A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that, in an
embodiment, retrieve event data from a processor for sampling intervals,
where the sampling intervals are evenly distributed, but the control
points at which the event data is retrieved are unevenly distributed. The
processor executes instructions for logical partitions, and the event
data is associated with events that are detected by the processor during
the sampling intervals. In response to an interrupt received from the
processor at the control point, a determination is made whether the
sample point has been reached. If the sample point has been reached, the
event data is retrieved from the processor and an event counter is reset
to a value that is calculated to cause the processor to include an
identical number of the events in the sampling intervals. The value is
calculated based on the event counter at the time control point, the
event counter at a time of the sample point, and the number of events in
the sampling interval. In this way, an even distribution of event data
may be collected when the processor is allocated to multiple partitions
in a logically-partitioned system.