1savecore(1M)            System Administration Commands            savecore(1M)
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NAME

6       savecore - save a crash dump of the operating system
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SYNOPSIS

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

13       The  savecore  utility  saves a crash dump of the kernel (assuming that
14       one was made) and writes a reboot message in the shutdown  log.  It  is
15       invoked by the dumpadm service each time the system boots.
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18       savecore  saves  the crash dump data in the file directory/vmcore.n and
19       the kernel's namelist in directory/unix.n. The trailing .n in the path‐
20       names is replaced by a number which grows every time savecore is run in
21       that directory.
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24       Before writing out a crash dump, savecore reads a number from the  file
25       directory/minfree.  This  is  the minimum number of kilobytes that must
26       remain free on the file system containing directory.  If  after  saving
27       the  crash  dump  the  file system containing directory would have less
28       free space the number of kilobytes specified in minfree, the crash dump
29       is  not  saved.  if the minfree file does not exist, savecore assumes a
30       minfree value of 1 megabyte.
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33       The savecore utility also logs a reboot message using facility LOG_AUTH
34       (see  syslog(3C)).  If  the  system  crashed  as  a  result of a panic,
35       savecore logs the panic string too.
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OPTIONS

38       The following options are supported:
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40       -d             Disregard dump header  valid  flag.  Force  savecore  to
41                      attempt to save a crash dump even if the header informa‐
42                      tion stored on the dump device indicates  the  dump  has
43                      already been saved.
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46       -f dumpfile    Attempt  to  save  a  crash dump from the specified file
47                      instead of from the system's current dump  device.  This
48                      option  may  be  useful if the information stored on the
49                      dump device has been copied to an on-disk file by  means
50                      of the dd(1M) command.
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53       -L             Save  a  crash  dump of the live running Solaris system,
54                      without actually rebooting or altering the system in any
55                      way. This option forces savecore to save a live snapshot
56                      of the system to the dump device, and  then  immediately
57                      to retrieve the data and to write it out to a new set of
58                      crash dump files in the specified directory. Live system
59                      crash dumps can only be performed if you have configured
60                      your system  to  have  a  dedicated  dump  device  using
61                      dumpadm(1M).
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63                      savecore -L does not suspend the system, so the contents
64                      of memory continue to change while the  dump  is  saved.
65                      This means that live crash dumps are not fully self-con‐
66                      sistent.
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69       -v             Verbose. Enables verbose error messages from savecore.
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OPERANDS

73       The following operands are supported:
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75       directory    Save the crash dump files to the specified  directory.  If
76                    directory  is not specified, savecore saves the crash dump
77                    files to the default  savecore  directory,  configured  by
78                    dumpadm(1M).
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FILES

82       directory/vmcore.n
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85       directory/unix.n
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88       directory/bounds
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91       directory/minfree
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94       /var/crash/'uname -n'        default crash dump directory
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ATTRIBUTES

98       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
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103       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
104       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         │      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        │
105       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
106       │Availability                 │SUNWcsu                      │
107       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
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SEE ALSO

110       adb(1),  mdb(1),  svcs(1), dd(1M), dumpadm(1M), svcadm(1M), syslog(3C),
111       attributes(5), smf(5)
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NOTES

114       The system crash dump service is  managed  by  the  service  management
115       facility, smf(5), under the service identifier:
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117         svc:/system/dumpadm:default
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122       Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or
123       requesting restart, can be performed using  svcadm(1M).  The  service's
124       status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.
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127       If  the  dump  device is also being used as a swap device, you must run
128       savecore very soon after booting, before the swap space containing  the
129       crash dump is overwritten by programs currently running.
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133SunOS 5.11                        25 Sep 2004                     savecore(1M)
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