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WebSphere Application Server dump Locations and Setup

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Abstract

WebSphere Application Server dump Locations and Setup

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The WebSphere Application Server (WAS) JVM checks each of the following locations for existence and write-permission, and stores the Javadump, Heapdump, or System Coredump, in the first one available:

  1. The location specified by the IBM_JAVACOREDIR,IBM_HEAPDUMPDIR and IBM_COREDIR environment variables if set (_CEE_DMPTARG on z/OS).
  2. The current working directory of the JVM processes or $WAS_HOME/profiles/<ProfileName> dir.
  3. The location specified by the TMPDIR environment variable, if set.
  4. The /tmp directory or, on Microsoft Windows only, the location specified by the TEMP environment variable, if set.
  5. Windows only: If the javadump cannot be stored in any of the above, it is put to STDERR.

Environment Variables to be set for Dump Directory Location:
IBM_JAVACOREDIR
IBM_HEAPDUMPDIR
IBM_COREDIR
TMPDIR

To set these variables for each individual server in the Integrated Solutions Console

  1. Open the Administrative Console.
  2. Select Servers > (Expand Server Types) > WebSphere application servers > server_name > (Expand Java and Process Management) > Process Definition > Environment Entries > New.
  3. Add entries to the Name/Value pairs (from above Environment Variables).
  4. Click OK.
  5. Save changes, make sure node is synchronized, and restart the Application Server in the console.

To set these environment variables in a Script

Edit <WASHome>/profiles/profile name/bin/setupCmdLine.sh and add the lines below:
or
Edit <WASHome>/profiles/profile name/bin/startServer.sh and add the lines below:

IBM_JAVACOREDIR=<directory>
export IBM_JAVACOREDIR

IBM_HEAPDUMPDIR=<directory>
export IBM_HEAPDUMPDIR

IBM_COREDIR=<directory>
export IBM_COREDIR

TMPDIR=<directory>
export TMPDIR
Then stop all applicable WebSphere servers, including the DMgr and nodeagent, and restart the JVMs from the command line.

Note: you must have enough free disk space for the dump file to be written correctly to the file system, so directory space or ulimits need to be set accordingly.
For example: on AIX, Linux, or Unix, you can set ulimits for Core and File
ulimit -c unlimited
ulimit -f unlimited

If you have limited resources, then you can set whatever values work best for your environment given available disk space and installed physical memory.

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ibm11081389