---
title: "Create a Snapshot File of ControlUp Components with dotTrace"
slug: "create-a-snapshot-file-of-controlup-components"
updated: 2025-09-04T14:17:06Z
published: 2025-09-04T14:17:06Z
canonical: "support.controlup.com/create-a-snapshot-file-of-controlup-components"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.controlup.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create a Snapshot File of ControlUp Components with dotTrace

ControlUp components such as the ControlUp Monitor (cuMonitor.exe), ControlUp Agent (cuAgent.exe) or the Real-Time DX Console usually come with lower overhead. In some cases, CPU consumption of a component can be higher than expected. The following topics are covered in two sections:

1. You can disable the creation of a memory dump of the cuAgent process and specify a path under which the cuAgent memory dump should be saved.
2. It shows you how to use JetBrains dotTrace to generate a snapshot of the **cuAgent.exe** process, which in our use case consistently consumes 5% of CPU.  

![cuAgent.exe process showing CPU of 5%](https://cdn.document360.io/098100b7-b9da-4bea-b4b9-017140ab863e/Images/Documentation/pasted%20image%200.png)

## Automatic Snapshot File when cuAgent Crashes

You can set a path on your Agent machine to which a **full** memory dump of the cuAgent process is written. As the size of the full memory dump can reach many hundreds of megabytes, it is helpful to avoid saving the full memory dump on the C:/ partition.

**On the Agent machine:**

1. Create two new registry keys under `SOFTWARE\Smart-X\ControlUp\Agent`
  1. `DisableDumpCreation`  

Data Type: `REG_SZ`  

Value Data:
    - **False**: Dump file will be created as ***ControlupAgentEmergencyShutdown[dd_MM_yy_HH_mm_ss].dmp*** If registry key **AgentDumpFileLocation** is empty, the default path is C:\Windows\Temp. This is the default setting if the registry key is missing.
    - **True**: No dump file will be created
  2. `DumpFileLocation`  

Data Type: `REG_SZ`  

Value Data:
    - Any file system path on the Agent machine to which the dump is written. In our example, we want to dump file to be written in C:\   

![DumpFileLocation key](https://cdn.document360.io/098100b7-b9da-4bea-b4b9-017140ab863e/Images/Documentation/image-JG36AEUD.png)
2. Restart the cuAgent service.
3. The next time, the cuAgent crashes due to an unhandled exception, the memory dump will be written to the path you defined under `DumpFileLocation`.

## Using dotTrace to Generate a Snapshot File

dotTrace is a .NET performance profiler that you can use to diagnose CPU performance issues with a ControlUp component. In this example, we show you how to generate a snapshot file for the **cuAgent.exe** process.

          Note

          

JetBrains offers a 30-day trial that you need to activate. Make sure you create the trace file before the trial expires.

To generate a trace file

1. [Download](https://www.jetbrains.com/profiler/download/#section=web-installer) and install dotTrace on the machine where you wish to investigate the ControlUp process.
2. Run dotTrace as an Administrator. Under **Profiling**, select the **cuAgent.exe** process and choose **Timeline** as Profiling Type. Click **Start** to run the trace.  

![JetBrains dotTrace home screen](https://cdn.document360.io/098100b7-b9da-4bea-b4b9-017140ab863e/Images/Documentation/pasted%20image%200%20%281%29.png)
3. A status bar is displayed indicating the profiling session is currently running.  

![cuAgent.exe status bar](https://cdn.document360.io/098100b7-b9da-4bea-b4b9-017140ab863e/Images/Documentation/pasted%20image%200%20%282%29.png)
4. Click **Get Snapshot and Wait** to create a snapshot of the cuAgent.exe process. If you check the **Open snapshot immediately** checkbox, the Timeline View opens.  

![Timeline View screen](https://cdn.document360.io/098100b7-b9da-4bea-b4b9-017140ab863e/Images/Documentation/pasted%20image%200%20%283%29.png)
5. Click **File > Export snapshot** and save the profiling snapshot file.
6. Upload the ***dtt*** file to our Sharefile portal via this [link](https://controlup.sharefile.com/share/upload/r63b4421f33441e2b).