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NETDUMP(4)		     Kernel Interfaces Manual		      NETDUMP(4)

NAME
     netdump -- protocol for transmitting kernel dumps to a remote server

SYNOPSIS
     To compile netdump client support into the kernel, place the following
     lines in your kernel configuration file:

	   options INET
	   options DEBUGNET
	   options NETDUMP

DESCRIPTION
     netdump  is  a UDP-based protocol for transmitting kernel dumps to a remote
     host.  A netdump client is a panicking kernel, and a netdump  server  is  a
     host  running the netdump daemon, available in ports as ports/ftp/netdumpd.
     netdump clients are configured using the dumpon(8) utility or  the  netdump
     command in ddb(4).

     netdump  client messages consist of a fixed-size header followed by a vari-
     able-sized payload.  The header contains the message type, a sequence  num-
     ber,  the	offset of the payload data in the kernel dump, and the length of
     the payload data (not including the header).  The message types are HERALD,
     FINISHED, KDH, VMCORE, and EKCD_KEY.  netdump server messages have a  fixed
     size  and	contain  only  the sequence number of the client message.  These
     messages indicate that the server has  successfully  processed  the  client
     message  with  the  corresponding sequence number.  All client messages are
     acknowledged this way.  Server messages are always sent to  port  20024  of
     the client.

     To  initiate  a netdump, the client sends a HERALD message to the server at
     port 20023.  The client may include a relative  path  in  its  payload,  in
     which  case the netdump server should attempt to save the dump at that path
     relative to its configured dump directory.  The server will acknowledge the
     HERALD using a random source port, and the client must send all  subsequent
     messages to that port.

     The  KDH,	VMCORE,  and  EKCD_KEY	message payloads contain the kernel dump
     header, dump contents, and dump encryption key respectively.  The offset in
     the message header should be treated as a seek offset in the  corresponding
     file.  There are no ordering requirements for these messages.

     A netdump is completed by sending the FINISHED message to the server.

     The  following  network  drivers  support netdump: alc(4), bge(4), bnxt(4),
     bxe(4), cxgb(4), em(4), igb(4), ix(4), ixl(4), mlx4en(4), mlx5en(4), re(4),
     vtnet(4).

SYSCTL VARIABLES
     The following variables are  available  as  both  sysctl(8)  variables  and
     loader(8) variables:

     net.netdump.debug
	     Control  debug  message  verbosity.  Debug messages are disabled by
	     default, but are useful when  troubleshooting  or	when  developing
	     driver support.

     net.netdump.path
	     Specify  a path relative to the server's dump directory in which to
	     store the dump.  For example, if the netdump server  is  configured
	     to store dumps in /var/crash, a path of "foo" will cause the server
	     to  attempt  to store dumps from the client in /var/crash/foo.  The
	     server will not automatically create the relative directory.

     net.netdump.polls
	     The client will poll the configured network interface while waiting
	     for acknowledgements.  This parameter controls the  maximum  number
	     of poll attempts before giving up, which typically results in a re-
	     transmit.	Each poll attempt takes 0.5ms.

     net.netdump.retries
	     The  number  of  times  the client will re-transmit a packet before
	     aborting a dump due to a lack of acknowledgement.	The default  may
	     be too small in environments with lots of packet loss.

     net.netdump.arp_retries
	     The  number  of  times the client will attempt to learn the MAC ad-
	     dress of the configured gateway or  server  before  giving  up  and
	     aborting the dump.

SEE ALSO
     decryptcore(8), dumpon(8), savecore(8)

HISTORY
     netdump client support first appeared in FreeBSD 12.0.

BUGS
     Only IPv4 is supported.

     netdump may only be used after the kernel has panicked.

FreeBSD ports 15.1		November 10, 2022		      NETDUMP(4)

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