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Benchmarks are applications used to model a specific workload or to analyze the behavior of a specific system component. With the use of tools to instrument the executing benchmark, accurate performance information is collected in a timely manner. This benchmark data is then analyzed to isolate any existing performance issues. It is important that server benchmarks provide coverage for a diverse set of workloads, including web, print, mail serving, file serving, and database, to have the greatest performance impact. In addition, various components of the kernel (for example, scheduler and virtual memory manager) may be stressed by each benchmark. Typically, macrobenchmarks are used to evaluate the overall workload performance on the operating system. Various performance analysis techniques (described later in this chapter) are then used to isolate issues, which may target a specific kernel component. A microbenchmark that stresses this component is then used to facilitate a more detailed analysis to address the issue. |
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