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MANDATORY --> after finishing this article, if you wrote advanced content in this section , you must to manually add the "advanced" label  This

article covers all important aspects of BVMS dump creation:
  • introduction to dumps
  • tools for dump creation
  • error scenarios and corresponding dump creation methods

Quick links:

  • Procdump tool
    • Batch files for easy use of Procdump

    action is required to indicate that this article contains ADVANCED instructions for CTS/ SG or GK.

    DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN THIS SECTION!

    advanced section

    Please contact CTS / SG or GK team to view this section from draft space, if necessary


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    IMPORTANT! --> the content itself from here will be not displayed. The content from here will be displayed only when the "ad" label will be set after article creation. Only CTS/ SG or GK are allowed to use "ad" label.

    PLEASE do not set "ad" label from beginning. Use it only when you need this info and REMOVE the "ad" label when finished!

    Information below is for CTS, SG, GK reference and must be kept internal only.

    If you are part of CTS, SG or GK team, please hide this section when you have finished using this article!

    DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN THIS SECTION!


    This section will not be published externally and / or automatically downloaded in the PDF file!

    Advanced information on BVMS dumps would include:

    • introduction to dumps
    • tools for dump creation

    Introduction to dumps

    For the Windows operating system, there are two types of dumps: user-mode dumps and kernel-mode dumps.

    User-mode dumps

    User-mode dumps are either created automatically by the Windows operating system in case of an application crash, or may also be created manually by using task manager or another tool like ntsd or procdump.


    There are two types of user-mode dumps:

    • full user-mode dumps
    • minidumps



    Minidumps are usually more compact, but they may also contain more information than a full user-mode dump depending on the options that were used when creating the dump.


    The recommended dump type for BVMS dumps are Minidumps, created with the "-ma" option.

    Minidumps which are created with this option, contain full memory data (including virtual memory layout) as well as handle, thread and lock information.

    This article is mainly about user-mode dumps - user-mode dumps are the dump type needed for BVMS issue analysis.


    Kernel-mode dumps

    Kernel-mode dumps are created when the Windows OS runs into a blue screen.


    From BVMS maintenance perspective, kernel-mode dumps are not relevant.

    The experience from the past years is, that not one single case was reported where BVMS caused a blue screen.


    Dump contents

    A user-mode dump is a full process image. It contains memory contents, thread information, acquired locks and crash reasons for both managed and unmanaged code.

    Dump contents allow to track down the causes of these types of issues:

    • Application crashes and their causes and origins (managed or unmanaged code)
    • Memory or handle leaks and their origins
    • Deadlocks, freezes and hangs and their origins


    Tools for dump creation

    There are a number of tools that can be used for dump creation:

    The recommended tool for creating BVMS dumps is Procdump.

    The Procdump tool is recommended for the following reasons:

    • Procdump is easier to use than ntsd
    • Procdump can be used on different platforms (XP, Win2003 Server, Win7, Win2008 Server, Win8)
    • Prodcump is an official Microsoft tool (as opposed to ntsd which was only part of Windows XP)
    • Procdump can be used for all relevant dump creation scenarios - see details below
    • Procdump supports several advanced options for triggering dump creation

    Procdump is a command line tool which must be started from the command shell.


    Batch files for dump creation

    For easier BVMS maintenance, BVMS development provides a number of batch files for dump creation with procdump.

    These dump files This article covers all important aspects of BVMS dump creation - error scenarios and corresponding dump creation methods.

    Quick links:


    BVMS dumps are needed to troubleshoot the following types of issues:

    • Application crashes – dump is expected to provide more information about the cause of the crash and its origin.
    • Memory or handle leaks – dump is expected to point to their origins
    • Deadlocks, freezes and hangs – dump is expected to point to their origins

    Recommended tool to create BVMS dumps.

    The recommended tool is Procdump. It is a command line tool which must be started from the command shell. Bosch development team provides couple of .bat files that start Procdump with predefined parameters and cover the most common dump creation cases.

    The collection of batch files can be found here.

    The tool as well as the set of .bat files are attached to this article.

    Batch files for dump creation

    The batch file names follow a naming guideline: <Executable>_<Dump use case>


    where <Executable> is one of:

    • ConfigClient
    • ConfigWizard
    • OperatorClient
    • ManagementServer
    • ArchivePlayer
    • ExceptionTest

    and <Dump use case> is one of:

    • SingleDump
    • TwoDumps
    • DumpOnException

    E.g.

    • batch file OperatorClient_SingleDump.bat immediately creates a dump of the Operator Client process,
    • while OperatorClient_TwoDumps.bat creates two dumps of the Operator Client process with a delay of 1 hour between the dumps.
    • OperatorClient_DumpOnException.bat creates a dump of the Operator Client process as soon as it throws an unhandled exception.


    Note that also batches for executable "ExceptionTest.exe" are provided. These batches can be used for testing purposes - ExceptionTest.exe is a little test application that simply crashes when being started.



    There is an additional batch file "ActivatePostmortemDebugging.bat" which registers procdump as Just-In-Time debugger.

    Calling this batch will ensure that a dump is created when Windows Error Reporting is triggered by a crash.

    To learn more about the advanced capabilities of the procdump tool, start batches ShowProcdumpHelp.bat and ShowProcdumpHelpSamples.bat. These batches display procdump options and some samples for how to use prodcump.


    Error scenarios and corresponding dump creation methods

    The procdump tool is useful for creating dumps for different problem scenarios:


    Issues which can be easily reproduced

    • application crashes which trigger windows error reporting
    • memory or handle leaks

    Issues which are hard to reproduce

    • sporadic application crashes or crashes which do not trigger windows error reporting
    • application sporadically becoming unresponsive (freezes/hangs)

    Step-by-step guide


    A. Dump creation for reproducible crashes that trigger Windows Error Reporting

    To create a dump for a reproducible crash, follow these steps:


    1. Run the affected application/service (Operator Client, Configuration Client or ). Note: Management Server Service )is running by default.
    2. Reproduce the steps that lead to the crash
    3. Leave the Windows crash dialog open
    4. Run the corresponding batch file for creating a single dump: *_SingleDump.bat. E.g. run OperatorClient_SingleDump.bat to create a single dump of the Operator Client process.
    5. Provide support with
    • the resulting .dmp file
    • a description of the steps to reproduce the problem
    • a ConfigCollection

    Note: attached you can find a configured example for this scenario and application Operator Client - BVMS_OC_dump_onException.zip

    B. Dump creation for reproducible memory or handle leaks

    To create a dump for a memory/handle leak, follow these steps:


    1.Run the affected application/service (Operator Client, Configuration Client or  Configuration Client). Note: Management Server Service )is running by default.

    2. Run the corresponding batch file for creating two dumps: *_TwoDumps.bat. E.g. run OperatorClient_TwoDumps.bat to create two dumps of the Operator Client process.

    Note that by default, the delay between the two dumps is set to one hour (3600 seconds).

    Depending on the magnitude of the memory leak, you might want to increase/decrease the delay.

    To do that, edit file *_TwoDumps.bat: replace value "3600" by a value that fits your needs

    E.g. a value of "7200" will create two dumps with a delay of two hours.

    3. Reproduce the steps that lead to the memory leak. Wait until the second dump was created.

    4. Provide support with

    • the resulting two .dmp files
    • a description of the steps to reproduce the memory leak
    • a ConfigCollection

    Note: attached you can find a configured example for this scenario and application Operator Client, as well as additional examples - BVMS_DumpTools_V2.zip


    C. Dump creation for crashes/hangs/freezes that are hard to reproduce

    It is impossible to create a manual dump for sporadic crashes/hangs/freezes or for those cases where a crash does not result in display of a Windows Error Reporting dialog. For these cases, procdump should be registered as just-in-time debugger.



    To register procdump as just-in-time debugger, follow these steps:


    1. Deactivate the restarting option for Operator Client / Configuration Client
    :
    1. (skip this step for BVMS MS issues).
      1. To deactivate the restarting option for Operator Client / Configuration Client: edit ..\Bosch\VMS\bin\ConfigClient.exe.config or ..\Bosch\VMS\bin\OperatorClient.exe.config.
        1. Navigate to section <appSettings>
        2. add a new entry <add key = "DisableExceptionHandling" value="TRUE" />.
    2. Run ActivatePostmortemDebugging.bat (run it with administrator rights)

    3. Image Added
    4. Run the affected application/service (Operator Client, Configuration Client
    or
    1. ). Note: Management Server Service
    )
    1. is running by default.
    2. As soon as the issue appears, check whether the dump was created.
    3. Provide support with
    • the resulting .dmp file
    • a description of the steps to reproduce the crash
    • a ConfigCollection

    Note: attached you can find a configured example for this scenario and application Operator Client - BVMS_OC_dump_Just-In-Time-Debuger.zip

    Note: after collecting the logs, please disable the debugger - delete the Auto and Debugger registry entries (they were created by command in point 2. Run ActivatePostmortemDebugging.bat )

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    MANDATORY --> after finishing this article, if you wrote advanced content in this section , you must to manually add the "advanced" label  This action is required to indicate that this article contains ADVANCED instructions for CTS/ SG or GK.

    DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN THIS SECTION!

    advanced section

    Please contact CTS / SG or GK team to view this section from draft space, if necessary


    adINLINE

    IMPORTANT! --> the content itself from here will be not displayed. The content from here will be displayed only when the "ad" label will be set after article creation. Only CTS/ SG or GK are allowed to use "ad" label.

    PLEASE do not set "ad" label from beginning. Use it only when you need this info and REMOVE the "ad" label when finished!

    Information below is for CTS, SG, GK reference and must be kept internal only.

    If you are part of CTS, SG or GK team, please hide this section when you have finished using this article!

    DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN THIS SECTION!


    This section will not be published externally and / or automatically downloaded in the PDF file!

    Important note on the Just-In-Time debugger setting: in most cases, automatic generation of dumps works fine after registering procdump as just-in-time debugger. In some cases (especially on XP Systems), just-in-time debugging does not work reliably i.e. automatic creation of the dump file might fail despite having registered procdump as just-in-time debugger.


    For these cases: use one of these alternative methods for dump file creation:

    1.Don't click away the error dialog and Run *_SingleDump.bat to manually create a dump file

    or

    2. Run *_DumpOnException.bat before starting the Operator Client/Configuration Client/Management Server.

    Method 1) should work in any case. Method 2) should work in most cases.


    D. Dump creation for other hard-to-reproduce issues

    Procdump offers several other triggers for creating dumps:

    • CPU peaks
    • Performance counter peaks
    • Application hanging for x seconds
    • Unhandled exceptions

    See procdump help for details on how to create dumps for these special situations.


    E. Dump creation with "user mode stack trace database"

    In some cases, the information provided by a "normal" dump is not sufficient for development analysis. For these cases, the OperatorClient.exe file must be temporarily modified while taking the dump.

    The steps below describe the required prerequisites and the modification steps:


    Prerequisites

    In order to create a dump with user mode stack trace database, you need to get the gflags.exe tool.

    This tool is part of  the "Debugging Tools for Windows" which is part of "Windows Driver Kit Version 7.1.0".


    1. Download the ISO image of Windows Driver Kit Version 7.1.0 (GRMWDK_EN_7600_1.ISO)

    2. Extract ISO image using e.g. 7Zip

    3. Run "KitSetup.exe" which is located in the extracted folder. An installation dialog opens.

    4. Select "Debugging Tools for Windows 7.1.0", and click "OK" to install to an installation directory of your choice

    5. In the installation directory, locate gflags.exe in subdirectory "Debuggers"


    F. Dump creation with user mode stack trace database

    To create a dump with user mode stack trace database, follow these steps:

    1. Copy file gflags.exe to folder <Program Files>\Bosch\VMS\bin
    2. Open a command shell and navigate to <Program Files>\Bosch\VMS\bin
    3. Activate user mode stack trace database in Operator Client by running command gflags.exe /i OperatorClient.exe +ust
    4. Reproduce the problem scenario and take the dump as described above
    5. Deactivate user mode stack trace database in Operator Client by running command gflags /i OperatorClient.exe -ust


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