How to manually create a dump file of the Web Player process for troubleshooting using the Windows Debugger

How to manually create a dump file of the Web Player process for troubleshooting using the Windows Debugger

You can manually trigger the creation of a dump file of the Web Player with the Windows Debugger for troubleshooting and escalation. This can be useful when you see the Web Player in a problem state and need to investigate further. Example scenarios where this is useful are where you suspect a memory leak and memory utilization is elevated or where the Web Player application is hanging or unresponsive. This requires that you take action while the problem state is occurring so it will not be useful when you are trying to catch intermittent or infrequent issues. In those cases where you cannot know when the issue will occur, you can configure automatic dump capture with other methods. For example, in 7.10:

• Doc: Enabling automatic dump capture from non-responsive Web Players

One other method to manually create a dump file (note: full memory dump only) is to use the Task Manager:

• KB: How to manually create a dump file of the Web Player process for troubleshooting with Task Manager

To manually create a dump file of the Web Player process for troubleshooting with Windows Debugger:

1) Install the standard Windows Debugger.
   a) Go to https://msdn.microsoft.com/sv-SE/windows/desktop/bg162891 or search for "Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows" and click on "Install and download".
   b) Run the Installer and select the "Debugging Tools for Windows" box. Clear all the other boxes. 
   
The installed debuggers will be located here (or similar path): "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Debuggers\x64" or search for "cdb.exe".

2) To create the dump file, run a command like this example:
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Debuggers\x64\cdb.exe" -c ".dump /mhtpFidcu /o <d:\myfolder\mydump.dmp>;qd" -p <pid>

Example:   
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Debuggers\x64\cdb.exe" -c ".dump /mhtpFidcu C:\temp\spotfire\processdumpfile.dmp;qd" -p 84024

Ensure you change the path to the cdb.exe, <examplepath> ,and <pid> as needed (<pid> is the process ID for a Web Player process(Spotfire.Dxp.Worker.Host.exe)).

Notes:

• Using this method to create a dump file is likely to make your Web Player become temporarily unresponsive.
• When the script is called, the dump file and some logging will be written to the log folder.
• This dump file (when generated with the /mhtpFidcu parameter) is typically around 0.5 GB in size.
• When sending to the TIBCO Support site, also provide the full Node Manager log folder (zipped) and its contents.

Doc:

• Enabling automatic dump capture from non-responsive Web Players

KB:

• How to manually create a dump file of the Web Player process for troubleshooting with Task Manager