Revision as of 02:19, 13 September 2017

RootCause User Guide

Introducing RootCause

     RCUG 1 Introducing RootCause

rcc-4

What Is RootCause?

RootCause is a sophisticated tool designed to help software organizations solve a

problem as quickly as possible, ideally from a single occurrence, while

simultaneously reducing support costs. Fundamental to this is a tracing capability.

 We have designed RootCause to make powerful application tracing and root cause

analysis as simple as possible.

The fundamental concept is that all of the data needed to debug an application

problem is recorded in its RootCause workspace. The RootCause Console Graphical

User Interface (GUI) allows you to choose the data to be collected and to navigate

the collected data.

When an application problem occurs, the "user" sends the RootCause workspace to the

support organization as the problem report. If the support organization has defined

the trace correctly, this RootCause workspace contains sufficient information to do

the root cause analysis of the problem. There's no need to recreate the problem or

ask the user further questions.

The RootCause Console tools are used in the application development and support

environments to define what to trace and also ultimately to view the trace data.

The application being traced may be run in the development environment as well, of

course; or it may be run remotely, on a separate test platform or on a customer's

computer, without access to the development environment.

You can choose to deploy the RootCause trace to the application environment after a problem occurs,

or you can include RootCause as part of your shipped application so that any time a

problem occurs you can immediately examine the data collected by RootCause to

perform a root cause analysis of the problem.

Note that RootCause is designed to work on shipped applications. No change is

needed to your application or your build processes! The traces will be

automatically inserted into your application when a copy of it is loaded into

memory; the traces remain only while your application is running, and they vanish

afterwards.

Java, C++, or Both?

RootCause is packaged as RootCause for Java and RootCause for C++. This is the user's guide for the C++ version only. You should read the documentation and do the demos that

correspond to the version of RootCause you're interested in.

The differences in features between RootCause for Java and RootCause for

C++ are determined solely by the license key(s) you are issued by OC Systems. If

this isn't the version you want, or you want to use RootCause on native code

libraries loaded by Java, or Java run as applets or beans from a compiled

application, you will need licenses to enable both the Java and C++ features. For

more information see "Licensing" []<A HREF="rcc-5.html#MARKER-9-259">"Licensing"</A>, and "Tracing Java and C++ In One Program" []<A HREF="rcc-13.html#MARKER-9-2192">"Tracing Java and C++ In One

Program"</A>.

About This Guide

This User's Guide describes version 2 of the RootCause product for C/C++ on the Unix platform. Your feedback is desired, both on problems that you encounter and on

suggestions of how the product could better accomplish its goals of solving

problems from a single occurrence and of reducing support costs.

Please e-mail feedback to support@ocsystems.com and indicate what version of RootCause you are using. The version number can be

obtained with the command rootcause help.

If you are evaluating RootCause, or you are a first time user, we suggest that you

install RootCause in a local directory (no special system administrator privileges

are needed) and do the demonstrations outlined in CHAPTER 5 - "RootCause Demo". Then return to this manual to get specific questions answered. If the information

is not clear, let us know.

CHAPTER 2 - "Installing RootCause" discusses the installation of RootCause.

CHAPTER 3 - "Terminology and Concepts" introduces some terminology and concepts that RootCause users should know to make

best use of the product. This chapter also contains a Glossary []<A HREF="rcc-6.html#MARKER-9-386">Glossary</A>.

CHAPTER 4 - "Getting Started" discusses how an individual user would set up to use RootCause after it is

installed and gives a quick description of getting started with RootCause.

CHAPTER 5 - "RootCause Demo" demonstrates how to apply RootCause to a simple program.

CHAPTER 6 - "Deploying the RootCause Workspace" explains how to define a RootCause trace session at your local site and then send

it to a remote site to do remote debugging.

CHAPTER 7 - "RootCause Files and Environment Variables" discusses the environment variables and files that affect RootCause.

CHAPTER 8 - "RootCause GUI Reference" describes the RootCause Graphical User Interface in detail, briefly describing each

dialog, menu item, and button.

CHAPTER 9 - "RootCause Command Reference" describes the rootcause command line.

CHAPTER 10 - "Selected Topics" contains technical discussions for issues of interest to RootCause users.

Problems and platform-specific issues are discussed in the Release Notes for the current release of the product.

Check our web site at www.ocsystems.com for white papers and the newest version of the product.

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Difference between revisions of "RCUG 1 Introducing RootCause"

Revision as of 02:19, 13 September 2017

Contents

Introducing RootCause

What Is RootCause?

Java, C++, or Both?

About This Guide

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 <!--  <div><div>  -->
-[[RCUG_2_Installing_RootCause|Next]] [[RCUG_0_Contents|Previous]] [[RCUG_Index|Index]] [[RCUG_Top|Top]]
+[[RCUG_2_Installing_RootCause|Next]] [[RCUG_0_Contents|Previous]] [[RCUG_Index|
+Index]] [[RCUG_Top|Top]]
 '''RootCause User Guide'''
@@ Line 40: / Line 42: @@
 == What Is RootCause? ==
-RootCause is a sophisticated tool designed to help software organizations solve a problem as quickly as possible, ideally from a single occurrence, while simultaneously reducing support costs. Fundamental to this is a tracing capability.   We have designed RootCause to make powerful application tracing and root cause analysis as simple as possible.
+RootCause is a sophisticated tool designed to help software organizations solve a
+problem as quickly as possible, ideally from a single occurrence, while
+simultaneously reducing support costs. Fundamental to this is a tracing capability.
+   We have designed RootCause to make powerful application tracing and root cause
+analysis as simple as possible.
+The fundamental concept is that all of the data needed to debug an application
+problem is recorded in its RootCause workspace. The RootCause Console Graphical
+User Interface (GUI) allows you to choose the data to be collected and to navigate
+the collected data.
+When an application problem occurs, the "user" sends the RootCause workspace to the
+support organization as the problem report. If the support organization has defined
+the trace correctly, this RootCause workspace contains sufficient information to do
+the root cause analysis of the problem. There's no need to recreate the problem or
+ask the user further questions.
+The RootCause Console tools are used in the application development and support
+environments to define what to trace and also ultimately to view the trace data.
-The fundamental concept is that all of the data needed to debug an application problem is recorded in its RootCause workspace. The RootCause Console Graphical User Interface (GUI) allows you to choose the data to be collected and to navigate the collected data.
+The application being traced may be run in the development environment as well, of
-When an application problem occurs, the "user" sends the RootCause workspace to the support organization as the problem report. If the support organization has defined the trace correctly, this RootCause workspace contains sufficient information to do the root cause analysis of the problem. There's no need to recreate the problem or ask the user further questions.
+course; or it may be run remotely, on a separate test platform or on a customer's
-The RootCause Console tools are used in the application development and support environments to define what to trace and also ultimately to view the trace data. The application being traced may be run in the development environment as well, of course; or it may be run remotely, on a separate test platform or on a customer's computer, without access to the development environment.
+computer, without access to the development environment.
 You can choose to
 <!-- <A NAME=MARKER-2-154></A>  -->
-deploy the RootCause trace to the application environment after a problem occurs, or you can include RootCause as part of your shipped application so that any time a problem occurs you can immediately examine the data collected by RootCause to perform a root cause analysis of the problem.
+deploy the RootCause trace to the application environment after a problem occurs,
+or you can include RootCause as part of your shipped application so that any time a
+problem occurs you can immediately examine the data collected by RootCause to
+perform a root cause analysis of the problem.
+Note that RootCause is designed to work on shipped applications. No change is
+needed to your application or your build processes!   The traces will be
+automatically inserted into your application when a copy of it is loaded into
+memory; the traces remain only while your application is running, and they vanish
-Note that RootCause is designed to work on shipped applications. No change is needed to your application or your build processes!   The traces will be automatically inserted into your application when a copy of it is loaded into memory; the traces remain only while your application is running, and they vanish afterwards.
+afterwards.
 <!--
@@ Line 59: / Line 105: @@
 == Java, C++, or Both? ==
-RootCause is packaged as '''RootCause for Java''' and '''RootCause for C++'''. This is the user's guide for the
+RootCause is packaged as '''RootCause for Java''' and '''RootCause for C++'''. This
+is the user's guide for the
 <!--  <A NAME=MARKER-10-155></A>  -->
-'''C++''' version only. You should read the documentation and do the demos that correspond to the version of RootCause you're interested in.
+'''C++''' version only. You should read the documentation and do the demos that
+correspond to the version of RootCause you're interested in.
+The differences in features between '''RootCause for Java''' and '''RootCause for
+C++''' are determined solely by the license key(s) you are issued by OC Systems. If
+this isn't the version you want, or you want to use RootCause on native code
+libraries loaded by Java, or Java run as applets or beans from a compiled
+application, you will need licenses to enable both the Java and C++ features. For
-The differences in features between '''RootCause for Java''' and '''RootCause for C++''' are determined solely by the license key(s) you are issued by OC Systems. If this isn't the version you want, or you want to use RootCause on native code libraries loaded by Java, or Java run as applets or beans from a compiled application, you will need licenses to enable both the Java and C++ features. For more information see
+more information see
-[[RCUG_2_Installing_RootCause|CHAPTER 2 - Installing RootCause]]
+[[RCUG_2_Installing_RootCause#Licensing|&quot;Licensing&quot;]]
 []<A HREF="rcc-5.html#MARKER-9-259">&quot;Licensing&quot;</A>, and
-[[RCUG_7_Selected_Topics|CHAPTER 10 - Selected Topics]]
+[[RCUG_7_Selected_Topics#Tracing_Java_and_C++_In_One_Program|&quot;Tracing Java and
-[]<A HREF="rcc-13.html#MARKER-9-2192">&quot;Tracing Java and C++ In One Program&quot;</A>.
+C++ In One Program&quot;]]
+[]<A HREF="rcc-13.html#MARKER-9-2192">&quot;Tracing Java and C++ In One
+Program&quot;</A>.
 <!--
@@ Line 80: / Line 143: @@
 on the Unix
 <!--  <A NAME=MARKER-10-158></A>  -->
-platform.   Your feedback is desired, both on problems that you encounter and on suggestions of how the product could better accomplish its goals of solving problems from a single occurrence and of reducing support costs.
+platform.   Your feedback is desired, both on problems that you encounter and on
+suggestions of how the product could better accomplish its goals of solving
+problems from a single occurrence and of reducing support costs.
 Please e-mail feedback to [mailto:support@ocsystems.com support@ocsystems.com]
 <!--  <A HREF="mailto:support@ocsystems.com">support@ocsystems.com</A>  -->
-and indicate what version of RootCause you are using. The version number can be obtained
+and indicate what version of RootCause you are using. The version number can be
+obtained
 <!--  <A NAME=MARKER-10-161></A>  -->
 with the command <CODE>rootcause help</CODE>.
-If you are evaluating RootCause, or you are a first time user, we suggest that you install RootCause in a local directory (no special system administrator privileges are needed) and do the demonstrations outlined in
+If you are evaluating RootCause, or you are a first time user, we suggest that you
+install RootCause in a local directory (no special system administrator privileges
+are needed) and do the demonstrations outlined in
 [[RCUG_5_RootCause_Demo|CHAPTER 5 - &quot;RootCause Demo&quot;]].
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-8.html#MARKER-9-707">Chapter 5, &quot;RootCause Demo&quot;</A>.  -->
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-8.html#MARKER-9-707">Chapter 5, &quot;RootCause
-Then return to this manual to get specific questions answered. If the information is not clear, let us know.
+Demo&quot;</A>.  -->
+Then return to this manual to get specific questions answered. If the information
+is not clear, let us know.
 [[RCUG_2_Installing_RootCause|CHAPTER 2 - &quot;Installing RootCause&quot;]]
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-5.html#MARKER-9-205">Chapter 2, &quot;Installing RootCause&quot;</A>  -->
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-5.html#MARKER-9-205">Chapter 2, &quot;Installing
+RootCause&quot;</A>  -->
 discusses the installation of RootCause.
-[[RCUG_3_Terminology_and_Concepts|CHAPTER 3 - &quot;Terminology and Concepts&quot;]]
+[[RCUG_3_Terminology_and_Concepts|CHAPTER 3 - &quot;Terminology and
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-6.html#MARKER-9-335">Chapter 3, &quot;Terminology and Concepts&quot;</A>  -->
-introduces some terminology and concepts that RootCause users should know to make best use of the product.   This chapter also contains a
+Concepts&quot;]]
-[[RCUG_3_Terminology_and_Concepts|CHAPTER 3 - Terminology and Concepts]]
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-6.html#MARKER-9-335">Chapter 3, &quot;Terminology and
+Concepts&quot;</A>  -->
+introduces some terminology and concepts that RootCause users should know to make
+best use of the product.   This chapter also contains a
+[[RCUG_3_Terminology_and_Concepts#Glossary|Glossary]]
 []<A HREF="rcc-6.html#MARKER-9-386">Glossary</A>.
 [[RCUG_4_Getting_Started|CHAPTER 4 - &quot;Getting Started&quot;]]
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-7.html#MARKER-9-508">Chapter 4, &quot;Getting Started&quot;</A>  -->
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-7.html#MARKER-9-508">Chapter 4, &quot;Getting
-discusses how an individual user would set up to use RootCause after it is installed and gives a quick description of getting started with RootCause.
+Started&quot;</A>  -->
+discusses how an individual user would set up to use RootCause after it is
+installed and gives a quick description of getting started with RootCause.
 [[RCUG_5_RootCause_Demo|CHAPTER 5 - &quot;RootCause Demo&quot;]]
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-8.html#MARKER-9-707">Chapter 5, &quot;RootCause Demo&quot;</A>  -->
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-8.html#MARKER-9-707">Chapter 5, &quot;RootCause Demo&quot;</A>
+  -->
 demonstrates how to apply RootCause to a simple program.
-[[RCUG_6_Deploying_The_RootCause_Workspace|CHAPTER 6 - &quot;Deploying the RootCause Workspace&quot;]]
+[[RCUG_6_Deploying_The_RootCause_Workspace|CHAPTER 6 - &quot;Deploying the
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-9.html#MARKER-9-873">Chapter 6, &quot;Deploying the RootCause Workspace&quot;</A>  -->
-explains how to define a RootCause trace session at your local site and then send it to a remote site to do remote debugging.
+RootCause Workspace&quot;]]
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-9.html#MARKER-9-873">Chapter 6, &quot;Deploying the RootCause
+Workspace&quot;</A>  -->
+explains how to define a RootCause trace session at your local site and then send
+it to a remote site to do remote debugging.
+[[RCUG_RootCause_Files_and_Environment_Variables|CHAPTER 7 - &quot;RootCause Files
+and Environment Variables&quot;]]
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-10.html#MARKER-9-946">Chapter 7, &quot;RootCause Files and
-[[RCUG_RootCause_Files_and_Environment_Variables|CHAPTER 7 - &quot;RootCause Files and Environment Variables&quot;]]
+Environment Variables&quot;</A>  -->
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-10.html#MARKER-9-946">Chapter 7, &quot;RootCause Files and Environment Variables&quot;</A>  -->
 discusses the environment variables
 <!--  <A NAME=MARKER-10-162></A>  -->
@@ Line 122: / Line 223: @@
 [[RCUG_RootCause_GUI_Reference|CHAPTER 8 - &quot;RootCause GUI Reference&quot;]]
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-11.html#MARKER-9-1320">Chapter 8, &quot;RootCause GUI Reference&quot;</A>  -->
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-11.html#MARKER-9-1320">Chapter 8, &quot;RootCause GUI
-describes the RootCause Graphical User Interface in detail, briefly describing each dialog, menu item, and button.
+Reference&quot;</A>  -->
+describes the RootCause Graphical User Interface in detail, briefly describing each
+dialog, menu item, and button.
-[[RCUG_RootCause_Command_Reference|CHAPTER 9 - &quot;RootCause Command Reference&quot;]]
+[[RCUG_RootCause_Command_Reference|CHAPTER 9 - &quot;RootCause Command
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-12.html#MARKER-9-2008">Chapter 9, &quot;RootCause Command Reference&quot;</A>  -->
+Reference&quot;]]
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-12.html#MARKER-9-2008">Chapter 9, &quot;RootCause Command
+Reference&quot;</A>  -->
 describes the <CODE>rootcause</CODE> command line.
 [[RCUG_7_Selected_Topics|CHAPTER 10 - &quot;Selected Topics&quot;]]
-<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-13.html#MARKER-9-2163">Chapter 10, &quot;Selected Topics&quot;</A>  -->
+<!--  []<A HREF="rcc-13.html#MARKER-9-2163">Chapter 10, &quot;Selected
+Topics&quot;</A>  -->
 contains technical discussions for issues of interest to RootCause users.
@@ Line 168: / Line 279: @@
 <!--  </div>  -->
-[[RCUG_2_Installing_RootCause|Next]] [[RCUG_0_Contents|Previous]] [[RCUG_Index|Index]] [[RCUG_Top|Top]]
+[[RCUG_2_Installing_RootCause|Next]] [[RCUG_0_Contents|Previous]] [[RCUG_Index|
+Index]] [[RCUG_Top|Top]]
 [[Category:RCUG]]