The as-dump Utility

You can use the as-dump utility to view backup files that are used with ActiveSpaces shared-nothing persistence.

The as-dump program is a utility that you can run offline to examine shared-nothing persistence files and get information such as the ActiveSpaces version the file was created with, the number of entries in the file, and optionally, the data in the file entries. As-dump is useful for examining the data store files created when you are using shared-nothing persistence and detecting possible problems.

The as-dump utility takes a file name and/or a specific directory name as input. You must provide the full directory path.

If you provide the directory name, as-dump reads all files in the directory or in its subdirectory and prints out information on each of the files. If you specify a filename, as-dump outputs information for the specified file only.

Syntax

The as-dump utility has the following syntax: 

as-dump [-vhm] <filepath/directory>
 -h help
 -v verbose, verbose output
 -m <int>, number of entries to print at once
as-dump Parameters
Parameter Description
filepath/directory Required.
-h Displays the command syntax for as-dump.
-v Verbose. Displays detail for each tuple in the file.
-m <int> Specifies output of int entries.

Sample Output

The output from as-dump indicates:

  • The location of the persistence file (or files if you specify the directory name only).
  • The filename for each persistence file.
  • The ActiveSpaces version that created the files.
  • The number of entries in the file.
  • If you specify the verbose option, the contents of each tuple.

The following example shows output from the as-dump command with the verbose option and a specified filename specified: 

as-dump -v c:\tmp\ms\shared_nothing_persisted\
a62c937-c350\a62c937-c350_store_1352146870
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:101][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
fileloc=c:\tmp\ms\shared_nothing_persisted\a62c937-c350\a62c937-c350_store_1352146870
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:101][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:201][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
<Dump>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:301][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]     
<Filter></Filter>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:401][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]     
<File>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:501][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]             
<FilePath>c:\tmp\ms\shared_nothing_persisted\a62c937-c350\a62c937-c350_store_1352146870</FilePath>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:601][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]             
<Version>2.0.2</Version>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:701][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]             
<ViewNumber>2</ViewNumber>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:801][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]             
<Entries>
[2012-11-05 14:29:23:901][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
<Tuple>
        <value type="int32" pos="0" name="key"> 1 </value>
        <value type="string" pos="1" name="value"> one </value>
        <value type="date_time" pos="2" name="time"> 2012-11-05T20:21:33.000GMT </value>
</Tuple>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:1][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
<Tuple>
        <value type="int32" pos="0" name="key"> 2 </value>
        <value type="string" pos="1" name="value"> two </value>
        <value type="date_time" pos="2" name="time"> 2012-11-05T20:21:41.000GMT </value>
</Tuple>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:101][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
<Tuple>
        <value type="int32" pos="0" name="key"> 3 </value>
        <value type="string" pos="1" name="value"> three </value>
        <value type="date_time" pos="2" name="time"> 2012-11-05T20:21:54.000GMT </value>
</Tuple>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:201][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
<Tuple>
        <value type="int32" pos="0" name="key"> 4 </value>
        <value type="string" pos="1" name="value"> four </value>
        <value type="date_time" pos="2" name="time"> 2012-11-05T20:22:02.000GMT </value>
</Tuple>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:301][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
<Tuple>
        <value type="int32" pos="0" name="key"> 5 </value>
        <value type="string" pos="1" name="value"> five </value>
        <value type="date_time" pos="2" name="time"> 2012-11-05T20:22:11.000GMT </value>
</Tuple>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:424][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]             
</Entries>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:524][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]            
 <EntryCount>5</EntryCount>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:624][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]             
<InvalidBlockCount>0</InvalidBlockCount>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:724][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]             
<ExceptionCount>0</ExceptionCount>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:824][4896][7040][INFO][asdump]     
</File>
[2012-11-05 14:29:24:924][4896][7040][INFO][asdump] 
</Dump>