This web page refers to our older busTRACE 6.0 which is no longer shipping. Click here for details on our latest generation busTRACE software.

This WEB page comes from the busTRACE 6.0 User's Manual. (Table of Contents)

busTRACE 6.0 has the ability to filter captured I/O activity. This allows you to view only the types of I/O requests you are interested in analyzing.

busTRACE provides you two methods for filtering requests. The first is our Kernel Mode CDB Filter. This filter lets the busTRACE device driver know which Command Descriptor Blocks should be captured and which should be skipped. The I/Os are not captured nor do they take up memory. This feature is discussed in detail in our Kernel Mode CDB Filter section.

The second method is busTRACE's ability to filter captured I/O activity from view. These I/O requests are still stored in memory, just filtered from the I/O Capture List. The filtered I/Os are still in memory and you can readjust the filter to view them again.

Context Based Filtering

The simplest and fastest way to filter I/O activity is to right click on an I/O in the I/O Capture List. Two filter menu options will appear. The first option allows you to filter out the selected I/O based on one of four criteria:

If you right click on the Error Indicator icon for the I/O, you can filter out all I/O that produce that same result.
If you right click on the Device icon for the I/O, you can filter out all I/O that was processed by that device.
If you right click on the Originator driver name for the I/O, you can filter out all I/O that was generated by that driver.
if you right click anywhere else on the I/O, you can filter out all I/Os that have the same name (e.g. all "Test Unit Ready" commands).

The second menu option allows you to Remove I/O Filters. This setting will turn off all filtered settings and show you all of the captured I/O activity.

Filtered Commands Dialog Box

You can also filter I/O activity by viewing our Filtered Commands dialog box. Simly right click on any captured I/O, in the I/O Capture List, and choose the Filter I/O Activity option. You will see a dialog box come up with four different options to choose from: General, Command/Status, Originator, and Devices.

The filtering options only filter I/O activity from view. They still remain in memory and can be viewed again by adjusting your filter settings.

General Filter Options

You can filter out General I/O activity that applies to all devices.

Group consecutive identical I/Os together

By placing a checkmark on this option, you are configuring busTRACE to group identical I/Os together. For example, let's say you have captured I/O activity and there is a burst of 25+ Test Unit Ready commands being sent at regular intervals (not uncommon in Windows). The I/O Capture List window will be filled with Test Unit Ready commands interspersed with other commands that you might be more interested in analyzing. If you place a checkmark on this option, busTRACE will collapse all identical Test Unit Ready commands into a single entry.

Filter out non-execution SCSI Request Blocks (SRBs)

You can also Filter out non-execution SCSI Request Blocks (SRBs). For storage class devices (e.g. hard drives, tape drives, CD/DVD drives), Windows drivers build up SCSI Request Blocks (SRBs) to deliver a CDB (Command Descriptor Block) to a device. Embedded within the SRB structure is a Function field. The SRB function specifies the operation to be performed. Typically, this value is set to SRB_FUNCTION_EXECUTE_SCSI which is used to send a CDB to a device. However, the function field might also be used to abort a command, reset a device, flush any data, and more.

You may find that all the non-execution SRBs that busTRACE has captured are getting in the way of you analyzing the CDBs that were sent. If so, simply place a checkmark on this option and busTRACE will filter out all non-execution SRBs (i.e. all SRBs that do not have function SRB_FUNCTION_EXECUTE_SCSI).

This filtering only applies to storage class devices. It does not affect your device if you're only capturing low-level USB data (i.e. URBs). If you would like more details on available SRB functions, please refer to Microsoft's Windows Driver Development Kit.

Filter out user injected messages

By placing a checkmark on this option, you are configuring busTRACE to filter out all user injected messages. These are messages you inserted from the Capture Status window, or messages you injected from your own software.

Command/Status Filter Options

A particularly powerful filtering option is busTRACE's ability to filter out specific commands or specific status. By default, all commands captured and all status seen have a checkmark next to them indicating that they are currently being viewed in the I/O Capture List window.

By removing a checkmark, you are instructing busTRACE to no longer show any I/O with that command sent, or any I/O with the return status, in the I/O Capture List window.

Originator Filter Options

Under Windows 2000, and above, busTRACE has the ability to detect which driver originated the I/O activity. The Originator tab allows you to configure busTRACE to filter out any I/O activity that was sent from a specific driver.

By default, busTRACE places a checkmark on all I/O originators indicating that you want no I/O activity filtered. Simply remove the checkmark from I/Os generated by the given Originator to filter out its I/O activity.

Devices Filter Options

In most configurations, you are capturing I/O activity for only one device (the device you are interested in analyzing). What if all devices had their I/O activity captured but you were only interested in one specific device? This may occur if someone else captures I/O activity and sends you the capture file for analysis.

There are multiple ways for you to get to the device I/O you are interested in. One of the simplest is to use the Devices filtering option.