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# Chapter 26 DTrace

Written by Tom Rhodes.

# 26.1 Synopsis

DTrace, also known as Dynamic Tracing, was developed by Sun" as a tool for locating performance bottlenecks in production and pre-production systems. It is not, in any way, a debugging tool, but a tool for real time system analysis to locate performance and other issues.

DTrace is a remarkable profiling tool, with an impressive array of features for diagnosing system issues. It may also be used to run pre-written scripts to take advantage of its capabilities. Users may even author their own utilities using the DTrace D Language, allowing them to customize their profiling based on specific needs.

After reading this chapter, you will know:

- What DTrace is and what features it provides.

- Differences between the Solaris" DTrace implementation and the one provided by FreeBSD.

- How to enable and use DTrace on FreeBSD.

Before reading this chapter, you should:

- Understand UNIX® and FreeBSD basics (Chapter 4).

- Be familiar with the basics of kernel configuration/compilation (Chapter 9).

- Have some familiarity with security and how it pertains to FreeBSD (Chapter 15).

- Understand how to obtain and rebuild the FreeBSD sources (Chapter 25).

> Warning: This feature is considered experimental. Some options may be lacking in functionality, other parts may not work at all. In time, this feature will be considered production ready and this documentation will be altered to fit that situation.

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