vfscount(8) System Manager's Manual vfscount(8)

# [NAME](#NAME)

vfscount - Count VFS calls ("vfs\_\*"). Uses Linux eBPF/bcc.

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**vfscount \[duration]**

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

This counts VFS calls. This can be useful for general workload characterization of these operations.

This works by tracing all kernel functions beginning with "vfs\_" using dynamic tracing. This may match more functions than you are interested in measuring: Edit the script to customize which functions to trace.

Since this uses BPF, only the root user can use this tool.

# [REQUIREMENTS](#REQUIREMENTS)

CONFIG\_BPF and bcc.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[duration](#duration)

duration of the trace in seconds.

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

[Count some VFS calls until Ctrl-C is hit:](#Count)

\# **vfscount**

[Count some VFS calls in ten seconds](#Count~2)

\# **vfscount 10**

# [FIELDS](#FIELDS)

[ADDR](#ADDR)

Address of the instruction pointer that was traced (only useful if the FUNC column is suspicious and you would like to double check the translation).

[FUNC](#FUNC)

Kernel function name

[COUNT](#COUNT)

Number of calls while tracing

# [OVERHEAD](#OVERHEAD)

This traces kernel vfs functions and maintains in-kernel counts, which are asynchronously copied to user-space. While the rate of VFS operations can be very high (&gt;1M/sec), this is a relatively efficient way to trace these events, and so the overhead is expected to be small for normal workloads. Measure in a test environment, and if overheads are an issue, edit the script to reduce the types of vfs functions traced (currently all beginning with "vfs\_").

# [SOURCE](#SOURCE)

This is from bcc.

https://github.com/iovisor/bcc

Also look in the bcc distribution for a companion \_examples.txt file containing example usage, output, and commentary for this tool.

# [OS](#OS)

Linux

# [STABILITY](#STABILITY)

Unstable - in development.

# [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR)

Brendan Gregg

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[vfsstat(8)](/man/enterprise-packages/bcc/vfsstat.8)

2015-08-18 USER COMMANDS

---

Document: vfscount(8) from bcc 0.37.0-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/iovisor/bcc
