The breakpad project is an open-source framework for crash
reporting. Impala can use breakpad to record stack
information and register values when any of the Impala-related daemons crash
due to an error such as SIGSEGV or unhandled exceptions.
The dump files are much smaller than traditional core dump files. The dump
mechanism itself uses very little memory, which improves reliability if the
crash occurs while the system is low on memory.
Using the Minidump Files for Problem Resolution
You can see in the Impala log files or in the Cloudera Manager charts
for Impala when crash events occur that generate minidump files. Because
each restart begins a new log file, the crashed message is always
at or near the bottom of the log file. (There might be another later
message if core dumps are also enabled.)
Typically, you provide minidump files to Cloudera Support as part of
problem resolution, in the same way that you might provide a core dump.
The Send Diagnostic Data under the
Support menu in Cloudera Manager guides you
through the process of selecting a time period and volume of diagnostic
data, then collects the data from all hosts and transmits the relevant
information for you.
In Cloudera Manager, navigate to Impala
service > Configuration.
In the search field, type
minidump.
Set the following fields to configure breakpad minidumps.
minidump_path: Turn on or off generation
of the minidump files.
By default, a minidump file is generated
when an Impala-related daemon crashes.
minidump_path: Specify the Location for
minidump files.
By default, all minidump files are written to
the following location on the host where a crash occurs:
/var/log/impala-minidumps/daemon_name
The
minidump files for impalad,
catalogd, and
statestored are each written to a separate
directory.
If you specify a relative path for this
setting, the value is interpreted relative to the default
minidump_path directory.
max_minidumps: Specify the number of
minidump files.
Like any files used for logging or
troubleshooting, consider limiting the number of minidump files,
or removing unneeded ones, depending on the amount of free
storage space on the hosts in the cluster.
Because the
minidump files are only used for problem resolution, you can
remove any such files that are not needed to debug current
issues.
The default for this setting is 9. A zero or
negative value is interpreted as unlimited.
Click Save Changes and restart
Impala.
To provide minidump files to Cloudera Support as part of
problem resolution, in Cloudera Manager, navigate to
Support > Send
Diagnostic Data and follow the
steps.
