Debugging Tools

Solaris debugging tools such as DTrace and mdb can be applied to Linux processes executing inside the zone, but the tools themselves must be running in the global zone. Any core files generated are produced in the Solaris format and can only be debugged with Solaris tools.

DTrace is enabled for Linux applications by the DTrace lxsyscall dynamic tracing provider. The provider acts like the DTrace syscall provider. The lxsyscall provider provides probes that fire whenever a thread enters or returns from a Linux system call entry point.

For more information on debugging options, see the Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide, and the dtrace(1M) and mdb(1) man pages. The Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide describes the public documented interfaces available for the DTrace facility. The documentation about the syscall provider can be used for the lxsyscall provider.

Note - Because NFS is dependent on name services, which are zone specific, you cannot access any NFS file system that is mounted outside of the current zone. Thus, you cannot debug NFS-based Linux processes from the global zone.