Configure Core Dumps

A core dump can be generated for a single pod, or for all pods in the SingleStore cluster.

Enable Core Dumps

Core dumps can be enabled on individual pods, or across all pods.

Individual Pods

  1. List all pods in the cluster.

    kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=memsql-cluster,app.kubernetes.io/instance=<cluster-name>
  2. Confirm that a core dump will be produced upon crash.

    kubectl exec <pod-name> -c node -- memsqlctl query --sql "SELECT @@core_file"
    +-------------+
    | @@core_file |
    +-------------+
    | 1           |
    +-------------+

    The default value for @@core_file is 1, which indicates that creating a core dump on crash is enabled. If this value is 0, creating a core dump on crash is disabled. To enable it, run the following command.

    kubectl exec <pod-name> -c node -- memsqlctl -y update-config --key core_file --value ON

    Restart the node for this change to take effect.

    kubectl exec <pod-name> -c node -- memsqlctl -y restart-node
  3. Configure the core dump to be either partial or full. By default, a partial core dump is created. Refer to the core_file_modeengine variable for more information on partial and full core dumps.

    Run the following command to check the current value.

    kubectl exec node-<cluster-name>-master-0 -c node -- memsqlctl query --sql "SELECT @@core_file_mode"
    +------------------+
    | @@core_file_mode |
    +------------------+
    | PARTIAL          |
    +------------------+

    Run the following command to change this value.

    For a partial core dump:

    kubectl exec <pod-namne> -c node -- memsqlctl -y update-config --key core_file_mode --value PARTIAL

    For a full core dump:

    kubectl exec <pod-name> -c node -- memsqlctl -y update-config --key core_file_mode --value FULL

    Restart the node for this change to take effect.

    kubectl exec <pod-name> -c node -- memsqlctl -y restart-node

Across all Pods

  1. To make the above core dump changes across all pods, add the following subsection to the sdb-cluster.yaml file’s spec section. Refer to the core_file_modeengine variable for more information on partial and full core dumps.

    globalVariables:
    core_file: "ON"
    core_file_mode: "FULL" # or "PARTIAL", depending on your goal
  2. Apply these values to enable core dumps on all pods.

    kubectl apply -f sdb-cluster.yaml

Generate Core Dumps

  1. Display the pods and the nodes they are on. Note that the following output may vary.

    kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=memsql-cluster,app.kubernetes.io/instance=<cluster-name> -o wide
    NAME                               READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP          NODE                                   NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
    node-memsql-cluster-aggregator-0   2/2     Running   0          4h13m   10.4.0.20   gke-foo-1-default-pool-ed7b330b-2q1r   <none>           <none>
    node-memsql-cluster-leaf-ag1-0     2/2     Running   0          4h13m   10.4.3.10   gke-foo-1-default-pool-ed7b330b-w12w   <none>           <none>
    node-memsql-cluster-leaf-ag2-0     2/2     Running   0          4h13m   10.4.1.8    gke-foo-1-default-pool-ed7b330b-64r5   <none>           <none>
    node-memsql-cluster-master-0       2/2     Running   0          4h13m   10.4.4.24   gke-foo-1-default-pool-ed7b330b-klnz   <none>           <none>

Using an SSH Connection

Note: These steps affect all core dump generation for processes on the nodes, not just SingleStore containers on the nodes.

  1. For each node that contains the pods you want to generate a core dump for, SSH into the node and run the following command.

    echo "core.%d" > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern

Using a DaemonSet

Note: These steps affect all core dump generation for processes on the nodes, not just SingleStore containers on the nodes.

  1. Create a sdb-coredump.yaml file using the following template.

    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: DaemonSet
    metadata:
    name: singlestore-sysreq
    labels:
    "app.kubernetes.io/name": "singlestore-sysreq"
    spec:
    selector:
    matchLabels:
    "app.kubernetes.io/name": "singlestore-sysreq"
    updateStrategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
    template:
    metadata:
    labels:
    "app.kubernetes.io/name": "singlestore-sysreq"
    spec:
    hostPID: true
    volumes:
    - name: sys
    hostPath:
    path: /sys
    affinity:
    podAffinity:
    requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
    - labelSelector:
    matchLabels:
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: CLUSTER_NAME
    app.kubernetes.io/name: memsql-cluster
    #Add this line if you only want to generate core for Master Aggregator
    #app.kubernetes.io/component: master
    #change master to aggregator or leaf if you only want to generate core
    #for child aggregator or for leaf
    #Add this line if you only want to generate core for one particular pod,
    #substitute POD_NAME with the name of the pod
    #statefulset.kubernetes.io/pod-name: POD_NAME
    topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
    initContainers:
    - name: sysreq
    image: busybox
    securityContext:
    privileged: true
    volumeMounts:
    - name: sys
    mountPath: /rootfs/sys
    command:
    - "/bin/sh"
    - "-c"
    - |
    echo “core.%d” > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
    containers:
    - name: pause
    image: gcr.io/google_containers/pause
  2. Edit the following placeholders in this file:

    • Change CLUSTER_NAME to the SingleStore cluster name.

    • To generate the core dump in a specific pod, change POD_NAME to the desired pod.

  3. Enable the core dump(s) at the Kubernetes host level. Note that you must have cluster admin privileges to run this command.

    kubectl apply -f sdb-coredump.yaml

Core Dump Location

Given the above configuration, and should the SingleStore server crash, a core dump will be written to /var/lib/memsql/instance/data/core.memsqld in the restarted pod.

Last modified: November 21, 2022

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