# Creating core files

## Purpose:

When `syslog-ng` crashes for some reason, it can create a core file that contains important troubleshooting information. To enable core files, complete the following procedure:

## Steps:

  1. Core files are produced only if the `maximum core file size` ulimit is set to a high value in the init script of `syslog-ng`. Add the following line to the init script of `syslog-ng`:
```
 ulimit -c unlimited
         
```

  2. Verify that `syslog-ng` has permissions to write the directory it is started from, for example, `/opt/syslog-ng/sbin/`.

  3. If `syslog-ng` crashes, it will create a core file in the directory `syslog-ng` was started from.

  4. To test that `syslog-ng` can create a core file, you can create a crash manually. For this, determine the PID of `syslog-ng` (for example, using the `ps -All|grep syslog-ng` command), then issue the following command: `kill -ABRT <syslog-ng pid>`

This should create a core file in the current working directory.




Last modified July 2, 2023: [Change highlight mode of code examples (2f8a959)](<https://github.com/axoflow/axosyslog-core-docs/commit/2f8a95937c6498193e7168ce8b0dc831e9f0f8ad>)