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PSS and Memory Dumps

A whitepaper which describes memory dump files and their use by Product Support Services (PSS) has just been released to the web. The paper was created in response to customers who have voiced frustration with requests to obtain multiple memory dump files to troubleshoot certain problems and wanted to understand the processes used by PSS to collect and analyze those files.

I remember working on all of the types of cases in PSS that required a memory dump to find root cause. In many cases, it was difficult for a customer to schedule any down time because of SLA agreements, etc., so asking them to get dumps that could require up to 15+ minutes of down time was not always acceptable. Hopefully this document will help explain the importance of capturing memory dumps and help everyone understand why PSS frequently requests them.

The paper discusses the following key areas:

Definition of a memory dump file

Differences between full memory dump files and mini memory dump files

An explanation of why it takes so long to create a memory dump file

An overview of tools that are used to capture memory dump files

A discussion of capturing hangs, performance problems and crashes with memory dump files

An explanation of why engineers will need multiple memory dump files to diagnose certain problems

A chart that customers can view to set their expectations on the type of data PSS needs to begin troubleshooting certain conditions

Currently this document is found here. Thanks to Michael Palermiti from Microsoft!

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