35.11. Troubleshooting with serial consoles
Linux kernels can output information to serial ports. This is useful for debugging kernel panics and hardware issues with video devices or headless servers. The subsections in this section cover setting up serial console output for machines running Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualization kernels and their guests.
35.11.1. Serial console output for Xen
By default, the serial console for the Xen hypervisor is disabled and no data is output from serial ports.
To receive kernel information on a serial port modify the
/boot/grub/grub.conf file by setting the appropriate serial device parameters.
If your serial console is on
com1, modify /boot/grub/grub.conf by inserting the lines com1=115200,8n1, console=tty0 and console=ttyS0,115200 where shown.
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 i386 Xen (2.6.18-92.el5xen) root (hd0, 8) kernel /boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-92.el5com1=115200,8n1module /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5xen ro root=LABEL=VG_i386console=tty0console=ttyS0,115200module /boot/initrd-2.6.18-92.el5xen.img
If your serial console is on
com2, modify /boot/grub/grub.conf by inserting the lines com2=115200,8n1 console=com2L, console=tty0 and console=ttyS0,115200 where shown.
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 i386 Xen (2.6.18-92.el5xen) root (hd0, 8) kernel /boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-92.el5 com2=115200,8n1 console=com2L module /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5xen ro root=LABEL=VG_i386 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200 module /boot/initrd-2.6.18-92.el5xen.img
Save the changes and reboot the host. The hypervisor outputs serial data on the serial (
com1, com2 and so on) you selected in the previous step.
Note the example using the
com2 port, the parameter console=ttyS0 on the vmlinuz line us used. The behavior of every port being used as console=ttyS0 is not standard Linux behavior and is specific to the Xen environment.
35.11.2. Xen serial console output from para-virtualized guests
This section describes how to configure a virtualized serial console for Red Hat Enterprise Linux para-virtualized guests.
Serial console output from para-virtualized guests can be received using the "
virsh console" or in the "Serial Console" window of virt-manager. Set up the virtual serial console using this procedure:
- Log in to your para-virtualized guest.
- Edit
/boot/grub/grub.confas follows:Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 i386 Xen (2.6.18-92.el5xen) root (hd0, 0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5xen ro root=LABEL=VG_i386 console=xvc0 initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-92.el5xen.img
- Reboot the para-virtualized guest.
You should now get kernel messages on the virt-manager "Serial Console" and "virsh console".
Logging the para-virtualized domain serial console output
The Xen daemon(xend) can be configured to log the output from serial consoles of para-virtualized guests.
To configure
xend edit /etc/sysconfig/xend. Change the entry:
# Log all guest console output (cf xm console) #XENCONSOLED_LOG_GUESTS=no
to:
# Log all guest console output (cf xm console) XENCONSOLED_LOG_GUESTS=yes
Reboot the host to activate logging the guest serial console output.
Logs from the guest serial consoles are stored in the
/var/log/xen/console file.
35.11.3. Serial console output from fully virtualized guests
This section covers how to enable serial console output for fully virtualized guests.
Fully virtualized guest serial console output can be viewed with the "
virsh console" command.
Be aware fully virtualized guest serial consoles have some limitations. Present limitations include:
- logging output with xend is unavailable.
- output data may be dropped or scrambled.
The serial port is called
ttyS0 on Linux or COM1 on Windows.
You must configure the virtualized operating system to output information to the virtual serial port.
To output kernel information from a fully virtualized Linux guest into the domain modify the
/boot/grub/grub.conf file by inserting the line "console=tty0 console=ttys0,115200".
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-92.el5)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5 ro root=/dev/volgroup00/logvol00
console=tty0 console=ttys0,115200
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-92.el5.img
Reboot the guest.
View the serial console messages using the "
virsh console" command.
Important
Serial console messages from fully virtualized domains are not logged in
/var/log/xen/console as they are for para-virtualized guests.
