savecore(1M)

NAME

     savecore - save a crash dump of the operating system

SYNOPSIS

     /usr/bin/savecore [-Lvd] [-f dumpfile] [directory]

DESCRIPTION

     The savecore utility  saves  a  crash  dump  of  the  kernel
     (assuming  that one was made) and writes a reboot message in
     the shutdown log. It is invoked by the  /etc/init.d/savecore
     file  after  the system boots, if savecore is enabled by way
     of dumpadm(1M). savecore is enabled on reboot by default.

     The savecore utility checks the crash dump to be certain  it
     corresponds   with  the  version  of  the  operating  system
     currently running. If it does, savecore saves the crash dump
     data  in the file directory/vmcore.n and the kernel's namel-
     ist in directory/unix.n. The trailing .n in the pathnames is
     replaced  by a number which grows every time savecore is run
     in that directory.

     Before writing out a crash dump,  savecore  reads  a  number
     from  the file directory/minfree. This is the minimum number
     of kilobytes that must remain free on the file  system  con-
     taining  directory.  If after saving the crash dump the file
     system containing directory would have less free  space  the
     number  of kilobytes specified in minfree, the crash dump is
     not saved. if the minfree  file  does  not  exist,  savecore
     assumes a minfree value of 1 megabyte.

     The savecore utility also logs a reboot message using facil-
     ity  LOG_AUTH  (see  syslog(3C)). If the system crashed as a
     result of a panic, savecore logs the panic string too.

OPTIONS

     The following options are supported:

          -d    Disregard dump header valid flag. Force  savecore
                to  attempt  to  save  a  crash  dump even if the
                header information  stored  on  the  dump  device
                indicates the dump has already been saved.

          -f dumpfile
                Attempt to save a crash dump from  the  specified
                file  instead  of  from the system's current dump
                device. This option may be useful if the informa-
                tion stored on the dump device has been copied to
                an on-disk file by means of the dd(1M) command.

          -L    Save a crash dump of  the  live  running  Solaris
                system,  without  actually  rebooting or altering
                the  system  in  any  way.  This  option   forces
                savecore to save a live snapshot of the system to
                the dump device, and then immediately to retrieve
                the  data  and  to  write  it out to a new set of
                crash dump files in the specified directory. Live
                system  crash  dumps can only be performed if you
                have configured your system to have  a  dedicated
                dump device using dumpadm(1M).

                savecore -L does not suspend the system,  so  the
                contents  of  memory continue to change while the
                dump is saved. This means that live  crash  dumps
                are not fully self-consistent.

          -v    Verbose.  Enables  verbose  error  messages  from
                savecore.

OPERANDS

     The following operands are supported:

     directory
           Save the crash dump files to the specified  directory.
           If  directory  is  not  specified,  savecore saves the
           crash dump files to the  default  savecore  directory,
           configured by dumpadm(1M).

FILES

     directory/vmcore.n

     directory/unix.n

     directory/bounds

     directory/minfree

     /dev/ksyms
           the kernel namelist

     /etc/init.d/savecore

     /var/crash/'uname -n'
           default crash dump directory

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcsu (32-bit)            |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    |                             | SUNWcsxu (64-bit)           |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     adb(1),  mdb(1),  dd(1M),  dumpadm(1M),  syslog(3C),  attri-
     butes(5)

BUGS

     If the dump device is also being used as a swap device,  you
     must  run  savecore very soon after booting, before the swap
     space containing the crash dump is overwritten  by  programs
     currently running.