Once the machine has completely booted, any anonymous state may be claimed by specifying the a option with dtrace. By default, a claims the anonymous state, processes the existing data, and continues to run. To consume the anonymous state and then exit, add the e option.

Once anonymous state has been consumed from the kernel, it cannot be replaced: the in-kernel buffers that contained it are reused. If you attempt to claim anonymous tracing state where none exists, dtrace will generate a message similar to the following example:

dtrace: could not enable tracing: No anonymous tracing state

If drops or errors have occurred, dtrace will generate the appropriate messages when the anonymous state is claimed. The messages for drops and errors are the same for both anonymous and non-anonymous state.