ProcDump Usage Guide and Primer
Article ID: 47299
Updated On: 04-04-2025
Products
Issue/Introduction
When a Service Desk process is crashing in a Windows Server Environment, you can use the ProcDump utility to monitor that process and generate a full user dump on that process at the next crash occurrence. This document is a Quick Guide for generating a crash dump using ProcDump.
ProcDump is a command-line utility provided by Microsoft whose primary purpose is monitoring an application for CPU spikes and generating crash dumps from such occurrences. With the dump available, an administrator or software support may be able to determine the cause of the spike or loss of the process.
Environment
Release: 14.1 and higher
Component: CA Service Desk Manager
Resolution
Important: Please use the 64 bit version of procdump if you are working with Service Desk Manager 17.3 or higher.
The following instructions are for prior SDM releases. Despite using the procdump 32 bit binary (procdump.exe), the behaviour will be identical to using the 64 bit binary (procdump64.exe).
- Download the ProcDump Utility (both 32 bit and 64 bit binaries are included):
- Locate the PID (Process ID) for the process that is crashing. The best way to do this is to go to the processes tab in task manager on the server where the process is crashing, and get the current PID for the process.
For this document, we will use domsrvr as an example:
In the domsrvr case, there are three domsrvr processes: (1) domsrvr, (2) domsrvr:wsp and (3) domsrvr:hw. For this specific case, we will generate a crash dump of the first domsrvr instance. You need to be sure what process exactly you have to generate a crash dump, because depending of the environment, there are a lot of process running for the same binary, but using different command line arguments.
Add the "PID" and the "Command line" column to the Windows Task manager interface. The "PID" column will identify the item of interest by process ID. The "Command Line" is used to help identify which is the correct process to run the dump process. - If you are sure what process you need a crash dump and if you have the PID, run the command below:
procdump.exe -e -t -ma [PID]
- In this example, the PID entry is 4988, so the command would be:
procdump.exe -e -t -ma 4988
After running procdump, you will see the output below:
At this time, you have to wait for a crash. After crashing, you will see the output below: - Find the dump file and send it to Broadcom Support:
See the file with .dmp extension.
Additional Information
For 17.3 releases and higher, please use procdump64 bit (included in the Microsoft download as procdump64.exe), ie:
procdump64.exe -e -t -ma 4988
The output and behaviour will read similar to the 32 bit procdump implementation that is described above.
If for any reason, Service Desk services were restarted, you need to execute the steps below again. After restarting Service Desk services, PID will be different and you need to attach ProcDump for the new PID.
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