extensions when available to add functionality,
but is also compatible with legacy kernels.

2. OS Frameworks
Linux kernel support for Intel(R) RDT was originally introduced with Linux perf
system call extensions for CMT and MBM. More recently, the Resctrl interface
added support for CAT, CDP and MBA. On modern Linux kernels, it is advised to
use the kernel/OS interface when available. Details about these interfaces can
be found in intel_rdt_ui.txt. This software package, intel-cmt-cat, remains to
work seamlessly in all Linux kernel versions.

3. Interfaces
The intel-cmt-cat software library and utilities offer two interfaces to program
Intel(R) RDT technologies, these are the MSR & OS interfaces.

The MSR interface is used to configure the platform by programming the hardware
(MSR's) directly. This is the legacy interface and requires no kernel support
for Intel(R) RDT but is limited to monitoring and managing resources on a per
core basis.

The OS interface was later added to the package and when selected, the library
will leverage Linux kernel extensions to program these technologies. This allows
monitoring and managing resources on a per core/process basis and should be used
when available.

Please see the tables below for more information on when Intel(R) RDT feature
(MSR & OS) support was added to the package.

Table 2. MSR interface feature support
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+
| intel-cmt-cat |    RDT feature    | Kernel version |
|    version    |      enabled      |    required    |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+
| 0.1.3         | L3 CAT, CMT, MBM  | Any            |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+
| 0.1.4         | L3 CDP            | Any            |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+
| 0.1.5         | L2 CAT            | Any            |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+
| 1.2.0         | MBA               | Any            |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+
| 2.0.0         | L2 CDP            | Any            |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+

Table 3. OS interface feature support
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| intel-cmt-cat |    RDT feature    | Kernel version | Recommended interface                              |
|    version    |      enabled      |    required    |                                                    |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| 0.1.4         | CMT (Perf)        | 4.1            | MSR (1)                                            |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| 1.0.0         | MBM (Perf)        | 4.7            | MSR (1)                                            |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| 1.1.0         | L3 CAT, L3 CDP,   | 4.10           | OS for allocation only (with the exception of MBA) |
|               | L2 CAT (Resctrl)  |                | MSR for allocation + monitoring (2)                |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| 1.2.0         | MBA (Resctrl)     | 4.12           | OS for allocation only                             |
|               |                   |                | MSR for allocation + monitoring (2)                |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| 2.0.0         | CMT, MBM (Resctrl)| 4.14           | OS                                                 |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| 2.0.0         | L2 CDP            | 4.16           | OS                                                 |
+---------------+-------------------+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+

References:
(1) Monitoring with Perf on a per core basis is not supported and returns invalid results.
(2) The MSR and OS interfaces are not compatible. MSR interface is recommended if monitoring and allocation is to be used.

4. Software dependencies
The only dependencies of intel-cmt-cat is access to C and pthreads libraries and:
- without kernel extensions - 'msr' kernel module
- with kernel extensions - Intel(R) RDT extended Perf system call and Resctrl filesystem

Enable Intel(R) RDT support in:
- kernel v4.10 - v4.13 with kernel configuration option CONFIG_INTEL_RDT_A
- kernel v4.14+ with kernel configuration option CONFIG_INTEL_RDT

Note: No kernel configuration options required before v4.10.


Software Compatibility
======================

In short, using intel-cmt-cat or Intel(R) PCM software together with
Linux perf and cgroup frameworks is not allowed at the moment.

As disappointing as it is, use of Linux perf for CMT & MBM and
intel-cmt-cat for CAT & CDP is not allowed. This is because
Linux perf overrides existing CAT configuration during its operations.

There are a number of options to choose from in order to make use of CAT:
- intel-cmt-cat software for CMT/MBM/CAT and CDP (core granularity only)
- use Linux resctrl for CAT and Linux perf for monitoring (kernel 4.10+)
- patch kernel with an out of tree cgroup patch (CAT) and
  only use perf for monitoring (CMT kernels 4.1+, MBM kernels 4.6+)

Table 4. Software interoperability matrix
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                  | intel-cmt-cat | Intel(R) PCM |  Linux perf  | Linux cgroup | Linux resctrl |
|------------------+---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------|---------------|
|intel-cmt-cat     | Yes(1)        | Yes(2)       | Yes(5)       | No           | Yes(5)        |
|------------------+---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------|---------------|
|Intel(R) PCM      | Yes(2)        | Yes          | No           | No           | No            |
|------------------+---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------|---------------|
|Linux perf        | Yes(5)        | No           | Yes          | Yes(3)       | Yes           |
|------------------+---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------|---------------|
|Linux cgroup      | No            | No           | Yes          | Yes(3)       | No            |
|------------------+---------------+--------------+--------------+--------------|---------------|
|Linux resctrl (4) | Yes(5)        | No           | Yes          | No           | Yes           |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

References:
(1) pqos monitoring from intel-cmt-cat can detect other
    pqos monitoring processes in the system.
    rdtset from intel-cmt-cat detects other processes started with rdtset and
    it will not use their CAT/CDP resources.

(2) pqos from intel-cmt-cat can detect that Intel(R) PCM monitors cores and
    it will not attempt to hijack the cores unless forced.
    However, if pqos monitoring is started first and then
    Intel(R) PCM is started then the latter one will hijack monitoring
    infrastructure from pqos for its use.

(3) Linux cgroup is an out of tree patch
    https://github.com/vshiva1/linux/tree/catv15

(4) Linux kernel version 4.10 and newer.
    A wiki for Intel resctrl is available at:
    https://github.com/01org/intel-cmt-cat/wiki/resctrl

(5) Only with Linux kernel version 4.10 (and newer),
    intel-cmt-cat version 1.0.0 (and newer) with selected OS interface
    See '-I' option in 'man pqos' or 'pqos-os'.

Intel(R) PCM is available at
https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-performance-counter-monitor


Table 5. Intel(R) RDT software enabling status.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                  | Core  | Task  |  CMT  |  MBM  | L3 CAT | L3 CDP  | L2 CAT |  MBA   |
|------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+---------+--------+--------|
|intel-cmt-cat     | Yes   | Yes(7)| Yes   | Yes   | Yes    | Yes     | Yes    | Yes    |
|------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+---------+--------+--------|
|Intel(R) PCM      | Yes   | No    | Yes   | Yes   | No     | No      | No     | No     |
|------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+---------+--------+--------|
|Linux perf        | Yes(6)| Yes   | Yes(1)| Yes(2)| No(3)  | No(3)   | No(3)  | No     |
|------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+---------+--------+--------|
|Linux cgroup      | No    | Yes   | No    | No    | Yes(4) | No      | No     | No     |
|------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------+---------+--------+--------|
|Linux resctrl (5) | Yes   | Yes   | No    | No    | Yes    | Yes     | Yes    | No     |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Legend:
Core  - use of technology with core granularity
Task  - use of technology per task or group of tasks

References:
(1) Linux kernel version 4.1 and newer
(2) Linux kernel version 4.6 and newer
(3) Linux perf corrupts CAT and CDP configuration even though
    it doesn't enable it
(4) This is out of tree patch and relies on Linux perf enabling
(5) Linux kernel version 4.10 and newer
(6) perf API allows for CMT/MBM core monitoring but returned values are incorrect
(7) intel-cmt-cat version 1.0.0 monitoring only and depends on kernel support

Legal Disclaimer
================

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY INTEL"AS IS". NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
ARE GRANTED THROUGH USE. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN INTEL'S TERMS AND
CONDITIONS OF SALE, INTEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER AND INTEL
DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, RELATING TO SALE AND/OR
USE OF INTEL PRODUCTS INCLUDING LIABILITY OR WARRANTIES RELATING TO
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENT
OF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT.