*BSD News Article 98871


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From: wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu (Bill Paul)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Turning on crash dumps?
Date: 2 Jul 1997 19:25:23 GMT
Organization: Columbia University Center for Telecommunications Research
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Daring to challenge the will of the almighty Leviam00se, A. Karl Heller
(heller@socko.cdnow.com) had the courage to say:

:   Under 2.2.2 I have the following in /etc/rc.conf:

: savecore_enable="YES"   # Save kernel crashdumps for debugging (or NO)."        
:         # Save kernel crashdumps for debugging (or NO).
: dumpdev="/dev/sd0s1b"           # Device name to crashdump to (if enabled)."    
:         # Device name to crashdump to (if enabled).


: Where /dev/sd0s1b is :

: # Device                Mountpoint      FStype  Options         Dump    Pass#
: /dev/sd0s1b             none            swap    sw              0       0

This looks correct. The swap device has to be at least as large as your
physical RAM to hold the full dump, but this is usually the case anyway.

:  Can anyone tell me, then, why this machine isn't keeping core dumps?

Not keeping them or not generating them?

: Everyday this machine just reboots ( according to "last" ), however I have
: the feeling something else is wrong, but I have no way to track it down without
: a dump.

'Just reboots' is not the same as 'panicks.' A crash dump will only be
created after a panic. You say it reboots 'according to "last"' which to
me indicates you haven't actually been there to witness it. It is possible
for the system to reset rather than panicking, in which case a crash dump
won't be produced.

:  Any suggestions?

One: try recompiling your kernel with 'options DDB' in the config file to
enable the kernel debugger. If you are fortunate, the system will drop into
the debugger instead of just plain resetting, and you'll be able to
force a crash dump by typing 'panic' at the debugger prompt a few times.

-Bill

--
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-Bill Paul            (212) 854-6020 | System Manager, Master of Unix-Fu
Work:         wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Center for Telecommunications Research
Home:  wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City
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