Local and remote debugging (routine debugger)

With the debugger's client/server design, you can debug routines (stored procedures and functions) that are running remotely on other systems in a network, as well as routines running locally on your workstation.

The debugger server, also known as a debug engine, runs on the same system as the routine you want to debug. This system can be your workstation or a system accessible through a network. If you debug a routine running on your workstation, you are performing local debugging. If you debug a routine running on a system accessible through a network connection, you are performing remote debugging.

With remote debugging, you can run the routine on one system and control it from your workstation. The local system runs the debugger user interface, and the remote system runs both the debug engine and your routine. To be able to debug remotely, you need access to the remote machine where the database and routine you are debugging resides.

When debugging remotely, you might need to configure a rule to allow remote debugging. Some corporations have firewalls that might not allow you to connect to an offsite machine. To determine if there are any actions you can take to connect to the remote machine, contact your site administrator

Why Use Remote Debugging?

Remote debugging can prove useful in any number of situations, such as:

The routine you are debugging might be running on another system and might behave differently on that system than on your own. You can use the remote debug feature to debug this routine on the (other) remote system from your local system. The user on the system running that routine interacts with the routine as usual (except where breakpoints or step commands introduce delays), and you are able to control the routine and observe the remote routine's internal behavior from your local system. Remote debugging looks and acts like local debugging, except for possible network delays.
The routine you are debugging might have been compiled for a platform where the debugger UI will not run. You can use the remote debugging feature to take advantage of the debugger UI on your local machine while debugging the routine running on the remote machine.