perf stat tips — authorized counter-stat literacy

Snapshot

Tip checklist (authorized only)

1. Confirm you may run perf stat on the lab host (syllabus box you own or were given access to).
2. Prefer documenting who / why / ticket before any count drill — never poke production without change control.
3. Record short factual notes; quote short Evidence (event names/counts — never secret payloads from target processes).
4. Optional: family peer → perf-tips.
5. Optional: sampling peer → perf-record-tips when the syllabus asks for record/report.
6. Prefer disposable lab workloads for perf stat drills; quote non-secret counters afterward as Evidence.
7. Prefer default / -e event lists the syllabus authorizes — avoid inventing side-channel cookbooks.
8. Stop at literacy — no attack or unauthorized profiling cookbooks.

Allowed framing

• Classroom labs reviewing perf stat on authorized disposable workloads (aggregate counts / -e event lists).
• Binding short factual notes as Evidence (event/count labels — no secrets).
• Documenting expected vs observed counter-stat literacy for authorized inventory notes.
• Comparing perf-stat ↔ peer tip pages under one binder.
• Testing system-wide (-a) counts only when the syllabus authorizes that drill on lab resources.

Scope we will not cover

• No crack/pirate/keygen via perf stat.
• No intentional unauthorized profiling of foreign production workloads.
• No secret-theft or side-channel cookbooks against hosts you do not own.
• No cookbooks that weaken perf_event_paranoid / LSM controls on foreign hosts without authorization.

Beginner path (authorized only)

1. Obtain one syllabus-approved disposable lab host with a usable perf toolchain.
2. Prefer a throwaway lab workload before any system-wide drill.
3. With authorization, run a syllabus-approved perf stat -- <lab-cmd>; quote event/count labels as Evidence.
4. Optional: peer tip pages above when the syllabus asks.
5. Stop at literacy — no attack or unauthorized profiling cookbooks.

Practical notes for authorized labs

• perf stat aggregates hardware/software counters — keep Evidence labels distinct from sampling perf-record-tips.
• Pair with pidstat-tips only for syllabus-approved process-stat literacy on lab hosts.
• Target command lines may embed secrets — never paste them into notes or git.
• Prefer documenting event names and counts the syllabus authorized without dumping full process secret context.
• Never commit perf stat dumps with secrets to git — even for labs.

FAQ

Sources