Linux Kernel Debugging: Analyzing Spiking Threads with Crash Utility

When a Linux system suffers from sudden CPU spikes, identifying the culprit within the kernel space is critical for restoring system stability. This course guides you through the process of diagnosing performance anomalies using the powerful crash utility. You will transition from troubleshooting blindly to methodically analyzing system core dumps, inspecting CPU states, and tracing kernel thread execution. By the end of this course, you will be able to pinpoint resource-hogging kernel operations and understand their root causes. What you'll learn: - Understand foundational kernel concepts and the role of kernel threads in system resource consumption. - Configure and navigate the Linux crash utility to inspect active system states and core dumps. - Analyze CPU consumption metrics and identify specific spiking threads within the kernel. - Extract and interpret kernel stack traces to locate the exact functions causing CPU saturation. - Apply modern observability concepts, including eBPF-based diagnostics, to cross-reference offline dump analysis with live system behavior. The course begins with essential terminology and the fundamentals of kernel execution before guiding you step-by-step through dump analysis, stack tracing, and modern monitoring workflows. Through clear written explanations and practical command-line examples, you will master the art of kernel-level troubleshooting. This course is designed for system administrators, support engineers, and developers new to kernel-level debugging, requiring no prior experience with core dump analysis. Start reading today to unlock deeper insights into Linux kernel performance and system diagnostics.