dumpsys(8) System Manager's Manual dumpsys(8)
NAME
dumpsys - Copies a snapshot of memory to a dump file
SYNOPSIS
/sbin/dumpsys [-fisuz] [-r num] directory
OPTIONS
Perform a full core dump -- the default is a partial dump. Ignore filesystem space limit warning -- copy the dump even if there is insuf-
ficient filesystem space to save it. Only the portion of the dump that fits in the space available is copied. Set the expected dump com-
pression ratio, defaulting to 0.5. A lower number means a better compression ratio is expected. Print the expected size of a full and
partial dump file -- no dump is taken. Produce a non-compressed dump. Disable contiguous zero suppression.
DESCRIPTION
The dumpsys command allows you to save a snapshot of the system memory to a dump file. There are times when system memory requires analy-
sis but it may not be possible to halt the system and take a normal crash dump. Many problems can be resolved by taking a snapshot of the
system memory while the system is running. The dumpsys command performs this function after it determines that there is enough file system
space to save a core dump (see the following for information about minfree).
Note that the system is running while dumpsys takes a snapshot of memory. This means that memory may be changing as it is copied. As a
result, analysis of the resulting dump may show inconsistencies such as incomplete linked lists and partially zeroed pages. These are
features caused by the transitory state of memory, caused by the working system. For this reason, some system problems cannot be detected
by dumpsys and you must halt the system to take a normal crash dump.
The dumpsys command writes information in directory. By default, directory is /var/adm/crash.
The dump contains the contents of a portion of physical memory (or all of physical memory in the case of a full core dump) at the time of
the command execution. The dumpsys command saves this information in the file vmzcore.n, or vmcore.n if compression is supressed. The
command also copies the kernel executable image, usually /vmunix, to the vmunix.n file. You can then analyze the vmzcore.n and vmunix.n
files (See the Kernel Debugging manual for information about analyzing core dump files.)
The variable n indicates the number of the core file. For the first file, dumpsys creates the files vmunix.0 and vmcore.0. It then creates
a file named directory/bounds and initializes the file with the value 1. For each succeeding dump, the dumpsys command uses the value in
the directory/bounds file and then increments that value.
By default dumpsys produces specially compressed dump files. The compression scheme used is not as powerful as compress or gzip but has the
unusual feature that any byte in the file can be extracted without decompressing more than about 40K (typically less), even if the dump is
very large. Tools such as dbx, ladebug, and kdbx, are able to read the compressed core files. The expand_dump utility is provided to con-
vert compressed dumps into non-compressed dumps if you want to use an analysis tool that does not understand the compressed format.
A traditional non-compressed dump can be generated using the -u switch. In this case the dump file will be named vmcore.n instead of vmz-
core.n.
It is possible that you may run dumpsys on a kernel that is not recent enough to support compressed dumps. If this happens, dumpsys will
display a warning that the kernel is too old, but will then produce a non-compressed dump. The message is suppressed if -u is used. Con-
versely, if you try to use older versions of dumpsys with a newer kernel a non-compressed dump is created without a message. The older
dumpsys version will not recognize the -u or -r options.
The text file directory/minfree specifies the minimum number of kilobytes that must be left on the filesystem containing directory after
dumpsys copies the dump. By default, this file does not exist, indicating that the minimum is set to zero. To specify a minimum, create the
file and store the number of kilobytes you want reserved in it.You can override the minimum check of directory/minfree using the -i option.
The -s option displays the approximate number of disk blocks that full and partial dumps will require. The exact size can not be deter-
mined ahead of time for many reasons, such as: By default, dumpsys optimizes disk space requirements by suppressing the writing of contigu-
ous zeroes. System use of dynamic memory (malloc/free) changes while the system is in use. If the dump is to be compressed, the ratio by
which it will be compressed is not known.
The -z option disables contiguous zero suppression. A considerable amount of memory consists of contiguous zeros, that do not need to be
written to disk. The dumpsys command optimizes disk space by default, but optimization of disk space causes longer execution times. If
you specify the -z option, the run time can be 25% faster, although you will require more disk space. Note that if the dump is to be com-
pressed, zero supression is not usedm therefore the -z option is meaningless.
With the exception of the -s option, execution of dumpsys requires root (superuser) access rights.
EXIT STATUS
Success -- dump taken General error -- dump failed Insufficient file system space -- dump failed
FILES
Specifies the number of the next dump Specifies the minimum number of kilobytes to be left after dump files are written
SEE ALSO
Commands: dbx(1), expand_dump(8), savecore(8)
System Administration
dumpsys(8)