Fast Track to Solaris 10 Adoption: Dynamic Tracing

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1. Are there any example scripts or tutorials available? Where can I find DTrace documentation for the details?
2. There are some examples linked off http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/content/dtrace/ but I'd like more examples. Do you plan to provide any in the near future?
3. I think we're all impressed by the "what" of DTrace. What we really need are good examples of timing application functions and calls, and so on.
4. Do you know in which of the Solaris OS system administration training courses DTrace will be covered?
5. Are there any plans to provide a set of pre-prepared DTrace tools?

Q: Are there any example scripts or tutorials available? Where can I find DTrace documentation for the details?

A: Look for sample scripts and other documentation at www.sun.com/bigadmin

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Q: There are some examples linked off http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/content/dtrace/ but I'd like more examples. Do you plan to provide any in the near future?

A: There are tons of examples in the DTrace AnswerBook guide, available from the BigAdmin site. And there are a bunch more on the DTrace forum. And yes, we've got lots more examples planned; you can never have too many examples!

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Q: I think we're all impressed by the "what" of DTrace. What we really need are good examples of timing application functions and calls, and so on.

A: Go to the AnswerBook resource center as your first source for real-world examples. The documentation was 100 percent written by the three of us, and we've designed it to be as example-packed as possible. That said, there is always a need for more examples! So if there is a specific class of examples that we're missing, please let us know.

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Q: Do you know in which of the Solaris OS system administration training courses DTrace will be covered?

A: I don't know the specific course number(s), but a SunEd DTrace course is in the works and will be available by the time the Solaris 10 OS GAs. Stay tuned!

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Q: Are there any plans to provide a set of pre-prepared DTrace tools?

A: Actually, several existing utilities use DTrace as a backend. For example, lockstat(1M) and the new intrstat(1M). If you're asking about pre-prepared DTrace scripts, we have a ton of examples in the documentation and on the BigAdmin site — and more always on the way!

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