Error: Internal collection error has occured. Please contact the technical support

[peterstopera]

I get the error in this thread's title when trying to get aany type of trace when attaching to a running process.

The other strange part, is that on Monday Nov 8th, I installed VTune and got the Performance Analyzer (old product??), the next day I was having issues wtih it and uninstalled it and got the Amplifier XE product.

[David_A_Intel1]

That's because on Nov. 9 we launched our new XE products! :)

Regarding the error message, when you configured the process to attach to, was it running? Was it running when you attempted to profile it? Which "analysis type" did you attempt to use?

[peterstopera]

Yes, the process Iam trying to attach tois running (i tried to attach to both the pid & .exe). I get the same error when i choose any of the 4 Algorithm Analysis fields. I was able to run a trace with the "old" product.

Just an fyi - i'm running W2003 R2 on a Xeon L5520.

[alfonso_velasco]

Hi,

We are facing the same problem. In our case we are trying to attach to a window service. Amplifier fails with the same error if we try to attach by means of PID or name. If we try to attach to a process then there is no problem.

Regards,
Alfonso.

[David_A_Intel1]

Hi Alfonso:

I suspect that none of the "Algorithm" analysis types will work with a Windows* service, since these types all perform some kind of binary instrumentation of the modules. Especially in more recent Windows* releases, there is a lot of security stuff that will probably keep instrumentation of services from being allowed. Which version of Windows are you running this on?

Instead, you should use the processor tuning types to collect data "system-wide" and then filter on your service module(s).

[David_A_Intel1]

peterstopera:

What type of app is it? When you say "trace", what do you mean: was it sampling or call graph? Sampling is processor-based performance data collection and less intrusive. Call graph more closely mimicks the 4 Algorithm analysis types, since they are both instrumentation-based. Were you able to call graph your app with the VTune Performance Analyzer 9.1?

As I told Alfonso, the processor-based analysis types will always work and, if you can't get the Algorithm types to work, you should give the others a try.

In the meantime, if you can provide us enough details, we can attempt to look into your problem. Best is to submit an issue at https://premier.intel.com, where you can exchange files securely. Intel Premier Support is free and included with your purchase or evaluation of the VTune products.

[alfonso_velasco]

Hi MrAnderson,

Thanks for your answer, actually we know this issue does not happen with previous versions of windows like XP and Server 2003. We are facing this problem on Vista and server 2008, which are the platforms for our Windows Service to run on. I will follow your recomendation on a system wide analysis, but i dont know if I can perform a statisticall call graph on this kind of analysis for my service, wich is what I need to do.

We have also used tools like PTU and it has not this kind of limitation. It looks like Vtune does not follow the same aproach to attach to a process. PTU can attach to a process whitout regarding the session the process is running on, even if it is a windows service.

Thanks again and best regards,
Alfonso.

[peterstopera]

Hi MrAnderson,

Thanks for the response. My app is a complex multithreaded real time application, many threads, many many external interfaces.

I was able to get call graph info from VTune Performance Analyzer 9.1.

I have created a non service version of my app and I'm able to attach to it.

Based on your notes, I does not look like I can attach to a service (which i really need to do).

Is there a way for me to get the 4 Algorithm analysis types from a W2003 R2 service?

thanks again
-peter

[David_A_Intel1]

I received some more information:

Windows* services are loaded by cvshost.exe and run under a special account. To profile a service with the Algorithm Analysis types, e.g., Hot Spots, Concurrency, or Locks&Waits, the user running VTune Amplifier XE must have sufficient privileges. To see if you have the required privileges, you should attempt to attach the debugger to the process. If you can successfully attach, then you should be able to profile the process with VTune Amplifier XE.

[todd-bezenek]

Mr. Anderson,

I am trying to do what you mention using Vtune Amplified XE 2011 for Linux. It does not allow any of the Algorithm Analysis mechanisms to be attached to a running process.

In the old VTune 9.1/Thread Profiler combination, once the binaries were instrumented, you could start and application and let it run for as long as you like and then attach to it when it was exibiting the behavior you wanted to study. This capability seems to have "gone away" in XE.

Can you help with this?

Thanks,

Todd