Install Aperf for performance analysis on AWS Graviton processors

APerf (AWS Perf) is an open source command line performance analysis tool which saves time by collecting information which is normally collected by multiple tools such as perf, sysstat, and sysctl.

APerf was recently created by AWS to help with Linux performance analysis.

In addition to the CLI, APerf includes an HTML view to visualize the collected data.

Before you begin

APerf works on Linux and is available as a single binary.

APerf works best if perf is installed. Refer to the Perf for Linux on Arm install guide for instructions.

This article provides a quick solution to install APerf on AWS Graviton processors.

Confirm you are using Graviton:

uname -m

The output should be:

aarch64

Download and install APerf

The easiest way to install APerf is to download a release from GitHub, extract it, and setup your PATH environment variable or copy the executable to a directory already in your search path.

Visit the releases page to see a list of available releases.

You can also download a release from the command line:

wget https://github.com/aws/aperf/releases/download/v0.1.9-alpha/aperf-v0.1.9-alpha-aarch64.tar.gz

Extract the release:

tar xvfz aperf-v0.1.9-alpha-aarch64.tar.gz

Add the path to aperf in your .bashrc file.

echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/aperf-v0.1.9-alpha-aarch64"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Alternatively, you can copy the aperf executable to a directory already in your search path.

sudo cp aperf-v0.1.9-alpha-aarch64/aperf /usr/local/bin 

Confirm aperf is installed by printing the version:

aperf --version

The output should print the version:

aperf 0.1.0 (0c4f58c)

Verify APerf is working

Create and view a report

To confirm APerf is working, start it for 10 seconds and take a sample every 1 second.

aperf record -i 1 -p 10 -r run1 --profile

After 10 seconds aperf completes and you see a directory named run1 and a tar file named run1.tar.gz.

Next, generate a report from the recorded data:

aperf report -r run1 -n report1

The name of the report is report1 and you will see a report1 directory and a tar file named report1.tar.gz.

The tar files are useful if you want to copy them to another machine.

Using a web browser, open the file index.html in the report1/ directory. To open the file use Ctrl+O for Linux and Windows and use ⌘+O for macOS.

The report is now visible in the browser.

There are a number of tabs on the left side showing the collected data.

You can browse the data and see what has been collected.

The Kernel Config and Sysctl Data tabs are blank unless you click No.

Create and view a report containing 2 runs

To demonstrate comparing 2 runs, create a second run with aperf record:

aperf record -i 1 -p 10 -r run2 --profile

After 10 seconds aperf completes and you see a directory named run2 and a tar file named run2.tar.gz.

Generate a report with both the first and second runs included:

aperf report -r run1 -r run2 -n compare

The name of the report is compare and you will see a compare directory and a tar file named compare.tar.gz.

Open the index.html file in the compare/ directory to see the 2 runs side by side.

A screenshot is shown below:

Use an HTTP server

If you are doing performance analysis on an EC2 instance without a remote desktop, you can view the APerf reports from your local browser by running a simple web server on the remote machine.

In the directory with the report data and the index.html file run a simple web server:

python -m http.server 3000

Make sure port 3000 is open on the remote system.

You can open the port in your security group or use SSH to forward port 3000.

To use SSH (substitute your SSH key name and IP address):

ssh -i your-key.pem -L 3000:localhost:3000 ubuntu@your-ec2-ip 

If you use SSH port forwarding, open your browser to http://localhost:3000

If you use the security group, enter the IP address of the EC2 instance followed by :3000 in your browser address bar.

You will see the same APerf report, and avoid the need to copy files to your local machine from the remote system for viewing.

You are ready to use APerf for performance analysis on AWS Graviton processors.

Visit https://learn.arm.com for more Graviton related content.