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Chapter 4. Useful SystemTap Scripts

This chapter enumerates several SystemTap scripts you can use to monitor and investigate different subsystems. All of these scripts are available at /usr/share/systemtap/testsuite/systemtap.examples/ once you install the systemtap-testsuite RPM.

4.1. Network
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The following sections showcase scripts that trace network-related functions and build a profile of network activity.

4.1.1. Network Profiling
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This section describes how to profile network activity. nettop.stp provides a glimpse into how much network traffic each process is generating on a machine.
nettop.stp

#! /usr/bin/env stap

global ifxmit, ifrecv
global ifmerged

probe netdev.transmit
{
  ifxmit[pid(), dev_name, execname(), uid()] <<< length
}

probe netdev.receive
{
  ifrecv[pid(), dev_name, execname(), uid()] <<< length
}

function print_activity()
{
  printf("%5s %5s %-7s %7s %7s %7s %7s %-15s\n",
         "PID", "UID", "DEV", "XMIT_PK", "RECV_PK",
         "XMIT_KB", "RECV_KB", "COMMAND")

  foreach ([pid, dev, exec, uid] in ifrecv) {
	  ifmerged[pid, dev, exec, uid] += @count(ifrecv[pid,dev,exec,uid]);
  }
  foreach ([pid, dev, exec, uid] in ifxmit) {
	  ifmerged[pid, dev, exec, uid] += @count(ifxmit[pid,dev,exec,uid]);
  }
  foreach ([pid, dev, exec, uid] in ifmerged-) {
    n_xmit = @count(ifxmit[pid, dev, exec, uid])
    n_recv = @count(ifrecv[pid, dev, exec, uid])
    printf("%5d %5d %-7s %7d %7d %7d %7d %-15s\n",
           pid, uid, dev, n_xmit, n_recv,
           n_xmit ? @sum(ifxmit[pid, dev, exec, uid])/1024 : 0,
           n_recv ? @sum(ifrecv[pid, dev, exec, uid])/1024 : 0,
           exec)
  }

  print("\n")

  delete ifxmit
  delete ifrecv
  delete ifmerged
}

probe timer.ms(5000), end, error
{
  print_activity()
}

Note that function print_activity() uses the following expressions: 
n_xmit ? @sum(ifxmit[pid, dev, exec, uid])/1024 : 0
n_recv ? @sum(ifrecv[pid, dev, exec, uid])/1024 : 0
These expressions are if/else conditionals. The first statement is simply a more concise way of writing the following psuedo code: 
if n_recv != 0 then
  @sum(ifrecv[pid, dev, exec, uid])/1024
else
  0
nettop.stp tracks which processes are generating network traffic on the system, and provides the following information about each process:
  • PID — the ID of the listed process.
  • UID — user ID. A user ID of 0 refers to the root user.
  • DEV — which ethernet device the process used to send / receive data (e.g. eth0, eth1)
  • XMIT_PK — number of packets transmitted by the process
  • RECV_PK — number of packets received by the process
  • XMIT_KB — amount of data sent by the process, in kilobytes
  • RECV_KB — amount of data received by the service, in kilobytes
nettop.stp provides network profile sampling every 5 seconds. You can change this setting by editing probe timer.ms(5000) accordingly. Example 4.1, “nettop.stp Sample Output” contains an excerpt of the output from nettop.stp over a 20-second period:

Example 4.1. nettop.stp Sample Output

[...]
  PID   UID DEV     XMIT_PK RECV_PK XMIT_KB RECV_KB COMMAND        
    0     0 eth0          0       5       0       0 swapper        
11178     0 eth0          2       0       0       0 synergyc       

  PID   UID DEV     XMIT_PK RECV_PK XMIT_KB RECV_KB COMMAND        
 2886     4 eth0         79       0       5       0 cups-polld     
11362     0 eth0          0      61       0       5 firefox        
    0     0 eth0          3      32       0       3 swapper        
 2886     4 lo            4       4       0       0 cups-polld     
11178     0 eth0          3       0       0       0 synergyc       

  PID   UID DEV     XMIT_PK RECV_PK XMIT_KB RECV_KB COMMAND        
    0     0 eth0          0       6       0       0 swapper        
 2886     4 lo            2       2       0       0 cups-polld     
11178     0 eth0          3       0       0       0 synergyc       
 3611     0 eth0          0       1       0       0 Xorg           

  PID   UID DEV     XMIT_PK RECV_PK XMIT_KB RECV_KB COMMAND        
    0     0 eth0          3      42       0       2 swapper        
11178     0 eth0         43       1       3       0 synergyc       
11362     0 eth0          0       7       0       0 firefox        
 3897     0 eth0          0       1       0       0 multiload-apple
[...]
This section describes how to trace functions called from the kernel's net/socket.c file. This task helps you identify, in finer detail, how each process interacts with the network at the kernel level.
socket-trace.stp

#! /usr/bin/env stap

probe kernel.function("*@net/socket.c").call {
  printf ("%s -> %s\n", thread_indent(1), probefunc())
}
probe kernel.function("*@net/socket.c").return {
  printf ("%s <- %s\n", thread_indent(-1), probefunc())
}

socket-trace.stp is identical to Example 3.6, “thread_indent.stp”, which was earlier used in SystemTap Functions to illustrate how thread_indent() works.

Example 4.2. socket-trace.stp Sample Output

[...]
0 Xorg(3611): -> sock_poll
3 Xorg(3611): <- sock_poll
0 Xorg(3611): -> sock_poll
3 Xorg(3611): <- sock_poll
0 gnome-terminal(11106): -> sock_poll
5 gnome-terminal(11106): <- sock_poll
0 scim-bridge(3883): -> sock_poll
3 scim-bridge(3883): <- sock_poll
0 scim-bridge(3883): -> sys_socketcall
4 scim-bridge(3883):  -> sys_recv
8 scim-bridge(3883):   -> sys_recvfrom
12 scim-bridge(3883):-> sock_from_file
16 scim-bridge(3883):<- sock_from_file
20 scim-bridge(3883):-> sock_recvmsg
24 scim-bridge(3883):<- sock_recvmsg
28 scim-bridge(3883):   <- sys_recvfrom
31 scim-bridge(3883):  <- sys_recv
35 scim-bridge(3883): <- sys_socketcall
[...]
Example 4.2, “socket-trace.stp Sample Output” contains a 3-second excerpt of the output for socket-trace.stp. For more information about the output of this script as provided by thread_indent(), refer to SystemTap Functions Example 3.6, “thread_indent.stp”.

4.1.3. Monitoring Incoming TCP Connections
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This section illustrates how to monitor incoming TCP connections. This task is useful in identifying any unauthorized, suspicious, or otherwise unwanted network access requests in real time.
tcp_connections.stp

#! /usr/bin/env stap

probe begin {
  printf("%6s %16s %6s %6s %16s\n",
         "UID", "CMD", "PID", "PORT", "IP_SOURCE")
}

probe kernel.function("tcp_accept").return?,
      kernel.function("inet_csk_accept").return? {
  sock = $return
  if (sock != 0)
    printf("%6d %16s %6d %6d %16s\n", uid(), execname(), pid(),
           inet_get_local_port(sock), inet_get_ip_source(sock))
}

While tcp_connections.stp is running, it will print out the following information about any incoming TCP connections accepted by the system in real time:
  • Current UID
  • CMD - the command accepting the connection
  • PID of the command
  • Port used by the connection
  • IP address from which the TCP connection originated

Example 4.3. tcp_connections.stp Sample Output

UID            CMD    PID   PORT        IP_SOURCE
0             sshd   3165     22      10.64.0.227
0             sshd   3165     22      10.64.0.227
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