1. An article of manufacture comprising: at least one computer usable medium having computer readable program code logic to define a handle for a trace of a processing environment, said computer readable program code logic for execution by a computer for performing a method comprising: obtaining at least a portion of the trace; and generating a key based on contents of the at least a portion of the trace, wherein the key is a handle for the trace, said handle being indifferent to memory location of the trace.