Fast Track to Solaris 10 Adoption: Dynamic Tracing

Please click on a question below or download a pdf version.

1. Do I need to recompile my apps to use DTrace?
2. I just installed the Solaris 10 OS on a system and DTrace -l lists no probes. Shouldn't there be a basic set of internal probes provided?
3. Can I take it as a more powerful debugger?
4. We just ordered a Sun 8000 box with the Solaris 9 OS. Is release 10 available, and how do I get it installed? The VAR has not built the server yet.
5. Is DTrace in /usr/openwin/bin file system?
6. Is there a C API so that DTrace could be incorporated into an application for automatic performance monitoring and resolution?
7. Is it possible to have a dual-boot box with both Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 operating systems on it? If so, how can this be done, and what are the requirements?
8. I just installed the Solaris 10 OS on a system (Ultra 5) and issued the DTrace -l command. The system is running extremely slowly now and appears to be cranking away on something, even after Ctrl-c to terminate the DTrace -l call. Did I do something wrong?

Q: Do I need to recompile my apps to use DTrace?

A: Absolutely not — you don't even need to restart them.

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Q: I just installed the Solaris 10 OS on a system and DTrace -l lists no probes. Shouldn't there be a basic set of internal probes provided?

A: You're probably not running as root. The fact that you're getting no output (and not an error message) is a bug that we fixed recently.

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Q: Can I take it as a more powerful debugger?

A: Yes. A much, much, much more powerful debugger!

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Q: We just ordered a Sun 8000 box with the Solaris 9 OS. Is release 10 available, and how do I get it installed? The VAR has not built the server yet.

A: The Solaris 10 OS is currently available for download through the Software Express program. This is an early access release and is not recommended for use on production systems; however, we do have some customers running the Solaris 10 OS in production environments, and limited support is available. For more information, please go to http //www.sun.com/solaris/10

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Q: Is DTrace in /usr/openwin/bin file system?

A: The DTrace(1M) utility can be found at /usr/sbin/DTrace.

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Q: Is there a C API so that DTrace could be incorporated into an application for automatic performance monitoring and resolution?

A: There isn't a publicly available API for libdtrace.so. You can write DTrace scripts and .d files, which can encapsulate your performance monitoring knowledge.

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Q: Is it possible to have a dual-boot box with both Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 operating systems on it? If so, how can this be done, and what are the requirements?

A: Yes. You can simply configure the system with two partitions, one with the Solaris 9 OS installed and the other with Solaris 10 OS, and you can switch between them. If you have a system running the Solaris 9 OS today, you can automate this process somewhat with Solaris Live Upgrade. It will allow you to add the Solaris 10 OS (downloaded via Software Express) to your system and rollback to Solaris 9 OS when required. Please see docs.sun.com for more details.

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Q: I just installed the Solaris 10 OS on a system (Ultra 5) and issued the DTrace -l command. The system is running extremely slowly now and appears to be cranking away on something, even after Ctrl-c to terminate the DTrace -l call. Did I do something wrong?

A: This is probably a very small memory configuration and a very slow box. On most systems you won't notice the lag. If you run DTrace -l again, just be patient — it will take a while to decompress some in-kernel data, but it will finish.

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