HP XC System Software Administration Guide Version 3.2.1

For more information on the resmon utility, see resmon(1).
7.10 The netdump and crash Utilities
The netdump utility is a tool developed by Red Hat that sends a kernel dump (oops data and
memory dumps) from a monitored client system to another system in the network. That system,
which runs a utility named netdump-server, stores the kernel dumps. The default location
for these kernel dumps is in the /var/crash directory.
The crash utility is a self-contained tool that you can use to investigate live systems or to examine
kernel core dumps created with the netdump package.
NOTE: The crash utility is designed to examine an uncompressed kernel image (a vmlinux
file) that was compiled with the compiler's -g option so that it can be debugged. Consider editing
the kernel Makefile to add the -g option to the CFLAGS line.
7.10.1 Installing Netdump and Crash
Two RPMs for Netdump are available:
• The netdump client runs on the nodes to be monitored.
• The netdump-server runs on the nodes that can receive the kernel dumps over the internal
network.
Use the following procedure to install the Netdump on the HP XC system:
1. Log in as superuser (root) on the head node.
2. Use the rpm command to install the appropriate RPMs:
rpm -ihv netdump-rev_number.platform.rpm
rpm -ihv netdump-server-rev_number.platform.rpm
where:
rev_number Is the revision number of the software. At the time of this publication, the
revision number is 0.7.14-4.
platform Is the platform code.
Use x86_64 for CP4000 systems.
Use ia64 for CP6000 systems.
3. Use the rpm command to install the crash software:
rpm -ihv crash-rev_number.platform
The rev_number and platform parameters have the same meaning as in step 2. At the
time of this publication, the revision number is 4.0-2.17.1hp.
4. Distribute the software to the appropriate nodes in the HP XC system. See Chapter 11
(page 143) for more information.
7.10.2 Configuring Netdump
This section describes how to configure the netdump-server and the netdump client.
7.10.2.1 Configuring the Netdump Client
Use the following procedure to configure the netdump client:
1. Log in as superuser (root) on the head node.
2. Use the text editor of your choice to edit the /etc/sysconfig/netdump file to change the
following line:
# NETDUMPADDR=
to the following:
104 Monitoring the System