freebsd-skq/sbin/dumpon/dumpon.8
Joseph Koshy bb556bcf30 Manual page fix: add cross references, refer to ``dumpdev'' variable in
"/etc/rc.conf".

PR: 6117
Submitted by: Mark Mayo <mark@vmunix.com>
1998-05-25 08:54:40 +00:00

125 lines
3.9 KiB
Groff

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.\" From: @(#)swapon.8 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93
.\" $Id: dumpon.8,v 1.5 1997/02/22 14:32:21 peter Exp $
.\"
.Dd May 12, 1995
.Dt DUMPON 8
.Os FreeBSD 2.1
.Sh NAME
.Nm dumpon
.Nd "specify a device for crash dumps"
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm dumpon
.Op Fl v
.Ar swap_device
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Dumpon
is used to specify a device where the kernel can save a crash dump in
the case of a panic.
.Pp
The system begins with no dump area configured for safety. If a
.Dq dumps on
clause is specified in the kernel configuration file
or if the variable
.Dq Li dumpdev
in the boot time configuration file
.Pa /etc/rc.conf
names a dump device, future panics will cause the kernel
to save a crash dump on the specified dump device.
The dump device must be one of the swap areas
specified in the filesystem configuration file
.Pa /etc/fstab ,
and it must be at least the size of physical memory.
.Pp
Calls to
.Nm dumpon
normally occur in the system multi-user initialization file
.Pa /etc/rc ,
before the
.Xr savecore 8
program is run.
The
.Fl v
flag can be specified to cause the
.Nm
program to be verbose about its activity.
.Sh NOTES
.Pp
Hardcoding the dump device using the kernel configuration file
is only useful if a kernel crashes before reaching multi-user mode.
Otherwise, the use of
.Nm
to specify the dump device is recommended.
.Pp
The
.Nm
program operates by setting the
.Xr sysctl 3
MIB variable
.Dq kern.dumpdev
to the device number of the designated
.Ar special_file
or to
.Dv NODEV
(meaning that no dumps are to be taken) if
.Ar special_file
is the text string
.Dq Li off .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sysctl 3 ,
.Xr fstab 5 ,
.Xr rc.conf 5 ,
.Xr init 8 ,
.Xr config 8 ,
.Xr rc 8 ,
.Xr savecore 8 ,
.Xr swapon 8 ,
.Xr panic 9
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /dev/[ws]d?b -compact
.It Pa /dev/[ws]d?b
standard swap areas
.It Pa /etc/fstab
static filesystem and swap information
.It Pa /etc/rc.conf
boot-time system configuration
.El
.Sh BUGS
Because the filesystem layer is already dead by the time a crash dump
is taken, it is not possible to send crash dumps directly to a file.
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command appeared in
.Fx 2.1 .