AIX 5L Problem Determination - IBM Redbooks

A command status screen will be displayed, and once the dump has completed,
the system will need to be reset.
If the dump was successful, reboot the system. During the boot process, if the
forced copy flag is set to TRUE, a menu will be displayed on the primary console
requesting the removable media to copy the dump to /dev/rmtx or /dev/fd0. (You
are prompted to choose which location.) The size of the dump in /dev/hd6 is also
displayed. It is advisable to not use /dev/fd0 for the copy of the dump. Once the
copy has been completed, exit the copy screen and the system will continue the
boot process.
5.2.3 Using the Reset button
To start a dump with the Reset button, the key switch must be in the service
position. If the system does not have a key switch, set the always allow system
dump value to true. To set this, use the sysdumpdev command as follows:
# sysdumpdev -K
The value can be checked using the sysdumpdev command without flags as
follows:
# sysdumpdev
primary /dev/hd6
secondary /dev/sysdumpnull
copy directory /var/adm/ras
forced copy flag TRUE
always allow dump TRUE
dump compression OFF
To obtain the system dump, press the Reset button. This will initiate the system
dump and may take some time.
If the dump was successful, reboot the system. During the boot process, if the
forced copy flag is set to TRUE (sysdumpdev -D dumpdev), a menu will be
displayed on the primary console requesting the removable media to copy the
dump to /dev/rmtx or /dev/fd0. (You are prompted to choose which location.) The
size of the dump in /dev/hd6 is also displayed. It is advisable to not use /dev/fd0
for the copy of the dump. Once the copy has been completed, exit the copy
screen and the system will continue the boot process.
If the system does not have a key switch, set the always allow dump option back
to false. Use the sysdumpdev command as follows:
# sysdumpdev -k
70 IBM ^ Certification Study Guide - AIX 5L Problem Determination Tools and Techniques