Using ProcDump Quick Guide
Article ID: 47299
Updated On:
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. There are other tools available for generating crash dumps, but this document is specific for 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 developer can determine the cause of the spike.
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, the behaviour will be identical to using the 64 bit version of procdump.
1) First download the ProcDump Utility here (both 32 bit and 64 bit binaries are included):
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/dd996900.aspx
2) 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, let´s use domsrvr as an example:
In the domsrvr case, see there are tree processes: (1) domsrvr, (2) domsrvr:wsp and (3) domsrvr:hw. For this specific case, we have to generate a crash dump of the first domsrvr instance. You have 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.
Adding the "Command line" column to the Windows Task manager interface helps you identify what the correct process is.
3) 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 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:
4) 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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