How to collect a System Dump from a B&R controller

[rafael.laury]

There is a feature available on most B&R controllers called the System Dump which collects a lot of system data (including the log file) into one .tar.gz archive file. The System Dump is available starting with AR V3.08, and it can be downloaded from the System Diagnostics Manager (SDM), assuming it has been enabled (see the below section on general information about the SDM).

The System Dump is a very useful diagnostic tool as it allows technicians to download the logs directly from the PLC over an Ethernet connection (no AS project required) and send it to their team or a B&R support engineer for analysis and troubleshooting.

How to collect the System Dump

Here are the steps to access the SDM and get the System Dump:

1. Identify the IP address of the PLC. If you don’t already know this information, contact the OEM or see Determining a PLC's IP Address using Wireshark .

2. Set the IP address of the Ethernet port on your laptop to be unique and on the same subnet as the PLC. For example:

   
   To check and/or change the IP address of the Ethernet port on your laptop, refer to the following article from Microsoft: Essential Network Settings and Tasks in Windows - Microsoft Support
   For example, in Windows 10:

   

3. Open a web browser (e.g. Google Chrome) and type the IP address of the PLC /sdm. For example ifthe IP address of the PLC is 192.168.1.15, then you would navigate in a browser to:
   192.168.1.15/sdm

   1. If you are unable to access the SDM in this step, try connecting instead over HTTPS by using the URL (using the above example IP address): https://192.168.1.15/sdm
   2. If you are still not able to access the SDM, then that either means that your Automation Runtime version is too or the SDM has been disabled on your PLC . In this case, obtain the log using one of the other methods described in this Community post: Service Mode - What is it and how to collect diagnostics

4. Click the System Dump icon in the middle:

   

5. Choose “Parameters + Data-Files” and click OK

   

6. Click OK on the subsequent pop-up.

   

7. Click “Upload from target”.

   

8. Send the resulting .tar.gz file to your local B&R Support Team.

Additional Notes

Note 1: If your PLC is running a version of Automation Runtime greater than or equal to V3.0 but less than V3.8, then you can access the System Diagnostics Manager but the System Dump will not be available. In this case, select the Logger tab and then click the “Upload from target” button to upload the arlogsys log file separately.

Note 2: There are a few potential issues to be aware of if you are using Google Chrome:

• You may need to select “Keep” after downloading the System Dump, otherwise it will not be properly saved.
  
  
• If you copy the System Dump into an email or another folder too early, it may not have finished downloading to your computer. It will likely have a strange name, such as “Unconfirmed 522200.crdownload”, and it will not contain any of the necessary data for troubleshooting.
• → Therefore, make sure that after you upload the System Dump from the PLC, you select “Keep” if that shows up, you let it finish downloading completely, and you confirm that it is showing up in your Downloads folder as “BuR_SDM_Sysdump_2026-03-13_18-46-07.tar.gz”.

Note 3: If you are wondering how to open a System Dump, there are two main ways to do this:

• You can use the “SystemDumpViewer”, a third-party tool that visualizes the data in a System Dump in a similar format to how you would see it in the SDM. This is useful to get a high-level understanding of the PLC and other modules and hardware being used, as well as software versions. Please see this Community post for a guide on how to use the System Dump Viewer: How to open and view a SystemDump?

• Additionally, you can open the log files within a System Dump from the Automation Studio Logger. This can be helpful to dig deeper into the log files using the Logger interface, to filter for specific errors, and to only view logs from certain modules. It also enables the “F1” quick Help lookup on any error message. To open the System Dump in Automation Studio Logger, do the following:

  • Open Automation Studio, and open the Logger with Open > Logger.

  • Select the “Load Data” icon at the top left corner of the Logger window, or right-click in the “Modules” area and select “Load Data”.

    

  • Select your System Dump (e.g. BuR_SDM_Sysdump_2026-03-13_18-51-28.tar.gz) and then hit “Open”.

    

  • You should see the log files popular, with all the available modules listed on the left.

    

  • Important: your AS version must match the AR major version that the PLC is running, e.g. if the System Dump was collected from a PLC running AR B4.93, you must use AS 4.12. If the PLC was running AR 6.5.1, you must use AS 6.x to open it. Otherwise, the logs will not populate properly.

For more information on the System Dump, please see the following Help page: B&R Online Help

Important Information regarding the SDM

The System Diagnostics Manager (SDM) is an integrated web server which contains a plethora of diagnostic information about the PLC, including the System Dump as described above.

Starting in AS 6.0, the SDM is disabled by default, therefore if you are unable to access it, you may have to simply enable it in the PLC configuration under “System diagnostics”:

Furthermore, in AS 6.0 and above, the PLC’s Web Server is configured by default to use HTTPS (port 443). This means that you need to use “https://<IP_ADDRESS>/sdm” to connect instead, as stated in Step 3 of the process above. If you instead would like to use HTTP similar to how it was in AS 4.12, you can change this in the PLC configuration under “Web Server”:

For more information on the SDM, please see the following Help page: B&R Online Help

(This guide was pulled for the most part from this previous Community post: Service Mode - What is it and how to collect diagnostics )