How to use DebugDiag to troubleshoot a memory leak in Domino on Windows

You can use trapleaks debugging to troubleshoot memory leaks for memory tracked by the Notes® Memory Manager, but how can you track memory that Lotus® Domino® server allocates directly from the operating system?

It is possible for a Domino server to leak memory that has been allocated directly from the host operating system.

Most memory used by Domino is handled by the Notes Memory Manager, but some memory is allocated directly from the operating system due to certain code in Domino.

You can use the DebugDiag (Debug Diagnostics) Tool from Microsoft® to investigate possible memory leaks for memory that Domino allocates directly from the operating system in a Microsoft Windows® environment.

Steps:

1. Download the Debug Diagnostics Tool from the Microsoft Download Center.
2. Install the tool on your Domino server.
3. Start your Domino server, and then start the Debug Diagnostic Tool.
4. If the following startup screen appears, click Cancel to close it:
   
   
5. Select the "Processes" tab to see the Processes running on your server.
6. Locate the process to monitor, right-click on that process name and select "Monitor For Leaks" as shown in the following screen capture:
   
   
7. Select "Yes" when asked if you want to monitor that process for leaks. If DebugDiag successfully attaches to the process, then you should see a confirmation dialog like the following:
   
   
8. Allow the monitored process to run until the "Private Bytes" or "Virtual Bytes" column reaches a level at which you want to gather data. This level will depend on the issue you are troubleshooting and should be determined with the help of IBM Support.
9. Once the process has reached the target memory size, right-click on the process and select "Create Full Userdump" :
   
   
   
   Note that this may take a few minutes to complete.
10. Wait until you see the successful notification window indicating the dump was created. This window also gives you the location of the dump file that was created.
11. You can now detach from the process and shut down the Debugging Diagnostics tool. Right-click on the process you have monitored and select "Stop Monitoring for Leaks". After this, you should be able to shut down Debugging Diagnostics and send in the Userdump file to IBM Support.