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Saving the Contents of the System Dump File After a System Failure  



If the system fails, it overwrites the contents of the system crash dump file and the previous contents are lost. For this reason, ensure that your system automatically analyzes and copies the contents of the system dump file each time the system reboots.

On Alpha and I64 systems, SDA is invoked by default during startup, and a CLUE list file is created. Generated by a set sequence of commands, the CLUE list file contains only an overview of the crash and might not provide enough information to determine the cause of the crash. HP, therefore, recommends that you always copy the system dump file.

Refer to the OpenVMS System Analysis Tools Manual for information about modifying your site-specific command procedure to execute additional commands such as SDA COPY upon startup after a system failure.

On VAX systems, modify the site-specific startup command procedure SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM so that it invokes the System Dump Analyzer utility (SDA) when the system is booted.

Be aware of the following facts:

Example

The SDA command COPY in the following example saves the contents of the file SYS$SYSTEM:PAGEFILE.SYS and performs some analysis of the file. Note that the COPY command is the final command because the blocks of the page file used by the dump are released as soon as the COPY command completes, and can be used for paging before any other SDA commands can be executed.

$ !
$ !      Print dump listing if system just failed
$ !
$ ANALYZE/CRASH_DUMP SYS$SYSTEM:PAGEFILE.SYS
    SET OUTPUT DISK1:SYSDUMP.LIS        ! Create listing file
    READ/EXECUTIVE                      ! Read in symbols for kernel
    SHOW CRASH                          ! Display crash information
    SHOW STACK                          ! Show current stack
    SHOW SUMMARY                        ! List all active processes
    SHOW PROCESS/PCB/PHD/REG            	! Display current process
    COPY SYS$SYSTEM:SAVEDUMP.DMP        	! Save system dump file
    EXIT
$ SET FILE/NOBACKUP SYS$SYSTEM:SAVEDUMP.DMP

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