Fix: clock -> sock typo
[lttng-tools.git] / doc / session-daemon-model.txt
1 RFC - New processes model for UST and LTTng
2
3 Author: David Goulet <david.goulet@polymtl.ca>
4
5 Contributors:
6 * Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
7 * Yannick Brosseau <yannick.brosseau@polymtl.ca>
8 * Nils Carlson <nils.carlson@ericsson.com>
9 * Michel Dagenais <michel.dagenais@polymtl.ca>
10 * Stefan Hajnoczi <stefanha@gmail.com>
11
12 Version:
13 - v0.1: 17/01/2011
14 * Initial proposal
15
16 - v0.2: 19/01/2011
17 After multiple reply from all the contributors above, here is the list
18 of what has changed:
19 * Change/Add Terminology elements from the initial model
20 * New figures for four new scenarios
21 * Add inprocess library section
22 * LTTng kernel tracer support proposition
23 * More details for the Model and Components
24 * Improve the basic model. Quite different from the last one
25
26 - v0.3: 28/01/2011
27 In response from Michel Dagenais and Nils Carlson comments:
28 * Add scaling to reasons of this re-engineering
29 * Purpose of the session ID
30 * Explain why ltt-sessiond creates the tracing buffers
31 * ust-consumerd interaction schema
32 * Clarify inprocess library behavior
33
34 - v0.4: 01/02/2011
35 After Mathieu Desnoyers and Michel Dagenais comments:
36 * Add section Introduction
37 * Define the global and per-user ltt-sessiond
38 * Add details for ltt-sessiond in the inprocess lib section
39 * Session ID are now UUID
40 * Add buffer snapshot schema for ust-consumerd
41 * ltt-sessiond validate inprocess lib version
42 * ltt-sessiond socket validation by the inprocess lib.
43 * Add lttng definition
44 * Add consumer to the Model section
45
46 Terminology
47 -----------------
48
49 ltt-sessiond - Main daemon for trace session registry for UST and LTTng
50 NOTE: Changed to lttng-sessiond in the git tree
51
52 ust-consumerd - Daemon that consume UST buffers for a specific application
53
54 ltt-consumerd - Daemon that consume LTTng buffers
55
56 tracing session - A trace linked to a set of specific tracepoints and to a set
57 of tracing buffers
58
59 tracing buffers - Buffers containing tracing data
60
61 tracing data - Data created by tracing an application
62
63 inprocess library - UST library linked with the application
64
65 shared memory - system V shared memory
66
67 application common named pipe - Global named pipe that triggers application
68 registration, on pipe event, to ltt-sessiond
69
70 lttng - New command line tool for LTTng and UST tracing control
71
72 Introduction
73 -----------------
74
75 This RFC propose a brand new UST and LTTng daemon model. This re-engineering
76 was mostly driven by the need of:
77
78 * Better security in terms of access rights on tracing data
79 * Manage tracing session
80 * Scaling in terms of thread/processes needed to perform tracing
81 * LTTng and UST integration in terms of merging traces and session control
82 * Networking such as streaming and remote control over different traces
83
84 The new model follows the basic principles of having a session registry
85 (ltt-sessiond) and consumers for each tracing session (ust-consumerd and
86 ltt-consumerd).
87
88 With this proposal, LTTng and UST will share the same tracing session, be
89 managed by the same tool and bring a complete integration between these two
90 powerful tools.
91
92 NOTE: This proposal does NOT makes UST dependent on LTTng and vice versa.
93
94 Model
95 -----------------
96
97 A global and/or per-user registry keeps track of all tracing sessions. Any user
98 that wants to manage either a kernel trace using LTTng or an application trace
99 with UST must interact with that registry for any possible actions.
100
101 The model address multiple tracing use cases based on the fact that we
102 introduce a tracing Unix group (tracing group). Only users in that group or
103 root can use the global registry. Other users will create a local registry
104 (per-user registry) that will be completely independent from the global one.
105
106 Two cases:
107
108 1) Users in the tracing group, it's tracing session can consume all tracing
109 buffers from all applications and the kernel.
110
111 2) Users NOT in the tracing group, it's tracing session can only consume
112 data from its own applications' buffers hence tracing his applications.
113
114 A session stored by the registry consist of:
115
116 * Session name (given by the user or automatically assigned)
117 * List of traces (LTTng or UST)
118 * Tracepoints/markers associated to a trace of that session
119 * UUID
120 * Associated user (UID)
121
122 Then, consumers are used to extract data from tracing buffers. These consumers
123 are daemon consuming either UST or/and LTTng buffers. For a single session,
124 only one UST consumer and one LTTng consumer is necessary. The daemon CAN
125 handle multiple tracing buffers for network streaming by example or for quick
126 snapshot. These consumers are told by the inprocess library or the kernel to
127 start getting out data on disk or network.
128
129 For the next subsections, every components of this new proposal is explained
130 from the global and per-user registry perspective.
131
132 LTT-SESSIOND:
133
134 The ltt-sessiond daemon acts as a session registry i.e. by keeping reference to
135 all active session and, by active, it means a session in any state other than
136 destroyed. Each entity we are keeping track of, here session, will have a
137 universal unique identifier (UUID) assigned to it. The purpose of this UUID is
138 to track a session in order to apply any kind of actions (Ex: Attach, Destroy).
139 A human readable version SHOULD be consider in order to facilitate the session
140 identification when listed by lttng.
141
142 The daemon creates two local Unix sockets (AF_UNIX). The first one is for what
143 we call client communication i.e. interaction with lttng (or any other
144 compatible tools). That socket is set with the ltt-sessiond credentials with
145 read-write mode for both user and group. The second one is a global socket for
146 application registration for the UST case (see inprocess lib subsection below).
147
148 This daemon is also responsible for tracing buffers creation. Two main reasons
149 motivate this design:
150
151 * The ltt-sessiond needs to keep track of all the shared memory segments in
152 order to be able to give reference to any other possible consumer.
153
154 * For the case of sharing tracing buffers between all userspace
155 applications, having the registry allocating them will allow that but, if
156 the inprocess library was allocating them, we will need to redesign the
157 whole model.
158
159 For all tracing actions either to interact with a session or a specific trace,
160 the lttng client MUST go through ltt-sessiond. The daemon will take care of
161 routing the command to the write inprocess library or the kernel.
162
163 Global registry:
164
165 A global registry SHOULD be started, idealy at boot, with credentials UID root
166 and GID of the tracing group. Only user within the tracing group will be able
167 to interact with that registry. All applications will try to register to that
168 registry using the global socket (second one discuss above).
169
170 Per-user registry:
171
172 This type of registry address two use cases. The first one is when a session
173 creation is requested from lttng but no global ltt-sessiond exist. So, a
174 ltt-sessiond will be spawned in order to manage the tracing of that user. The
175 second use case is when a user is not in the tracing group thus he cannot
176 communication with the global registry.
177
178 However, care MUST be put in order to manage the socket's daemon. They are not
179 global anymore so they should be created in the home directory of the user
180 requesting tracing.
181
182 In both cases, for global and per-user registry, all applications MUST try to
183 register to both ltt-sessiond. (see inprocess library subsection for details)
184
185 The trace roles of ltt-sessiond:
186
187 Trace interaction - Create, Destroy, Pause, Stop, Start, Set options
188
189 Registry - keep track of trace's information:
190 * shared memory location (only the keyid)
191 * application PID (UST)
192 * type (kernel or UST)
193 * session name
194 * UID
195
196 Buffers creation - creates shared memory for the tracing buffers.
197
198 UST-CONSUMERD:
199
200 The purpose of this daemon is to consume the UST trace buffers for only a
201 specific session. The session MAY have several traces for example two different
202 applications. The client tool, lttng has to create the ust-consumerd if NONE
203 is available for that session. It is very important to understand that for a
204 tracing session, there is only one ust-consumerd for all the traced
205 applications.
206
207 This daemon basically empty the tracing buffers when asked for and writes that
208 data to disk for future analysis using LTTv or/and TMF (Tracing Monitoring
209 Frameworks). The inprocess library is the one that tells the ust-consumerd
210 daemon that the buffers are ready for consumption.
211
212 Here is a flow of action to illustrate the ust-consumerd life span:
213
214 1)
215 +-----------+ ops +--------------+
216 | lttng A |<---------->| ltt-sessiond |
217 +-----------+ +--------------+
218
219 lttng ask for tracing an application using the PID and the session UUID. The
220 shared memory reference is given to lttng and the ust-consumerd communication
221 socket if ust-consumerd already exist.
222
223 2a) If ust-consumerd EXIST
224
225 +-----------+
226 | lttng A |
227 +-----------+
228 | mem ref.
229 | +---------------+ read +------------+
230 +-->| ust-consumerd |--------->| shared mem |
231 +---------------+ +------------+
232
233 In that case, lttng only ask ust-consumerd to consume the buffers using
234 the reference it previously got from ltt-sessiond.
235
236 2b) If ust-consumerd DOES NOT EXIST
237
238 +-----------+ +--------------+
239 | lttng A | +---->| ltt-sessiond |
240 +-----------+ | +--------------+
241 | ID |
242 | mem ref. | register
243 | +---------------+
244 +-->| ust-consumerd |
245 +---------------+
246
247 lttng spawns the ust-consumerd for the session using the session UUID in
248 order for the daemon to register as a consumer to ltt-sessiond for that
249 session.
250
251 Quick buffer snapshot:
252
253 1) Here, lttng will request a buffer snapshot for an already running session.
254
255 +-----------+ +--------------+
256 | lttng A |-------- ops ------->| ltt-sessiond |
257 +-----------+ +--------------+
258 | | command
259 | +-----------------+ +-------+<--+
260 | | ust-consumerd 1 |<----| app_1 |-+
261 | +-----------------+ +-------+ | write
262 | 1 | v
263 | | +-------------+
264 | +--- read ----->| shared mem. |
265 | +-------------+
266 | ^
267 | +-----------------+ |
268 +->| ust-consumerd 2 |----------+
269 +-----------------+ snapshot
270 | write
271 |
272 +---> disk/network
273
274 The first ust-consumerd (1) was already consuming buffers for the current
275 session. So, lttng ask for a live snapshot. A new ust-consumerd (2) is
276 spawned, snapshot the buffers using the shared memory reference from
277 ltt-sessiond, writes date to disk and die after all.
278
279 On the security side, the ust-consumerd gets UID/GID from the lttng
280 credentials since it was spawned by lttng and so the files containing the
281 tracing data will also be set to UID/GID of the lttng client. No setuid or
282 setgid is used, we only use the credentials of the user.
283
284 The roles of ust-consumerd:
285
286 Register to ltt-sessiond - Using a session UUID and credentials (UID/GID)
287
288 Consume buffers - Write data to a file descriptor (on disk, network, ...)
289
290 Buffer consumption is triggered by the inprocess library which tells
291 ust-consumerd when to consume.
292
293 LTT-CONSUMERD:
294
295 The purpose of this daemon is to consume the LTTng trace buffers for only a
296 specific session.
297
298 For that kernel consumer, ltt-sessiond will pass different anonymous file
299 descriptors to the ltt-consumerd using a Unix socket. From these file
300 desriptors, it will be able to get the data from a special function export by
301 the LTTng kernel.
302
303 ltt-consumerd will be managed by the exact same way as ust-consumerd. However,
304 in order to trace the kernel, you are either root (UID=0) or in the tracing
305 group.
306
307 The roles of ltt-consumerd:
308
309 Register to ltt-sessiond - Using a session UUID and credentials (UID/GID)
310
311 Consume buffers - Write data to a file descriptor (on disk, network, ...)
312
313 Kernel triggers ltt-consumerd for buffer consumption.
314
315 UST INPROCESS LIBRARY:
316
317 When the application starts, this library will check for the global named pipe
318 of ltt-sessiond. If present, it MUST validate that root is the owner. This
319 check is very important to prevent ltt-sessiond spoofing. If the pipe is root,
320 we are certain that it's the privileged user that operates tracing. Then, using
321 it's UID, the application will try to register to the per-user ltt-sessiond
322 again verifying before the owner ship of the named pipe that should match the
323 UID.
324
325 Before registration, the inprocess library MUST validate with the ltt-sessiond
326 the library version for compatibility reason. This is mechanism is useful for
327 library compatibility but also to see if ltt-sessiond socket is valid (means
328 that an actual ltt-sessiond is listening on the other side). Having no response
329 for over 10 seconds, the application will cut communication on that socket and
330 fallback to the application common named pipe (explain below).
331
332 If the socket is valid, it will register as a traceable application using the
333 apps credentials and will open a local Unix socket, passed to ltt-sessiond, in
334 order to receive an eventual shared memory reference. It will then wait on it
335 if any other command are given by the lttng client. This socket becomes the
336 only channel of communication between the registry and the application.
337
338 If no ltt-sessiond is present at registration, the application tries to open
339 the application common named pipe or create it if it does not exist and wait on
340 it (using poll or epoll Linux API). Having any type of event on that pipe, the
341 inprocess library will then try to register to the global and per-user
342 ltt-sessiond. If it fails again, it goes back again to wait on that pipe.
343
344 SHARED MEMORY
345
346 For UST, this is the memory area where the tracing buffers will be held and
347 given access in read-write mode for the inprocess library of the application.
348
349 On the LTTng side (for ltt-consumerd), these buffers are in the kernel space
350 and given access by opening a file in the debugfs file system. With an
351 anonymous file desriptor, this consumer will be able to extract the data.
352
353 This memory is ONLY used for the tracing data. No communication between
354 components is done using that memory.
355
356 A shared memory segment for tracing MUST be set with the tracing group GID for
357 the UST buffers. This is the job of ltt-sessiond.
358
359 PREREQUISITES:
360
361 The global ltt-sessiond daemon MUST always be running as "root" or an
362 equivalent user having the same privilege as root (UID = 0).
363
364 The ltt-sessiond daemon SHOULD be up and running at all time in order to trace
365 a tracable application.
366
367 The new lttng library API MUST be used to interact with the
368 ltt-sessiond registry daemon for every trace action needed by the user.
369
370 A tracing group MUST be created. Whoever is in that group is able to access the
371 tracing data of any buffers and is able to trace any application or the kernel.
372
373 WARNING: The tracing group name COULD interfere with other already existing
374 groups. Care should be put at install time for that (from source and packages)
375
376 The next section illustrates different use cases using that new model.
377
378 Use Cases
379 -----------------
380
381 Each case considers these :
382
383 * user A - UID: A; GID: A, tracing
384 * user B - UID: B; GID: B, tracing
385
386 Scenario 1 - Single user tracing app_1
387 ------
388
389 This first scenario shows how user A will start a trace for application app_1
390 that is not running.
391
392 1) lttng ask ltt-sessiond for a new session through a Unix socket. If
393 allowed, ltt-sessiond returns a session UUID to the client.
394 (Ex: ops --> new session)
395
396 +-----------+ ops +--------------+
397 | lttng A |<---------->| ltt-sessiond |
398 +-----------+ +--------------+
399
400 2) The app_1 is spawned by lttng having the user A credentials. Then, app_1
401 automatically register to ltt-sessiond has a "tracable apps" through the global
402 named pipe of ltt-sessiond using the UID/GID and session UUID.
403
404 The shared memory is created with the app_1 UID (rw-) and tracing group GID
405 (r--) and a reference is given back to app_1
406
407 +-----------+ +--------------+
408 | lttng A | | ltt-sessiond |
409 +-----------+ +--------------+
410 | ^ |
411 | +-------+ | | +-------------+
412 +-->| app_1 |<--------+ +-->| shared mem. |
413 +-------+ +-------------+
414
415 3) app_1 connect to the shared memory and ust-consumerd is spawned with the
416 session UUID and lttng credentials (user A). It then register to ltt-sessiond
417 for a valid session to consume using the previous session UUID and credentials.
418
419 +-----------+ +--------------+
420 | lttng A | +-->| ltt-sessiond |----------+
421 +-----------+ | +--------------+ |
422 | | |
423 | +---------------+ read | commands
424 +-->| ust-consumerd |---------+ | and
425 +---------------+ v | options
426 ^ | +-------------+ |
427 | v +------>| shared mem. | |
428 +-------+ | +-------------+ |
429 | app_1 |-------- |
430 +-------+ write |
431 ^ |
432 +---------------------------------------
433
434 Scenario 2 - Single user tracing already running app_1
435 ------
436
437 1) lttng ask ltt-sessiond for a new session through a Unix socket. If allowed
438 (able to write on socket), ltt-sessiond returns a session UUID to the client.
439
440 +-----------+ ops +--------------+
441 | lttng A |<---------->| ltt-sessiond |
442 +-----------+ +--------------+
443 ^
444 +-------+ read |
445 | app_1 |----------+
446 +-------+
447
448 NOTE: At this stage, since app_1 is already running, the registration of app_1
449 to ltt-sessiond has already been done. However, the shared memory segment is
450 not allocated yet until a trace session is initiated. Having no shared memory,
451 the inprocess library of app_1 will wait on the local Unix socket connected to
452 ltt-sessiond for the reference.
453
454 +-----------+ +--------------+
455 | lttng A | | ltt-sessiond |
456 +-----------+ +--------------+
457 ^ |
458 +-------+ | | +-------------+
459 | app_1 |<--------+ +-->| shared mem. |
460 +-------+ commands +-------------+
461 | ^
462 +---------- write ----------+
463
464 2) lttng spawns a ust-consumerd for the session. We get the same figure as
465 step 3 in the first scenario.
466
467 There is a small difference though. The application MAY NOT be using the same
468 credentials as user A (lttng). However, the shared memory is always GID of
469 the tracing group. So, in order for user A to trace app_1, is MUST be in the
470 tracing group otherwise, if the application is not set with the user
471 credentials, user A will not be able to trace app_1
472
473 Scenario 3 - Multiple users tracing the same running application
474 ------
475
476 1) Session are created for the two users. Using the same exact mechanism as
477 before, the shared memory and consumers are created. Two users, two sessions,
478 two consumers and two shared memories for the same application.
479
480 +-----------+ +--------------+
481 | lttng A |-------- ops ------->| ltt-sessiond |
482 +-----------+ ^ +--------------+
483 | ^ commands
484 +-----------+ | +-------+<--+
485 | lttng B |------+ +--->| app_1 |------- write -----+
486 +-----------+ | +-------+ |
487 | |
488 +-----------------+ | +-------------+ |
489 | ust-consumerd A |--O--- read ----->| shared mem. |<-+
490 +-----------------+ | +-------------+ |
491 | |
492 +-----------------+ v +-------------+ |
493 | ust-consumerd B |--+--- read ----->| shared mem. |<-+
494 +-----------------+ +-------------+
495
496 ust-consumerd A - UID: user A (rw-), GID: tracing (r--)
497 ust-consumerd B - UID: user B (rw-), GID: tracing (r--)
498
499 Scenario 4 - User not in the tracing group
500 ------
501
502 For this particular case, it's all goes back to the first scenario. The user
503 MUST start the application using his credentials. The session will be created
504 by the per-user ltt-sessiond but he will not be able to trace anything that the
505 user does not owned.
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