Skyline Health Diagnostics 4.0.9 generates core.ps dumps(procps-ops) in vCenter Server

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to generate a diagnostics bundle using the Skyline Health Diagnostics tool 4.0.9, the process fails. A core dump file (core.ps.######) is generated in the /var/core/ directory of the vCenter Server Appliance.

The following entries are observed in /var/log/vMonCoredumper.log:

YYYY-DD-MM Successfully generated core file /var/core/core.ps.######.
YYYY-DD-MM Successfully generated core file /var/core/core.ps.######. 

This occurs because the ps process crashes when Skyline Health Diagnostics executes the command: /bin/ps auwwx --sort -rss

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0.3 
• Skyline Health Diagnostics 4.0.9
• Package: procps-ng-3.3.17-2.ph4.x86_64

Cause

The core dump is triggered when VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics executes the command /bin/ps auwwx --sort -rss while collecting a vCenter Server log bundle.

The failure occurs because the ps utility crashes during execution of this command, resulting in a core dump.

This behavior is caused by a known issue in the procps-ng-3.3.17-2.ph4.x86_64 package included with the vCenter Server Appliance.

Resolution

• This issue is fixed in release  8.0 Update 3i (Build 25197330) and higher. See Download Broadcom products and software for steps to download this release.Downloading Free Software from the Broadcom Support Portal

Workaround :

Cleanup the core.ps dumps generated by the process located at /var/core.

1. SSH to the vCenter as root user.
2. Navigate to the directory /var/core:

cd /var/core

    3.Remove the core.ps dumps file with the below command:

rm core.ps.######

Additional Information

• VMware vCenter 8.0 Update 3i Release Notes