------------------------------------------------------ Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector for Windows* OS Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------ -------- Overview -------- The Intel(R) Trace Collector is a low-overhead tracing library that performs event-based tracing in applications. You can analyze the collected trace data for performance hotspots and bottlenecks. The product is completely thread safe and integrates with C/C++, FORTRAN and multithreaded processes with and without MPI. It supports binary instrumentation and fail-safe mode. Additionally it can check for MPI programming and system errors. The Intel(R) Trace Analyzer provides a convenient way to monitor application activities gathered by the Intel Trace Collector through graphical displays. You can view the desired level of detail, quickly identify performance hotspots and bottlenecks, and analyze their causes. Bundled together, the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector provide optimized analysis and visualization capabilities. Together they offer fast graphical rendering of complex profiling data and they easily scale up to hundreds of processes. The tool is available on Linux* OS and Microsoft* Windows* OS. ---------- What's New ---------- New Features and Benefits in version 7.2 Update 2: - Support for the latest Intel(R) Compilers 11.1 Update 3 - Various internal improvements for better user experience: - Adaptation to Qt4 behaviour New Features and Benefits in version 7.2 Update 1: - Intel(R) Trace Analyzer GUI improvements New Features and Benefits in version 7.2: - Intel(R) Compiler 11.0 support - Migration to the Qt 4.x (formerly Trolltech) - Correctness checking reports now available in the Intel Trace Analyzer GUI - Microsoft* Windows* HPC Server 2008 support New Features and Benefits in version 7.1.x: - Improved functionality of binary instrumentation (itcpin) on Microsoft* Windows* OS - Intel Trace Collector configuration assistant GUI utility - Distributed memory checking for the MPI Correctness checking library - Command line interface for the Intel Trace Analyzer - Improved statistics gathering with Intel Trace Collector ------------ Key features ------------ This release of the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector suppports the following major features: - Advanced GUI: user-friendly interface, high-level scalability, support of structured trace file (STF) trace data, runs on Linux* and Microsoft* Windows* - Aggregating and Filtering: detailed views of runtime behavior grouped by functions or processes - MPI Communicator: display of communication metrics for an arbitrary time interval for MPI - Fail-Safe Tracing: improved functionality on prematurely terminated applications with deadlock detection - Intel(R) MPI Library Interface: support of tracing on internal MPI states, support of MPI-IO - Correctness checking: check for MPI and system errors at run-time - ROMIO: extended support of MPI-2 standard parallel file I/O - Binary instrumentation on the IA32 and Intel(R) 64 architectures - Comparison feature: compare two trace files and/or two regions (in one or two trace files) - Counter Timeline: analyze counter data collected through provided PAPI and OS modules or through manual use of Intel Trace Collector API - Integrated online help for the Intel Trace Analyzer ---------------- Product Contents ---------------- This Product package contains the following components: The Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector Documentation for the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector can be found at /doc. The ITA_Reference_Guide.pdf includes a tutorial introduction for the Intel Trace Analyzer and the ITC_Reference_Guide.pdf documents the Intel Trace Collector. The Intel Trace Analyzer comes with an online help system (html) while the Intel Trace Collector provides man pages on Linux*. NOTES: Adobe Acrobat Reader* or another pdf reader such as xpdf is required to view the product documentation. Third-party sources of the components of the Intel Trace Analyzer and Collector, for example those released under GPL, may be downloaded from ftp://ftp.ikn.intel.com/pub/opensource. ------------ Installation ------------ To install the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector double-click the installer file setup.exe and follow the instructions given during the installation. You will be asked for the location of your license file and which components should be installed. For your convenience, the installer also offers you to register the Trace Analyzer with the trace file extension created by the Trace Collector (*.stf). After installation, read '/doc/ITC_Reference_Guide.pdf' and '/doc/ITA_Reference_Guide.pdf'. Prior to using the Intel Trace Collector, you should source /bin/itacvars.bat to set the appropriate environment variables for smooth functioning of the software. You can invoke the Intel Trace Analyzer via its entry in the Start Menu, or by double-clicking '/bin/traceanalyzer.exe', or by executing it from a command shell. If registered, double-clicking tracefiles (*.stf) opens them with the Intel Trace Analyzer. ---------------------- Installing the license ---------------------- The Intel Trace Analyzer and Collector uses Macrovision Corporation FLEXlm* electronic licensing technology. License management is transparent to the user. During the installation you will be prompted for a valid license, which is required to successfully complete the installation of the Intel Trace Analyzer and Collector. On Linux*, the provided scripts itacvars.sh or itacvars.csh will ensure that the path of your license file is contained in the environment variable INTEL_LICENSE_FILE. Since the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer uses a time-limited license, the license file must remain in place on the system. ------------------------------------- Uninstalling the Intel Trace Analyzer ------------------------------------- Linux* Systems: To uninstall the Intel Trace Analyzer and Collector run the script '/uninstall.sh'. Microsoft* Windows* Operating Systems: Uninstalling the Intel Trace Analyzer is done in the usual way via the Start->Settings->Control Panel->Add or Remove Programs menu selection. Choose the Intel Trace Analyzer and Collector and select Remove. Note: Uninstalling the Intel Trace Analyzer and Collector will remove the software components while keeping the license file and other files in which may have been created by you. It may also not reset its entry in the INTEL_LICENSE_FILE environment variable. The Intel Trace Analyzer and Collector software and licenses can coexist with previous versions. --------------------------------- Special Features and Known Issues --------------------------------- The Intel Trace Analyzer may get into an undefined state if too many files are opened at the same time. Certain versions of ld (for example the ones distributed with Red Hat Enterprise Linux* 4) have problems linking with the Intel Trace Collector shared libraries. As a workaround you can use the static libraries or specify the following options to ld: "-Wl,--allow-shlib-undefined -Wl,--noinhibit-exec" which will result in a correct binary. In some cases symbols information may appear incorrectly in the Intel Trace Analyzer if you discarded symbols information from object files. MPI Correctness Checking is available for the Intel(R) MPI Library only. Binary instrumentation (itcpin) is not supported on SGI MPT*. The Intel Trace Collector for Microsoft* Windows* OS has the following limitations compared to Version for Linux* OS: - no distributed memory checking - itcpin is not supported if the "McAfee Host Intrusion Prevention"* antivirus software is active Please read the Reference Guides for details. ------------------- System Requirements ------------------- Supported Hardware Systems based on the IA-32 architecture: A system based on the Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 processor Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor recommended 2 GB of RAM (4 GB of RAM recommended) 1 GB of free hard disk space Systems based on the Intel(R) 64 architecture: Intel(R) Xeon(R) processor Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor family recommended 4 GB of RAM (8 GB of RAM recommended) 1 GB of free hard disk space Itanium(R) 2 based systems: Itanium(R) 2 processor recommended 4 GB of RAM (8 GB of RAM recommended) 1 GB of free hard disk space Supported Software Operating Systems Systems based on the IA-32 architecture: Microsoft* Windows XP* Microsoft* Windows Vista* Systems based on the Intel(R) 64 architecture: Microsoft* Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003* Microsoft* Windows Server 2003* Microsoft* Windows XP Professional x64 Edition* Microsoft* Windows Vista* Microsoft* Windows HPC Server 2008* Microsoft* Windows Server 2008* MPI implementations Intel(R) MPI Library 3.x ----------------- Technical Support ----------------- Your feedback is very important to us. To receive technical support, you need to be registered for an Intel(R) Premier Support account on our secure web site. You can use your Intel(R) Premier Support Account for the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector to file issues/comments and recommendations for the product. This package is supported via Intel(R) Premier Support. Direct customer support requests at: https://premier.intel.com General information on Intel(R) product-support offerings may be obtained at: http://www.intel.com/software/products/support The Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector home page can be found at: http://www.intel.com/go/traceanalyzer The Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector support web site, http://www.intel.com/software/products/support/itac provides top technical issues, frequently asked questions, product documentation,and product errata. Requests for licenses can be directed to the Registration Center at: http://www.intel.com/software/products/registrationcenter Before submitting a support issue, see the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector for Windows* OS Getting Started Guide for details on post-install testing to ensure that basic facilities are working. When submitting a support issue to Intel(R) Premier Support, please provide specific details of your problem, including: - The Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector package name and version information - Host architecture (for example, IA-32 or Itanium(R) architecture) - Compiler(s) and versions - Operating system(s) and versions - Specifics on how to reproduce the problem. Include makefiles, command lines, small test cases, and build instructions. You can obtain version information for the Intel(R) Trace Analyzer and Collector package in the file itacsupport.txt. Submitting Issues - Go to https://premier.intel.com - Log in to the site. 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