By Tad B. Pinkerton
Communications of the ACM,
November 1969,
Vol. 12 No. 11, Pages 608-610
10.1145/363269.363279
Comments
A software measurement facility which is part of a general purpose time-sharing system is described. The Data Collection Facility (DCF) has been implemented in the Michigan Terminal System (MTS) for the System/360 model 67. It exists for the purpose of monitoring operating system and user program behavior and performance. The overall structure of MTS is outlined in order to explain the implementation of the DCF. Events in the system are identified and recorded from within the supervisor, and dumped to magnetic tape by an auxiliary program for off-line processing. Events in user programs which are unrelated to system actions are recorded with a supervisor call. The time of occurrence of each event is accurately recorded, and data items are further identified by job and type. The overhead associated with data collection and its interference with normal jobs is carefully analyzed, and both are shown to be minimal. Several examples are given of information obtained with the facility and of applications in which it has been useful. Some general guidelines are offered for the construction of future monitoring programs.
The full text of this article is premium content
No entries found
Log in to Read the Full Article
Need Access?
Please select one of the options below for access to premium content and features.
Create a Web Account
If you are already an ACM member, Communications subscriber, or Digital Library subscriber, please set up a web account to access premium content on this site.
Join the ACM
Become a member to take full advantage of ACM's outstanding computing information resources, networking opportunities, and other benefits.
Subscribe to Communications of the ACM Magazine
Get full access to 50+ years of CACM content and receive the print version of the magazine monthly.
Purchase the Article
Non-members can purchase this article or a copy of the magazine in which it appears.
