GadiM's Production Debugging WebLog

My talk at the dotnet ruhrpott.net group in Essen 01/12/11

GadiM — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:19:26 GMT

Less than 10 people came to listen, mainly because we failed to compete with a very important football game that was played concurrently. So I would like to extend my special thanks to the professionals that came to listen to me. As I said many times...(read more)

My talk at the “Usergroup Rhein/Ruhr” in Ratingen 30/11/11

GadiM — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:15:23 GMT

The facility was at 7P Solutions & Consulting AG . A large meeting room with about 10 attendees who formed a very interactive group. We diverted to subjects that were not strictly on the agenda (Like why BSOD is the best proof that your computer is...(read more)

My talk at the Bonn-to-Code.net Users group at Bonn 29/11/11

GadiM — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:08:00 GMT

The Subject of production environment is not considered very sexy, at least not by common developer. It takes time and experience to understand that the program you develop is part of a much larger system. About 17 people came to the meeting to listen...(read more)

It’s gonna be lots of fun in Germany

GadiM — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:41:10 GMT

Well, My vacation just gets better. I was invited to speak about my favorite subjects (“Debugging .NET and Native Applications in the Field” and “Preparing Applications for Production Environments”) not just by the “Bonn-To-Code.Net” User’s group in Bonn...(read more)

Germany here I come

GadiM — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:31:36 GMT

My wife decided that I need a vacation, as far from home as possible, but not on the other side of the globe. After analyzing the requirements I came to the conclusion that Germany is a good choice. Since it is my vacation I decided that I must really...(read more)

Code Samples for my Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) lecture at SDWest 2008

GadiM — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:47:00 GMT

Thanks again to everyone who attended my four lectures at SDWest 2008 . The code samples I used in my presentation " Adding Traceability to an Application ", are available for download here . Please feel free to email me with any questions regarding any...(read more)

Why A Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) is solid proof that your computer is functioning properly

GadiM — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:12:00 GMT

Many IT professionals and developers are surprised to find out that A BSOD doesn't "just happen" but is the result of an intentional call from a kernel level programmer to a system call. There is nothing coincidental or surprising in a BSOD.

There are two system calls used to create a BSOD: KeBugCheck and KeBugCheckEx (surprisingly enough these calls don’t return any value).

The purpose of these calls is to shut down the computer as fast as possible leaving enough evidence to enable you to get the precise state of the operating system at the time of the call. Considering the purpose of the call, you can conclude that if you got a blue screen then the call functioned according to the specification and it's actually solid proof that your computer is functioning properly.

There are many reasons for calling these subroutines and they are all documented in the WDK and WinDbg documentation. The common denominator of all these calls, is when a kernel programmer discovers a problem, which is so critical, that leaving the operating system running in this state, might cause critical damage to the system or to the data. In this case, all that's left to do is to push the red button, activate the air bags and halt the system ASAP.

This strategy is called "falling to a safe place" and is used by everyone dealing with emergencies. It's the ABC of mitigation and contingency planning.

On My Way to WinHec 2007

GadiM — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:33:25 GMT

This year I am going to attend WinHec 2007, I decided, it’s about time to go and learn what's new in the Windows Internals/Windows Device Driver development arena.

The introduction of WDF to the Device Driver Development world has had the same revolutionary effect as the introduction of MFC had on the traditional C++ programming world (for good and for bad).

Things have changed a lot in the old WDM DDK world with the introduction of WDK and WDF and there isn't a better place to get the information than WinHec.

C U there.

My Business Card

GadiM — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:21:16 GMT

I must admit that now and again I find it hard to explain what I do for a living (and for fun). So after considering the problem for some time, I decided to sit down and design a business card to explain clearly what I do.

Every day I am called in to solve a different challenge in this endless world of software development and deployment. Armed with my toolbox of hammers, pipe wrenches, life experience, creativity, MSF and PTD, I unclog bottlenecks, clean blockages from rusty procedure pipes and analyze dumps and blue screens.

It is never just a blue collar field job, because after I find the root cause of a problem, I can't really solve it effectively without on-going management involvement. So I always keep a set of white collar clothing with me to wear when I want to bring them on board.

Why don't you join me in my adventures, traveling in IT and development project landscapes and backyards.