Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide

September 2008

DTrace is a comprehensive dynamic tracing framework for the Solaris™ Operating System. DTrace provides a powerful infrastructure to permit administrators, developers, and service personnel to concisely answer arbitrary questions about the behavior of the operating system and user programs. The Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide describes how to use DTrace to observe, debug, and tune system behavior. This book also includes a complete reference for bundled DTrace observability tools and the D programming language.

Document Information
Preface
1. Introduction
- Getting Started
- Providers and Probes
- Compilation and Instrumentation
- Variables and Arithmetic Expressions
- Predicates
- Output Formatting
- Arrays
- External Symbols and Types
2. Types, Operators, and Expressions
- Identifier Names and Keywords
- Data Types and Sizes
- Constants
- Arithmetic Operators
- Relational Operators
- Logical Operators
- Bitwise Operators
- Assignment Operators
- Increment and Decrement Operators
- Conditional Expressions
- Type Conversions
- Precedence
3. Variables
- Scalar Variables
- Associative Arrays
- Thread-Local Variables
- Clause-Local Variables
- Built-in Variables
- External Variables
4. D Program Structure
- Probe Clauses and Declarations
- Probe Descriptions
- Predicates
- Actions
- Use of the C Preprocessor
5. Pointers and Arrays
- Pointers and Addresses
- Pointer Safety
- Array Declarations and Storage
- Pointer and Array Relationship
- Pointer Arithmetic
- Generic Pointers
- Multi-Dimensional Arrays
- Pointers to DTrace Objects
- Pointers and Address Spaces
6. Strings
- String Representation
- String Constants
- String Assignment
- String Conversion
- String Comparison
7. Structs and Unions
- Structs
- Pointers to Structs
- Unions
- Member Sizes and Offsets
- Bit-Fields
8. Type and Constant Definitions
- Typedef
- Enumerations
- Inlines
- Type Namespaces
9. Aggregations
- Aggregating Functions
- Aggregations
- Printing Aggregations
- Data Normalization
- Clearing Aggregations
- Truncating aggregations
- Minimizing Drops
10. Actions and Subroutines
- Actions
- Default Action
- Data Recording Actions
- Destructive Actions
  - Process Destructive Actions
  - Kernel Destructive Actions
- Special Actions
  - Speculative Actions
  - exit()
- Subroutines
11. Buffers and Buffering
- Principal Buffers
- Principal Buffer Policies
- Other Buffers
- Buffer Sizes
- Buffer Resizing Policy
12. Output Formatting
- printf()
- printa()
- trace() Default Format
13. Speculative Tracing
- Speculation Interfaces
- Creating a Speculation
- Using a Speculation
- Committing a Speculation
- Discarding a Speculation
- Speculation Example
- Speculation Options and Tuning
14. dtrace(1M) Utility
- Description
- Options
- Operands
- Exit Status
15. Scripting
- Interpreter Files
- Macro Variables
- Macro Arguments
- Target Process ID
16. Options and Tunables
- Consumer Options
- Modifying Options
17. dtrace Provider
- BEGIN Probe
- The END Probe
- ERROR Probe
- Stability
18. lockstat Provider
- Overview
- Adaptive Lock Probes
- Spin Lock Probes
- Thread Locks
- Readers/Writer Lock Probes
- Stability
19. profile Provider
- profile-n probes
- tick-n probes
- Arguments
- Timer Resolution
- Probe Creation
- Stability
20. fbt Provider
- Probes
- Probe arguments
  - entry probes
  - return probes
- Examples
- Tail-call Optimization
- Assembly Functions
- Instruction Set Limitations
  - x86 Limitations
  - SPARC Limitations
- Breakpoint Interaction
- Module Loading
- Stability
21. syscall Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
- Stability
22. sdt Provider
- Probes
- Examples
- Creating SDT Probes
  - Declaring Probes
  - Probe Arguments
- Stability
23. sysinfo Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
- Example
- Stability
24. vminfo Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
- Example
- Stability
25. proc Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
  - lwpsinfo_t
  - psinfo_t
- Examples
- Stability
26. sched Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
  - cpuinfo_t
- Examples
- Stability
27. io Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
- Examples
- Stability
28. mib Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
- Stability
29. fpuinfo Provider
- Probes
- Arguments
- Stability
30. pid Provider
- Naming pid Probes
- Function Boundary Probes
  - entry Probes
  - return Probes
- Function Offset Probes
- Stability
31. plockstat Provider
- Overview
- Mutex Probes
- Reader/Writer Lock Probes
- Stability
32. fasttrap Provider
- Probes
- Stability
33. User Process Tracing
- copyin() and copyinstr() Subroutines
  - Avoiding Errors
- Eliminating dtrace(1M) Interference
- syscall Provider
- ustack() Action
- uregs[] Array
- pid Provider
  - User Function Boundary Tracing
  - Tracing Arbitrary Instructions
34. Statically Defined Tracing for User Applications
- Choosing the Probe Points
- Adding Probes to an Application
35. Security
- Privileges
- Privileged Use of DTrace
- dtrace_proc Privilege
- dtrace_user Privilege
- dtrace_kernel Privilege
- Super User Privileges
36. Anonymous Tracing
- Anonymous Enablings
- Claiming Anonymous State
- Anonymous Tracing Examples
37. Postmortem Tracing
- Displaying DTrace Consumers
- Displaying Trace Data
38. Performance Considerations
- Limit Enabled Probes
- Use Aggregations
- Use Cacheable Predicates
39. Stability
- Stability Levels
- Dependency Classes
- Interface Attributes
- Stability Computations and Reports
- Stability Enforcement
40. Translators
- Translator Declarations
- Translate Operator
- Process Model Translators
- Stable Translations
41. Versioning
- Versions and Releases
- Versioning Options
- Provider Versioning
Glossary
Index
- Numbers and Symbols
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- H
- I
- K
- L
- M
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W