Method to identify why a process stops on windows 2008

[Bill Costigan]

I'm running into a performance issue running Data Protector on windows 2008. One of the processes runs for a while pauses for a while then runs again. It might run for 3-4 minutes then stops for 10 minutes, runs, stops, runs, etc.

Some Operating Systems (e.g., HPUX) will show why a process is stopped (e.g., waiting for I/O to complete, waiting to lock a semaphore, waiting for CPU resources, etc.) I cannot find anything similar with win 2008. I selected all the perfmon metrics associated with a process. All I can see is the process stops using resources for 10 minutes or so. No CPU, no disk I/O, no other I/O, etc.

Can someone point me to tools or a methodology to determine why a partitular process may be blocked from running?

[P Muralidhar Kini · Accepted solution]

Hi Bill,

You can try these -
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
http://www.nirmaltv.com/2008/01/31/process-explorer-monitor-processes-in-windows/
http://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/windows-process-information/

Regards,
Murali

[Bill Costigan]

Thank you Murali. I'll chack out thise links.

[Bill Costigan]

I used the process monitor from the sysinternals link. I found it provided very useful information but not the reason the process stopped, However, because it shows a trace of what the process is calling and when each call happens, that is the next best thing.

Thanks for the link.

Bill