Rewrite intel stats (#23108)

* Rewrite intel GPU stats to use file descriptors instead of intel_gpu_top, leading to significantly better API for interaction and more accurate results

* Update tests

* Update docs

* Adjust approach

* Update strings
This commit is contained in:
Nicolas Mowen
2026-05-04 10:36:32 -05:00
committed by GitHub
parent 814c497bef
commit ef9d7e07b7
6 changed files with 276 additions and 226 deletions
@@ -136,90 +136,32 @@ ffmpeg:
</TabItem>
</ConfigTabs>
### Configuring Intel GPU Stats in Docker
### Configuring Intel GPU Stats
Additional configuration is needed for the Docker container to be able to access the `intel_gpu_top` command for GPU stats. There are two options:
Frigate reads Intel GPU utilization directly from the kernel's per-client DRM usage counters exposed at `/proc/<pid>/fdinfo/<fd>`. This requires:
1. Run the container as privileged.
2. Add the `CAP_PERFMON` capability (note: you might need to set the `perf_event_paranoid` low enough to allow access to the performance event system.)
- Linux kernel **5.19 or newer** for the `i915` driver, or any release of the `xe` driver.
- Frigate running with permission to read other processes' fdinfo. Running as root inside the container (the default) satisfies this; non-root setups may need `CAP_SYS_PTRACE`.
#### Run as privileged
No `intel_gpu_top` binary, `CAP_PERFMON`, privileged mode, or `perf_event_paranoid` tuning is required.
This method works, but it gives more permissions to the container than are actually needed.
#### Stats for SR-IOV or specific devices
##### Docker Compose - Privileged
```yaml
services:
frigate:
...
image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable
# highlight-next-line
privileged: true
```
##### Docker Run CLI - Privileged
```bash {4}
docker run -d \
--name frigate \
...
--privileged \
ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable
```
#### CAP_PERFMON
Only recent versions of Docker support the `CAP_PERFMON` capability. You can test to see if yours supports it by running: `docker run --cap-add=CAP_PERFMON hello-world`
##### Docker Compose - CAP_PERFMON
```yaml {5,6}
services:
frigate:
...
image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable
cap_add:
- CAP_PERFMON
```
##### Docker Run CLI - CAP_PERFMON
```bash {4}
docker run -d \
--name frigate \
...
--cap-add=CAP_PERFMON \
ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable
```
#### perf_event_paranoid
_Note: This setting must be changed for the entire system._
For more information on the various values across different distributions, see https://askubuntu.com/questions/1400874/what-does-perf-paranoia-level-four-do.
Depending on your OS and kernel configuration, you may need to change the `/proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid` kernel tunable. You can test the change by running `sudo sh -c 'echo 2 >/proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid'` which will persist until a reboot. Make it permanent by running `sudo sh -c 'echo kernel.perf_event_paranoid=2 >> /etc/sysctl.d/local.conf'`
#### Stats for SR-IOV or other devices
When using virtualized GPUs via SR-IOV, you need to specify the device path to use to gather stats from `intel_gpu_top`. This example may work for some systems using SR-IOV:
If the host has more than one Intel GPU (e.g. an iGPU plus a discrete GPU, or SR-IOV virtual functions), pin stats collection to a specific device by setting `intel_gpu_device` to either its PCI bus address or a DRM card/render-node path:
```yaml
telemetry:
stats:
intel_gpu_device: "sriov"
intel_gpu_device: "0000:00:02.0"
```
For other virtualized GPUs, try specifying the direct path to the device instead:
```yaml
telemetry:
stats:
intel_gpu_device: "drm:/dev/dri/card0"
intel_gpu_device: "/dev/dri/card1"
```
If you are passing in a device path, make sure you've passed the device through to the container.
When passing a device path, make sure the device is also passed through to the container.
## AMD-based CPUs