DTrace: Real Visibility

DTrace: Real Visibility

Abstract:
DTrace was developed by engineers from Sun Microsystems, and leveraged in their Fishworks project, to provide instrumentation for their Solaris 11 based storage system. After many of the original developers were cut from the staff, during the acquisition by Oracle, the DTrace community continued to significant diversify. Real visibility, to running applications and operating systems, is now reaching critical mass through the DTrace diaspora.


Oracle Announcement:
Oracle announced in Cotober 2011 that DTrace was being brought to Oracle Enterprise Linux. This announcement generated much discussion, but the history is fairly significant.

Some History:
There will be no attempt to provide an exhaustive history, but it is important to "travel down the roads least traveled" to gain an understanding of DTrace.

June 17, 2004 - Sun's Adam Leventhal starts work with Solaris DTrace
December 13, 2005 - Sun's Adam Leventhal discusses Solaris DTrace in a Linux Branded Zone
March 3, 2007 - Mailing list discussions regarding DTrace port to FreeBSD
August 2, 2007 - Sun's Adam Leventhal discusses knock-off DTrace copy on Linux
August 6, 2007 - Sun's Adam Leventhal discusses DTrace port to Linux
April 3, 2008 - Crisp developer Paul Fox starts DTrace port to Linux
June 30, 2008 - Sun's Adam Leventhal discusses a firestorm regarding DTrace port to Linux
August 10, 2010 - Oracle's Adam Leventhal departs and joins Delphix
September 23, 2010 - Oracle's Brendan Greg discusses upcoming DTrace Book
October 25, 2010 - Oracle's DTrace developer Brendan Greg departs for Joyent
November 19, 2010 - Oracle's Darren Moffat uses DTrace to better understand ZFS encryption
October 4, 2011 - Oracle announces DTrace for Oracle Enterprise Linux
October 5, 2011 - Delphix's Adam Leventhal discusses Oracle Linux DTrace alpha-beta
October 10, 2o11 - Delphix's Adam Leventhal discusses Oracle Linux DTrace Port issues
October 11, 2011 - Oracle's Wim Coekaerts "kicks the tires" on Oracle Linux DTrace
October 14, 2011 - Crisp developer Paul Fox discusses his DTrace Ubunto 11.10 port