6.7

Table Of Contents
Set Up a File as Core Dump Location
If the size of your available core dump partition is insufficient, you can configure ESXi to use a file for
diagnostic information.
Typically, a core dump partition of 2.5 GB is created during ESXi installation. For upgrades from ESXi 5.0
and earlier, the core dump partition is limited to 100 MB. For this type of upgrade, during the boot process
the system might create a core dump file on a VMFS datastore. If it does not create a core dump file, you
can manually create the file.
Note Software iSCSI and software FCoE are not supported for core dump file locations.
Prerequisites
Install vCLI or deploy the vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) virtual machine. See Getting Started with
vSphere Command-Line Interfaces. For troubleshooting, run esxcli commands in the ESXi Shell.
Procedure
1 Create a VMFS datastore core dump file by running the following command:
esxcli system coredump file add
The command takes the following options, but they are not required and can be omitted:
Option Description
--datastore | -d datastore_UUID
or datastore_name
If not provided, the system selects a datastore of sufficient size.
--file | -f file_name
If not provided, the system specifies a unique name for the core dump file.
--size |-s file_size_MB
If not provided, the system creates a file of the size appropriate for the memory
installed in the host.
2 Verify that the file has been created:
esxcli system coredump file list
You can see the output similar to the following:
Path Active Configured Size
------------------------------------------------ ------ ---------- ---------
/vmfs/volumes/52b021c3-.../vmkdump/test.dumpfile false false 104857600
vSphere Storage
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