Capture and send an Altiris Profiler trace to Symantec Technical Support for analysis

Products

• IT Management Suite
• Asset Management Solution

Issue/Introduction

When Symantec Technical Support needs more in-depth information on why an issue occurs in Altiris, often an Altiris Profile trace will be requested from the customer. This captures SQL and code data for thorough review. The following instructions describe how to generate this and send it to Technical Support for an open case.

Altiris Profiler

“Altiris™ Profiler User Guide”

Environment

8.x

Resolution

1. On the Symantec Management Platform server, click on the Windows Start button > All Programs > Symantec > Diagnostics.
2. Click on Altiris Profiler. Note: If this is not present, check for and run the Profiler.exe file from <Altiris installation drive>:\Program Files\Altiris\Diagnostics folder instead. If this isn't there, then the Altiris installation isn't complete; refer to your Altiris Administrator for repairing this first so that the Altiris Profiler can be used to continue these instructions.
3. If User Access Control appears prompting to allow the Profiler.exe, click on the Yes button.
4. If the Profiler Wizard appears, click on the Cancel button.
5. If prior data is present, the user can save this before continuing; if so and if desired, click on the FIle menu > Export.
6. Ensure that no prior data is present by clicking on the Profiling menu > Clear Trace > Clear Trace, and then clicking on the OK button.
7. In the Symantec Management Platform Console, go to the area where the issue occurs at, and prepare to reproduce the issue. Do not do so yet.
8. Back in the Altiris Profiler, click on the Start Profiling ">" button.
9. Back in the Symantec Management Platform Console, reproduce the issue as quickly as possible.
10. The moment the issue has been reproduced, go back into the Altiris Profiler and click on the Stop Profiling button.
11. Click on the File menu > Export.
12. In the Profiler Wizard, click on the Next button.
13. Click to select exporting all three options:
    
    [x] Export SQL trace data.
    [x] Export Code trace data.
    [x] Export GC trace data.
     
14. Click on the Browse button.
15. Click on Desktop to choose saving the output to the Windows Desktop.
16. Enter a name for the file in the "File name" field, such as your name, your company's name or the case number.
17. Click on the Save button.
18. Click on the Next button. This creates a .buffer file on the Windows Desktop for easy access.
19. Click on the Finish button. The Altiris Profiler can now be closed.
20. On the Windows Desktop, right click on the .buffer file and choose Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.
21. Name the compressed file an appropriate name, such as the "Profiler.zip".
22. Locate and compress the Symantec Management Platform server log files (the a.log files) from the same day/time as when the Altiris Profiler ran into a second compressed file. If you are unsure where these are, refer to the following article:
    
    ITMS Location of log files. KB 156111
    
     
23. Attach both compressed files to your Symantec support case or your assigned engineer. Your assigned engineer will shortly receive these and will then devote time for their analysis, which may take some time to thoroughly research them before they are able to get back to you on the results. Note: If a file is larger than 25 MB, this will be rejected by the email server. Instead, contact your assigned engineer to arrange for an alternate method of providing these files to them.