Quick overview on Visual Studio 2012 Profiler & Profiling tools : the importance of the profiling methods (sampling, instrumentation, memory, concurrency, … ), how to run a profiling session, how to profile unit test/load test, how to use API and a few samples

1. Visual Studio Profiler
let’s start a profiling session !
Maxime Lemaitre – 23/07/2013
Profiling
Tools

2. • Let developers measure, evaluate, and target performance-related
issues in their code
– CPU, Memory, Concurrency, ADO.NET…
• Command-line tools but fully integrated into the IDE
• Since VS 2012, available in Pro Version
• Really powerful tools but poorly documented/blogged
• Needs knowledge on the application and on .net framework
Introduction on MSDN
2
Profiling Tools Introduction

3. Here is the general process :
• Configure the performance session by specifying
the profiling method and the data that you want
to collect.
• Collect profiling data by running the application
in the performance session.
• Analyze the data to identify the performance
issue.
• Modify code with the goal to increases the
application performance of the code
• Collect profiling data on the changed code, and
compare the profiling data of the original and
changed data.
• Generate a report that documents the increase in
performance.
3
Profiling Workflow

4. There are 4 profiling available methods
• CPU Sampling
– Collects application statistics that are useful for
initial analysis and for analyzing CPU utilization
issues.
• Instrumentation
– Collects detailed timing data that are useful for
focused analysis and for analyzing input/output
performance issues.
• .NET Memory Allocation
– Collects .NET Framework memory allocation
data by using the sampling profiling method.
• Concurrency
– Collects numeric resource contention data.
4
Choosing a Profiling Method
Can be attached to
a running process !

5. The sampling profiling method of the Profiling Tools interrupts the computer processor at
set intervals and collects the function call stack.
The profiler analysis determines whether the processor is executing code in the target
process. If the processor is not executing code in the target process, the sample is
discarded.
• Inclusive samples
– The total number of samples that are collected during the execution of the target function.
– This includes samples that are collected during the direct execution of the function code and
samples that are collected during the execution of child functions that are called by the target
function.
• Exclusive samples
– The number of samples that are collected during the direct execution of the instructions of
the target function.
– Exclusive samples do not include samples that are collected during the execution of
functions that are called by the target function.
• Inclusive percent
• Exclusive percent
5
Sampling Profiling Method
Too Many Samples ?
- Slow piece of code
- Too many calls to a piece of code
=> For sure, there is something to optimize

6. The instrumentation profiling method of the Profiling Tools records detailed timing
information for the function calls, lines, and instructions in the profiled application
The instrumentation method injects code at the start and end of target functions in the
profiled binary, and before and after each call by those functions to other functions. The
injected code records interval between collects and OS operations.
• Elapsed Inclusive values
– The total time that was spent executing a function and its child functions.
• Elapsed Exclusive values
– The time that was spent executing a function, excluding time that was spent in child
functions.
• Application Inclusive values
– The time that was spent executing a function and its child functions, excluding time that was
spent in operating system events.
• Application Exclusive values
– The time that was spent executing a function, excluding the time that was spent in child
functions and the time that was spent in operating system events.
• Elapsed Inclusive & Exclusive percent
• Application Inclusive & Exclusive percent 6
Instrumentation Profiling Method

7. The .NET memory allocation profiling method of Profiling Tools collects information
about the size and number of objects that were created in an allocation or destroyed in a
garbage collection and a few additional information.
The memory profiler interrupts the computer processor at each allocation of a .NET
Framework object in a profiled application. When object lifetime data is also collected, the
profiler interrupts the processor after each .NET Framework garbage collection. The data
is aggregated for each profiled function and for each type of object.
• Allocation Data
– Total counts and sizes of the allocated or destroyed memory objects
• Lifetime Data
– Displays the number and size of the objects and the generation when they are reclaimed
7
Memory Profiling Method

8. Resource contention profiling collects detailed call stack information each time
competing threads in an application are forced to wait for access to a shared resource.
Resource contention reports display the total number of contentions and the total time
that was spent waiting for a resource for the modules, functions, source code lines, and
instructions in which the waiting occured.
• Inclusive values
– Contentions that were caused by child functions that were called by the function are included
in inclusive values.
• Exclusive values
– Contentions caused by child functions are not included. The exclusive time for the function
also includes only the wait times that were caused by statements in the function body.
8
Concurrency profiling method

9. • Adds information to a profiling data file about synchronous ADO.NET calls
between an application and a SQL Server database
• Can be added to profiling data that is collected with the sampling,
instrumentation, .NET memory, or concurrency methods
9
Tier Interaction
Hidden profiling method
For example, 1204
requests to the
Casino Home Page

10. 10
Profiling Quick Start
this often begins
with a wizard …

11. 11
Profiling Wizard
Profiling Method Targets
TIP ?
Js ?

12. • Enables us to configure and start performance sessions
– Created/Filled by Performance Wizard
12
Performance Explorer
Session Name
The name of the session. Right-click the session name
to edit the session properties
Targets
Binaries that are to be profiled in the session. Can be a
binary, a VS project, or Web site. Each target have own
Properties.
Reports
Files that are generated for the session. Right-click a
report name to open, remove, or export a profiler data
file. Can compare two profiler data files.

13. 13
Profiling…
Pause
suspend data collection
Stop profiling
end the profiling session
When profiling you have nothing to do :
- Let is run for standalone app (Console, Test, ..)
- Navigate between pages/forms (Web Site or Desktop)

14. 1 - Hot Path
branch of your application's call tree
that was most active when data was
collected
2 - Functions Doing the Most
Individual Work.
functions with the highest exclusive
samples
3 - Summary Timeline
timeline graph & CPU usage
4 - Error List
uses a set of rules to suggest ways of
improving the profiling run and to
identify possible performance problems
14
Summary View
Summary depends on Profiling method !

15. There are also a few others Views
of profiling data files are displayed
• Call Tree
• Modules View
• Functions View
• Object Lifetime View
• Thread Details View
• Tier Interaction Views
• …
15
Analysis Results

16. Demos
16

17. 17
Demo #1
ASP.NET MVC 4 Sample (Magazine website)
Many Samples in Dal code and many calls to the db. Missing cache ?

18. 18
Demo #2
Micro Benchmarking a Translation Helper (in Unit Test)
More than 93% of elapsed time is spent on Regex.Replace …
For sure, there is something to improve in the helper.

19. 19
Demo #3
Task cancellation Helper
For 100 000 tests, 300 000 tasks were allocated. Ouh !
For sure, memory consumption is not optimal when task is already completed.

20. • Profiling data can be collected through the ASP.NET profiler when we run a
web or a load test
– Limited to sampling and tier interaction data
– Not appropriate for long runs (profiler file can become large …)
• Really powerful if you have real scenarios & test cases
20
Profiling ASP.NET Web & Load Tests
You just have to select
ASP.NET profiler for your test
settings

21. • Instrumentation profiling can provide a greater level of detail ; this means
that more data is collected and instrumentation is more likely to impact the
performance
• The Visual Studio profiler provides an API for controlling data collection
from within an application
– allow us to limit the amount of data that is collected during a profiling session.
Simply add a reference to ToolsMicrosoft.VisualStudio.Profiler.dll
(VSDirToolsPerformance Tools)
21
Profiler APIs

22. Right-click a test and choose Profile Test to
run performance analysis on a single unit test
22
Profiling Unit Tests
Since VS 2012 update 2
The test runs as usual followed by
the analysis (sampling method).
When analysis completes, you’ll see
the classic summary view

23. Questions ?
23

24. • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms182372.aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/z9z62c29.aspx
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2013/04/04/net-memory-allocation-
profiling-with-visual-studio-2012.aspx
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/anilchandra/archive/2012/09/24/test.aspx
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/tags/diagnostics/
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2013/04/04/net-memory-allocation-
profiling-with-visual-studio-2012.aspx
24
Appendices & References

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