The Oracle Linux DTrace Guide describes how to use DTrace. The guide also describes some DTrace providers in detail. Most of the information in this document is generic and applies to all releases of Oracle Linux 6 and Oracle Linux 7, with support for the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 4 (UEK R4) and Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5 (UEK R5) kernels. Note that UEK R5 is not supported on Oracle Linux 6.
This release of DTrace supports systems that use the x86_64 processor architecture, but not systems that use 32-bit x86 processors.
DTrace support has also been extended to the 64-bit Arm architecture in this release. However, note that some providers might not be supported on this architecture.
This document is intended for administrators and developers who want a reference document that describes DTrace and the D programming language. The guide also includes tools that help you understand how your system works, how to track down performance problems, and how to locate the causes of aberrant behavior.
Basic familiarity with a programming language such as C, or a scripting language such as awk or perl, will help you learn DTrace and the D programming language faster. However, you do not need to be an expert in any of these areas.
The document is organized as follows:
Chapter 1, About DTrace describes DTrace and provides and overview of the feature.
Chapter 2, The D Programming Language describes the D programming language.
Chapter 3, Aggregations describes how to aggregate the data that is provided by the probes.
Chapter 4, Actions and Subroutines describes the actions and subroutines that are supported by DTrace.
Chapter 5, Buffers and Buffering describes data buffering and the management service that is provided by DTrace.
Chapter 6, Output Formatting describes how to format the output of D programs.
Chapter 7, Speculative Tracing describes the speculative tracing facility that is provided by DTrace.
Chapter 8, dtrace Command Reference describes the options that are supported by the dtrace command-line tools.
Chapter 9, Scripting describes how to create interpreter files by using D programs. Interpreter files are similar to shell scripts that you can install as reusable interactive DTrace tools.
Chapter 10, Options and Tunables describes the options and tuning parameters that are supported by the
dtracecommand.Chapter 11, DTrace Providers describes the providers that are supported by DTrace.
Chapter 12, User Process Tracing describes how to use DTrace to understand the behavior of user processes.
Chapter 13, Statically Defined Tracing of User Applications describes how to develop customized static probes for tracing user-space applications.
Chapter 14, Statically Defined Tracing of Kernel Modules describes how to insert static probes in kernel modules.
Chapter 15, Performance Considerations describes performance considerations that you need to understand when using DTrace.
Chapter 16, DTrace Stability Features describes the concepts that are related to stability in the context of D programs.
Chapter 17, Translators describes the translators that are supported in D programs.
Chapter 18, DTrace Versioning, describes the concepts that are related to versioning in the context of DTrace.
The following books are recommended and related to tasks that you might perform with DTrace:
Kernighan, Brian W. and Ritchie, Dennis M. The C Programming Language. Prentice Hall, 1988. ISBN 0–13–110370–9
Bovet, Daniel P. and Cesati, Marco. Understanding the Linux Kernel, Third Edition. O'Reilly Media, 2005. ISBN 0-59-600565-2
Love, Robert. Linux Kernel Development, Third Edition. Addison Wesley, 2010. ISBN 0-672-32946-8.
The documentation for this product is available at:
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/linux/documentation/index.html.
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