Removal of .hprof heap dump files in HCX Manager

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

An HCX Manager appliance may experience high disk space utilization within the /common partition.

There are large.hprof files residing in /common/dumps/

These files are generated when Java processes (such as app-engine) encounter critical memory exhaustion.

Environment

VMware HCX 4.10.x

Cause

The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) automatically generates a heap dump (.hprof) for diagnostic purposes during a service crash or OutOfMemoryError. These artifacts are not automatically purged and can consume significant storage over time.

Resolution

Steps to remove hprof files:

1. Log in to the HCX Manager CLI as the admin user and switch to root.

2. Verify the current disk usage to confirm the pressure on /common: df -h /common

3. Navigate to the dumps directory: cd /common/dumps/

4. Identify the files and their creation dates: ls -lh

5. Critical: If an active Service Request (SR) is open for service crashes, provide these files to Broadcom Support before deletion.

6. Take a snapshot of the HCX Manager appliance via vCenter Server.

7. Delete the heap dump files to reclaim space: rm /common/dumps/*.hprof

8. Confirm the space has been reclaimed: df -h /common