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kdump for SAP HANA on Azure Large Instances

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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/crash directory to write dumps. Make sure the partition corresponding to this directory has sufficient space to accommodate dumps.

Setup details

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.sh

  • If 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-trigger

  • After the system reboots successfully, check the /var/crash directory for kernel crash logs.

  • If the /var/crash has 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.

Operating system upgrades