1.89. kexec-tools

An updated kexec-tools package that fixes various bugs is now available.

kexec-tools provides the /sbin/kexec binary that facilitates a new kernel to boot using the kernel's kexec feature either on a normal or a panic reboot. This package contains the /sbin/kexec binary and ancillary utilities that together form the user-space component of the kernel's kexec feature.

This updated kexec-tools package includes fixes for the following bugs:

* when the bonding network driver was configured on a system running as dom0 with the kernel-xen kernel, sending a vmcore file via the bonded interface failed due to a mkdumprd misconfiguration, resulting in a loss of the core. With this update, sending a vmcore file on a dom0 system with kdump configured to send it via the bonded interface works as expected, and the resulting core is transferred successfully. (BZ#532030)

* kdump could create a truncated or zero-length vmcore file on large-memory systems. This was due to the amount of system RAM causing the creation of more than thirty-two E820 map entries in the BIOS, which in turn led kexec to truncate that list, thus causing memory to be ignored during kdump boot, and eventually resulting in truncated or zero-length vmcore files. With this update, kdump is now aware of this potential situation on large-memory systems, with the result that vmcore files are created correctly, without being truncated or zero in length. (BZ#533793)

All users of kexec-tools are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which resolves these issues.

An updated kexec-tools package that fixes numerous bugs is now available.

kexec-tools provides kexec binary that facilitates a new kernel to boot using the kernel's kexec feature either on a normal or a panic reboot, together with ancillary utilities that form the userspace component of the kernel's kexec feature

This update addresses the following issues:

* previously, the kdump kernel command line supported a "mem=" parameter that limited the memory that was dumped. When this parameter was set, the dump would result in an I/O error. The "mem=" parameter has been removed from kexec to ensure that core dumps succeed. (BZ#239791)

* previously kdump waited indefinitely for all devices in its critical_disks list to be available before it performed a dump. Kexec-tools now has a disk_timeout parameter that limits how long kdump will wait for storage to respond. (BZ#500741)

* a logical flaw meant that the presence of files with certain names in current directory of mkdumprd would prevent a dump. The code used to evaluate the remote server name has been corrected. (BZ#509404)

* host names specified in the kdump.conf script needs to be entered as fully-qualified domain names to allow for DNS changes. The documentation for kdump has been revised to make this requirement clear. (BZ#510816)

* previously, the vmcore file created by starting kdump with an initscript used the "--sparse=always" option when copying, resulting in a smaller file. The same option has now been added as a default value in the kdump.conf configuration file, ensuring that the default behavior is consistent. (BZ#511003)

* previously, faulty logic in the code that cleans up files used by kdump in /tmp meant that files were sometimes left behind in /tmp. This has been corrected to ensure that files in /tmp are cleaned up. (BZ#512098)

* previously, the order in which kdump loaded storage drivers meant that USB-attached storage was sometimes not correctly detected. The USB driver is now loaded later in the boot sequence, so that device enumeration is correct and that dumps takes place successfully. (BZ#513608)

* Makedumpfiles can now accept kdump compressed dumps, therefore allowing users to transfer smaller files. (BZ#516877)

* previously, the code used by kdump to find network interfaces could not correctly identify slaves in a Xen environment when the dom0 was configured for bonding. The code has now been updated so that it recognizes this type of interface. (BZ#516907)

* Previously, the sample grub.conf file provided in the kexec-kdump-howto.txt omitted the "crashkernel" parameter. The sample file now describes a correctly configured grub.conf. (BZ#531244)

* Kexec now supports Enhanced Disk Drive Services (EDD) and up to 128 memory ranges from BIOS, so dumps on recent Intel 64-bit platforms now complete successfully. (BZ#531340)

* previously, kdump did not test to see whether an NFS location was writeable before commencing a dump. If the location was unwritable, kdump would therefore start the dump anyway, which would inevitably fail. Kdump now checks that NFS locations are writeable. (BZ#533565)

* previously, mkdumprd resolved hostnames for NFS locations specified in kdump.conf and stored their IP addresses. Mkdumprd now stores the hostnames instead and can therefore find the hosts successfully even if their IP addresses change. (BZ#545980)

* kexec-tools now pulls in nsslibs and using the settings in /etc/resolv.conf, can therefore perform DNS lookups and find NFS locations specified in kdump.conf. (BZ#549946)

* a reference to libc.so.6 has now been removed for Itanium systems. This avoids a potentially confusing warning message. (BZ#559126)

* a recent reorganization of the library directories on PowerPC systems placed glibc in /lib/power6x, although libnss files expected it to be in /lib. The correct path is now explicitly provided in mkdumprd, so DNS lookups work on PowerPC systems. (BZ#569119)

All kexec-tools users should upgrade to this updated package, which resolves these issues.