Fast Java profiling with scheduling-aware stack fragment sampling and asynchronous analysis
Peter Höfer, Hanspeter Mössenböck · 2014
Sampling is a popular approach to profiling because it typically has only a small impact on performance and does not modify the profiled application. Common sampling profilers collect data about an application by pausing the application threads, walking the stacks to create stack traces, and then adding the traces to their profile. Waiting threads are often sampled as well, even when they have not been active since their last sample. Sampling profilers for Java commonly rely on safepoints, which are locations in the Java code where a thread can pause to be sampled. However, restricting profiling to these locations affects the accuracy of the profile, and the safepoint mechanism itself imposes significant pause times on the application.