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swo0sh_gt_13163's avatar
swo0sh_gt_13163
Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
Aug 15, 2013

How to get Core file or core details from QKview file?

Hi all!

 

I am new to F5 and have to a task to inspect the core dump file from QKview file in order to analyze the overall CPU utilization. One of my colleague had demonstrated it to me by Navigate to iHealth.f5.com > QKview > Files >

 

Now I forget the exact path to access the subjected file name. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

Regards, Darshan

 

application delivery
devops
iControl
iRules
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TMSH

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  • uni's avatar
    uni
    Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
    Aug 15, 2013

    Not sure what you're asking here. qkview files are stored as /var/tmp/.tgz if you generated it from the command line, or case_number__support_file.tar.gz if you used the gui. If you have uploaded it to iHealth, you view CPU statistics from there, under graphs. However, you can see CPU graphs from the Configuration Utility on the BigIP itself: Overview / Performance / System CPU Usage.

     

    If that doesn't answer your question, perhaps you could try rephrasing it.

     

  • swo0sh_gt_13163's avatar
    swo0sh_gt_13163
    Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
    Aug 15, 2013

    Thanks for the reply.

     

    Let me try to rephrase it, Basically I want to check how to check core dump status? Just to inform you that I have already imported QKview file to iHealth, I have checked CPU utilization from graphs, however it seemed normal.

     

    Now from Logs (In iHealth), my colleague found that core CPU status from the logs (not sure the exact location from, and this is what I am looking for), where there was details about when CPU spike was generated along with the time stamp.

     

    I hope this makes sense. Please revert if there is any confusion.

     

    • Andre_Nurwono's avatar
      Andre_Nurwono
      Icon for Employee rankEmployee
      Aug 15, 2013
      Core dumps and qkview data are two different things. A core dump is a memory dump of one software state, when it crashes (like what happens if you see the blue screen of death in Windows) A qkview file is a snapshot of the entire system by collecting system information, including rrd performance graphs. The qkview .tgz file does not collect core files, you will need to copy a core file from /var/core/ manually, such as using WinSCP, then upload it to your support case (if you need to know why the software crashed). If you upload a qkview to ihealth, you can check CPU utilization by clicking on the graphs view, it will display CPU utilization data as far back as 30 days, and it looks like you've already done that. If you already found logs that could point to a symptom of the CPU spike, you could search the AskF5 knowledge base fopr the meaning of the logs. You can also see where the core files are by searching for "core" in the "Commands" section of ihealth. (look for ls critical files) From then on to grab the core you will need to find it in the TMOS filesystem (search /var/core/ which is the most common location of any corefiles) To analyze the core, you may open a support ticket with F5 support.
    • Nath's avatar
      Nath
      Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
      Aug 18, 2016

      Hi Norwuno,

       

      Could you please give us an idea on how to open a core file?

       

      Thhanks,

       

      -Nat

       

    • swo0sh_gt_13163's avatar
      swo0sh_gt_13163
      Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
      Aug 18, 2016

      Hello Nat, Core files are usually contains quite low level and debug information which mostly analyzed by Engineering or PD Team. Unless you have programming background.

       

      As stated above, core files are useful to determine the unexpected daemon crash / memory dump etc. For faster and effective result, you can submit it to F5 Support. If you just to want to explore the data inside, you can use "Core Analyzer" like utilities.

       

      hope this helps.

       

  • swo0sh_gt_13163's avatar
    swo0sh_gt_13163
    Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
    Aug 15, 2013

    Thank you very much for your descriptive explanation. I have got my answer. I was referring to wrong menu in iHealth. I supposed to look under Commands and not under Logs.

     

    Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it.