From: Philippe Proulx <eeppeliteloop@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2015 22:55:46 +0000 (-0400)
Subject: Document persistent memory file system tracing
X-Git-Url: https://git.lttng.org./?a=commitdiff_plain;h=2a621b76cf687ad7aee671d66676e97e2fb55b2f;p=lttng-docs.git

Document persistent memory file system tracing

Signed-off-by: Philippe Proulx <eeppeliteloop@gmail.com>
---

diff --git a/contents/using-lttng/controlling-tracing/persistent-memory-file-systems.md b/contents/using-lttng/controlling-tracing/persistent-memory-file-systems.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8edc13c
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@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+---
+id: persistent-memory-file-systems
+since: 2.7
+---
+
+<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-volatile_random-access_memory" class="ext">Non-volatile random-access memory</a>
+(NVRAM) is random-access memory that retains its information when power is turned off (non-volatile).
+Systems with such memory can store data structures in RAM
+and retrieve them after a reboot, without flushing to typical _storage_.
+
+Linux supports NVRAM file systems thanks to either
+<a href="http://pramfs.sourceforge.net/" class="ext">PRAMFS</a> or
+<a href="https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/filesystems/dax.txt" class="ext">DAX</a>&nbsp;+&nbsp;<a href="http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1504.1/03463.html" class="ext">pmem</a>
+(requires Linux 4.1+).
+
+This documentation does not describe how to operate such file systems;
+it is assumed that you have a working persistent memory file system.
+
+When creating an LTTng tracing session, you can use the `--shm-path`
+option to specify the path of the shared memory holding the ring
+buffers. Specifying a location on an NVRAM file system makes it possible
+to retrieve the latest recorded trace data when the system reboots
+after a crash.
+
+Example:
+
+<pre class="term">
+lttng create <strong>--shm-path /path/to/shm</strong>
+</pre>
+
+The binary layout of the ring buffer files is not exactly the same as
+the trace files layout. To view the events of ring buffer files after
+a system crash, use the `lttng-crash` utility:
+
+<pre class="term">
+lttng-crash /path/to/shm
+</pre>
+
+This extracts the trace data behind the scenes and runs
+<a href="http://diamon.org/babeltrace" class="ext"><code>babeltrace</code></a>
+to view the events. To extract the trace data to an LTTng trace without
+viewing the events, use the `--extract` option:
+
+<pre class="term">
+lttng-crash <strong>--extract /path/to/trace</strong> /path/to/shm
+</pre>
+
+See the <a href="http://localhost:9000/man/1/lttng-crash" class="ext"><code>lttng-crash</code> man page</a>
+for the complete list of options.
diff --git a/toc/docs.yml b/toc/docs.yml
index 291cc97..59c0b7c 100644
--- a/toc/docs.yml
+++ b/toc/docs.yml
@@ -206,6 +206,8 @@ cats:
             title: Taking a snapshot
           - id: mi
             title: Machine interface
+          - id: persistent-memory-file-systems
+            title: Recording trace data on persistent memory file systems
   - id: reference
     title: Reference
     cats: