SQL Server Profiler is a rich interface to create and manage traces and analyze and replay trace results. The events are saved in a trace file that can later be analyzed or used to replay a specific series of steps when trying to diagnose a problem. It will generally be used by support teams as additional information to service requests towards Orpak Level 3 Support team. 

The flow to successfully acquire the needed information is described in the following sections, and contained in the following list:

Processes that can be submitted to SQL Profiler are:

1. Benzin.exe(BOS application), located on BOS/remote machine(station manager PC)
2. FCCsrv.exe(Forecourt-Controller),  located on BOS machine
   
3. PrxFPU.exe(Fuel Price Update), located on BOS machine
   
4. P_Replicate.exe(Replication), located on BOS machine
   
5. PrxSetailSale.exe(Isle/attendant sales), located on BOS machine
   
6. PrxCstore.exe (POS application), located on POS machine
   
7. PrxValueTickets.exe (handles value tickets)
   

Identifying the process ID of the faulty application

The process identifier of the target/faulty application is available in Windows Task Manager. First step is to open  Task Manager, on Processes tab. Open “Select Columns…” option under View menu 

 

Enable PID (Process Identifier) and press OK. 

PID column will be added to Processes tab. In case of remote applications, the PID will be enabled on the remote machine that is hosting the application. For example, the following figure targets Benzin.exe and the PID in this case is 12696

Establishing a trace.

  Open SQL Profiler on the BOS machine using start menu. StartMicrosoft SQL Server 2008 R2Performance ToolsSQL Server Profiler

Select New Trace Icon (or use File menu) and enter your credentials

Select Events Selection tab and open Column Filters…

Select ClientProcessID criteria and write the process ID , obtained in the previous steps, inside Equals field

After the filter has been applied on the PID, press run and the trace will be started

Replicating the error

Follow the steps that conduct the system to behave in a non-standard way. The steps are described by the end user (station employee), customer head-office administration, or identified during testing activities. It is important not to perform any unnecessary steps that might overcrowd the trace file, making it harder to interpret by the support and development teams. 

Saving the trace

After the trace has been captured, it has to be saved.  The trace will be saved as Trace File. As shown below