Insufficient storage capacity for VMkernel core dumps

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The system does not have a valid dump target configured. Host core dumps cannot be saved.

Example

The core dump file or partition that was configured during a previous installation is not large enough for the host.

ESXi 7.0 defaults to core dump to file and automatically configures one with a size that is based on the system's characteristics of CPU, memory and active software subsystems. However, there may be cases where after fully booting up, the system requires more core dump space.

Impact

The host cannot perform a complete core dump. If the host fails and a complete coredump is not available, VMware Support might not be able to diagnose the failure.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x

Resolution

Configure a core dump partition, or a file dump with the recommended size that was stated in the following problem event message:

"The storage capacity of the core dump targets is insufficient to capture a complete core dump. Recommended core dump capacity is % MiB.".

If the recommended coredump capacity is below 4096 MiB, you can also configure network dumps. See "Configure ESXi Dump Collector with ESXCLI" in the vSphere Installation and Setup publication for more information.

Core dump files

If the system was preconfigured with a coredump file and it is active, then it must be disabled before it can be resized. To check if the coredump file is active, issue the following command:

esxcli system coredump file list

Path Active Configured Size
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ ---------- ---------
/vmfs/volumes/########-####-########5661/vmkdump/########-####-####-####-########5661.dumpfile true true 1533018112

If Active shows true, then disable the coredump file by issuing:

esxcli system coredump file set --enable=false

Once the coredump file has been disabled, it can be recreated with the recommended size using the following commands:

esxcli system coredump file add --auto
esxcli system coredump file set --smart --enable=true

If the system reports that the new coredump file cannot be created because there is insufficient free space, then the coredump file first needs to be removed before creating a new one; for example:

esxcli system coredump file remove --force --file=/vmfs/volumes/########-####-########5661/vmkdump/########-####-####-####-########5661.dumpfile

Note: The amount of available space in the file system for a coredump file needs to be twice as large as the recommended file size.

Additional Information

To configure a diagnostic coredump partition on an ESXi host refer to: Configuring a diagnostic coredump partition on an ESXi 5.x/6.x host (2004299)
To configure ESXi coredump to file instead of a partition refer to:Configuring ESXi coredump to file instead of partition (2077516)