Document revision date: 30 March 2001

Contents

Preface
Preface	Preface
	SDA Description
1	System Management and SDA
1.1	Understanding the System Dump File
1.1.1	Choosing Between SYSDUMP.DMP and PAGEFILE.SYS Files
1.1.2	Choosing a Dump File Style
1.2	Saving System Dumps
1.3	Invoking SDA in the Site-Specific Startup Command Procedure
2	Analyzing a System Dump
2.1	Invoking SDA
2.2	Mapping the Contents of the Dump File
2.3	Building the SDA Symbol Table
2.4	Executing the SDA Initialization File (SDA$INIT)
3	Analyzing a Running System
4	SDA Context
5	CPU Context
6	Process Context
7	SDA Command Format
7.1	General Command Format
7.2	Expressions
7.2.1	Radix Operators
7.2.2	Arithmetic and Logical Operators
7.2.3	Precedence Operators
7.2.4	Symbols
8	Investigating System Failures
8.1	General Procedure for Analyzing System Failures
8.2	Fatal Bugcheck Conditions
8.2.1	Fatal Exceptions
8.2.2	Illegal Page Faults
9	A Sample System Failure
9.1	Identifying the Bugcheck
9.2	Identifying the Exception
9.3	Locating the Source of the Exception
9.3.1	Finding the Driver by Using the Program Counter
9.3.2	Calculating the Offset into the Driver's Program Section
9.4	Finding the Problem Within the Routine
9.4.1	Examining the Routine
9.4.2	Checking the Values of Key Variables
9.4.3	Identifying and Correcting the Defective Code
10	Inducing a System Failure
10.1	Meeting Crash Dump Requirements
10.2	Examples of How to Cause System Failures
	SDA Usage Summary
	SDA Qualifiers
	/CRASH_DUMP
	/RELEASE
	/SYMBOL
	/SYSTEM
	SDA Commands
	@ (Execute Procedure)
	ATTACH
	COPY
	DEFINE
	EVALUATE
	EXAMINE
	EXIT
	FORMAT
	HELP
	READ
	REPEAT
	SEARCH
	SET CPU
	SET LOG
	SET OUTPUT
	SET PROCESS
	SET RMS
	SHOW CALL_FRAME
	SHOW CLUSTER
	SHOW CONNECTIONS
	SHOW CPU
	SHOW CRASH
	SHOW DEVICE
	SHOW EXECUTIVE
	SHOW HEADER
	SHOW LAN
	SHOW LOCK
	SHOW LOGS
	SHOW PAGE_TABLE
	SHOW PFN_DATA
	SHOW POOL
	SHOW PORTS
	SHOW PROCESS
	SHOW RESOURCE
	SHOW RMS
	SHOW RSPID
	SHOW SPINLOCKS
	SHOW STACK
	SHOW SUMMARY
	SHOW SYMBOL
	SHOW TRANSACTIONS
	SPAWN
	VALIDATE QUEUE
Index
Index
Figures
SDA-1	Pointer Argument List on the Stack
SDA-2	Mechanism Array
SDA-3	Signal Array
SDA-4	Stack Following an Illegal Page-Fault Error
SDA-5	Call Frame
Tables
SDA-1	Selecting and Displaying Information About Processes
SDA-2	Displaying Information about Data Structures
SDA-3	Examining, Evaluating, and Validating Information
SDA-4	Searching for, Formatting, and Copying Information
SDA-5	Managing the SDA Utility and the SDA Symbol Table
SDA-6	Displaying Information Produced by DECdtm
SDA-7	Comparison of Full and Subset Dump Files
SDA-8	SDA Operators
SDA-9	SDA Symbols
SDA-10	Descriptions of SDA Qualifiers
SDA-11	Descriptions of SDA Commands
SDA-12	Modules Containing Global Symbols and Data Structures Used by SDA
SDA-13	Modules Defining Global Locations Within the Executive Image
SDA-14	SET RMS Command Keywords for Displaying Process RMS Information
SDA-15	Contents of the SHOW LOCK and SHOW PROCESS/LOCKS Displays
SDA-16	Virtual Page Information in the SHOW PAGE_TABLE Display
SDA-17	Physical Page Information in the SHOW PAGE_TABLE Display
SDA-18	Page Frame Number Information in the SHOW PFN_DATA Display
SDA-19	Process Section Table Entry Information in the SHOW PROCESS Display
SDA-20	Process I/O Channel Information in the SHOW PROCESS Display
SDA-21	Resource Information in the SHOW RESOURCE Display
SDA-22	Static Spin Locks
SDA-23	Process Information in the SHOW SUMMARY Display

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