Hello all,I am having a major problem with the Oracle process that just halts at random on our w2003 SP2 server and we are suspecting it's the OS that is killing it for some reason because no traces are produced from Oracle.My question is how to configure this tool to properly lead me to what is causing this crash ( i.e dump file , log )I tried a few configurations but the dump file is created when I startup the process ? not when I kill with net stop or task kill or try to make it crash by killing it's child. I chose all defaults and then the first exception advanced option.Any ideas?ThanksJohn

hi there,i would suggest to use another tool called adplus dump tool which can be used during crash or hang.below KB has brief explanation about how to use this tool , and i usually use this tool to capture the PID of the faulting process and understand the stackhttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/286350for debug diagnostics tool, please find the kb article belowhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/931370please let us know if the above tools were usefulsainath Windows Driver Development

It seems a bit more cryptic and command line but may well do the trick also ( hopefully ) Do i have to install the symbols ? It says that the _NT_SYMBOL_PATH variableis not set ?So basically I just run the command against th PID of the running process and leave it run minimizedDoes this affect the memory usage in regards to the process or server ?thanks again

Hello, Thanks for the Query before checking the dump can we do some simple test's ??In order to narrow down the cause of the issue more efficiently, please refer to the following steps to perform a Clean Boot and restart the problematic server in Safe Mode to see if the issue will re-occur Step 1: Perform a Clean Boot 1. Click "Start", go to "Run", and type "msconfig" in the open box to start the System Configuration Utility. 2. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click Disable All (if it is not gray). 3. Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK". 4. restart your computer. When the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the box and click "OK". After you restart Monitor the the server for a While if it works good then ebable the services accordingly.Note: Alsostop if there is any AV running on the server and check it.Step 2Check the link http://www.dumpanalysis.org/blog/index.php/2008/09/12/adplus-in-21-seconds-and-13-steps/.To be frankI am personally a big fan ofWindbg by Microsoft because its all Gui and bit easy to configure than ADPLUS and I aslos advice to check the link below which gives you the step by step guideto analyze the dumps.http://codinghut.com/2008/02/analyzing-windows-crash-dump-files/Thanks and hope it helps if it doesnt please dp let us know :)Thanks Syed Khairuddin

Thanks for those tips and I think I will use adplus as it's much more simple to run.The process that I am trying to debug is only one service ( Oracledatabase process ) and not the whole server It just seems to stop with no clue.I will just run adplus -crash with the PID and let it run until it happens and hopefully collect a dump file that will lead me to the problem.Much appreciated

I have run the command like so and the process is running in background. C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)>adplus -crash -pn oracle.exe Attaching the debugger to: ORACLE.EXE (Process ID: 3132)Attaching the debugger to: ORACLE.EXE (Process ID: 2264)Further questions:1) canI close that msdos window or have toleave open?2) other parameters I can use to better capture crash info and debug.... -cdc ?Much appreciated

hi there,you can close the msdos windows and you can find the dump in the name which you have ocnfigured.sainath Windows Driver Development

Many thanks !So no further configuration is needed on the command line ?I see this dir createdC:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)\Crash_Mode__Date_03-02-2009__Time_13-39-36PMI need as much info as possible regarding this process and when itcrashes

hi there,yes, you got it perfect, but please make sure that the size of the file , it should not be in KB , it shoudl be in MB's . If so please re-run the process where it will generate the logafte ryou have successfully dumped in , you need windbg utility from microsoft to analyze the trace. with out which you cannot analyze the dump which you have captured.sainath Windows Driver Development

I have crashed the process ( oracle.exe ) through various means but no dump file has been created within that directory?C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)did i do something wrong ?

hi there,you need to re-run the process once again.make sure that you please read the document as we are not online / talking through phone its difficult to tell u at what time you need to stop the trace.so a better way is to use crash option using adplus or if you want to crash the process you can also use drwtsn32.exe which comes with OS by default just run drwtsn32.exe -i switch so that it would become default debugger and then drwtsn32.exe -p <process id >to check the process id please use tasklist / process explorersainath Windows Driver Development

OKI finally crashed a testdebugger.exe process and it produced 4 default dump files.It seems that the process must completely dissappear from task manager in order to produce dump files.My Oracle process was only in abnormal state using less memory.Thank you very much for all your help!If I have more questions i will write back.

I have this log file that keeps growing and the cdb.exedebug window scrolling with information..I know i can't close the cdb, but how about the log file that keeps growing rapidly?1) Will thePID-3872__ORACLE.EXE__Date_03-04-2009__Time_14-26-22PM.log grow out of control as we can be a few days or weeks without a crash?2) It seems that when I hit Ctrl-C the monitored process stops also along with the debugger ?is this normal ?

Help !Hi Sainath, I am finally using debug diag GUI with default settings.The process that I am trying to troubleshoot is using 1300Mb of memory and the ( debug diag )DBGHOST.exe is using 300 MB and slowly progressing upwards , is this normal ?Thx

Hi Vincent,My question is still unanswered as I am still unlear about the tool and how it works in my environment .Please advise on my questions above many thanks

hi there,sorry for delayed response.some of the processes are dependent processes so there is no harm if the size of the dump increases to cross confirm , please do restart the system, and then re-do the steps to check if this process really acquiring that amount of memory when dump is taken.are you using console debugger ( cdb ) to debug your application ?sainath Windows Driver Development