On a running system, the hypervisor's memory is completely off-limits to dom0. If the hypervisor crashes, however, the resulting panic dump will generate a core file that provides a unified view of both xVM and dom0. In this core file, xVM appears as a Solaris kernel module named xpv. For example:
> $c xpv`panic+0xbf() xpv`do_crashdump_trigger+0x19() xpv`keypress_softirq+0x35() xpv`do_softirq+0x54() xpv`idle_loop+0x55() |
The following applies to crash dumps:
If a dom0 crashes with a standard Solaris panic, the dump will include only the dom0.
When the hypervisor itself panics, the resulting dump includes the xVM state as well as the dom0 state.
You can use the following command to force a crash dump of an OpenSolaris guest in the event of problems within the guest:
# virsh dump domain |
The crash dump file created can be analyzed through /bin/mdb. The xvm user must be able to write to the location specified.