savecore Command

Purpose

Saves a system dump.

Syntax

savecore { [ [ -c ] [ -d ] [ -f ] ] | [ -F [ -d ] ] } DirectoryName SystemName

Description

The function of the savecore command is to save a system dump and is usually run at system startup.

The savecore command checks to see that you have a recent dump and that there is enough space to save it. The system dump is saved in the DirectoryName/vmcore.n file, and the system is saved in the DirectoryName/vmunix.n file. The n variable is specified in the DirectoryName/bounds file. If this file does not exist, it is created with a default of 0, and the n variable uses this value. With each subsequent dump, the n variable is increased by 1.

The compressed dump is copied to a file named DirectoryName/vmcore. n.Z, where .Z is the standard indication that a file is compressed.

If the system dump was from a system other than /unix, the name of the system must be supplied as SystemName.

Note: The savecore command saves only the current dump and the dump prior to the current one.

The directory may contain a file named minfree. This file contains the number of kbytes to leave free in the directory. The minfree file can be used to ensure a minimum amount of free space is left after the dump is copied.

Flags

Item	Description
-c	Marks the dump invalid (not recent), but does not copy it.
-d	Copies only the dump. It does not copy the system.
-f	Copies the dump even if it appears to be invalid.
-F	Reports the amount of space available for a dump in the copy directory. This may be more than the free space since the savecore command keeps the current dump and the previous dump, deleting others. No copying is done if the -F flag is specified. This flag is only valid with the -d flag.

Security

The Role Based Access Control (RBAC) Environment and Trusted AIX®: This command implements and can perform privileged operations. Only privileged users can execute such privileged operations.

For more information about authorizations and privileges, refer to the RBAC: Privileged Command Database section in AIX Version 7.1 Security.

To review the list of privileges and the authorizations associated with this command, refer to the /etc/security/privcmds database.

Examples

To copy the dump (not the system) to DirectoryName, enter:
```
savecore -d DirectoryName
```
To copy the dump even if it is invalid, enter:
```
savecore -f -d DirectoryName
```
To mark the dump invalid, enter:
```
savecore -c
```
To copy the dump and the system, enter:
```
savecore -d DirectoryName SystemName
```
To see how much space is available for a dump, enter:
```
savecore -d -F DirectoryName
```