Kdump Automation Mechanism

[Neil Horman]

On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 10:23:01AM -0700, Jay Lan wrote:
> Neil Horman wrote:
> > On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 02:43:11AM +0200, Bernhard Walle wrote:> * Neil Horman [2008-08-14 08:18]:> > > > That being said, Bernhard, I suppose it would be worthwhile standardizing some> > configuration settings, seeing as despite our implementation differences, we> > seem to largely support the same feature set.  Have you given any consideration> > to defining a standard kdump feature set and configuration syntax?> > I have nothing against consideration in that area.> > SUSE does configuration in /etc/sysconfig/kdump. I think sysconfig is> also on RedHat, so that is the same?> Its close, /etc/sysconfig/kdump is used to apply options to the kexec utility,while /etc/kdump.conf directs how the initrd should be constructed.  I wouldlike to move to using a url style syntax for specifying dump targets like youhave, but there are series of other options that I need to take intoconsideration (seehttp://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/development/source/SRPMS/kexec-tools
> -1.102pre-15.fc10.src.rpm
> 
> Hi Neil and Bernhard,
> 
> Yes, please! Please at least agree between RedHat and SuSE how users
> can install (rpms that contains necessary bits, such as debuginfo data),
> create initrd, configure (kdump config files), and analyze (what to
> take to run crash) core files! That would be great!!!
> 
This is 90% there.  installation is the same, both for kexec and debuginfo rpms,
initrd creation is automated based on configs (which do need to find a way to
merge).  Likewise core capture format is the same (subject to config options of
course)

> If you can put vmcore at the same location... Ahh, asking too much? ;)
> 
This is really on you.  both systems let you configure where to store cores

> Cheers,
>  - jay
> 
> > 
> >>>> [1] mkdumprd on SUSE is only a script that calls mkinitrd with right> > >     parameters while the mkdumprd on RedHat builds a initramfs for> > >     kdump itself with busybox> > I was looking at this, I assume that your initramfs then acts very simmilar to> > your default initramfs, which mounts the rootfs and runs init, and your kdump> > capture operations are then implemented in the kdump init script.  Is that> > correct?> > For kdump, an own initramfs is built. That does the copy stuff in> initramfs, so that works without rootfs and reboots before init is> executed.> > So the 'copy' script is not the init script but “init/boot-kdump.sh”> script if you “hg clone http://freehg.org/u/bwalle/kdump/”.> Unfortunately, freehg has no tree view in its web interface.> Ahh, so you do all your dump manipulation with your kdumptool binary, I see now.I handle all of that with various shell scripts in the initramfs.
> >> Having that said, for testing one must do:> >  - install packages>    SUSE:>    o kexec-tools>    o kdump>    o makedumpfile>    RH: ?> Same here.
> >>  - set crashkernel parameter>    => can be done with GRUB configuration manually with editing>       /boot/grub/menu.lst, should be the same on RH and SUSE> Agreed.
> >>  - enable kdump (that would be “chkconfig kdump on”)>    => should be the same on RH and SUSE> Agreed.
> >>  - tweak some configuration settings like the place where it should be>    saved>    => KDUMP_SAVEDIR in /etc/sysconfig/kdump>    => KDUMP_DUMPLEVEL for makedumpfile in /etc/sysconfig/kdump>    => KDUMP_DUMPFORMAT (“compressed” / “ELF” / “”)>       in /etc/sysconfig/kdump> Agreed.  I think this is where we diverge though.  We seem to support much ofthe same dump targets but our configuaration directives are different.  For me,I would need to configure:<dump type> <type data><core_collector> <cp|makedumpfile> [options]
> >>  - trigger kdump>    => echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger> > Most other stuff is “nice to have” but not “mandatory” I think?> Actually, you're right.  Looking over it, I do have a set of additional options,but none are central to dump collection (link delay specification for spanningtree, kdump pre/post scripts, etc).
> >>>> Bernhard> -- > Bernhard Walle, SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Architecture Development> > “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”>        -- Albert Einstein> > _______________________________________________> kexec mailing list> kexec at lists.infradead.org> http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/kexec
> > -- /*************************************************** *Neil Horman *Senior Software Engineer *Red Hat, Inc. *nhorman at redhat.com *gpg keyid: 1024D / 0x92A74FA1 *http://pgp.mit.edu ***************************************************/
> > _______________________________________________kexec mailing listkexec at lists.infradead.orghttp://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/kexec
> 

-- 
/***************************************************
 *Neil Horman
 *Senior Software Engineer
 *Red Hat, Inc.
 *nhorman at redhat.com
 *gpg keyid: 1024D / 0x92A74FA1
 *http://pgp.mit.edu
 ***************************************************/