Crash Dump Analysis

Many people expressed interest in expanding Practical Foundations of Debugging (x64) and merging it with commented version of Practical Foundations of Debugging (x86) and Reading Windows-based Code. I therefore decided to dedicate some time during the next two months for this task and publish a book. Its main purpose is to help technical support and escalation engineers, testers and software developers without the knowledge of assembly language and C to master all necessary prerequisites to understand and start debugging and crash dump analysis on Windows platforms. It doesn’t require any specific knowledge, fills the gap and lowers the learning curve required for Advanced Windows Debugging and for my own books. It will also serve as a hardware complement to my seminars that I give from time to time. More details will be posted later but for now there are preliminary product details:

• Title: Windows® Debugging: Practical Foundations
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (01 September 2008)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-10-0
• Paperback: 600 pages

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Not My Version is another basic pattern of DLL Hell variety. It is when we look at the component timestamps and paths and realize that that one of the modules from the production environment is older than we had during development and testing. The lmft WinDbg command will produce the necessary output. If there are many modules we might want to create a CAD graph (Component Age Diagram) to spot anomalies. Component version check is one of the basic troubleshooting and system administration activities that will be fully illustrated in the forthcoming book “Crash Dump Analysis for System Administrators” (ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-02-5). Here is one example (module start and end load addresses are removed for visual clarity):

0:000> kL
Child-SP          RetAddr           Call Site
00000000`0012fed8 00000001`40001093 MyDLL!fnMyDLL
00000000`0012fee0 00000001`40001344 2DLLs+0×1093
00000000`0012ff10 00000000`773acdcd 2DLLs+0×1344
00000000`0012ff60 00000000`774fc6e1 kernel32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0xd
00000000`0012ff90 00000000`00000000 ntdll!RtlUserThreadStart+0×1d


0:000> lmft
module name
MyDLL    C:\OLD\MyDLL.dll Wed Jun 18 14:49:13 2004
user32   C:\Windows\System32\user32.dll Thu Feb 15 05:22:33 2007
kernel32 C:\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll Thu Nov 02 11:14:48 2006
ntdll    C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll Thu Nov 02 11:16:02 2006
2DLLs    C:\2DLLs\2DLLs.exe Thu Jun 19 10:46:44 2008 (485A2B04)
uxtheme  C:\Windows\System32\uxtheme.dll Thu Nov 02 11:15:07 2006
rpcrt4   C:\Windows\System32\rpcrt4.dll Tue Jul 17 05:21:15 2007
lpk      C:\Windows\System32\lpk.dll Thu Nov 02 11:12:33 2006
oleaut32 C:\Windows\System32\oleaut32.dll Thu Dec 06 05:09:35 2007
usp10    C:\Windows\System32\usp10.dll Thu Nov 02 11:15:03 2006
ole32    C:\Windows\System32\ole32.dll Thu Nov 02 11:14:31 2006
advapi32 C:\Windows\System32\advapi32.dll Thu Nov 02 11:11:35 2006
gdi32    C:\Windows\System32\gdi32.dll Thu Feb 21 04:40:51 2008
msvcrt   C:\Windows\System32\msvcrt.dll Thu Nov 02 11:13:37 2006
imm32    C:\Windows\System32\imm32.dll Thu Nov 02 11:13:15 2006
msctf    C:\Windows\System32\msctf.dll Thu Nov 02 11:13:42 2006

This pattern should be checked when we have instances of Module Variety and, especially, Duplicated Module. Note that this pattern can also easily become an anti-pattern when applied to an unknown component: Alien Component.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Analysis of computer memory snapshots (memory dumps) and their evolution is the domain of memoretics. Computer memory semiotics (memiotics) is the branch of memoretics that studies the interpretation of computer memory, its meaning, signs and symbols.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -     

This is a must have book for system administrators of complex Windows server platforms and client workstations to understand and choose the best course of action to address system and application crashes, hangs, CPU spikes and memory leaks. It is also invaluable to general Windows users and technical support engineers.

• Title: Crash Dump Analysis for System Administrators
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (25 August 2008)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24
• ISBN-13: 978-1-906717-02-5
• Paperback: 180 pages

 - Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Due to demand from people that prefer ebooks I published Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1 in a digital format that can be purchased in Crash Dump Analysis Store. This format has color pictures inside.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

I’m very proud to announce that it is finally available in both paperback and hardback. Why have I made available both editions? Because I personally prefer hardcover books. You can order the book today and it will be printed in 3-5 days (paperback) or 5-10 days (hardcover) and sent to you:

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1

Note: although listed on Amazon and other online bookstores it is not immediately available at these stores at the moment due to the late submission. I apologize for this. However, I expect that in a few weeks pre-orders taken there will be eventually fulfilled. In the mean time, if you want the book now, you can use the link above.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This is an attempt to revive the forum closed a year ago due to the lack of interest during that time. Now the number of visitors has increased by an order of magnitude and I get more and more requests to help with crash dump analysis but I cannot guarantee immediate response. Therefore I upgraded and reopened Crash Dump Analysis and Debugging Forum and encourage using it. In order to prevent spammers gaining access any new registration has to be approved by me (usually in less than 24 hours).

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

Although the first volume has not been published yet (scheduled for 15th of April, 2008) the planning for the second volume has already begun. Preliminary information is:

• Title: Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 2
• Paperback: 512 pages (*)
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9558328-7-1
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (01 Nov 2008)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24

Hardcover version is also planned. PDF version will be available for download too.

(*) subject to change

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

This is a forthcoming reference book for technical support and escalation engineers troubleshooting and debugging complex software issues. The book is also invaluable for software maintenance and development engineers debugging unmanaged, managed and native code.

• Title: Windows® Debugging Notebook: Essential Concepts, WinDbg Commands and Tools
• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9558328-5-7
• Publisher: Opentask (1 July 2008)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -

It is very easy to become a publisher nowadays. Much easier than I thought. I registered myself as a publisher under the name of OpenTask which is my registered business name in Ireland. I also got the list of ISBN numbers and therefore can announce product details for the first volume of Memory Dump Analysis Anthology series:

Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1

• Paperback: 720 pages (*)
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9558328-0-2

• Hardcover: 720 pages (*)
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9558328-1-9

• Author: Dmitry Vostokov
• Publisher: Opentask (15 Apr 2008)
• Language: English
• Product Dimensions: 22.86 x 15.24

(*) subject to change 

PDF file will be available for download too.

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org -