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How to: Instrument a .NET service and collect detailed timing data by using the profiler command line

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Applies to: yesVisual Studio noVisual Studio for Mac

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

This article describes how to use Visual Studio Profiling Tools command-line tools to instrument a .NET Framework service and collect detailed timing data.

Note

You cannot profile a service with the instrumentation method if the service cannot be restarted after the computer starts, such a service that starts only when the operating system starts.

To get the path to the profiling tools, see Specify the path to command line tools. On 64-bit computers, both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the tools are available. To use the profiler command-line tools, you must add the tools path to the PATH environment variable of the Command Prompt window or add it to the command itself.

Adding tier interaction data to a profiling run requires specific procedures with the command-line profiling tools. See Collect tier interaction data.

To collect detailed timing data from a .NET Framework service by using the instrumentation method, you use the VSInstr.exe tool to generate an instrumented version of the component. You then replace the non-instrumented version of the service with the instrumented version, making sure that the service is configured to start manually. You use the VSPerfCLREnv.cmd tool to initialize the global profiling environment variables and then restart the host computer. You then start the profiler.

When the service is started, timing data is automatically collected to a data file. You can pause and resume data collection during the profiling session.

To end a profiling session, you turn off the service and then explicitly shut down the profiler. In most cases, we recommend clearing the profiling environment variables at the end of a session.

Start the application with the profiler

  1. Open a command prompt window.

  2. Use the VSInstr tool to generate an instrumented version of the service binary.

  3. Replace the original binary with the instrumented version. In the Windows Service Control Manager, make sure that the service Startup Type is set to Manual.

  4. Initialize the .NET Framework profiling environment variables. Type:

    VSPerfClrEnv /globaltraceon

  5. Restart the computer.

  6. Open a command prompt window.

  7. Start the profiler. Type:

    VSPerfCmd /start:trace /output: OutputFile [Options]

    • The /start:trace option initializes the profiler.

    • The /output:OutputFile option is required with /start. OutputFile specifies the name and location of the profiling data (.vsp) file.

      You can use any one of the following options with the /start:trace option.

      Note

      The /user and /crosssession options are usually required for profiling services.

      Option Description
      /user :[Domain\]UserName Specifies the domain and user name of the account that owns the profiled process. This option is required only if the process is running as a user other than the logged on user. The process owner is listed in the User Name column on the Processes tab of Windows Task Manager.
      /crosssession Enables profiling of processes in other sessions. This option is required if the application is running in a different session. The session ID is listed in the Session ID column on the Processes tab of Windows Task Manager. /CS can be specified as an abbreviation for /crosssession.
      /waitstart[:Interval] Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the profiler to initialize before it returns an error. If Interval is not specified, the profiler waits indefinitely. By default, /start returns immediately.
      /globaloff To start the profiler with data collection paused, add the /globaloff option to the /start command line. Use /globalon to resume profiling.
      /counter : Config Collects information from the processor performance counter specified in Config. Counter information is added to the data collected at each profiling event.
      /wincounter : WinCounterPath Specifies a Windows performance counter to be collected during profiling.
      /automark : Interval Use with /wincounter only. Specifies the number of milliseconds between Windows performance counter collection events. Default is 500 ms.
      /events : Config Specifies an Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) event to be collected during profiling. ETW events are collected in a separate (.etl) file.

  8. Start the service from Windows Service Control Manager.

Control data collection

When the service is running, you can use VSPerfCmd.exe options to start and stop the writing of data to the profiler data file. Controlling data collection enables you to collect data for a specific part of program execution, such as starting or shutting down the service.

  • The following pairs of VSPerfCmd options start and stop data collection. Specify each option on a separate command line. You can turn data collection on and off multiple times.

    Option Description
    /globalon /globaloff Starts (/globalon) or stops (/globaloff) data collection for all processes.
    /processon : PID /processoff : PID Starts (/processon) or stops (/processoff) data collection for the process specified by the process ID (PID).
    /threadon : TID /threadoff : TID Starts (/threadon) or stops (/threadoff) data collection for the thread specified by the thread ID (TID).

End the profiling session

To end a profiling session, stop the service that is running the instrumented component, and then call the VSPerfCmd /shutdown option to turn the profiler off and close the profiling data file. The VSPerfClrEnv /globaloff command clears the profiling environment variables.

You must restart the computer for the new environment settings to be applied.

  1. Stop the service from Service Control Manager.

  2. Shut down the profiler. Type:

    VSPerfCmd /shutdown

  3. When you have completed all profiling, clear the profiling environment variables. Type:

    VSPerfClrEnv /globaloff

  4. Replace the instrumented module with the original. If necessary, reconfigure the Startup Type of the service.

  5. Restart the computer.

See also

Profile services Instrumentation method data views