Memory fault (coredump) when loading kernel template

[Chet Woods]

Hi all,
I've been asked make my server a Monolithic Database Server. I've never done something like this before but, poked around a little bit and I think I need to load a template "oltp_sa.tun". This resides on my server (HP9000, E25, 11.00 64mb ram)at /usr/sam/lib/kc/tuned/oltp_sa.tun. When attempting to load this template I get the error: sh: 2517 Memory Fault (coredump). Is this telling me that I have insufficient memory? Or what is it telling me?

Thanks,
Chet

[S.K. Chan]

Can't tell until you post more info on the core file. Do this ..

# file core
# strings core | more

and post any "suspicious" output.

[Chet Woods]

Well, see that's another problem. I cannot find a core file out there. When attempting to load this template I used "SAM". To find the core file, I closed SAM and then atttempted to do a "find" to look for it. However, I am unable to do anything, cannot type anything. So, I had to do a "hard reset", then looked for the core file, and nothing's there. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Chet

[S.K. Chan]

What about SAM log file, /var/sam/log/samlog ? See if you can spot anything there.

[Olav Baadsvik]

Hi,

Are you serious when you say you want to
have a machine wiht 64MB RAM as a
database server. I think this seems to
be VERY little memory for this job.

Regards
Olav

[Chet Woods]

Yes, unfortunately I am serious. Due to money constraints I'm often asked to perform miracles. This is actually going to be used to "evaluate" IBM DB2 Database software. That said, I think buying some more memory is definately something I need to do, but what will get me around this situation? Here's something that might help from the samlog:
Executing the following command:\C/usr/sam/lbin/getkinfo -w -f /usr/sam/lib/kc/tuned/oltp_sa.tun\C
@!@16@1018623068@0
getkinfo: Cannot find parameter General listed in /usr/conf/master.d/* tables
.

The "getkinfo" error is several times after this entry.

[S.K. Chan]

SAM getkinfo somehow could not recognize some of the parameters in "oltp_sa.tun" file. Cross check /usr/conf/master.d directory and the file "core-hpux" should exist in this directory as well. Does "getkinfo" specifically mentioned which kernel parameter it could not recognized ?

[Chet Woods]

It doesn't appear to tell what file it's having problems with in the samlog file. Here's was right after the previous entry:
getkinfo: Cannot find parameter # listed in /usr/conf/master.d/* tables.
@!@32@1018623069@0
Note: the following drivers in the specified template are unsupported by the
current system, and will be ignored: #, #, #, #, #, #, #, #

I also found this interesting:
Executing the following command:\C/usr/bin/cat /etc/loadmods\C
@!@
2@1018623070@0
Command completed with exit status 2.

I've looked at the master.d/core-hpux file, but I'm not really sure what I should be looking for.

Thanks,
Chet

[S.K. Chan]

Not sure about the "/etc/loadmods" .. what I meant was /usr/conf/master.d directory should not have any "copied" file because SAM is very particular about the integrity of the files in this directory. It looks to me you're down to 3 options that I can think of ..
1) Rename /stand/build/system.SAM (if it exists) and configure the kernel again. If still got problem goto step 2.
2) Rename /var/sam/boot.config and then run ..
# /usr/sam/lbin/getkinfo -b
to recreate it. Compare the 2 files (the old and the new ones). If they are not the same, configure the kernel via SAM and see if the problem persist. If the files are the same and you still encounter problem with SAM goto step 3.
3) Manually configure the kernel (don't use SAM), if it works you would still have to find out what is causing SAM to misbehave .. which at this point I don't have the answer yet.

[Chet Woods]

Well, first off I really want to thank you for the time you've put into this. What I did was both steps #1 and 2 on your list. There was not something named "system.SAM" therefore I went directly to step 2. Both the "old" and "new" files are the same size. I tried again to load this template through SAM and got the following message (different but similar):
UNEXPECTED EXIT:
process LANG=C LC_ALL=C /usr/sam/lbin/samx -C -p 2024 -s kc_sa_param /usr/sam/lib//kc.ui exited with a non-zero exit status.

sh: 2114 Memory Fault

Thanks again,
Chet

[S.K. Chan]

Lets take another stab at it. The error you see somehow reminds me of something, can't quite remember but I think it is to do with SAM having problem calculating "formula-defined" parameter. Why don't you give this a try .. in your oltp_sa.tun file there will be some parameters which is defined from a formula, for example ..
nproc (((10*maxusers)/3)+128)
whereby maxusers=400
Make a copy of oltp_sa.tun file. Then edit the original copy and changed all "formula-defined" parameter to it's actual values, got to do some math here. Then load it.. with SAM, I got the feeling this might work !