How to Modify a Crash Dump Configuration

1. Become superuser.

2. Identify the current crash dump configuration by using the dumpadm command.

   # dumpadm Dump content: kernel pages Dump device: /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s1 (swap) Savecore directory: /var/crash/pluto Savecore enabled: yes

   This the default dump configuration for a system running the Solaris 8 release.

3. Modify the crash dump configuration by using the dumpadm command.

   # dumpadm -c content -d dump-device -m nnnk | nnnm | nnn% -n -s savecore-dir

   -c content	Specifies the type of data to dump: kernel memory or all of memory. The default dump content is kernel memory.
   -d dump-device	Specifies the device that stores dump data temporarily as the system crashes. The primary swap device is the default dump device.
   -m nnnk | nnnm | nnn%	Specifies the minimum free disk space for saving crash dump files by creating a minfree file in the current savecore directory. This parameter can be specified in kilobytes (nnnk) , megabytes (nnnm) or file system size percentage (nnn%). The savecore command consults this file prior to writing the crash dump files. If writing the crash dump files, based on their size, would decrease the amount of free space below the minfree threshold, the dump files are not written and an error message is logged. See "How to Recover From a Full Crash Dump Directory (Optional)" for recovering from this scenario.
   -n	Specifies that savecore should not be run when the system reboots. This dump configuration is not recommended. If system crash information is written to the swap device, and savecore is not enabled, the crash dump information is overwritten when the system begins to swap.
   -s	Specifies an alternate directory for storing crash dump files. The default directory is /var/crash/hostname where hostname is the output of the uname -n command.

Example--Modifying a Crash Dump Configuration

In this example, all of memory is dumped to the dedicated dump device, /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s1, and the minimum free space that must be available after the crash dump files are saved is 10% of the file system space.

# dumpadm
      Dump content: kernel pages
       Dump device: /dev/dsk/c0t3d0s1 (swap)
Savecore directory: /var/crash/pluto
  Savecore enabled: yes
 # dumpadm -c all -d /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s1 -m 10%
      Dump content: all pages
       Dump device: /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s1 (dedicated)
Savecore directory: /var/crash/pluto (minfree = 77071KB)
  Savecore enabled: yes