Using system dumps and the dump viewer

The JVM can generate native system dumps, also known as core dumps, under configurable conditions.

System dumps contain a binary copy of process memory and are not human-readable. The dumps contain a complete copy of the Java™ heap, including the contents of all Java objects in the application. If you require a dump that does not contain this application data, see these topics: Using Javadump or Using Heapdump.

Dump agents are the preferred method for controlling the generation of system dumps. For more information, see -Xdump. To maintain compatibility with earlier versions, the JVM supports the use of environment variables for triggering system dumps. For more information, see OpenJ9 environment variables.

The dump viewer that is provided in the SDK is a cross-platform line-mode tool for viewing and analyzing system dumps.

You can also use the ISPF tool that is packaged with z/OS®.