How to: Debug On a High-Performance Cluster

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This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

Debugging a multiprocessing program on a high-performance cluster is like debugging an ordinary program on a remote computer. However, there are some additional considerations. For general remote setup requirements, see Remote Debugging.

When you debug on a high-performance cluster, you can use all the Visual Studio debugging windows and techniques that are available for remote debugging. Because you are debugging remotely, however, the external console window is not available.

The Threads window and Processes window are especially useful for debugging parallel applications. For tips on how to use these windows, see How to: Use the Processes Window and How to: Use the Threads Window.

The following procedures show some techniques that are especially useful for debugging on a high-performance cluster.

When you debug a parallel application, you might want to set a breakpoint on a particular thread, process, or computer. You can do this by creating a normal breakpoint, and then adding a breakpoint filter.

To open the Breakpoint Filter dialog box

  1. Right-click a breakpoint glyph in a source window, the Disassembly window, the Call Stack window, or the Breakpoints window.

  2. On the shortcut menu, click Filter. This option may appear at the top level or in the submenu under Breakpoints.

To set a breakpoint on a specific computer

  1. Get the computer name from the Processes window.

  2. Select a breakpoint, and open the Breakpoint Filter dialog box as described in the previous procedure.

  3. In the Breakpoint Filter dialog box, type:

    MachineName =yourmachinename

    To create a more complex filter, you can combine clauses using &, the AND operator, ||, the OR operator, !, the NOT operator, and parentheses.

  4. Click OK.

To set a breakpoint on a specific process

  1. Get the process name or process ID number from the Processes window.

  2. Select a breakpoint, and open the Breakpoint Filter dialog box as in the first procedure.

  3. In the Breakpoint Filter dialog box, type:

    ProcessName = yourprocessname

    —or—

    ProcessID = yourprocessIDnumber

    To create a more complex filter, you can combine clauses using &, the AND operator, ||, the OR operator, !, the NOT operator, and parentheses.

  4. Click OK.

To set a breakpoint on a specific thread

  1. Get the thread name or thread ID number from the Threads window.

  2. Select a breakpoint, and open the Breakpoint Filter dialog box as described in the first procedure.

  3. In the Breakpoint Filter dialog box, type:

    ThreadName = yourthreadname

    —or—

    ThreadID = yourthreadIDnumber

    To create a more complex filter, you can combine clauses using &, the AND operator, ||, the OR operator, !, the NOT operator, and parentheses.

  4. Click OK.

Example

The following example shows how to create a filter for a breakpoint on a computer named marvin and a thread named fourier1.

(MachineName = marvin) & (ThreadName = fourier1)

See Also

Debug Multithreaded Applications
Remote Debugging
How to: Use the Processes Window
How to: Use the Threads Window
Threads and Processes
Using Breakpoints