[ Bottom of Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Contents | Index | Library Home | Legal | Search ]

Kernel Extensions and Device Support Programming Concepts

Increase the Size of a Dump Device

Refer to the following to determine the appropriate size for your dump logical volume and to increase the size of either a logical volume or a paging space logical volume.

Determining the Size of a Dump Device

The size required for a dump is not a constant value because the system does not dump paging space; only data that resides in real memory can be dumped. Paging space logical volumes will generally hold the system dump. However, because an incomplete dump may not be usable, follow the procedure below to make sure that you have enough dump space.

When a system dump occurs, all of the kernel segment that resides in real memory is dumped (the kernel segment is segment 0). Memory resident user data (such as u-blocks) are also dumped.

The minimum size for the dump space can best be determined using the sysdumpdev -e command. This gives an estimated dump size taking into account the memory currently in use by the system. If dumps are being compressed, then the estimate shown is for the compressed size of thedump, not the original size. In general, compressed dump size estimates will be much higher than the actual size. This occurs because of the unpredictability of the compression algorithm's efficiency. You should still ensure your dump device is large enough to hold the estimated size in order to avoid losing dump data.

For example, enter:

sysdumpdev -e

If sysdumpdev -e returns the message, Estimated dump size in bytes: 9830400, then the dump device should be at least 9830400 bytes or 12MB (if you are using three 4MB partitions for the disk).

Note
When a client dumps to a remote dump server, the dumps are stored as files on the server. For example, the /export/dump/kakrafon/dump file will contain kakrafon's dump. Therefore, the file system used for the /export/dump/kakrafon directory must be large enough to hold the client dumps.

Determining the Type of Logical Volume

  1. Enter the sysdumpdev command to list the dump devices. The logical volume of the primary dump device will probably be /dev/hd6 or /dev/hd7.
    Note
    You can also determine the dump devices using SMIT. Select the Show Current Dump Devices option from the System Dump SMIT menu.
  2. Determine your logical volume type by using SMIT. Enter the SMIT fast path smit lvm or smitty lvm. You will go directly to Logical Volumes. Select the List all Logical Volumes by Volume Group option.

    Find your dump volume in the list and note its Type (in the second column). For example, this might be paging in the case of hd6 or sysdump in the case of hd7.

Increasing the Size of a Dump Device

If you have confirmed that your dump device is a paging space, refer to Changing or Removing a Paging Space in AIX 5L Version 5.2 System Management Guide: Operating System and Devices for more information.

If you have confirmed that your dump device type is sysdump, refer to the extendlv command for more information.

[ Top of Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Contents | Index | Library Home | Legal | Search ]