SAN File System server dump capability

This topic describes how to create system dumps using the SAN File System server that is running the Linux operating system.

You can use the Linux operating system process dump capabilities to help with debugging and problem determination of the SAN File System. In addition, you may need to force a core dump of the metadata server process so that you can package the data and send it to IBM® support personnel for review. Follow these steps to force a core dump:
  1. Use the ulimit shell command to set the size of the allowable core dump file size to be unlimited.
    Note: You can use the ulimit shell command with the –a parameter to verify the current allowable limit.

    ulimit –c unlimited

  2. On the command line, type cat /usr/tank/server/config/Tank.PID to view the contents of the file that contains the parent metadata PID that you need to kill. Use this PID value as the parameter to the kill –6 command.
    Note: This command terminates all SAN File System processes that are currently running on this engine.
  3. Enter the command kill –6 which produces a file called core.PID in the /usr/tank/server directory. The PID portion of the core file name matches the number of the parent PID that you just killed.

    For example, if the parent pid value is 550, type kill -6 550 and the core file /usr/tank/server/core.550 is created.

The metadata server runs in user space. Therefore, a problem with the metadata server should not crash the Linux kernel. You should not need to analyze kernel dumps on Linux for the metadata server.

Parent topic: Server diagnostic tools

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IBM TotalStorage SAN File System v2.2