Systems and methods of performing lightweight fault monitoring and analysis are described. In certain embodiments, the lightweight fault monitoring and analysis system and method include a crash dump component operable to generate a lightweight core file for a machine without generating a complete core file. The lightweight core file is smaller in size than a complete core file and contains information relevant for fault monitoring and analysis. The lightweight core has a data structure portion reflecting the state of only a portion of actual working memory at the time of a problem. The lightweight core file contains both regions in memory specific to the problem encountered and some standard regions.