How to create Memory Dumps for dotnet applications in Linux?
Tags: memorydump, dotnet, linux, tutorial
Published: 2023-07-10 00:19:23

Memory dumps are invaluable diagnostic tools for analyzing system performance and identifying memory leaks. In this blog post, we will walk you through the process of creating memory dumps on Linux machines, specifically focusing on dotnet applications. Additionally, we'll explore how to transfer the memory dump to your local Windows machine and perform analysis using the dot memory tool. Let's dive in!

**Creating Memory Dump on Linux for dotnet application:**
To begin, we need to install the necessary diagnostic tools. Follow these steps:

- Login to the Linux machine using SSH.
- Run the following commands to install the diagnostic tools:
```bash
sudo apt update 
sudo apt install wget
sudo wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb 
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb 
sudo apt update
sudo apt install apt-transport-https 
sudo apt install dotnet-sdk-6.0 -y
sudo dotnet --version
sudo dotnet tool install --tool-path /tools dotnet-trace
sudo dotnet tool install --tool-path /tools dotnet-counters
sudo dotnet tool install --tool-path /tools dotnet-dump
```
- Once the tools are installed, navigate to the `/tools` directory and verify the installation by running:
```bash
cd /tools
./dotnet-dump --help
```
- Identify the process for which you want to create a memory dump. Execute the following command to find the process ID:
```bash
ps aux
```
- Finally, create the memory dump using the dotnet-dump tool:
```bash
./dotnet-dump collect -p <pid> -o <dump_file_path>
```
Replace `<pid>` with the process ID and <dump_file_path> with the desired path to save the memory dump.

**Transferring the Memory Dump to your Local Machine:**
Once you have the memory dump file on the Linux machine, follow these steps to transfer it to your local Windows machine:

- Open Git Bash or a command prompt on your local machine.
- Use the scp command to copy the memory dump snapshot from the remote Linux machine to your local Windows machine:
```bash
scp -r remote_vm_username@remote_vm_ip_address:remote_path_for_dump_snapshot local_path_for_dump_snapshot
#Example
scp -r user1@60.60.100.100:/home/user1/dump_2023_21 /c/dumps
```

**Analyzing the Memory Dump using dot memory tool:**
To analyze the memory dump on your local Windows machine, follow these steps:

- Install the [dot-memory](https://www.jetbrains.com/dotmemory/) tool on your Windows machine.
- Launch the dot-memory tool.
- `Import the Process Dump` snapshot obtained from the memory dump you transferred earlier.
- Explore the various analysis features and tools provided by dot-memory to identify and analyze memory leaks effectively.

Conclusion:
Memory dumps are indispensable when it comes to diagnosing system performance issues and memory leaks. In this blog post, we discussed the step-by-step process of creating memory dumps on Linux machines for dotnet applications. We also covered the procedure for transferring the memory dump snapshot to your local Windows machine and using the dot memory tool to perform analysis. By following these guidelines, you can effectively investigate and resolve memory-related issues in your Linux environment.