How to read esxi PSOD

By amit

In this blog, I will be sharing more about how to  extract kernel dumps and how to read it.Whenever esxi PSOD(purple screen of death), mostly its generates a kernel dump file.From the PSOD screen also we can make out lot of stuff.

  1. Find the vmkernel-zdump file in the /root/ or /var/core/ directory:
    # ls /root/vmkernel* /var/core/vmkernel*
    /var/core/vmkernel-zdump-073108.09.16.1
  2. Use the vmkdump or esxcfg-dumppart utility to extract the log. For example:
    # vmkdump -l /var/core/vmkernel-zdump-073108.09.16.1
    created file vmkernel-log.1
    # esxcfg-dumppart -L /var/core/vmkernel-zdump-073108.09.16.1
    created file vmkernel-log.1
  3. The vmkernel-log.1 file is plain text, though may start with null characters. Focus on the end of the log, which is similar to:
    VMware ESX Server [Releasebuild-98103]
    PCPU 1 locked up. Failed to ack TLB invalidate.
    frame=0x3a37d98 ip=0x625e94 cr2=0x0 cr3=0x40c66000 cr4=0x16c
    es=0xffffffff ds=0xffffffff fs=0xffffffff gs=0xffffffff
    eax=0xffffffff ebx=0xffffffff ecx=0xffffffff edx=0xffffffff
  4. For intercepting the PSOD, follow the below KB: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1004250