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Chapter 42. Installing and configuring kdump

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42.1. Installing kdump

The kdump service is installed and activated by default on the new Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations. Learn about kdump and how to install kdump when it is not enabled by default.

42.1.1. What is kdump

kdump is a service which provides a crash dumping mechanism. The service enables you to save the contents of the system memory for analysis. kdump uses the kexec system call to boot into the second kernel (a capture kernel) without rebooting; and then captures the contents of the crashed kernel’s memory (a crash dump or a vmcore) and saves it into a file. The second kernel resides in a reserved part of the system memory.

Important

A kernel crash dump can be the only information available in the event of a system failure (a critical bug). Therefore, operational kdump is important in mission-critical environments. Red Hat advise that system administrators regularly update and test kexec-tools in your normal kernel update cycle. This is especially important when new kernel features are implemented.

You can enable kdump for all installed kernels on a machine or only for specified kernels. This is useful when there are multiple kernels used on a machine, some of which are stable enough that there is no concern that they could crash.

When kdump is installed, a default /etc/kdump.conf file is created. The file includes the default minimum kdump configuration. You can edit this file to customize the kdump configuration, but it is not required.

42.1.2. Installing kdump using Anaconda

The Anaconda installer provides a graphical interface screen for kdump configuration during an interactive installation. The installer screen is titled as KDUMP and is available from the main Installation Summary screen. You can enable kdump and reserve the required amount of memory.

Procedure

  1. Go to the Kdump field.

  2. Enable kdump if not already enabled.

    Enable kdump during RHEL installation

  3. Define how much memory should be reserved for kdump.

    Kdump Memory Reservation

42.1.3. Installing kdump on the command line

Some installation options, such as custom Kickstart installations, in some cases do not install or enable kdump by default. If this is your case, follow the procedure below.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Check whether kdump is installed on your system: 

    # rpm -q kexec-tools

    Output if the package is installed: 

    kexec-tools-2.0.17-11.el8.x86_64

    Output if the package is not installed: 

    package kexec-tools is not installed

  2. Install kdump and other necessary packages by: 

    # dnf install kexec-tools
Important

Starting with kernel-3.10.0-693.el7 the Intel IOMMU driver is supported with kdump. For prior versions, kernel-3.10.0-514[.XYZ].el7 and earlier, it is advised that Intel IOMMU support is disabled, otherwise the capture kernel is likely to become unresponsive.

42.2. Configuring kdump on the command line

Plan and build your kdump environment.

42.2.1. Estimating the kdump size

When planning and building your kdump environment, it is important to know how much space the crash dump file requires.

The makedumpfile --mem-usage command estimates how much space the crash dump file requires. It generates a memory usage report. The report helps you determine the dump level and which pages are safe to be excluded.

Procedure

  • Execute the following command to generate a memory usage report: 

    # makedumpfile --mem-usage /proc/kcore


TYPE        PAGES    EXCLUDABLE    DESCRIPTION
-------------------------------------------------------------
ZERO          501635      yes        Pages filled with zero
CACHE         51657       yes        Cache pages
CACHE_PRIVATE 5442        yes        Cache pages + private
USER          16301       yes        User process pages
FREE          77738211    yes        Free pages
KERN_DATA     1333192     no         Dumpable kernel data
Important

The makedumpfile --mem-usage command reports required memory in pages. This means that you must calculate the size of memory in use against the kernel page size.

42.2.2. Configuring kdump memory usage

The memory reservation for kdump occurs during the system boot. The memory size is set in the system’s Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) configuration. The memory size depends on the value of the crashkernel= option specified in the configuration file and the size of the system physical memory.

You can define the crashkernel= option in many ways. You can specify the crashkernel= value or configure the auto option. The crashkernel=auto parameter reserves memory automatically, based on the total amount of physical memory in the system. When configured, the kernel automatically reserves an appropriate amount of required memory for the capture kernel. This helps to prevent Out-of-Memory (OOM) errors.

Note

The automatic memory allocation for kdump varies based on system hardware architecture and available memory size.

If the system has less than the minimum memory threshold for automatic allocation, you can configure the amount of reserved memory manually.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Prepare the crashkernel= option.

    • For example, to reserve 128 MB of memory, use the following: 

      crashkernel=128M

    • Alternatively, you can set the amount of reserved memory to a variable depending on the total amount of installed memory. The syntax for memory reservation into a variable is crashkernel=<range1>:<size1>,<range2>:<size2>. For example: 

      crashkernel=512M-2G:64M,2G-:128M

      The command reserves 64 MB of memory if the total amount of system memory is in the range of 512 MB and 2 GB. If the total amount of memory is more than 2 GB, the memory reserve is 128 MB.

    • Offset the reserved memory.

      Some systems require to reserve memory with a certain fixed offset because the crashkernel reservation happens early, and you may need to reserve more memory for special usage. When you define an offset, the reserved memory begins there. To offset the reserved memory, use the following syntax: 

      crashkernel=128M@16M

      In this example, kdump reserves 128 MB of memory starting at 16 MB (physical address 0x01000000). If you set the offset parameter to 0 or omit entirely, kdump offsets the reserved memory automatically. You can also use this syntax when setting a variable memory reservation. In that case, the offset is always specified last. For example: 

      crashkernel=512M-2G:64M,2G-:128M@16M

  2. Apply the crashkernel= option to your boot loader configuration: 

    # grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="crashkernel=<value>"

    Replace <value> with the value of the crashkernel= option that you prepared in the previous step.

Additional resources

42.2.3. Configuring the kdump target

The crash dump is usually stored as a file in a local file system, written directly to a device. Alternatively, you can set up for the crash dump to be sent over a network using the NFS or SSH protocols. Only one of these options to preserve a crash dump file can be set at a time. The default behavior is to store it in the /var/crash/ directory of the local file system.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  • To store the crash dump file in /var/crash/ directory of the local file system, edit the /etc/kdump.conf file and specify the path: 

    path /var/crash

    The option path /var/crash represents the path to the file system in which kdump saves the crash dump file.

    Note
    • When you specify a dump target in the /etc/kdump.conf file, then the path is relative to the specified dump target.
    • When you do not specify a dump target in the /etc/kdump.conf file, then the path represents the absolute path from the root directory.

    Depending on what is mounted in the current system, the dump target and the adjusted dump path are taken automatically.

    Example 42.1. The kdump target configuration

    # grep -v ^# /etc/kdump.conf | grep -v ^$
ext4 /dev/mapper/vg00-varcrashvol
path /var/crash
core_collector makedumpfile -c --message-level 1 -d 31

    Here, the dump target is specified (ext4 /dev/mapper/vg00-varcrashvol), and thus mounted at /var/crash. The path option is also set to /var/crash, so the kdump saves the vmcore file in the /var/crash/var/crash directory.

  • To change the local directory in which the crash dump is to be saved, as root, edit the /etc/kdump.conf configuration file:

    1. Remove the hash sign ("#") from the beginning of the #path /var/crash line.

    2. Replace the value with the intended directory path. For example: 

      path /usr/local/cores
      Important

      In RHEL 8, the directory defined as the kdump target using the path directive must exist when the kdump systemd service is started - otherwise the service fails. This behavior is different from earlier releases of RHEL, where the directory was being created automatically if it did not exist when starting the service.

  • To write the file to a different partition, edit the /etc/kdump.conf configuration file:

    1. Remove the hash sign ("#") from the beginning of the #ext4 line, depending on your choice.

      • device name (the #ext4 /dev/vg/lv_kdump line)
      • file system label (the #ext4 LABEL=/boot line)
      • UUID (the #ext4 UUID=03138356-5e61-4ab3-b58e-27507ac41937 line)

    2. Change the file system type as well as the device name, label or UUID to the desired values. For example: 

      ext4 UUID=03138356-5e61-4ab3-b58e-27507ac41937
      NOTE

      The correct syntax for specifying UUID values is both UUID="correct-uuid" and UUID=correct-uuid.

      Important

      It is recommended to specify storage devices using a LABEL= or UUID=. Disk device names such as /dev/sda3 are not guaranteed to be consistent across reboot.

  • To write the crash dump directly to a device, edit the /etc/kdump.conf configuration file:

    1. Remove the hash sign ("#") from the beginning of the #raw /dev/vg/lv_kdump line.

    2. Replace the value with the intended device name. For example: 

      raw /dev/sdb1

  • To store the crash dump to a remote machine using the NFS protocol:

    1. Remove the hash sign ("#") from the beginning of the #nfs my.server.com:/export/tmp line.

    2. Replace the value with a valid hostname and directory path. For example: 

      nfs penguin.example.com:/export/cores

  • To store the crash dump to a remote machine using the SSH protocol:

    1. Remove the hash sign ("#") from the beginning of the #ssh user@my.server.com line.
    2. Replace the value with a valid username and hostname.

    3. Include your SSH key in the configuration.

      • Remove the hash sign from the beginning of the #sshkey /root/.ssh/kdump_id_rsa line.

      • Change the value to the location of a key valid on the server you are trying to dump to. For example: 

        ssh john@penguin.example.com
sshkey /root/.ssh/mykey

42.2.4. Configuring the kdump core collector

The kdump service uses a core_collector program to capture the crash dump image. In RHEL, the makedumpfile utility is the default core collector. It helps shrink the dump file by:

  • Compressing the size of a crash dump file and copying only necessary pages using various dump levels
  • Excluding unnecessary crash dump pages
  • Filtering the page types to be included in the crash dump.

Syntax

core_collector makedumpfile -l --message-level 1 -d 31

Options

  • -c, -l or -p: specify compress dump file format by each page using either, zlib for -c option, lzo for -l option or snappy for -p option.
  • -d (dump_level): excludes pages so that they are not copied to the dump file.
  • --message-level : specify the message types. You can restrict outputs printed by specifying message_level with this option. For example, specifying 7 as message_level prints common messages and error messages. The maximum value of message_level is 31

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. As root, edit the /etc/kdump.conf configuration file and remove the hash sign ("#") from the beginning of the #core_collector makedumpfile -l --message-level 1 -d 31.
  2. To enable crash dump file compression, execute: 
core_collector makedumpfile -l --message-level 1 -d 31

The -l option specifies the dump compressed file format. The -d option specifies dump level as 31. The --message-level option specifies message level as 1.

Also, consider following examples with the -c and -p options:

  • To compress a crash dump file using -c: 
core_collector makedumpfile -c -d 31 --message-level 1
  • To compress a crash dump file using -p: 
core_collector makedumpfile -p -d 31 --message-level 1

Additional resources

42.2.5. Configuring the kdump default failure responses

By default, when kdump fails to create a crash dump file at the configured target location, the system reboots and the dump is lost in the process. To change this behavior, follow the procedure below.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. As root, remove the hash sign ("#") from the beginning of the #failure_action line in the /etc/kdump.conf configuration file.

  2. Replace the value with a desired action. 

    failure_action poweroff

Additional resources

42.2.6. Testing the kdump configuration

You can test that the crash dump process works and is valid before the machine enters production.

Warning

The commands below cause the kernel to crash. Use caution when following these steps, and never carelessly use them on active production system.

Procedure

  1. Reboot the system with kdump enabled.

  2. Make sure that kdump is running: 

    # systemctl is-active kdump
active

  3. Force the Linux kernel to crash: 

    echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger
    Warning

    The command above crashes the kernel, and a reboot is required.

    Once booted again, the address-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS/vmcore file is created at the location you have specified in the /etc/kdump.conf file (by default to /var/crash/).

    Note

    This action confirms the validity of the configuration. Also it is possible to use this action to record how long it takes for a crash dump to complete with a representative work-load.

Additional resources

42.3. Enabling kdump

By using the procedure, you can enable or disable the kdump service for all installed kernels or for a specific kernel.

42.3.1. Enabling kdump for all installed kernels

You can enable and start the kdump service for all kernels installed on the machine.

Prerequisites

  • Administrator privileges

Procedure

  1. Add the crashkernel=auto command-line parameter to all installed kernels: 

    # grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="crashkernel=auto"

  2. Enable the kdump service. 

    # systemctl enable --now kdump.service

Verification

  • Check that the kdump service is running: 

    # systemctl status kdump.service

○ kdump.service - Crash recovery kernel arming
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/kdump.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (live)

42.3.2. Enabling kdump for a specific installed kernel

You can enable the kdump service for a specific kernel on the machine.

Prerequisites

  • Administrator privileges

Procedure

  1. List the kernels installed on the machine. 

    # ls -a /boot/vmlinuz-*
/boot/vmlinuz-0-rescue-2930657cd0dc43c2b75db480e5e5b4a9 /boot/vmlinuz-4.18.0-330.el8.x86_64 /boot/vmlinuz-4.18.0-330.rt7.111.el8.x86_64

  2. Add a specific kdump kernel to the system’s Grand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) configuration file.

    For example: 

    # grubby --update-kernel=vmlinuz-4.18.0-330.el8.x86_64 --args="crashkernel=auto"

  3. Enable the kdump service. 

    # systemctl enable --now kdump.service

Verification

  • Check that the kdump service is running: 

    # systemctl status kdump.service

○ kdump.service - Crash recovery kernel arming
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/kdump.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (live)

42.3.3. Disabling the kdump service

To disable the kdump service at boot time, follow the procedure below.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. To stop the kdump service in the current session: 

    # systemctl stop kdump.service

  2. To disable the kdump service: 

    # systemctl disable kdump.service
Warning

It is recommended to set kptr_restrict=1. In that case, the kdumpctl service loads the crash kernel regardless of Kernel Address Space Layout (KASLR) being enabled or not.

Troubleshooting step

When kptr_restrict is not set to (1), and if KASLR is enabled, the contents of /proc/kcore file are generated as all zeros. Consequently, the kdumpctl service fails to access the /proc/kcore and load the crash kernel.

To work around this problem, the /usr/share/doc/kexec-tools/kexec-kdump-howto.txt file displays a warning message, which recommends the kptr_restrict=1 setting.

To ensure that kdumpctl service loads the crash kernel, verify that kernel.kptr_restrict = 1 is listed in the sysctl.conf file.

Additional resources

42.4. Configuring kdump in the web console

Setup and test the kdump configuration in the RHEL 8 web console.

The web console is part of a default installation of RHEL 8 and enables or disables the kdump service at boot time. Further, the web console enables you to configure the reserved memory for kdump; or to select the vmcore saving location in an uncompressed or compressed format.

42.4.1. Configuring kdump memory usage and target location in web console

The procedure below shows you how to use the Kernel Dump tab in the RHEL web console interface to configure the amount of memory that is reserved for the kdump kernel. The procedure also describes how to specify the target location of the vmcore dump file and how to test your configuration.

Procedure

  1. Open the Kernel Dump tab and start the kdump service.
  2. Configure the kdump memory usage using the command line.

  3. Click the link next to the Crash dump location option.

    cockpit kdump main screen

  4. Select the Local Filesystem option from the drop-down and specify the directory you want to save the dump in.

    cockpit kdump location

    • Alternatively, select the Remote over SSH option from the drop-down to send the vmcore to a remote machine using the SSH protocol.

      Fill the Server, ssh key, and Directory fields with the remote machine address, ssh key location, and a target directory.

    • Another choice is to select the Remote over NFS option from the drop-down and fill the Mount field to send the vmcore to a remote machine using the NFS protocol.

      Note

      Tick the Compression check box to reduce the size of the vmcore file.

  5. Test your configuration by crashing the kernel.

    cockpit kdump test
    1. Click Test configuration.

    2. In the Test kdump settings field, click Crash system.

      Warning

      This step disrupts execution of the kernel and results in a system crash and loss of data.

Additional resources

42.4.2. Additional resources

42.5. Supported kdump configurations and targets

42.5.1. Memory requirements for kdump

In order for kdump to be able to capture a kernel crash dump and save it for further analysis, a part of the system memory has to be permanently reserved for the capture kernel. When reserved, this part of the system memory is not available to the main kernel.

The memory requirements vary based on certain system parameters. One of the major factors is the system’s hardware architecture. To find out the exact machine architecture (such as Intel 64 and AMD64, also known as x86_64) and print it to standard output, use the following command: 

$ uname -m

The table for Minimum amount of reserved memory required for kdump, includes the minimum memory requirements to automatically reserve a memory size for kdump on the latest available versions. The size changes according to the system’s architecture and total available physical memory.

Table 42.1. Minimum amount of reserved memory required for kdump
ArchitectureAvailable MemoryMinimum Reserved Memory

AMD64 and Intel 64 (x86_64)

1 GB to 4 GB

192 MB of RAM

4 GB to 64 GB

256 MB of RAM

64 GB and more

512 MB of RAM

64-bit ARM architecture (arm64)

2 GB and more

480 MB of RAM

IBM Power Systems (ppc64le)

2 GB to 4 GB

384 MB of RAM

4 GB to 16 GB

512 MB of RAM

16 GB to 64 GB

1 GB of RAM

64 GB to 128 GB

2 GB of RAM

128 GB and more

4 GB of RAM

IBM Z (s390x)

1 GB to 4 GB

192 MB of RAM

4 GB to 64 GB

256 MB of RAM

64 GB and more

512 MB of RAM

On many systems, kdump is able to estimate the amount of required memory and reserve it automatically. This behavior is enabled by default, but only works on systems that have more than a certain amount of total available memory, which varies based on the system architecture.

Important

The automatic configuration of reserved memory based on the total amount of memory in the system is a best effort estimation. The actual required memory may vary due to other factors such as I/O devices. Using not enough of memory might cause that a debug kernel is not able to boot as a capture kernel in case of a kernel panic. To avoid this problem, sufficiently increase the crash kernel memory.

Additional resources

42.5.2. Minimum threshold for automatic memory reservation

On some systems, it is possible to allocate memory for kdump automatically, either by using the crashkernel=auto parameter in the boot loader configuration file, or by enabling this option in the graphical configuration utility. For this automatic reservation to work, however, a certain amount of total memory needs to be available in the system. The amount differs based on the system’s architecture.

The table below lists the threshold values for automatic memory allocation. If the system has memory less than the specified threshold value, you must configure the memory manually.

Table 42.2. Minimum Amount of Memory Required for Automatic Memory Reservation
ArchitectureRequired Memory

AMD64 and Intel 64 (x86_64)

2 GB

IBM Power Systems (ppc64le)

2 GB

IBM  Z (s390x)

4 GB

42.5.3. Supported kdump targets

When a kernel crash is captured, the vmcore dump file can be either written directly to a device, stored as a file on a local file system, or sent over a network. The table below contains a complete list of dump targets that are currently supported or explicitly unsupported by kdump.

TypeSupported TargetsUnsupported Targets

Raw device

All locally attached raw disks and partitions.

 

Local file system

ext2, ext3, ext4, and xfs file systems on directly attached disk drives, hardware RAID logical drives, LVM devices, and mdraid arrays.

Any local file system not explicitly listed as supported in this table, including the auto type (automatic file system detection).

Remote directory

Remote directories accessed using the NFS or SSH protocol over IPv4.

Remote directories on the rootfs file system accessed using the NFS protocol.

Remote directories accessed using the iSCSI protocol over both hardware and software initiators.

Remote directories accessed using the iSCSI protocol on be2iscsi hardware.

Multipath-based storages.

 

Remote directories accessed over IPv6.

 

Remote directories accessed using the SMB or CIFS protocol.

 

Remote directories accessed using the FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) protocol.

 

Remote directories accessed using wireless network interfaces.

Important

Utilizing firmware assisted dump (fadump) to capture a vmcore and store it to a remote machine using SSH or NFS protocol causes renaming of the network interface to kdump-<interface-name>. The renaming happens if the <interface-name> is generic, for example *eth#, net#, and so on. This problem occurs because the vmcore capture scripts in the initial RAM disk (initrd) add the kdump- prefix to the network interface name to secure persistent naming. Since the same initrd is used also for a regular boot, the interface name is changed for the production kernel too.

Additional resources

42.5.4. Supported kdump filtering levels

To reduce the size of the dump file, kdump uses the makedumpfile core collector to compress the data and optionally to omit unwanted information. The table below contains a complete list of filtering levels that are currently supported by the makedumpfile utility.

OptionDescription

1

Zero pages

2

Cache pages

4

Cache private

8

User pages

16

Free pages

Note

The makedumpfile command supports removal of transparent huge pages and hugetlbfs pages. Consider both these types of hugepages User Pages and remove them using the -8 level.

Additional resources

42.5.5. Supported default failure responses

By default, when kdump fails to create a core dump, the operating system reboots. You can, however, configure kdump to perform a different operation in case it fails to save the core dump to the primary target. The table below lists all default actions that are currently supported.

OptionDescription

dump_to_rootfs

Attempt to save the core dump to the root file system. This option is especially useful in combination with a network target: if the network target is unreachable, this option configures kdump to save the core dump locally. The system is rebooted afterwards.

reboot

Reboot the system, losing the core dump in the process.

halt

Halt the system, losing the core dump in the process.

poweroff

Power off the system, losing the core dump in the process.

shell

Run a shell session from within the initramfs, allowing the user to record the core dump manually.

final_action

Enable additional operations such as reboot, halt, and poweroff actions after a successful kdump or when shell or dump_to_rootfs failure action completes. The default final_action option is reboot.

Additional resources

42.5.6. Using final_action parameter

The final_action parameter enables you to use certain additional operations such as reboot, halt, and poweroff actions after a successful kdump or when an invoked failure_response mechanism using shell or dump_to_rootfs completes. If the final_action option is not specified, it defaults to reboot.

Procedure

  1. Edit the `/etc/kdump.conf file and add the final_action parameter. 

    final_action <reboot | halt | poweroff>

  2. Restart the kdump service: 

    kdumpctl restart

42.6. Testing the kdump configuration

You can test that the crash dump process works and is valid before the machine enters production.

Warning

The commands below cause the kernel to crash. Use caution when following these steps, and never carelessly use them on active production system.

Procedure

  1. Reboot the system with kdump enabled.

  2. Make sure that kdump is running: 

    # systemctl is-active kdump
active

  3. Force the Linux kernel to crash: 

    echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq
echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger
    Warning

    The command above crashes the kernel, and a reboot is required.

    Once booted again, the address-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS/vmcore file is created at the location you have specified in the /etc/kdump.conf file (by default to /var/crash/).

    Note

    This action confirms the validity of the configuration. Also it is possible to use this action to record how long it takes for a crash dump to complete with a representative work-load.

Additional resources

42.7. Using kexec to boot into a different kernel

The kexec system call enables loading and booting into another kernel from the currently running kernel, thus performing a function of a boot loader from within the kernel.

The kexec utility loads the kernel and the initramfs image for the kexec system call to boot into another kernel.

The following procedure describes how to manually invoke the kexec system call when using the kexec utility to reboot into another kernel.

Procedure

  1. Execute the kexec utility: 

    # kexec -l /boot/vmlinuz-3.10.0-1040.el7.x86_64 --initrd=/boot/initramfs-3.10.0-1040.el7.x86_64.img --reuse-cmdline

    The command manually loads the kernel and the initramfs image for the kexec system call.

  2. Reboot the system: 

    # reboot

    The command detects the kernel, shuts down all services and then calls the kexec system call to reboot into the kernel you provided in the previous step.

Warning

When you use the kexec -e command to reboot your machine into a different kernel, the system does not go through the standard shutdown sequence before starting the next kernel. This can cause data loss or an unresponsive system.

42.8. Preventing kernel drivers from loading for kdump

You can control the capture kernel from loading certain kernel drivers by adding the KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND= variable in the /etc/sysconfig/kdump configuration file. By using this method, you can prevent the kdump initial RAM disk image initramfs from loading the specified kernel module. This helps to prevent the out-of-memory (oom) killer errors or other crash kernel failures.

You can append the KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND= variable using one of the following configuration options:

  • rd.driver.blacklist=<modules>
  • modprobe.blacklist=<modules>

Procedure

  1. Select a kernel module that you intend to block from loading. 

    $ lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
fuse                  126976  3
xt_CHECKSUM            16384  1
ipt_MASQUERADE         16384  1
uinput                 20480  1
xt_conntrack           16384  1

    The lsmod command displays a list of modules that are loaded to the currently running kernel.

  2. Update the KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND= variable in the /etc/sysconfig/kdump file. 

    # KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND="rd.driver.blacklist=hv_vmbus,hv_storvsc,hv_utils,hv_netvsc,hid-hyperv"

    Also,consider the following example using the modprobe.blacklist=<modules> configuration option. 

    # KDUMP_COMMANDLINE_APPEND="modprobe.blacklist=emcp modprobe.blacklist=bnx2fc modprobe.blacklist=libfcoe modprobe.blacklist=fcoe"

  3. Restart the kdump service. 

    # systemctl restart kdump

Additional resources

  • dracut.cmdline man page

42.9. Running kdump on systems with encrypted disk

When you run a LUKS encrypted partition, systems require certain amount of available memory. If the system has less than the required amount of available memory, the cryptsetup utility fails to mount the partition. As a result, capturing the vmcore file to an encrypted target location fails in the second kernel (capture kernel).

The kdumpctl estimate command helps you estimate the amount of memory you need for kdump. kdumpctl estimate prints the recommended crashkernel value, which is the most suitable memory size required for kdump.

The recommended crashkernel value is calculated based on the current kernel size, kernel module, initramfs, and the LUKS encrypted target memory requirement.

In case you are using the custom crashkernel= option, kdumpctl estimate prints the LUKS required size value. The value is the memory size required for LUKS encrypted target.

Procedure

  1. Print the estimate crashkernel= value: 

    # kdumpctl estimate

Encrypted kdump target requires extra memory, assuming using the keyslot with minimum memory requirement
   Reserved crashkernel:    256M
   Recommended crashkernel: 652M

   Kernel image size:   47M
   Kernel modules size: 8M
   Initramfs size:      20M
   Runtime reservation: 64M
   LUKS required size:  512M
   Large modules: <none>
   WARNING: Current crashkernel size is lower than recommended size 652M.
  2. Configure the amount of required memory by increasing crashkernel= to the desired value.
  3. Reboot the system.
Note

If the kdump service still fails to save the dump file to the encrypted target, increase the crashkernel= value as required.

42.10. Firmware assisted dump mechanisms

Firmware assisted dump (fadump) is a dump capturing mechanism, provided as an alternative to the kdump mechanism on IBM POWER systems. The kexec and kdump mechanisms are useful for capturing core dumps on AMD64 and Intel 64 systems. However, some hardware such as mini systems and mainframe computers, leverage the onboard firmware to isolate regions of memory and prevent any accidental overwriting of data that is important to the crash analysis. The fadump utility, is optimized for the fadump mechanisms and their integration with RHEL on IBM POWER systems.

42.10.1. Firmware assisted dump on IBM PowerPC hardware

The fadump utility captures the vmcore file from a fully-reset system with PCI and I/O devices. This mechanism uses firmware to preserve memory regions during a crash and then reuses the kdump userspace scripts to save the vmcore file. The memory regions consist of all system memory contents, except the boot memory, system registers, and hardware Page Table Entries (PTEs).

The fadump mechanism offers improved reliability over the traditional dump type, by rebooting the partition and using a new kernel to dump the data from the previous kernel crash. The fadump requires an IBM POWER6 processor-based or later version hardware platform.

For further details about the fadump mechanism, including PowerPC specific methods of resetting hardware, see the /usr/share/doc/kexec-tools/fadump-howto.txt file.

Note

The area of memory that is not preserved, known as boot memory, is the amount of RAM required to successfully boot the kernel after a crash event. By default, the boot memory size is 256MB or 5% of total system RAM, whichever is larger.

Unlike kexec-initiated event, the fadump mechanism uses the production kernel to recover a crash dump. When booting after a crash, PowerPC hardware makes the device node /proc/device-tree/rtas/ibm.kernel-dump available to the proc filesystem (procfs). The fadump-aware kdump scripts, check for the stored vmcore, and then complete the system reboot cleanly.

42.10.2. Enabling firmware assisted dump mechanism

You can enhance the crash dumping capabilities of IBM POWER systems by enabling the firmware assisted dump (fadump) mechanism.

In the Secure Boot environment, the GRUB2 boot loader allocates a boot memory region, known as the Real Mode Area (RMA). The RMA has a size of 512 MB, which is divided among the boot components and, if a component exceeds its size allocation, GRUB2 fails with an out-of-memory (OOM) error.

Warning

Do not enable firmware assisted dump (fadump) mechanism in the Secure Boot environment on RHEL 8.7 and 8.6 versions. The GRUB2 boot loader fails with the following error: 

error: ../../grub-core/kern/mm.c:376:out of memory.
Press any key to continue…

The system is recoverable only if you increase the default initramfs size due to the fadump configuration.

For information about workaround methods to recover the system, see the System boot ends in GRUB Out of Memory (OOM) article.

Procedure

  1. Install and configure kdump.

  2. Enable the fadump=on kernel option: 

    # grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="fadump=on"

  3. (Optional) If you want to specify reserved boot memory instead of using the defaults, enable the crashkernel=xxM option, where xx is the amount of the memory required in megabytes: 

    # grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="crashkernel=xxM fadump=on"
    Important

    When specifying boot configuration options, test all boot configuration options before you execute them. If the kdump kernel fails to boot, increase the value specified in crashkernel= argument gradually to set an appropriate value.

42.10.3. Firmware assisted dump mechanisms on IBM Z hardware

IBM Z systems support the following firmware assisted dump mechanisms:

  • Stand-alone dump (sadump)
  • VMDUMP

The kdump infrastructure is supported and utilized on IBM Z systems. However, using one of the firmware assisted dump (fadump) methods for IBM Z can provide various benefits:

  • The sadump mechanism is initiated and controlled from the system console, and is stored on an IPL bootable device.
  • The VMDUMP mechanism is similar to sadump. This tool is also initiated from the system console, but retrieves the resulting dump from hardware and copies it to the system for analysis.
  • These methods (similarly to other hardware based dump mechanisms) have the ability to capture the state of a machine in the early boot phase, before the kdump service starts.
  • Although VMDUMP contains a mechanism to receive the dump file into a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, the configuration and control of VMDUMP is managed from the IBM Z Hardware console.

IBM discusses sadump in detail in the Stand-alone dump program article and VMDUMP in Creating dumps on z/VM with VMDUMP article.

IBM also has a documentation set for using the dump tools on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 in the Using the Dump Tools on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 article.

Additional resources

42.10.4. Using sadump on Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST systems

The Fujitsu sadump mechanism is designed to provide a fallback dump capture in an event when kdump is unable to complete successfully. The sadump mechanism is invoked manually from the system Management Board (MMB) interface. Using MMB, configure kdump like for an Intel 64 or AMD 64 server and then perform the following additional steps to enable sadump.

Procedure

  1. Add or edit the following lines in the /etc/sysctl.conf file to ensure that kdump starts as expected for sadump: 

    kernel.panic=0
kernel.unknown_nmi_panic=1
    Warning

    In particular, ensure that after kdump, the system does not reboot. If the system reboots after kdump has fails to save the vmcore file, then it is not possible to invoke the sadump.

  2. Set the failure_action parameter in /etc/kdump.conf appropriately as halt or shell. 

    failure_action shell

Additional resources

  • The FUJITSU Server PRIMEQUEST 2000 Series Installation Manual

42.11. Analyzing a core dump

To determine the cause of the system crash, you can use the crash utility, which provides an interactive prompt very similar to the GNU Debugger (GDB). This utility allows you to interactively analyze a core dump created by kdump, netdump, diskdump or xendump as well as a running Linux system. Alternatively, you have the option to use Kernel Oops Analyzer or the Kdump Helper tool.

42.11.1. Installing the crash utility

Install the crash tool to obtain the core analysis suite.

Procedure

  1. Enable the relevant repositories: 

    # subscription-manager repos --enable baseos repository
    # subscription-manager repos --enable appstream repository
    # subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-debug-rpms

  2. Install the crash package: 

    # yum install crash

  3. Install the kernel-debuginfo package: 

    # yum install kernel-debuginfo

    The package corresponds to your running kernel and provides the data necessary for the dump analysis.

Additional resources

42.11.2. Running and exiting the crash utility

Start the crash utility for analyzing the cause of the system crash.

Prerequisites

  • Identify the currently running kernel (for example 4.18.0-5.el8.x86_64).

Procedure

  1. To start the crash utility, two necessary parameters need to be passed to the command:

    • The debug-info (a decompressed vmlinuz image), for example /usr/lib/debug/lib/modules/4.18.0-5.el8.x86_64/vmlinux provided through a specific kernel-debuginfo package.

    • The actual vmcore file, for example /var/crash/127.0.0.1-2018-10-06-14:05:33/vmcore

      The resulting crash command then looks like this: 

      # crash /usr/lib/debug/lib/modules/4.18.0-5.el8.x86_64/vmlinux /var/crash/127.0.0.1-2018-10-06-14:05:33/vmcore

      Use the same <kernel> version that was captured by kdump.

      Example 42.2. Running the crash utility

      The following example shows analyzing a core dump created on October 6 2018 at 14:05 PM, using the 4.18.0-5.el8.x86_64 kernel. 

      ...
WARNING: kernel relocated [202MB]: patching 90160 gdb minimal_symbol values

      KERNEL: /usr/lib/debug/lib/modules/4.18.0-5.el8.x86_64/vmlinux
    DUMPFILE: /var/crash/127.0.0.1-2018-10-06-14:05:33/vmcore  [PARTIAL DUMP]
        CPUS: 2
        DATE: Sat Oct  6 14:05:16 2018
      UPTIME: 01:03:57
LOAD AVERAGE: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
       TASKS: 586
    NODENAME: localhost.localdomain
     RELEASE: 4.18.0-5.el8.x86_64
     VERSION: #1 SMP Wed Aug 29 11:51:55 UTC 2018
     MACHINE: x86_64  (2904 Mhz)
      MEMORY: 2.9 GB
       PANIC: "sysrq: SysRq : Trigger a crash"
         PID: 10635
     COMMAND: "bash"
        TASK: ffff8d6c84271800  [THREAD_INFO: ffff8d6c84271800]
         CPU: 1
       STATE: TASK_RUNNING (SYSRQ)

crash>

  2. To exit the interactive prompt and terminate crash, type exit or q.

    Example 42.3. Exiting the crash utility

    crash> exit
~]#
Note

The crash command can also be used as a powerful tool for debugging a live system. However use it with caution so as not to break your system.

Additional resources

42.11.3. Displaying various indicators in the crash utility

Use the crash utility to display various indicators, such as a kernel message buffer, a backtrace, a process status, virtual memory information and open files.

Displaying the message buffer
  • To display the kernel message buffer, type the log command at the interactive prompt as displayed in the example below: 
crash> log
... several lines omitted ...
EIP: 0060:[<c068124f>] EFLAGS: 00010096 CPU: 2
EIP is at sysrq_handle_crash+0xf/0x20
EAX: 00000063 EBX: 00000063 ECX: c09e1c8c EDX: 00000000
ESI: c0a09ca0 EDI: 00000286 EBP: 00000000 ESP: ef4dbf24
 DS: 007b ES: 007b FS: 00d8 GS: 00e0 SS: 0068
Process bash (pid: 5591, ti=ef4da000 task=f196d560 task.ti=ef4da000)
Stack:
 c068146b c0960891 c0968653 00000003 00000000 00000002 efade5c0 c06814d0
<0> fffffffb c068150f b7776000 f2600c40 c0569ec4 ef4dbf9c 00000002 b7776000
<0> efade5c0 00000002 b7776000 c0569e60 c051de50 ef4dbf9c f196d560 ef4dbfb4
Call Trace:
 [<c068146b>] ? __handle_sysrq+0xfb/0x160
 [<c06814d0>] ? write_sysrq_trigger+0x0/0x50
 [<c068150f>] ? write_sysrq_trigger+0x3f/0x50
 [<c0569ec4>] ? proc_reg_write+0x64/0xa0
 [<c0569e60>] ? proc_reg_write+0x0/0xa0
 [<c051de50>] ? vfs_write+0xa0/0x190
 [<c051e8d1>] ? sys_write+0x41/0x70
 [<c0409adc>] ? syscall_call+0x7/0xb
Code: a0 c0 01 0f b6 41 03 19 d2 f7 d2 83 e2 03 83 e0 cf c1 e2 04 09 d0 88 41 03 f3 c3 90 c7 05 c8 1b 9e c0 01 00 00 00 0f ae f8 89 f6 <c6> 05 00 00 00 00 01 c3 89 f6 8d bc 27 00 00 00 00 8d 50 d0 83
EIP: [<c068124f>] sysrq_handle_crash+0xf/0x20 SS:ESP 0068:ef4dbf24
CR2: 0000000000000000

Type help log for more information on the command usage.

Note

The kernel message buffer includes the most essential information about the system crash and, as such, it is always dumped first in to the vmcore-dmesg.txt file. This is useful when an attempt to get the full vmcore file failed, for example because of lack of space on the target location. By default, vmcore-dmesg.txt is located in the /var/crash/ directory.

Displaying a backtrace
  • To display the kernel stack trace, use the bt command. 
crash> bt
PID: 5591   TASK: f196d560  CPU: 2   COMMAND: "bash"
 #0 [ef4dbdcc] crash_kexec at c0494922
 #1 [ef4dbe20] oops_end at c080e402
 #2 [ef4dbe34] no_context at c043089d
 #3 [ef4dbe58] bad_area at c0430b26
 #4 [ef4dbe6c] do_page_fault at c080fb9b
 #5 [ef4dbee4] error_code (via page_fault) at c080d809
    EAX: 00000063  EBX: 00000063  ECX: c09e1c8c  EDX: 00000000  EBP: 00000000
    DS:  007b      ESI: c0a09ca0  ES:  007b      EDI: 00000286  GS:  00e0
    CS:  0060      EIP: c068124f  ERR: ffffffff  EFLAGS: 00010096
 #6 [ef4dbf18] sysrq_handle_crash at c068124f
 #7 [ef4dbf24] __handle_sysrq at c0681469
 #8 [ef4dbf48] write_sysrq_trigger at c068150a
 #9 [ef4dbf54] proc_reg_write at c0569ec2
#10 [ef4dbf74] vfs_write at c051de4e
#11 [ef4dbf94] sys_write at c051e8cc
#12 [ef4dbfb0] system_call at c0409ad5
    EAX: ffffffda  EBX: 00000001  ECX: b7776000  EDX: 00000002
    DS:  007b      ESI: 00000002  ES:  007b      EDI: b7776000
    SS:  007b      ESP: bfcb2088  EBP: bfcb20b4  GS:  0033
    CS:  0073      EIP: 00edc416  ERR: 00000004  EFLAGS: 00000246

Type bt <pid> to display the backtrace of a specific process or type help bt for more information on bt usage.

Displaying a process status
  • To display the status of processes in the system, use the ps command. 
crash> ps
   PID    PPID  CPU   TASK    ST  %MEM     VSZ    RSS  COMM
>     0      0   0  c09dc560  RU   0.0       0      0  [swapper]
>     0      0   1  f7072030  RU   0.0       0      0  [swapper]
      0      0   2  f70a3a90  RU   0.0       0      0  [swapper]
>     0      0   3  f70ac560  RU   0.0       0      0  [swapper]
      1      0   1  f705ba90  IN   0.0    2828   1424  init
... several lines omitted ...
   5566      1   1  f2592560  IN   0.0   12876    784  auditd
   5567      1   2  ef427560  IN   0.0   12876    784  auditd
   5587   5132   0  f196d030  IN   0.0   11064   3184  sshd
>  5591   5587   2  f196d560  RU   0.0    5084   1648  bash

Use ps <pid> to display the status of a single specific process. Use help ps for more information on ps usage.

Displaying virtual memory information
  • To display basic virtual memory information, type the vm command at the interactive prompt. 
crash> vm
PID: 5591   TASK: f196d560  CPU: 2   COMMAND: "bash"
   MM       PGD      RSS    TOTAL_VM
f19b5900  ef9c6000  1648k    5084k
  VMA       START      END    FLAGS  FILE
f1bb0310    242000    260000 8000875  /lib/ld-2.12.so
f26af0b8    260000    261000 8100871  /lib/ld-2.12.so
efbc275c    261000    262000 8100873  /lib/ld-2.12.so
efbc2a18    268000    3ed000 8000075  /lib/libc-2.12.so
efbc23d8    3ed000    3ee000 8000070  /lib/libc-2.12.so
efbc2888    3ee000    3f0000 8100071  /lib/libc-2.12.so
efbc2cd4    3f0000    3f1000 8100073  /lib/libc-2.12.so
efbc243c    3f1000    3f4000 100073
efbc28ec    3f6000    3f9000 8000075  /lib/libdl-2.12.so
efbc2568    3f9000    3fa000 8100071  /lib/libdl-2.12.so
efbc2f2c    3fa000    3fb000 8100073  /lib/libdl-2.12.so
f26af888    7e6000    7fc000 8000075  /lib/libtinfo.so.5.7
f26aff2c    7fc000    7ff000 8100073  /lib/libtinfo.so.5.7
efbc211c    d83000    d8f000 8000075  /lib/libnss_files-2.12.so
efbc2504    d8f000    d90000 8100071  /lib/libnss_files-2.12.so
efbc2950    d90000    d91000 8100073  /lib/libnss_files-2.12.so
f26afe00    edc000    edd000 4040075
f1bb0a18   8047000   8118000 8001875  /bin/bash
f1bb01e4   8118000   811d000 8101873  /bin/bash
f1bb0c70   811d000   8122000 100073
f26afae0   9fd9000   9ffa000 100073
... several lines omitted ...

Use vm <pid> to display information on a single specific process, or use help vm for more information on vm usage.

Displaying open files
  • To display information about open files, use the files command. 
crash> files
PID: 5591   TASK: f196d560  CPU: 2   COMMAND: "bash"
ROOT: /    CWD: /root
 FD    FILE     DENTRY    INODE    TYPE  PATH
  0  f734f640  eedc2c6c  eecd6048  CHR   /pts/0
  1  efade5c0  eee14090  f00431d4  REG   /proc/sysrq-trigger
  2  f734f640  eedc2c6c  eecd6048  CHR   /pts/0
 10  f734f640  eedc2c6c  eecd6048  CHR   /pts/0
255  f734f640  eedc2c6c  eecd6048  CHR   /pts/0

Use files <pid> to display files opened by only one selected process, or use help files for more information on files usage.

42.11.4. Using Kernel Oops Analyzer

The Kernel Oops Analyzer tool analyzes the crash dump by comparing the oops messages with known issues in the knowledge base.

Prerequisites

  • Secure an oops message to feed the Kernel Oops Analyzer.

Procedure

  1. Access the Kernel Oops Analyzer tool.

  2. To diagnose a kernel crash issue, upload a kernel oops log generated in vmcore.

    • Alternatively you can also diagnose a kernel crash issue by providing a text message or a vmcore-dmesg.txt as an input.

      Kernel oops analyzer
  3. Click DETECT to compare the oops message based on information from the makedumpfile against known solutions.

Additional resources

42.11.5. The Kdump Helper tool

The Kdump Helper tool helps to set up the kdump using the provided information. Kdump Helper generates a configuration script based on your preferences. Initiating and running the script on your server sets up the kdump service.

Additional resources

42.12. Using early kdump to capture boot time crashes

You use the early kdump mechanism of the kdump service to capture the vmcore file during the early stages of the boot process. With the following information and the procedure, you can understand the early kdump mechanism, configuring, and checking the status of early kdump`.

42.12.1. What is early kdump

Kernel crashes during the booting phase occur when the kdump service is not yet started, and cannot facilitate capturing and saving the contents of the crashed kernel’s memory. Therefore, the vital information for troubleshooting is lost.

To address this problem, RHEL 8 introduced the early kdump feature as a part of the kdump service.

42.12.2. Enabling early kdump

The early kdump feature sets up the crash kernel and the initial RAM disk image (initramfs) to load early enough to capture the vmcore information for an early crash. This helps to eliminate the risk of losing information about the early boot kernel crashes.

Prerequisites

  • An active RHEL subscription.
  • A repository containing the kexec-tools package for your system CPU architecture
  • Fulfilled kdump configuration and targets requirements.

Procedure

  1. Verify that the kdump service is enabled and active: 

    # systemctl is-enabled kdump.service && systemctl is-active kdump.service enabled active

    If kdump is not enabled and running, set all required configurations and verify that kdump service is enabled.

  2. Rebuild the initramfs image of the booting kernel with the early kdump functionality: 

    # dracut -f --add earlykdump

  3. Add the rd.earlykdump kernel command line parameter: 

    # grubby --update-kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-$(uname -r) --args="rd.earlykdump"

  4. Reboot the system to reflect the changes 

    # reboot

Verification step

  • Verify that rd.earlykdump was successfully added and early kdump feature was enabled: 

    # cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,msdos1)/vmlinuz-4.18.0-187.el8.x86_64 root=/dev/mapper/rhel-root ro crashkernel=auto resume=/dev/mapper/rhel-swap rd.lvm.lv=rhel/root rd.lvm.lv=rhel/swap rhgb quiet rd.earlykdump

# journalctl -x | grep early-kdump
Mar 20 15:44:41 redhat dracut-cmdline[304]: early-kdump is enabled.
Mar 20 15:44:42 redhat dracut-cmdline[304]: kexec: loaded early-kdump kernel

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