What should an administrator examine first when investigating an unexpected ONTAP system panic?

When investigating an unexpected ONTAP system panic, a support engineer must first examine the panic message and the associated system logs, such as the Event Management System (EMS) logs and core dump files. The panic message provides the immediate halt reason, the specific panic string, and the stack trace at the time of the crash, which are critical for identifying the root cause, whether it be a hardware failure, software bug, or resource exhaustion. Analyzing these logs allows the administrator to determine if a core file was successfully generated and saved to the root volume. This initial triage provides the necessary context and diagnostic data required to engage NetApp Support for advanced root cause analysis and to prevent future system outages.

A. DNS cache: While DNS issues can cause name resolution failures, they do not typically cause a system panic or provide crash diagnostics.

B. NFS export policy: Export policies control client access to NAS volumes; misconfigurations cause access denials, not system panics.

D. Snapshot schedule: Snapshot schedules manage local data protection; they are unrelated to diagnosing the root cause of a system panic.

1. NetApp Knowledge Base. "How to troubleshoot a system panic in ONTAP". KB ID: 1032855, Section: Initial Triage.

2. NetApp ONTAP 9 Documentation Center. "System Administration Reference", Section: Managing EMS and System Logs.