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Ruth Goldenberg and Richard Bishop, OpenVMS Engineering
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When OpenVMS code detects an internal inconsistency, such as a
corrupted data structure or an unexpected exception, it generates a bugcheck.
If the inconsistency is not severe enough to prevent continued system
operation, the bugcheck generated is nonfatal and merely results in an error
log entry.
If the error is serious enough to jeopardize system operation and data
integrity, OpenVMS code generates a fatal bugcheck. This generally results in
aborting normal system operation, recording the contents of memory to a dump
file for later analysis, and rebooting the system.
This article describes how fatal bugchecks are handled on OpenVMS Alpha
and OpenVMS I64, how the dump file is found, how memory is written to the dump
file, and how the dump file is organized.
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On Alpha, a bugcheck is generated by placing a bugcheck value in R16
and executing a CALL_PAL BUGCHK
instruction. On I64 a bugcheck is generated by placing a value in R17 and
executing a BREAK BREAK$C_SYS_BUGCHECK instruction. This article refers to these simply as
the BUGCHECK
instruction. In both cases, the bugcheck value identifies the type and severity
of the bugcheck and determines whether a crash should be followed by a cold or
warm reboot. If the bugcheck is fatal,
bit 2 of the value is 1; otherwise it is 0. If the bugcheck is fatal and a cold
reboot is requested, bit 0 of the value is 1; otherwise, it is 0. Bit 1 is not
used and is always 0.
Regardless of the type of bugcheck, executing the instruction causes an
exception. The BUGCHECK instruction results in changing access mode to
kernel mode and passing control to code that services the exception. In this
article, this service routine and the routines it calls are referred to as
BUGCHECK code.
OpenVMS bugcheck code is
implemented in several parts. Initially, the exception is dispatched to
platform-specific code. On I64 platforms, BUGCHECK code flushes all stacked
registers to their memory backing store. On both platforms, BUGCHECK code
ensures that interrupt priority level (IPL) is at least 3. This prevents
rescheduling and resumption on a different CPU.
BUGCHECK code tests whether this is a recursive bugcheck, that is,
whether it has already saved bugcheck context in a nonpaged pool per-CPU
structure called the per-CPU database. If so, it refrains from overwriting the
description of the original bugcheck. If this is not a recursive bugcheck,
BUGCHECK code records information such as the following in the per-CPU
database:
- Access mode stack pointers and, on I64 platforms, access mode register stack pointers
- Page table base registers
- Address space numbers
- AST summary and enable information
- Software interrupt summary information
- Process unique value, which identifies a user thread
- Processor status at bugcheck, including IPL and access mode
- Number identifying the specific bugcheck
- Process and system cycle counters
- Address of the stack structure describing the BUGCHECK exception: on Alpha, the exception
stack frame, or, on I64, the INTSTK structure built by software interrupt services (SWIS) code
BUGCHECK code decides whether subsequent processing can occur in the
current hardware context or whether it needs to switch contexts. If this is an
outer mode bugcheck (user or supervisor), no switch is necessary. If this is an
inner mode fatal bugcheck, BUGCHECK code switches to its own context, which has
a larger kernel mode stack.
On Alpha platforms, BUGCHECK code saves on the current stack the
integer registers not already saved in the exception frame. If the process is
performing floating-point calculations, it saves all the floating-point
registers on the stack. On certain Alpha platforms, it also triggers the
on-chip logic analyzer to dump any program counter (PC) data and to stop
logging more.
On I64 platforms, the general registers, branch registers, predicate
registers, application registers, and minimal floating point registers (F6
through F11) have already been saved in the INTSTK structure. BUGCHECK code saves the rest of the low bank
of floating point registers (F0 through F31) and, if the process is using the
high bank, saves F32 through F127.
BUGCHECK code's subsequent actions vary, depending on the access mode
in which the bugcheck occurred and the severity of the bugcheck. The following
sections describe the BUGCHECK code actions.
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The OpenVMS operating system itself generates few bugchecks from user
or supervisor mode. It provides the mechanism for use by other software. When a
bugcheck is generated from user or supervisor mode code running in a process
with BUGCHK privilege, BUGCHECK code writes an error log message.
The SYSGEN parameter BUGCHECKFATAL has no effect on bugchecks generated
from user or supervisor mode. Only bit 2 of the bugcheck value determines
whether a given bugcheck is fatal. Fatal user and supervisor mode bugchecks
affect only the current process.
If the bugcheck is fatal, BUGCHECK code returns to the access mode of
the bugcheck and requests the Exit ($EXIT) system service. It specifies the
value SS$_BUGCHECK as the final image status. What happens as a result of this
service request depends on whether the process is executing a single image
(without a command language interpreter, CLI, to establish a supervisor mode
exit handler) or is an interactive or batch job.
- If the process is executing a single image, a fatal bugcheck from user or supervisor mode typically results in process deletion.
- If the process has a CLI, a fatal bugcheck generated from an interactive or batch job
typically causes the currently executing image to exit and control to be passed
to the CLI through its supervisor mode exit handler. The CLI prompts for the
next command.
In either case, the only difference between fatal user and supervisor
mode bugchecks is that user mode exit handlers are not called when a fatal
bugcheck is generated from supervisor mode.
If the bugcheck is not fatal, BUGCHECK
code restarts Alpha on-chip logic analyzer data collection (if it was
active), restores saved registers, and dismisses the exception. Execution
continues with the instruction following the BUGCHECK instruction.
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Various OpenVMS components generate bugchecks from executive and kernel
modes. If an executive or kernel mode bugcheck value is not fatal and the
SYSGEN parameters BUGCHECKFATAL and SYSTEM_CHECK are both zero, BUGCHECK code
proceeds as it does for nonfatal bugchecks for the outer two access modes. It
writes an error log message, restores the saved registers, and dismisses the
exception, passing control back to the instruction following the BUGCHECK instruction.
Typically, execution continues with no further effects. However, the
routine that detected the error and generated the bugcheck can take further
action. One example of such a routine is the last chance handler for executive
mode exceptions. It generates the nonfatal bugcheck SSRVEXCEPT (unexpected
system service exception). On the presumption that process data structures are
inconsistent, it then requests the $EXIT system service. Exiting from executive
mode results in process deletion. Another example is the Record Management
Services (RMS) routine that generates the nonfatal bugcheck RMSBUG. On the
presumption that process RMS data structures are inconsistent, it deletes the
process by requesting the Delete Process ($DELPRC) system service.
If BUGCHECKFATAL is 1 or SYSTEM_CHECK is nonzero, any executive or
kernel mode bugcheck is treated as fatal, independent of bit 2 of the bugcheck
value. By default, BUGCHECKFATAL and SYSTEM_CHECK are 0, which means that a
nonfatal inner access mode bugcheck does not cause the system to crash. BUGCHECK
performs fatal bugcheck processing under any of the following circumstances:
- BUGCHECKFATAL = 1
- SYSTEM_CHECK ≠ 0
- The bugcheck is fatal.
In the case of a fatal bugcheck, the most important function of
BUGCHECK code is to record the contents of memory and of the error log buffers.
BUGCHECK code does not use standard I/O mechanisms to write this data because
they may be affected by the system inconsistency that triggered the fatal
bugcheck. Instead, it performs I/O through the bootstrap system device driver,
the one used during system initialization. After recording memory contents,
BUGCHECK halts the system to prevent any further system operations in case they
might lead to data corruption.
After the system reboots, during system initialization, the error log
buffers are copied to nonpaged pool for processing by the ERRFMT process. The
dump file can be examined with the System Dump Analyzer (SDA) to determine the
cause of the crash.
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In processing a fatal bugcheck, BUGCHECK code takes the following
steps:
- On an I64 system, BUGCHECK turns off SWIS tracing and disables virtual hash page table
walking (a hardware mechanism to improve performance of handling translation
buffer misses). On an Alpha system,
BUGCHECK turns off performance
monitoring. On both platform types, BUGCHECK raises IPL to 31 to disable all
interrupts.
- BUGCHECK tests
whether there have been four or more recursive bugchecks. If so, it displays on
the console an error message, information about the most recent exception, and
the stack. It then reboots or shuts the system down, depending on the value of
SYSGEN parameter BUGREBOOT.
- If all of the following conditions are met, BUGCHECK displays on the console the
location of crash-related information and enters XDELTA:
- There have been no recursive bugchecks.
- BUGREBOOT is zero.
- The bugcheck has not been triggered by shutting the system down or running OPCCRASH.
- The system has been booted with XDELTA or the remote debugger.
Entering XDELTA enables a human operator to examine
the state of the operating system through XDELTA commands and request a crash
dump at will.
- Based on the value of the BUGREBOOT parameter and bit 0 of the bugcheck value, BUGCHECK
selects one of the following halt action values: perform a cold bootstrap,
perform a warm bootstrap, or remain halted. It stores the value in the hardware
restart parameter block (HWRPB) per-CPU slot.
- If this system
is a Galaxy node, BUGCHECK notifies other sharing set members that this node is
going down unless there have been three or more recursive bugchecks. This test
allows for the possibility that attempting to notify the other members caused
some of the bugchecks.
- BUGCHECK shuts
down any system communication services (SCS) circuits unless there have been
three or more recursive bugchecks. This test allows for the possibility that
attempting to shut down SCS circuits caused some of the bugchecks.
- BUGCHECK shuts
down all adapters and initializes the adapter that connects the system device
circuits unless there have been three or more recursive bugchecks. This test
allows for the possibility that attempting to shut down adapters caused some of
the bugchecks.
- BUGCHECK stores the value of the bugcheck code in the per-CPU database.
- If there have
been no recursive bugchecks, BUGCHECK begins to write information about the
bugcheck to the console terminal: it announces that the system is crashing. If
this is the second nested bugcheck, BUGCHECK writes a message saying that this
is a recursive bugcheck and displays information about the most recent
exception.
- BUGCHECK validates the checksum of the boot control block, the data structure containing
the locations of the error log and dump files. If the checksum is bad, no dump
can be written.
- If the checksum
is good and the system disk is shadowed, BUGCHECK determines the unit number of
the master disk in the shadow set. If bit 2 in DUMPSTYLE is set, BUGCHECK also
selects the first valid dump device from the DUMP_DEV environment variable, as described
later in this article.
- BUGCHECK writes
information about the bugcheck to the console terminal. This information can
include the bugcheck message, addresses of loaded executive images, current
process name, current image name, privileges of the current security persona,
contents of registers, and contents of stacks relevant to the crash.
How much information is written depends on the value
of bit 1 in SYSGEN parameter DUMPSTYLE. The default value of 0 inhibits most
output. The console output is written before the dump file and should not be
interrupted by halting the processor from the console terminal. Such an
interruption prevents the dump file from being written.
- blocks, the bugcheck error log entry, and the error log buffers to SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]SYS$ERRLOG.DMP.
For simplicity, the layout within SYS$ERRLOG.DMP matches the layout within the
dump file. After writing the error log buffers, BUGCHECK rewrites the dump
header to indicate that the error log buffers have been written.
If the system disk is a
member of a shadow set, BUGCHECK writes the same set of information to every
member of the shadow set. This ensures that regardless of which member is
master when the system reboots, system
initialization code can process the error log buffers from the system disk
before the complete shadow set is mounted and made consistent.
- BUGCHECK determines whether a dump is to be written and, if so, what kind of dump, based on the following criteria:
- If the SYSGEN parameter DUMPBUG is 0, no dump is written. Its default value is 1.
- If neither SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]SYSDUMP.DMP nor PAGEFILE.SYS exists on the system disk or a disk specified by the DUMP_DEV environmental parameter, no dump is written.
- If, during
system initialization, resources cannot be allocated for BUGCHECK's use, no
dump can be written. BUGCHECK initialization code attempts to allocate system
page table entries to map I/O requests, its memory stack, and, on an I64
platform, its register stack. It needs
additional page table entries if the dump is to be compressed.
- If this is an operator-requested shutdown generated through the system shutdown command procedure, no dump is written.
- If bit 0 in DUMPSTYLE is set, memory is dumped selectively; otherwise, a physical memory
dump (also known as a full dump) is written. The default value of this
parameter specifies a selective dump.
- If bit 3 in
DUMPSTYLE is set, the memory contents in the dump will be compressed. BUGCHECK
needs physical memory to serve as compression buffers. It borrows memory from
the resident code granularity section after copying the pages' current contents
to a temporary location in the dump file.
If insufficient pages are available, an uncompressed dump is written.
The default value of this parameter specifies a compressed dump.
- If no dump is to be written, BUGCHECK continues with step 23.
- If any type of dump is to be written, BUGCHECK switches, if necessary, to the disk containing
the dump file. This could be needed if BUGCHECK had been writing to shadow set
members' SYS$ERRLOG.DMP or if it is writing a "dump off system disk" (DOSD). It
then writes the dump header, trap information blocks, bugcheck error log entry,
and the error log buffers to the dump file. Then it rewrites the dump header
with a status indicating that the dump contains the error log allocation
buffers.
- If the system disk is shadowed, BUGCHECK outputs a message to the console terminal indicating
which member it is dumping to and whether that member is the master unit.
- BUGCHECK outputs a message saying that it is starting to dump memory and specifying
whether the dump is physical or selective and whether it is compressed.
- If the dump is compressed, BUGCHECK zeroes the blocks in the dump that will contain the compression map.
- If the dump is physical, BUGCHECK writes a map of memory to the dump file so that SDA can
associate blocks of the file with physical pages. (Memory is likely to be
discontiguous and may not start at page 0.) It then writes physical memory to
the dump file, starting with the lowest page and, if requested, compressing as
it goes. A later section in this article describes in detail the layout of a
physical memory dump and the compression algorithm.
- If the dump is selective, BUGCHECK writes selected virtual address spaces to the dump,
compressing as it goes if compression was requested. Each selected virtual
address space is represented by a logical memory block (LMB).
Not all virtual addresses in the range spanned by an
LMB are necessarily included in it.
Because a virtual page not in memory cannot be written to the dump file,
it represents a hole in the virtual address space. An LMB with holes in its
address space contains a hole table, which lists the pages of address
space not present in the dump.
The general sequence in writing an LMB is as
follows:
- BUGCHECK writes an LMB header in the next block of the dump.
- BUGCHECK scans
the page tables that describe the address space to be dumped, looking for
invalid pages that are not transition pages. It writes an entry in a hole table
for each such sequence of pages found. It writes the hole table to the next
block (or blocks) of the dump. It rewrites the LMB header and the dump header
to reflect the presence of the hole table in the dump.
- BUGCHECK scans
the hole table, filling in its allocated system page table entries with
information from each valid or transition page table entry that it found. That
is, it double-maps those pages so that it can write virtually noncontiguous
pages in one I/O request.
- When BUGCHECK
has written all the valid and transition pages in a particular LMB to the dump
file, it rewrites the block containing the LMB header with correct information
about the number of holes in the address space and the number of data blocks
(valid and transition pages) in the LMB.
- It rewrites the
dump header to increase the chances that the dump can be analyzed even if the
dump is incomplete.
If BUGCHECK reaches the end of a file sized for
selective dumps before it reaches the end of the LMB list, it rewrites the
descriptor of the current LMB with the hole count and actual number of data
blocks written. It then rewrites the dump header, filling in status information
such as the number of I/O errors encountered while writing the dump file, the
number of process LMBs written, and so on.
In writing a selective dump, BUGCHECK must defend
against the possibility that whatever error led to the bugcheck might also have
corrupted the data structures necessary to write virtual address space.
BUGCHECK replaces the page fault and access violation exception service
routines with its own routines to prevent recursive bugchecks if either of
those errors occurs. It also performs consistency checks on certain key data
structures. For example, it checks whether an address presumed to be that of a
process header is syntactically correct; that is, the address must be within
known address boundaries and at an integral number of process headers from the
beginning of the address range.
- If a dump was
written, BUGCHECK rewrites the dump header so that information such as the
error count and number of blocks of memory in the dump reflects what was
actually written to the dump file.
- If SYSGEN
parameter BUGREBOOT is 0, BUGCHECK writes a message on the console terminal. As
a last step, it halts the system. In
response, the console subsystem gains control and acts on the halt action value
stored in the per-CPU slot of the hardware restart parameter block (HWRPB) during
step 4. Typically, BUGCHECK performs a warm bootstrap.
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When one CPU member of an SMP system incurs a fatal bugcheck, all
members crash; the executive takes the conservative approach that an
inconsistency severe enough for operations on one CPU to cease is likely to be
systemwide. All members of the active set participate in fatal bugcheck
processing.
The CPU that first incurs a fatal bugcheck (known as the CRASH CPU)
drives the crash. It informs the other active CPUs that a bugcheck sequence has
been initiated and takes a number of steps to ensure that a consistent system
state can be saved. In response, the other active CPUs crash with the fatal
bugcheck CPUEXIT. The primary CPU performs most of the remaining fatal bugcheck
processing.
The following figure shows the sequence of some of the steps in fatal
bugcheck processing as they might occur concurrently on the CRASH CPU (which is
not pictured as the primary processor), the primary processor, and the other
active set members. Steps shown in different columns but on the same line do
not necessarily execute at the same time on all CPUs. The numbers in the figure
correspond to the steps described after the figure, not all of which are
represented in the figure.
![](FATAL_BUGCHECKS_files/image003.gif)
Figure 1 - Steps in Fatal Bugcheck Processing on an SMP System
The following steps, which correlate to numbers in the figure, focus on
SMP-specific processing and omit most steps common to uniprocessor processing.
- BUGCHECK initially runs on the CRASH CPU and subsequently on the other SMP members. It
records information in the per-CPU database.
- The primary
processor switches to BUGCHECK's hardware context; the secondary processors
switch to the system hardware context.
- BUGCHECK saves registers in the per-CPU database.
- BUGCHECK tests
whether it is running on a member of the active set. If not (a pathological and
unlikely case), it proceeds to step 9 rather than taking any steps that might
interfere with SMP operations.
- If BUGCHECK is
running on a member of the active set, it tests and sets the bit
SMP$V_CRASH_CPU in SMP$GL_FLAGS. Only the first CPU to crash sets this bit and
thus becomes the CRASH CPU.
If the bit is already set, BUGCHECK continues with
step 9. Use of the bit prevents confusion during concurrent independent
crashes.
- BUGCHECK
records the ID of the CPU on which it is running in SMP$GL_BUGCHKCP as the
CRASH CPU.
- BUGCHECK
acquires the CPU mutex to prevent any other processors from joining the active
set.
- BUGCHECK requests
an interprocessor interrupt of every other member of the active set, specifying
bugcheck as the work request type. The
interprocessor interrupt service routine (ISR) generates the fatal bugcheck
CPUEXIT.
- BUGCHECK then
sets its CPU ID bit in SMP$GL_BUG_DONE to indicate that it has saved its
context.
- BUGCHECK
compares its CPU ID to that in SMP$GL_PRIMID to determine whether it is
executing on the primary processor. If it is not, it halts. If it is in the
failover set in a Galaxy system, it will be reassigned to another partition.
- This and the
following steps execute only on the primary processor because it is the only
member guaranteed access to the console terminal.
BUGCHECK sets its CPU ID in SMP$GL_OVERRIDE, adding
itself to the override set. As a member of the override set, its spinlock
acquisitions and releases are not subject to the usual checks.
- BUGCHECK turns
off the sanity timer to prevent sanity timer timeouts during the bugcheck.
- On a Galaxy
system, BUGCHECK reassigns any CPUs that were already stopped at the time of
the bugcheck.
- BUGCHECK waits
up to a maximum of 10 seconds plus the value of SYSGEN parameter SMP_SPINWAIT
(whose default value is 10 seconds) for all active members to save their
context. Under normal circumstances, much of this wait does not occur. However,
if one member restarts following a halt, it can take the member a significant
time to complete that process and respond to the interprocessor interrupt
requesting bugcheck processing. If 10 seconds passes before all members are
done, BUGCHECK proceeds.
- On a Galaxy system, BUGCHECK reassigns previously active secondary CPUs that have already
saved their context.
- BUGCHECK again
waits, up to a maximum of 10 seconds plus SMP_SPINWAIT, for all active members
to save their context. This wait ensures that the CRASH CPU has saved its
context.
- Still running
on the primary CPU, BUGCHECK tests whether the CRASH CPU has saved its register
context. If not, it uses its own per-CPU database in the following steps.
- BUGCHECK uses the
bugcheck code in the CRASH CPU's per-CPU database to select the bugcheck
message text. This field is initialized to BUG$_CPUCEASED in case a problem on
the CRASH CPU prevents it from recording the real bugcheck code.
- BUGCHECK writes
bugcheck information from the CRASH CPU's per-CPU database to the console
terminal.
- Running on the
primary CPU, BUGCHECK then continues execution at step 13 in the earlier
section titled "Fatal Bugcheck Processing on a Uniprocessor System".
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System initialization code locates and opens the
error log dump file SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]SYS$ERRLOG.DMP and the system dump
file SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]SYSDUMP.DMP. If the error log dump file is not found,
the error log buffers are not dumped when the system crashes or shuts down, and
therefore cannot be recovered by system initialization code during the
subsequent reboot.
Absence of a system dump file on the system disk
does not necessarily mean a system dump cannot be written. If
SYS$SPECIFIC:[SYSEXE]PAGEFILE.SYS exists, the executive writes the system dump
there instead. Subsequent analysis of a dump written to the page file requires
that the SYSGEN parameter SAVEDUMP be 1.
If the "dump off system disk" (DOSD) bit of the
SYSGEN parameter DUMPSTYLE is set, BUGCHECK locates and opens SYSDUMP.DMP on an
alternate disk. If such a dump file is found, it is used instead of a file on
the system disk (SYSDUMP.DMP or PAGEFILE.SYS). If such a file is not found, the
system disk dump file is used. If no dump file is found on either disk, then no dump is written. DOSD is
discussed in more detail at the end of this article.
There are two types of dump:
- A full or physical dump is a
dump of physical memory from the lowest numbered physical page to the highest.
- A selective dump is a dump of the virtual memory in use at the time of the system
crash.
Both physical and selective dumps are divided into
several sections, as shown in the following figure and descriptive text.
![](FATAL_BUGCHECKS_files/image004.gif)
Figure 2 - Layout of Physical and Selective Dumps
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In a physical dump, all the memory in the system is
written to the dump file, with two exceptions:
- If the SYSGEN parameter PHYSICAL_MEMORY has been set to
less than the size of the system's memory, any ranges of pages marked
"Available" are not dumped.
- In the case of a system crash following a MACHINECHECK due
to a double-bit error in memory, the page with the error is not dumped.
In a physical dump, memory is handled in fragments.
A fragment is a contiguous range of
pages with common attributes (for example, console-owned, OpenVMS-owned, or
Galaxy shared memory). In an OpenVMS Galaxy system, usually the only fragments
dumped are those owned by the member that has crashed, plus shared memory. The
one exception to this is the page range containing the Galaxy Configuration
Tree (GCT). The GCT, which needs to be included in the dump, is normally
located in the local memory of member zero. If a system crash occurs in another
member, an additional fragment must be created by BUGCHECK code to describe the
page range of the GCT.
The memory portion of a physical dump begins with the memory map. The
memory map describes the memory
fragments (physically contiguous ranges of pages) in the system. Up to 16
memory fragments are described by each block of the memory map. The remainder
of the dump has the following contents, in this order:
- A memory fragment for the GCT (if BUGCHECK code created such a fragment)
- All console-owned pages
- All OpenVMS-owned pages
- Any Galaxy shared memory pages
Console-owned pages are written before OpenVMS-owned
pages to ensure that the level 1 page table page created by the console is
written early. On many Alpha platforms, this page table is in a high-numbered
page, and if pages were written in ascending order, the page would often fail
to be written if the dump file was even slightly too small.
An uncompressed or raw physical dump requires a dump file large enough for all of
memory, plus space for the headers, error log buffers, memory map, and so on.
If the dump file is too small, it is quite likely that no analysis will be
possible. A compressed physical dump requires a dump file about half this size, but the exact
size depends on the contents of memory. The memory map is not compressed. Dump
compression is described later in this article.
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In a selective dump, only memory in use at the time
of the system crash is written to the dump file, and it is ordered by its
virtual memory address. System memory is dumped first, followed by the memory
of processes and global sections, in units called Logical Memory Blocks (LMBs).
An LMB consists of a 1-block header, followed by a hole table (one or more
blocks in length), followed by the actual memory contents. The hole table
describes the ranges of virtual addresses not written for the section within
the LMB.
The complete set of possible LMB types, and their
order in a selective dump, is as follows:
- PT Space (the page table for all of system space (S0/S1 and S2)).
- S0/S1 space (32-bit system space)
- S2 space (64-bit system space)
- RAD-specific data (virtual pages in S0/S1 and S2 space that
map to different physical pages in systems that support Resource Affinity
Domains). There can be multiple RAD-specific LMBs in a dump.
- Key Process page tables (one for each key process). An
explanation of key processes follows later in this article.
- Key Process memory (one for each key process). For each
process, the page table LMB and memory LMB are written together as a pair.
- Key Global pages (any global pages in the working set of at
least one key process at the time of the system crash).
- Non-key Process page tables (one for each non-key process)
- Non-key Process memory (one for each non-key process)
- (any global pages in the working set of a process at the time of the system
crash that were not included in the "Key Global pages" LMB).
In contrast to physical dumps, it is impossible to
determine exactly the size needed for an uncompressed or raw selective dump.
For analysis to be possible, the dump file must be large enough to contain all
system space plus the current process on the crash CPU. Best results are
obtained if the dump file is large enough to accommodate all key processes and
key global pages, as discussed in the next section. A compressed selective dump
requires a dump file about half this size, but, as with physical dumps, the
exact size depends on the contents of memory. The LMB headers and hole table
blocks are not compressed. Dump compression is described later in this article.
Incidentally, process dumps use a format similar to selective dumps. Process
dumps contain two LMBs - one for all process address space (both page tables
and memory), and one for all system space memory that is pertinent to the
process being dumped. Process dumps do not contain error logs or space reserved
for trap information. Instead, process dumps include blocks following the dump
header that contain an invocation context block and other data. This
information provides a snapshot of the processor registers at the time of the
failure.
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When a dump is analyzed, the necessary information
is usually found in the address space of the process that was current at the
time of the system crash, or in the address space of a process that contains
important system data structures. For this reason, certain processes, known as key processes, are dumped
first in a dump. These processes, and the order in which they are dumped, are
as follows:
- The current process on the CPU where the system crash was initiated
- The SWAPPER process
- Current processes on any CPUs that did not respond to the request from the crash CPU to perform a CPUEXIT BUGCHECK instruction
- Current processes on any other CPUs
- Processes registered as priority processes by the SYSMAN DUMP_PRIORITY ADD command
- Processes designated by Hewlett-Packard to be key
processes. This list of processes is built into the BUGCHECK code and comprises
the following:
MSCPmount
AUDIT_SERVER
NETACP
NET$ACP
REMACP
LES$ACP
SHADOW_SERVER
- Processes in any miscellaneous wait state: for example, RWAST, MUTEX, WTBYT, and so on.
SYSMAN DUMP_PRIORITY ADD commands can be entered
directly by the system manager or can be included in the installation
procedures of layered products and third-party products. Careful use of SYSMAN
DUMP_PRIORITY ADD commands to include all key processes ensures that a
selective dump includes useful data first. This prevents the dump file being
filled with the memory contents of processes that have no relevance to the
system crash.
Dump Compression
Dump compression was
introduced in OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.0 and has been enhanced since then, most
recently in Version 7.3-1. It does not use an established compression
algorithm, but one designed to be most effective with common OpenVMS memory
patterns, and which can be used by the BUGCHECK code.
Following the dump
header and error logs, a compressed dump contains a compression map. This is a
sequence of quadwords, each describing up to 128 blocks of the compressed dump.
(In a selective dump, additional quadwords describe the LMB headers and the hole
tables for each LMB. These quadwords can easily be identified because bit 63,
DMP$V_NOCOMP, is set).
The data in each
quadword includes the final raw VBN represented by this compression map entry,
the number of compressed blocks written for this entry, and flags such as
DMP$V_NOCOMP. When SDA is reading the dump file, it scans the compression map
looking for the entry containing the raw VBN it wants. Having counted the
compressed blocks written for preceding entries, SDA can then read the exact
set of blocks containing the raw VBN of interest and decompress just those
blocks to get to the raw data.
The BUGCHECK code
attempts to compress four blocks of raw data at a time using the algorithms
described below. The compressed data is appended to a buffer until the maximum
size of a compressed section (127 blocks) is reached.
The BUGCHECK code
looks for the following byte patterns:
- Repeated sequences of a single value (DMP$K_REPEAT)
- An ascending sequence of values(DMP$K_INCREMENT)
- A descending sequence of values (DMP$K_DECREMENT)
- A sequence containing a limited set of values (up to 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64) (DMP$K_REENCODE_n, n=1-6)
- A sequence where a small number of values (1-7) is dominant (DMP$K_BITMAP_n, n=1,3,7)
- A sequence where no compression is possible (DMP$K_NOCOMP)
For each byte
pattern, the compressed data has a fixed header of three bytes. The first byte
contains the pattern type (DMP$K_xxx) and some flag bits (to be described
later). The second and third bytes contain a word count of the number of raw
bytes represented in the compressed section.
For DMP$K_REPEAT,
DMP$K_INCREMENT, and DMP$K_DECREMENT, a fourth byte contains the first
character of the sequence. A minimum sequence of 16 bytes is required for the
pattern to be recognized. If successive complete DMP$K_REPEAT sections are
found for the same byte value, these are merged to a maximum raw size of 64
blocks.
For DMP$K_NOCOMP,
the sequence of raw byte values follows the header. If successive complete
DMP$K_NOCOMP sections are found, these are merged, also to a maximum raw size
of 64 blocks. If two successive 64-block DMP$K_NOCOMP sections occur, the
3-byte headers are dropped, the entire 128 blocks are written to the dump file,
and the DMP$V_UNCOMP bit is set in the compression map entry. Without this
optimization, the compressed dump would end up being larger than the raw dump
if memory patterns are such that little or no compression is possible.
DMP$K_REENCODE_n
sections contain the same 3-byte header, followed by bytes containing the values
that occur in the sequence (from 2**(n-1)+1 to 2**n such values). So that SDA
can determine the end of the set of values, if the full set (2**n) is not used,
the last value is always hex FF, even if it does not occur in the sequence. To
understand how re-encode compression works, consider a sequence of bytes that
contains only the hex values 17, 31, 65, A4, and E9. This can be compressed as
a DMP$K_REENCODE_3 section, using binary 000 for every 17, binary 001 for every
31, 010 for 65, 011 for A4, and 100 for E9. The five raw values, followed by
hex FF, are written to the dump, followed by as many 3-bit groups as there were
bytes in the raw data. If a sequence of 100 bytes containing just these five
values was found, its compressed size would be 3+6+(100*3+7)/8 = 47 bytes.
(That's three bytes of fixed header, six bytes of raw values including the hex
FF terminator, and 100 3-bit groups for the actual re-encoded values, rounded
up to the next complete byte.)
DMP$K_BITMAP_n
sections contain the 3-byte header, followed by bytes containing the dominant
values that occur in the sequence (exactly n
such values). There is no need to have a filler value, as do DMP$K_REENCODE_n
sections, because any sequence of bytes that contains fewer than seven distinct
values is more efficiently compressed using re-encoding. Following the set of
dominant values is a set of 1-bit, 2-bit, or 3-bit groups, with one group for
each byte in the raw data. The value in each group is the offset in the set of
dominant bytes unless it is the maximum value for the bit group (1, 3, or 7).
In that case, the value indicates that some other less common (latent) value
occurs in the raw data. These latent values follow the bit groups in the same
order they occur in the raw data. The number of bytes required to contain the
compressed data using bitmap compression depends on the repeat counts for each
dominant value.
The BUGCHECK code
looks first for repeat, increment, or decrement sequences, temporarily ignoring
intervening bytes. Having identified such a sequence, it then scans the ignored
bytes, counting occurrences of all possible values. Using the collected
statistics, it decides if a re-encoded compression is possible or if a bitmap
compression would produce a better result. If no approach will compress the
data, it becomes a DMP$K_NOCOMP section. The result is written to the dump,
followed by any previously-identified repeat, increment, or decrement section.
But compression does
not end here. In many situations, the compressed data is itself compressible,
so the BUGCHECK code attempts further compression, up to four times. While it
is rare to perform the maximum number of compression passes, two or three
passes are common, especially with certain patterns that occur in page tables
and the PFN database. Flag bits in the first byte of the
3-byte header
indicate to SDA when it has completely decompressed a section.
File and Unwind Data
Beginning with the OpenVMS release that follows
Version 8.2, additional data is appended to the dump after the system reboots.
However, the actual dump file cannot be modified. For example, when a dump is
written to a page file, any unused space in the dump file is made available for
paging as soon as the system reboots.
Therefore, the additional data is appended to the copy when the dump is
copied by SDA. The appended data comprises the following:
- File identification to file name translation data. Collection of this data
allows SDA to display file names when analyzing dumps for the following
commands:
SHOW PROCESS /CHANNELS
SHOW GLOBAL_SECTION_TABLE
SHOW MEMORY /FILES
- Unwind tables for images activated by any processes. OpenVMS I64 uses unwind
tables to describe when and where registers have been saved during the
execution of a procedure. The unwind tables for an activated image are in
pageable sections. As a result, the tables and the data structures that
describe them have often been unavailable in system dumps. Their absence
affects the SHOW CALL command, preventing a complete analysis of all call
frames if any frame is for a PC in an activated image. Collection of this data
allows SDA to access the data it needs to display such call frames.
The SHOW UNWIND address command also uses the collected
data if the given address is for a PC in an activated image. However, the SHOW
PROCESS /UNWIND [=ALL] command can still fail because it also relies on the
data structures that describe the in-memory unwind tables; those cannot be
reconstructed after the crash.
It is worth noting that
because the unwind tables for loaded executive images are always resident, the
SHOW UNWIND [/ALL] command is never affected. Likewise, SHOW CALL can always
display call frames whose PC is in a loaded executive image.
By default, a copy
of an original dump, as written at the time of the system crash, includes collection data. You can execute COPY
/NOCOLLECT to override this. Conversely, a copy of a dump previously copied by
SDA without collection (COPY /NOCOLLECT) does not include collection data, but
COPY /COLLECT can be used to override this. Copying a dump that already
contains an appended collection will always include that collection.
For all file and
unwind data to be collected successfully, all disks that were mounted at the
time of the system crash should be remounted and accessible to the process
running SDA. SDA is usually invoked early during startup to save the contents
of the dump, for example by defining the logical name CLUE$SITE_PROC to point
to an SDA command procedure that includes a COPY command. If some disks are not
mounted until a batch job is run, some file or unwind data might not be
collected successfully. To avoid this, use the COPY/NOCOLLECT command in the
CLUE$SITE_PROC command procedure; then, once all disks have been mounted,
execute an additional COPY/COLLECT command to save file and/or unwind data.
Dump Off System Disk (DOSD)
On many systems,
disk space can be at a premium, especially on a cluster-common system disk. For
this reason, OpenVMS on both Alpha and I64 provides the ability to write system
dumps to a dump file on a disk other than the system disk. To use this feature,
the system manager must perform the following setup steps:
- Set the "dump off system disk" (DOSD) bit in the SYSGEN parameter DUMPSTYLE. This is bit 2 (value 4).
- Put the name of the disk to be used in the DUMP_DEV environment variable. On Alpha,
this is done with a SET DUMP_DEV command at the console prompt. On I64, it is
done using the command procedure SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM. If there are
multiple paths to the dump disk, all paths should be included in DUMP_DEV. The disk cannot be a member of a shadow set
or part of a volume set.
- On the desired dump disk, create the file [SYSn.SYSEXE]SYSDUMP.DMP using the SYSGEN
CREATE /SIZE=size command. The file must be in the same system root that is
used to boot the system. Using SYSGEN to create the dump file ensures that,
even if the file is not contiguous, it will not be so badly fragmented that an
extension header is required to record its location on the disk.
When the system
crashes, if the BUGCHECK code finds the DOSD bit set in DUMPSTYLE, it attempts
to access each entry in DUMP_DEV in turn and tries to locate the dump file,
using the same primitive file system that is available to SYSBOOT when the
system is booted. Once the BUGCHECK code finds the dump file, it writes the
dump in exactly the same way as it does for a system disk dump file.
The error log dump
file is always located on the system disk because SYSINIT must access it when
the system reboots. The BUGCHECK code uses DUMP_DEV to locate alternate paths
to the system disk if it failed over to a different path while OpenVMS was
running. For this reason, if there is more than one path to the system disk,
DUMP_DEV should include all paths. If the system disk is a shadow set, the
BUGCHECK code attempts to write the contents of the error log buffers to all
members of the shadow set. Therefore, DUMP_DEV should include all paths to all
members of the system disk shadow set.
Unfortunately, on
Alpha there is a limit to the number of paths that can be included in
DUMP_DEV because the console provides
only a single fixed-length buffer for the list. On some Alpha platforms, only a
single device can be specified; on others, there is room for 4 to10 devices,
depending on their type. As a result, the system manager must determine which
devices to include. At a minimum, all paths to the dump device should be
included if DOSD is being used. As many
paths to the system disk as possible should then be added; in the case of a
shadow set, start with the member that is usually the master - the member used
in BOOTDEF_DEV.
On I64, the limit on
the number of paths is 99, so there should be no difficulty in defining all
paths to the dump disk and all paths to all members of the system disk shadow
set.
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