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Monitoring and Tracing Unix Processes

by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator

Overview

This article is intended for use by any Unix/DBA Administrator who needs to monitor trace information from a UNIX process. For a more detailed look at the "truss" command using Sun Solaris, check out: (Using the "truss" command in Solaris)

How to Trace Unix System Calls for a Process

The following platforms support a trace utility that can be used to identify what a process is doing:

O/S Version Trace Utility
Sun Solaris 2.x, Unixware 7.0 
truss, e.g.:

  Unixware 7.0
    $ truss -aefo <output file> <executable>

  Solaris
    $ truss -rall -wall -p <UNIX pid>
HP/UX 11 
tusc, e.g.:
  $ tusc -afpo <output file> <pid> <executable>
IBM AIX 4.x 
sctrace, e.g.:
  $ sctrace -Amo <output file> <executable>
Linux 
strace, e.g.:
  $ strace -fo <output file> <executable>
  $ strace -p <UNIX pid>
SGI IRIX 6.x 
par, e.g.:
  $ par -siSSo <output file> <executable>
Compaq Tru64 Unix 
trace, e.g.:
  $ trace -fo <output file> <executable>
Sequent Dynix/PTX 
truss, e.g.:
  $ truss -aefo <output file> <executable>


Last modified on: Tuesday, 26-Jul-2005 13:42:17 EDT
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