How to read FDR files

FDR File Analysis


1.  Naming convention for FDR File

FDR Files are generated in SIEBSRVR_ROOT\bin directory. The file name includes a timestamp and the process id that crashed and is written in the format:

T<YYYYMMDDHHMM>_P<process id value>.fdr

For example:

T200503181601_P001376.fdr


2. How to Convert Binary .fdr File into .csv Format

Here are the steps to follow to post process the raw .fdr file:

  1. Identify the appropriate .fdr file to process using naming suggested above. 

    (NOTE: On UNIX platforms only, source the shell environment variables, before running the sarmanalyzer utility.To do this from the $SIEBEL_ROOT/siebsrvr directory, run the following shell command:
. ./siebenv.sh
     )
  1. Use the sarmanalyzer.exe command line utility and issue the following command:

sarmanalyzer -o <output_csv_file> -x -f <fdr_file>

For example:

sarmanalyzer -o T200503181601_P001376.csv -x -f 200503181601_P001376.fdr


The output   .csv  file will be written to the SIEBSRVR_ROOT\bin directory unless redirected to a different directory.


3. Identify the Crashing Thread

1.  Open CSV file generated above in MS Excel for futher analysis


a. Enable Filter on all Coulmns. Next, to see the entries related to only the crashing thread, filter  the SubAreaDesc column by the value ** CRASHING THREAD **







b. Select the ThreadID column and filter on the value (in this example, the value is 4068) that appears there for the record.


                                        



c.  And then unset the filter on the SubAreaDesc column. This would show  all records with the same thread id as the crashing thread to be displayed.
    
      These are the relevant records to review when analyzing FDR output.

( Note : Several threads may crash before the process is terminated by the operating system, in which case you may find several such FDR records.)



                                           

           
( Note: The .csv file created by sarmanalyzer.exe is not sorted. An important step is to sort the file in chronological order. For performance reasons, the FDR file does not contain timestamps. However, you can sort on the FdrID column in ascending order to rearrange the data in chronological order.)

Analyzing the FDR output quickly shows:

·            the interaction of several subsystems in the product,

·            helps deconstruct how each one is utilized prior to a crash, and

·            assists in pinpointing the last several operations prior to the failure.


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