How to profile an application using dotTrace Command-Line Profiler

Background

One might want to profile an application on a remote system or in a container using dotTrace. This can be achieved using the dotTrace Command-Line Profiler, which enables application profiling via CLI.

Answer

The profiler allows you to connect to a running process or launch a new one, depending on your needs. dotTrace can be controlled via commands sent to stdin, Profiling API or by writing commands to a file using --service-input option   Below is an example demonstrating how to profile an application using dotTrace CLI. This example shows how to install dotTrace on a target system using dotnet tool, attach to a running process and control dotTrace via stdin):

• Install dotTrace as a global tool dotnet tool install --global jetbrains.dottrace.globaltools
• Run the target application on a target system
• Attach to the target process via dottrace attach {process_id} --save-to={snapshot_path}.dtp where
  • process_id - id of the target process
  • snapshot_path - .dtp snapshot storage location
• Wait until the profiler starts and connects to the target process (indicated by messages ##dotTrace["ready"] and ##dotTrace["started"...])
• Type ##dotTrace["get-snapshot"] to collect a snapshot
• Use ##dotTrace["disconnect"] to disconnect the profiler from the target application
• Transfer the generated {snapshot_name}.dtp to a target system and open it in dotTrace

Find more information about this process in Use dotTrace Command-Line Profiler.