Debugging Large Scale Applications With Virtualization

Abstract

In this thesis, we explore a new approach based on a tight integration between the debugger and the application's underlying parallel runtime system. The debugger is responsible for interacting with the user and receiving commands from him; the parallel runtime system is responsible for managing the application, and performing the operations requested by the user through the debugger interface. This integration facilitates the scaling of the debugging techniques to very large machines, and helps the user to focus on the processors where a problem manifests. Furthermore, the parallel runtime system is in a unique position to enable powerful techniques that can help reduce the need for large parallel machines when debugging a large-scale application.