Starting MDB

Now, run mdb on the crash dump you created, and check its status:

$ mdb unix.1 vmcore.1
Loading modules: [ unix krtld genunix ip nfs ipc ]
> ::status
debugging crash dump vmcore.1 (32-bit) from testsystem
operating system: 5.9 Generic (sun4u)
panic message: forced crash dump initiated at user request

In the examples presented in this guide, a crash dump from a 32-bit kernel is used. All of the techniques presented here are applicable to a 64-bit kernel, and care has been taken to distinguish pointers (sized differently on 32- and 64-bit systems) from fixed-sized quantities, which are invariant with respect to the kernel data model.

A Sun Ultra-1 workstation was used to generate the example presented. Your results can vary depending on the architecture and model of system you use.