Analyzing .Net Application Memory Usage And Issues

Memory Issues? Huh?
.NET has Garbage Collection. I don’t have to worry about memory anymore!
Users have lots of memory now. I don’t have to worry about using lots of memory anymore!
Windows has virtual memory space. I don’t have to worry about using lots of memory anymore!

Common .NET Memory Issues
Too much allocation
Memory allocations are long lived
Managed memory leaks – reference leaks
Work “with” the Garbage Collector. It’s your friend - but only if you are nice to it.

Why Use a Profiling Tool?
To understand how your allocations correspond with the assumptions made by the GC
Track unintentional references to instances (leaks)
Track references that are being held too long

3 Allocation Profilers
.NET Memory Profiler – SciTech
Commercial – best of breed
Ants Profiler – Red Gate
Commercial – Useful, but light weight feature set
CLR Profiler 2.0 – Microsoft
Free – Powerful, but challenging to use
Others listed in resources

Definitions
Root – The base object holding references to other objects
Examples: A static field, a local variable or a method parameter.
Root Path - The path of referees from the selected instance to a root
Garbage Collection – The process by which objects with no root (unreachable objects) are cleaned up from the heap.

Sample - Conway’s Game of Life
A simulation of cellular automation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life
Pulsar Pattern

Demo - .NET Memory Profiler
Cream of the crop profilers
Can attach to running processes
Show native memory usage
Great real-time view
Copy grids to clipboard
Low impact mode

Demo - CLR Profiler 2.0
For the MacGyver in you.
A robust tool, without all the modern conveniences.

Demo - Ants Profiler
Good tool with basic features
Memory analysis a recent addition to execution analysis
No real-time or IDisposble analysis
Best thread support

Resources
.NET Memory Profiler
http://memprofiler.com/
Ants Profiler
http://www.red-gate.com
CLR Profiler 2.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A362781C-3870-43BE-8926-862B40AA0CD0&displaylang=en
Or http://tinyurl.com/ozsgr

Resources
DevPartner Studio Professional
Includes a memory profiler
http://www.compuware.com/products/devpartner/studio.htm

Resources
Introduction to the CLR Profiler
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20050217CLRPS/manifest.xml
Profiling Managed Code with the CLR Profiler
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20030729clrgn/manifest.xml
How To: Use CLR Profiler
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms979205.aspx
CLR Profiler (v1.1)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=86ce6052-d7f4-4aeb-9b7a-94635beebdda&displaylang=en

Resources
Improving Managed Code Performance (P&P)
Code Review: .NET Application Performance
Checklist: Managed Code Performance
Improving .NET Application Performance and Scalability (full Patterns and Practices book)

Resources
Rico Mariani's Performance Tidbits (Blog)
http://blogs.msdn.com/ricom/default.aspx
Garbage Collection: Automatic Memory Management in the Microsoft .NET Framework (Jeffery Richter)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/1100/gci/
Garbage Collector Basics and Performance Hints (Rico Mariani)

Thank You!
Questions?

Analyzing .Net Application Memory Usage And Issues

by Greg Sohl

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