IBM Support

Working with IBM AIX Support: Collecting snap data

How To


Summary

Collecting system data is an important step in problem resolution. Read the following steps to collect this information.

Steps

1) Run the snap command with one of the following options to collect the system data.
* If you are already working with an IBM support professional, use the flags that are specified by your support team.
 
a) Stand-alone or LPAR
 
# snap -r (removes previous snap data)
# snap -a (includes system dump) 
   OR 
# snap -aZ (excludes system dump)
 
* Your support team might request more data, or you might want to include related files. Add those files to the test case directory before you compress the snap data.
 
# cp <PATH_TO_DATA> /tmp/ibmsupt/testcase
 
Now, compress the data.
 
# snap -c

b) VIOS  
 
Log in to VIO server, as padmin.

$ snap 
 
Note: The snap file is created in /home/padmin.
The previous snap file is automatically removed.
 

c) PowerHA 

 
First, on all nodes in the cluster:
 
# snap -r (removes previous snap data)
  • Answer 'y' when prompted: "Do you want me to remove these directories (y/n)?"  y
  • Note: 'snap -r' removes only files in the /tmp/ibmsupt sub-directory, so if there is old snap data in /tmp, it continues to take up space.
* Your support team might request more data, or you might want to include related files.
   Add those files to the testcase directory on as many nodes as needed before gathering the snap data.

# mkdir -p /tmp/ibmsupt/testcase
# cp <PATH_TO_DATA> /tmp/ibmsupt/testcase
 
Next, on one node:
 
# snap -e (This gathers data from all nodes into one snap.pax.Z file) 
  • Include "HA" in the [.optional_description] part of the file name in step 2.

 
d) For AIX System Performance Analysis
 
e) For VM Recovery Manager
 

2) Rename the compressed test case file. (You must use the correct case number so it is attached to your case)
 
For AIX 7.2 &  7.3.0:
# mv /tmp/ibmsupt/snap.pax.Z /tmp/ibmsupt/yourcase#[.optional_description].snap.pax.Z
 
For AIX 7.3.1+:
# mv /tmp/ibmsupt/snap.pax.gz /tmp/ibmsupt/yourcase#[.optional_description].snap.pax.gz
 
 
3) Upload the compressed file.
 
Data Upload Options:
 
a) Attach to your case
 
     - ECuRep supports several methods for sending data to IBM.
               * See instructions for HTTPS, FTPS, SFTP, and others on ECuRep - Send data
  
c) Blue Diamond customer data uploads (US only) please use IBM SecureDrop to securely upload Blue Diamond data to IBM Support
   - https://securedrop.im-ies.ibm.com/
            NOTE:  Blue Diamond Secure FTP Service was replaced by IBM SecureDrop effective June 30, 2026


 

4) Be sure to provide full problem descriptions in your case. See Working with IBM AIX Support: Describing the problem.

Additional Information

Our AIX support expert Alan H (IBM UK) put together an excellent overview video of the snap command here:

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Document Information

Modified date:
05 August 2026

UID

ibm11285336

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