ESXi Core Dump

a.k.a: vmkernel-zdump

The active dump can be a file or a partition. From ESXi 5.5 it is a file.

The dump file is saved on following location:

On a local partition
As a dumpfile on a vmfs datastore
On the vCenter dump collector service
- How to configure VMware ESXi 7.0 dump collector service
- Configure ESXi Dump Collector with ESXCLI

Working with Type Partition

Get the dump partition. This command will print the path to the active and/or configured VMFS Dump partition.

esxcli system coredump partition get

Working with Type File

Get the dump file path. This command will print the path to the active and/or configured VMFS Dump File.

esxcli system coredump file list

Remove VMkernel Dump VMFS file from this system.

esxcli system coredump file remove --force

Create a VMkernel Dump VMFS file for this system

esxcli system coredump file add -d <DATASTORE_UUID> -f <FILE_NAME>

Example: 
esxcli system coredump file add -d 5914a5d5-5914a5d5-c4a3-5914a5d52edd -f esx001

Set the active and configured VMkernel Dump VMFS file for this system.

esxcli system coredump file set -p <PATH_TO CREATED_FILE>

Example: esxcli system coredump file set -p /vmfs/volumes/59a689a9-99205d06-c3a5-288023affa98/vmkdump/esx001.dumpfile

Create a dump from active file/partition

localcli --plugin-dir /usr/lib/vmware/esxcli/int/ debug livedump perform

Copy the dump file created before

Generating the VMkernel zdump from the current active dump file to the default location: /scratch/core (source: KB2081902)

esxcfg-dumppart --file --copy --devname active

Generating the VMkernel zdump from the current active dump file to a specific location (source: KB2081902)

esxcfg-dumppart --file --copy --devname active --zdumpname /vmfs/volumes/<datastore_name>/<output_filename>

Download the created dump file to the Management Workstation

Download Core Dump File

scp root@<ESXi_HOST_NAME>:/vmfs/volumes/.../<DUMP_FILE_NAME.dumpfile /tmp/dump

Identify the lock owner

ls | while read x;do vmfsfilelockinfo -p "$x"| grep "is locked"; done

Sources and useful links

Configuring ESXi coredump to file instead of partition

Generating a VMkernel zdump manually from a dump file in ESXi host

Extracting a core dump file from the diagnostic partition following a purple diagnostic screen error

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