Enabling core dumps v14

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You can use core dumps to diagnose or debug errors. A core dump is a file containing a process's address space (memory) when the process terminates unexpectedly. Core dumps may be produced on-demand (such as by a debugger) or automatically upon termination.

Enabling core dumps on a RHEL or Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux host

On RHEL/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux 8.x, core file creation is disabled by default. To enable the core file generation, follow the following commands:

Identify the system's current limit using the ulimit -c or ulimit -a command. 0 indicates that core file generation is disabled.

# ulimit -c
0

# ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 3756
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 64
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 0
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 3756
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited

Create a new directory to store the core dumps and modify kernel.core_pattern to store the dumps in a specified directory:

mkdir -p /var/coredumps
chmod a+w /var/coredumps

sysctl kernel.core_pattern=/var/coredumps/core-%e-%p
kernel.core_pattern = /var/coredumps/core-%e-%p

Use the following command to persist the kernel.core_pattern setting across reboots:
```
echo 'kernel.core_pattern=/var/coredumps/core-%e-%p' >> /etc/sysctl.conf
```
Enable core dumps in /etc/security/limits.conf to allow a user to create core files. Each line describes a limit for a user in the following form:
```
<domain>  <type>  <item>  <value>
   *       soft    core    unlimited
```
Use * to enable the core dump size to unlimited.
Set the limit of core file size to UNLIMITED by using the following command:
```
ulimit -c unlimited

ulimit -c
unlimited
```
To set a core limit for the services, add the following setting in /usr/lib/systemd/system/edb-as-14.service.
```
[Service]
LimitCore=Infinity
```
Reload the service configuration:
```
systemctl daemon-reload
```
Modify the global default limit using systemd, add the following setting in /etc/systemd/system.conf.
```
DefaultLimitCORE=Infinity
```
Restart the systemd:
```
systemctl daemon-reexec
```
Stop and then start EDB Postgres Advanced Server:
```
systemctl stop edb-as-14
systemctl start edb-as-14
```
Now, the core dumps are enabled, install the gdb tool and debug packages using the following command:
```
yum install gdb
debuginfo-install edb-as14 edb-as14-server-contrib edb-as14-server edb-as14-libs
```
Replace the path to a core dump file before proceeding to get a backtrace using the bt command to analyze output:
```
gdb /usr/edb/as14/bin /var/coredumps/core-edb-postgres-65499
(gdb) bt full
```

Enabling core dumps on an Ubuntu host

On Ubuntu 20, core file creation is disabled by default. To enable the core file generation, follow the following commands:

Identify the system's current limit using the ulimit -c or ulimit -a command. 0 indicates that core file generation is disabled.

# ulimit -c
0

# ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
scheduling priority             (-e) 0
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
pending signals                 (-i) 7617
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) 65536
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 1024
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 8
POSIX message queues     (bytes, -q) 819200
real-time priority              (-r) 0
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 7617
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited
file locks                      (-x) unlimited

Create a new directory to store the core dumps and modify kernel.core_pattern to store the dumps in a specified directory:

mkdir -p /var/coredumps
chmod a+w /var/coredumps

sysctl kernel.core_pattern=/var/coredumps/core-%e-%p
kernel.core_pattern = /var/coredumps/core-%e-%p

Use the following command to persist the kernel.core_pattern setting across reboots:
```
echo 'kernel.core_pattern=/var/coredumps/core-%e-%p' >> /etc/sysctl.conf
```
Enable core dumps in /etc/security/limits.conf to allow a user to create core files. Each line describes a limit for a user in the following form:
```
<domain>  <type>  <item>  <value>
   *       soft    core    unlimited
```
Use * to enable the core dump size to unlimited.
Set the limit of core file size to UNLIMITED by using the following command:
```
ulimit -c unlimited

ulimit -c
unlimited
```
To set a core limit for the services, add the following setting in /lib/systemd/system/edb-as@.service.
```
[Service]
LimitCore=Infinity
```
Reload the service configuration:
```
systemctl daemon-reload
```
Modify the global default limit using systemd, add the following setting in /etc/systemd/system.conf.
```
DefaultLimitCORE=Infinity
```
Restart the systemd:
```
systemctl daemon-reexec
```

Stop and then start EDB Postgres Advanced Server:

systemctl stop edb-as@14.service
systemctl start edb-as@14.service

Now, the core dumps are enabled, install the gdb tool and debug symbols using the following command:
```
apt-get install gdb
apt-get install edb-as14 edb-as-contrib edb-as14-server edb-debugger-dbgsym
```
Replace the path to a core dump file before proceeding to get a backtrace using the bt command to analyze output:
```
gdb /usr/lib/edb-as/14/bin /var/coredumps/core-edb-postgres-21638
(gdb) bt full
```

Note

The debug info packages name on a Debian or Ubuntu host may vary and include -dbgsym or -dbg suffix. For more information about setting sources.list and installing the debug info packages, visit Debian or Ubuntu wiki at https://wiki.debian.org/HowToGetABacktrace or https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Debug%20Symbol%20Packages respectively.
The core files can be huge depending on the memory usage, enabling the core dumps on a system may fill up its mass storage over time.

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