kdump for SAP HANA on Azure Large Instances
In this article, we'll walk through enabling the kdump service on Azure HANA Large Instances (HLI) Type I and Type II.
Configuring and enabling kdump is needed to troubleshoot system crashes that don't have a clear cause. Sometimes a system crash cannot be explained by a hardware or infrastructure problem. In such cases, an operating system or application may have caused the problem. kdump will allow SUSE to determine the reason for the system crash.
Supported SKUs
| Hana Large Instance type | OS vendor | OS package version | SKU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S224m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP4 | S224m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S72 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S72m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S72m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S96 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S96 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S192 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S192 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP4 | S192 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S192m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S192m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP4 | S192m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S144 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S144 |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S144m |
| Type I | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S144m |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S384 |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S384 |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP4 | S384 |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S384xm |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S384xm |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP4 | S384xm |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP2 | S576m |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP3 | S576m |
| Type II | SuSE | SLES 12 SP4 | S576m |
Prerequisites
- The kdump service uses the
/var/crashdirectory to write dumps. Make sure the partition corresponding to this directory has sufficient space to accommodate dumps.
Setup details
- The script to enable kdump can be found in the Azure sap-hana-tools on GitHub
Note
This script is made based on our lab setup. You will need to contact your OS vendor for any further tuning. A separate logical unit number (LUN) will be provisioned for new and existing servers for saving the dumps. A script will take care of configuring the file system out of the LUN. Microsoft won't be responsible for analyzing the dump. You will need to open a ticket with your OS vendor to have it analyzed.
Run this script on your HANA Large Instance by using the following command:
Note
Sudo privileges are needed to run this command.
sudo bash enable-kdump.shIf the command's output shows kdump is successfully enabled, reboot the system to apply the changes.
If the command's output shows an operation failed, then the kdump service isn't enabled. Refer to a following section, Support issues.
Test kdump
Note
The following operation will trigger a kernel crash and system reboot.
Trigger a kernel crash
echo c > /proc/sysrq-triggerAfter the system reboots successfully, check the
/var/crashdirectory for kernel crash logs.If the
/var/crashhas a directory with the current date, kdump is successfully enabled.
Support issues
If the script fails with an error, or kdump isn't enabled, raise a service request with the Microsoft support team. Include the following details:
HLI subscription ID
Server name
OS vendor
OS version
Kernel version
For more information, see configuring the kdump.
Next steps
Learn about operating system upgrades on HANA Large Instances.