Using ADPlus utility to collect the crash dumps for ITMS (Altiris).
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Using ADPlus utility to collect the crash dumps for ITMS (Altiris).

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Article ID: 161034

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Updated On:

Products

IT Management Suite Client Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

Whenever there are issues where Symantec Management Agent crashes, a user can follow the steps below to collect the crash dumps and further send it to Symantec Support for further analysis.

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Resolution

ADPlus.vbs (ADPlus) is a tool from Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) that can troubleshoot any process or application that stops responding (hangs) or fails (crashes). Frequently, you can use ADPlus as a replacement tool for the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) Exception Monitor (6.1/7.1) and User Mode Process Dump. These are two separate tools that PSS frequently uses to isolate what causes a process to stop responding (hang) or quit unexpectedly (crash) in a Microsoft Windows DNA environment.(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286350)

Steps to follow before using the tool.

  1. Download Debugging tools from Microsoft website and install the same on the problem machine.
  2. There is no need to download any symbols for debugging only the tool is sufficient.

Steps to follow in order to generate the logs for process crash.

  1. Create a folder on any of the drive to collect the logs.
  2. Open command prompt and browse to the location where the debugging tool is installed (i.e. <Install Drive>:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86))
  3. Execute the command adplus.vbs -crash -pn processname -o "path to output folder" (You have a adplus_old.vbs and adplus.exe  so please select accordingly)
  4. Please refer to the below mentioned example:

C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)>adplus.vbs -crash -pn AexNSAgent -o "D:\output_dump_file\"

Steps to follow in order to generate the logs for process hang.

  1. Create a folder on any of the drive to collect the logs.
  2. Open command prompt and browse to the location where the debugging tool is installed (i.e. <Install Drive>:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86))
  3. Execute the command adplus.vbs -hang -pn processname -o "path to output folder"
  4. Please refer to the below mentioned example:

C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)>adplus.vbs -crash -pn AexNSAgent -o "D:output_dump_file\"

The above mentioned command will associate the debugger with the process and at the point when they crash it will generate the logs in the output folder which you can transfer to support for further analysis. Once you have the .DMP File you can get a case created at Symantec Support and make arrangements to send the file to Symantec Support for further analysis.

For reference please refer to the below mentioned Microsoft Knowledge base article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286350
Download and install Debugging Tools for Windows from: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/debugger-download-tools

ADPlus has two modes of operation:

  • "Hang" mode is used to troubleshoot process hangs, 100 percent CPU utilization, and other problems that do not involve a crash. When you use ADPlus in hang mode, you must wait until the process or processes stop responding before you run the script (unlike crash mode, hang mode is not persistent).
  • "Crash" mode is used to troubleshoot crashes that result in Dr. Watson errors, or any other type of error that causes a program or service to quit unexpectedly. When you use ADPlus in crash mode, you must start ADPlus before the crash occurs. You can configure ADPlus to notify an administrator or a computer of a crash through the -notify switch.

Reference:

How to use ADPlus.vbs to troubleshoot "hangs" and "crashes" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/286350

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