Abstract: A processor includes a front end, a decoder, a retirement unit, and a performance monitoring unit. The front end includes a decoder with logic to receive a tracking instruction to enable tracking of execution of a region of memory. The instruction is to define an address range of the region. The retirement includes logic to retire the tracking instruction and candidate instructions. The performance monitoring unit includes logic to determine that the candidate instructions are associated with an entrance and an exit to the address range, and to generate an alert based on the candidate instructions association with the entrance and the exit.

Abstract: A processor and method are described for implementing performance monitoring using a fixed function performance counter. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: a fixed function performance counter to decrement or increment upon occurrence of an event in the processing device; a precise event based sampling (PEBS) enable control communicably coupled to the fixed function performance counter; a PEBS handler to generate and store a PEBS record comprising architectural metadata defining a state of the processing device at a time of generation of the PEBS record; and a non-precise event based sampling (NPEBS) module communicably coupled to the PEBS enable control and the PEBS handler, the NPEBS module to cause the PEBS handler to generate the PEBS record for the event upon the fixed function performance counter reaching a specified value.

Abstract: A processor includes a front end, a decoder, a retirement unit, and a performance monitoring unit. The front end includes a decoder with logic to receive a tracking instruction to enable tracking of execution of a region of memory. The instruction is to define an address range of the region. The retirement includes logic to retire the tracking instruction and candidate instructions. The performance monitoring unit includes logic to determine that the candidate instructions are associated with an entrance and an exit to the address range, and to generate an alert based on the candidate instructions association with the entrance and the exit.