On most Operating Systems, when a User Mode process crashes, a core dump file is not generated by default. The core dump file is necessary to understand why the process crashed.

Select the Operating System :

• R7x Gaia OS / SecurePlatform OS 2.6
• SecurePlatform OS 2.4
• RedHat Enterprise Linux OS
• IPSO OS
• Windows OS (post-Vista)

 
Important: In R80.x, for both Gaia 2.6.18 and 3.10 the core dump generation is enabled by default and controlled by clish “show/set core-dump” commands.

R7x Gaia OS / SecurePlatform OS 2.6 

Refer to

• sk92764 - Core Dump Manager (CDM) for User Mode core dump files in Gaia OS
• sk18307 - Enabling the generation of User Mode core dump files on SecurePlatform OS
• sk77080 - How to use GDB to get function stack from User Mode process

 

1. To enable the generation of User Mode core dump files on-the-fly:
   
   
   1. Enter Expert mode: # expert
      
      
   2. Set the size of core dump file to 'unlimited'
      # ulimit -a
# ulimit -c unlimited
# ulimit -a
      
      Note: to disable, run 'ulimit -c 0' command
      
      
   3. Make sure the following line exists and set to 1 (one) in '/etc/sysctl.conf' file
      
      # Controls whether core dumps will append the PID to the core filename.
# Useful for debugging multi-threaded applications.
kernel.core_uses_pid = 1
      
      
   4. Make sure this directory exists
      /var/log/dump/usermode
      
      If not, then create it
      # mkdir -p /var/log/dump/usermode
   
   
   
2. To enable the generation of User Mode core dump files permanently:
   
   
   1. Enter Expert mode: # expert
      
      
   2. Enable generation of core dump files: # um_core enable
      
      Notes:
      • to disable, run 'um_core disable' command
      • how the 'um_core' script works :
        • the 'um_core [enable|disable]' script creates/removes a file '/etc/sysconfig/enable_cores'
        • script called '/etc/initscript' runs 'ulimit -c unlimited' command, if '/etc/sysconfig/enable_cores' exists
      
      
      
   3. Make sure the following line exists and set to 1 (one) in '/etc/sysctl.conf' file
      
      # Controls whether core dumps will append the PID to the core filename.
# Useful for debugging multi-threaded applications.
kernel.core_uses_pid = 1
      
      
   4. Make sure this directory exists: /var/log/dump/usermode
      
      If not, then create it
      # mkdir -p /var/log/dump/usermode
      
      
   5. # reboot
   
   
   
3. Core dump files should be located here
   /var/log/dump/usermode/ProcessName.PID.core

SecurePlatform OS 2.4

Refer to

• sk18307 - Enabling the generation of User Mode core dump files on SecurePlatform OS
• sk77080 - How to use GDB to get function stack from User Mode process

1. To enable the generation of User Mode core dump files on-the-fly :
   
   
   1. Enter Expert mode: # expert
      
      
   2. Set the size of core dump file to 'unlimited'
      # ulimit -a
# ulimit -c unlimited
# ulimit -a
      
      Note: to disable, run 'ulimit -c 0' command
      
      
   3. Make sure the following line exists and set to 1 (one) in '/etc/sysctl.conf' file
      
      # Controls whether core dumps will append the PID to the core filename.
# Useful for debugging multi-threaded applications.
kernel.core_uses_pid = 1
      
      
   4. Verify that the proper level of the dump is set for LKCD utility
      # less -N -M /etc/sysconfig/dump
      
      Go to the bottom of the file - the parameters and their values should be as follows
      (if other numbers appear, then edit this file in Vi editor)
      
      DUMP_ACTIVE=1
DUMPDEV=/dev/vmdump
DUMPDIR=/var/log/dump
DUMP_SAVE=1
DUMP_LEVEL=8
DUMP_FLAGS=0
DUMP_COMPRESS=0
PANIC_TIMEOUT=5
      
      
   5. Save the configuration for LKCD utility: # /sbin/lkcd config
      
      
   6. Make sure this directory exists
      /var/log/dump/usermode
      
      If not, then create it
      # mkdir -p /var/log/dump/usermode
   
   
   
2. To enable the generation of User Mode core dump files permanently:
   
   
   1. Enter Expert mode: # expert
      
      
   2. Set the size of core dump file to 'unlimited'
      # echo 'ulimit -c unlimited' >> /etc/rc.local
      
      Another way, is to add 'ulimit -c unlimited' line to '/etc/rc.d/init.d/cpboot' script
      • after the line with '/opt/CPshrd-RXX/tmp/.CPprofile.sh'
      • and before the line with 'case $1 in'
      
      Note: to disable, use 'ulimit -c 0' command
      
      
   3. Make sure the following line exists and set to 1 (one) in '/etc/sysctl.conf' file
      
      # Controls whether core dumps will append the PID to the core filename.
# Useful for debugging multi-threaded applications.
kernel.core_uses_pid = 1
      
      
   4. Verify that the proper level of the dump is set for LKCD utility
      # less -N -M /etc/sysconfig/dump
      
      Go to the bottom of the file - the parameters and their values should be as follows
      (if other numbers appear, then edit this file in Vi editor)
      
      DUMP_ACTIVE=1
DUMPDEV=/dev/vmdump
DUMPDIR=/var/log/dump
DUMP_SAVE=1
DUMP_LEVEL=8
DUMP_FLAGS=0
DUMP_COMPRESS=0
PANIC_TIMEOUT=5
      
      
   5. Save the configuration for LKCD utility
      # /sbin/lkcd config
      
      
   6. Make sure this directory exists
      /var/log/dump/usermode
      
      If not, then create it
      # mkdir -p /var/log/dump/usermode
      
      
   7. # reboot
   
   
   
3. Core dump files should be located here
   /var/log/dump/usermode/ProcessName.PID.core

RedHat Enterprise Linux OS

Refer to sk77080 - How to use GDB to get function stack from User Mode process

1. To enable the generation of User Mode core dump files on-the-fly :
   # ulimit -a
# ulimit -c unlimited
# ulimit -a
   
   Note: to disable, run 'ulimit -c 0' command
   
   
2. To enable the generation of User Mode core dump files permanently :
   # echo 'ulimit -c unlimited' >> /etc/rc.local
# reboot
   
   Note: to disable, use 'ulimit -c 0' command
   
   
3. Make sure this directory exists
   /var/log/dump/usermode
   
   If not, then create it
   # mkdir -p /var/log/dump/usermode
   
   
4. Core dump files should be located here
   /var/log/dump/usermode/ProcessName.PID.core

IPSO OS

Refer to the following articles:

• sk43495 - How to force an IP Appliance to enter the debugger on panic instead of rebooting
• sk39899 - Collecting IPSO troubleshooting information from a serial port debugging session

Windows OS (post-Vista)

Refer to the following articles :

• KB241215 - How to use the Userdump.exe tool to create a dump file)
• MSDN - Collecting User-Mode Dumps

This solution is about products that are no longer supported and it will not be updated