Introduction

busTRACE 9.0 allows its user to capture and analyze the I/O activity going on within their Windows PC. The busTRACE 9.0 Capture Client is a small application that allows any Windows user to capture I/O activity on their Windows based PC. They can only capture I/O activity however. Only the busTRACE 9.0 user will be able to analyze the results.

The busTRACE Capture Client includes the following features:

  • Easy to use Wizard interface
  • I/O activity is automatically saved into a compressed busTRACE capture file
  • Any owner of busTRACE 9.0 will be able to view the capture file (if their busTRACE subscription has not expired)
  • Single bound executable with integrated installer/uninstaller
  • Compatible with Windows XP and above (both x86 and x64)

Running the busTRACE Capture Client

Once the capture client has been installed on your system, you can run it at any time by choosing busTRACE 9.0 Capture Client from the Windows Start menu. The very first time the software is launched, you will be prompted to configure the client to let it know what types of I/O activity to capture on this system. You will need to reboot your system after configuring the capture client.

When you start the capture client, you will be shown our easy-to-use wizard:

You can adjust which I/O activity and bus architectures you want to capture by clicking on the Configure button. Click Next to move to the Select Devices to Capture page:

On this page, you select which devices you want to have I/O activity captured against. You can select one or more devices by placing a checkmark next to the device icon / name. Click Next to move to the Choose Capture Settings page:

On this page, you can adjust some of the capture settings busTRACE will use. You can adjust the size of the capture buffer as well as how many bytes per I/O to capture. Please note that the retail version of busTRACE 9.0 offers many more capture settings, including larger capture buffers, than the capture client. Click Next to move to the Capture Bus Activity page:

When this page appears, busTRACE is ready to start capturing I/O activity. Simply click the Start Capture button to have the capture client start capturing all I/O activity going to your selected devices.

While the capture client is capturing all I/O activity, you can see how much of your allocated capture buffer has been used as well as how many I/O Requests have been captured. When you are finished capturing the I/O activity you are interested in, click on the End Capture button and then click on Next to move to the Save Capture Results to File page.

At this point, the capture client is done capturing I/O activity and you are ready to save the results to a compressed busTRACE capture file. Simply click on the Save button to have the results saved to a ZIP file.

You now have a busTRACE capture file, stored in a ZIP file, which you can send to any owner of busTRACE 9.0 (whose busTRACEsubscription is active). The owner of busTRACE 9.0 will be able to analyze the I/O activity that has occurred on your system. They will be able to:

  • See the devices you have installed on your system, what controller they're connected to, what firmware revision they have (if it's a storage device), and more.
  • See what operating system, including any service packs, you were running at the time of the capture.
  • See a detailed analysis of all the I/O activity that occurred during the capture sequence.
  • And more…

See Also: