TraceBack

Software Magazine, Sept, 1999

InCert Software Corp. recently debuted TraceBack, a tool to enable users to "trace back" statement sequences in production to identify the root cause of an application failure and minimize downtime.

TraceBack, through binary instrumentation, monitors application execution, and traces the exact sequence of statements leading up to application failure. TraceBack eliminates the need to replicate application failures in test environments for standard debuggers to be deployed to provide such sequencing information.

TraceBack traces back a sequence of statements from the point of system failure, runs in production and monitors program execution, and has no measurable performance overhead. Key benefits of TraceBack include the fast recovery from system failures to minimize down time, and the reduction in time spent replicating system failures or using standard debuggers. It is also nonintrusive to the development process.

Pricing for TraceBack starts at $95,000 per mainframe.