This episode demonstrates a couple ways to accomplish this basic - but very important - task. I probably should have covered this much earlier on, but better late than never (hopefully).

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 8

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 10

In this episode, we'll discuss the different types of CLR threads (.e.g., GC thread, finalizer, etc.) and give a walkthrough of how you can identify each one in a dump file.  Knowing this information can aid in your effort to find root cause - as well as avoid inaccurate reasons - for various application issues.

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 7

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 9

Ever have a situation in which your load test isn't passing the SLA, or the test results simply "look wrong"?  Even when your test hardware is exactly like your production hardware?  Is the problem somewhere in the code or... maybe something no one else has considered?  How do you troubleshoot this when - like in the production environment - you can't afford to have invasive troubleshooting tools in place?

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 6

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 8

This episode is the last of a trio which introduces viewers to the topic of troubleshooting memory pressure issues.  This session uses information from the previous two episodes to find root cause (i.e., down to the source code) of our memory pressure problem.

Get your debugging hats on before viewing this one!

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 11

This episode is the second of three which introduces viewers to the topic of troubleshooting memory pressure issues.  In the previous episode, we took a high level overview of virtual memory as it relates to troubleshooting these common memory pressure issues.  We'll use information from that episode and apply it here as we begin investigation of a dump file from a process exhibiting memory pressure.  Using windbg and some debugging extensions, we'll see how much we can learn about the source of the memory problem from a single dump file.

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 10

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 12

This episode is the first of three dedicated to troubleshooting memory pressure issues in .NET applications (the kind of troubleshooting Microsoft Support performs in the production environment).  But before we jump straight into the aspects of troubleshooting, it's best to get a good understanding of virtual memory.  Without this background, many of your troubleshooting efforts may lead to dead ends or - even worse - false conclusions.

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 9

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 11

Some exceptions don't cause your application to crash.  Some do.  Either way, developers should work to rid their applications of exceptions for both stability and performance reasons.  Special guest Mario Hewardt joins us as we discuss how to detect the presence of these exceptions, how to gather vital data on them in a relatively non-intrusive fashion, and how to find root cause.  And since this is all done in the production environment, we won't have Visual Studio available.

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 5

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 7

If you've spent any time developing applications, it's likely you've encountered a high cpu hang at some point.  Troubleshooting this problem in the dev environment is one thing, but how do Premier Field Engineers troubleshoot this problem in a customer's production environment when Visual Studio isn't an option?

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 4
.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 6

"I got my first dump.  Now where do I begin?"

I get this question a lot from customers and fellow Premier Field Engineers who are learning how to debug post-mortem dump files of problematic .NET applications.  In Part 4 of our series, we cover some of the more common commands (not all are from psscor2/psscor4) used by Microsoft Support when debugging hangs, exceptions/crashes, and performance problems.

 
.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 3
.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 5

Ever try to load SOS/psscor into your debugging session and get a "Failed to load data access dll" error?  It's not uncommon, especially when you first start debugging .NET applications.  Join us for a brief introduction to Windbg before we discuss the most common causes for this error, and what are oftentimes simple solutions.

NOTE: At 4:55, it insinuates that psscor4 works with .NET 4.5.  This is not the case.  As of the time of the recording of this video you will need the SOS from the 4.5 install directory to debug a 4.5 app.

 
.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 2
.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 4

Performance Monitor is oftentimes an overlooked tool when troubleshooting application issues.  But in the production environment, it can be invaluable to helping you determine just what kind of application issue you have.  Perfmon has a lot to offer, so we dedicate Part 2 of this series to this simple – but vital – tool.

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 1
.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 3

You can't troubleshoot a problem effectively until you first know what the problem is.

When applications encounter stability or performance issues in the production environment, obtaining an accurate problem definition is a key first-step to reducing Time To Resolution.  Learn how Microsoft Support leverages various tools & techniques to help customers define the problems plaguing their production applications.

.NET Debugging for the Production Environment, Part 2