Generating sos reports for technical support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Gathering troubleshooting information from RHEL servers with the sos utility

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

Collect configuration, diagnostic, and troubleshooting data with the sos utility and provide those files to Red Hat Technical Support. The Support team can analyze and investigate this data to resolve your service requests reported in your support case.

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Chapter 1. Generating an sos report for technical support

With the sos utility, you can collect configuration, diagnostic, and troubleshooting data, and provide those files to Red Hat Technical Support.

1.1. What the sos utility does

An sos report is a common starting point for Red Hat technical support engineers when performing analysis of a service request for a RHEL system. The sos utility (also known as sosreport) provides a standardized way to collect diagnostic information that Red Hat support engineers can reference throughout their investigation of issues reported in support cases. Using the sos utility helps to ensure that you are not repeatedly asked for data output.

The sos utility allows to collect various debugging information from one or more systems, optionally clean sensitive data, and upload it in a form of a report to Red Hat. More specifically, the three sos components do the following:

  • sos report collects debugging information from one system.

    Note

    This program was originally named sosreport. Running sosreport still works as sos report is called instead, with the same arguments.

  • sos collect allows to run and collect individual sos reports from a specified set of nodes.
  • sos clean obfuscates potentially sensitive information such as user names, host names, IP or MAC addresses, or other user-specified data.

The information collected in a report contains configuration details, system information, and diagnostic information from a RHEL system, such as:

  • The running kernel version.
  • Loaded kernel modules.
  • System and service configuration files.
  • Diagnostic command output.
  • A list of installed packages.

The sos utility writes the data it collects to an archive named sosreport-<host_name>-<support_case_number>-<YYYY-MM-DD>-<unique_random_characters>.tar.xz.

The utility stores the archive and its MD5 checksum in the /var/tmp/ directory: 

[root@server1 ~]# ll /var/tmp/sosreport*
total 18704
-rw-------. 1 root root 19136596 Jan 25 07:42 sosreport-server1-12345678-2022-01-25-tgictvu.tar.xz
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root       33 Jan 25 07:42 sosreport-server1-12345678-2022-01-25-tgictvu.tar.xz.md5

Additional resources

  • sosreport(1) man page

1.2. Installing the sos package from the command line

To use the sos utility, install the sos package.

Prerequisites

  • You need root privileges.

Procedure

  • Install the sos package. 

    [root@server ~]# yum install sos

Verification steps

  • Use the rpm utility to verify that the sos package is installed. 

    [root@server ~]# rpm -q sos
sos-4.2-15.el8.noarch

1.3. Generating an sos report from the command line

Use the sos report command to gather an sos report from a RHEL server.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the sos package.
  • You need root privileges.

Procedure

  1. Run the sos report command and follow the on-screen instructions. You can add the --upload option to transfer the sos report to Red Hat immediately after generating it. 

    [user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos report
[sudo] password for user:

sos report (version 4.2)

This command will collect diagnostic and configuration information from
this Red Hat Enterprise Linux system and installed applications.

An archive containing the collected information will be generated in
/var/tmp/sos.qkn_b7by and may be provided to a Red Hat support
representative.

...

Press ENTER to continue, or CTRL-C to quit.

  2. (Optional) If you have already opened a Technical Support case with Red Hat, enter the case number to embed it in the sos report file name, and it will be uploaded to that case if you specified the --upload option. If you do not have a case number, leave this field blank. Entering a case number is optional and does not affect the operation of the sos utility. 

    Please enter the case id that you are generating this report for []: <8-digit_case_number>

  3. Take note of the sos report file name displayed at the end of the console output. 

    ...
Finished running plugins
Creating compressed archive...

Your sos report has been generated and saved in:
/var/tmp/sosreport-server1-12345678-2022-04-17-qmtnqng.tar.xz

Size    16.51MiB
Owner   root
md5     bba955bbd9a434954e18da0c6778ba9a

Please send this file to your support representative.
Note
  • You can use the --batch option to generate an sos report without prompting for interactive input. 
[user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos report --batch --case-id <8-digit_case_number>
  • You can also use the --clean option to obfuscate a just-collected sos report. 
[user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos report --clean

Verification steps

  • Verify that the sos utility created an archive in /var/tmp/ matching the description from the command output. 

    [user@server1 ~]$ sudo ls -l /var/tmp/sosreport*
[sudo] password for user:
-rw-------. 1 root root 17310544 Sep 17 19:11 /var/tmp/sosreport-server1-12345678-2022-04-17-qmtnqng.tar.xz

Additional resources

1.4. Generating and collecting sos reports on multiple systems concurrently

You can use the sos utility to trigger the sos report command on multiple systems. Wait for the report to terminate and collect all generated reports.

Prerequisites

  • You know the cluster type or list of nodes to run on.
  • You have installed the sos package on all systems.
  • You have ssh keys for the root account on all the systems, or you can provide the root password via the --password option.

Procedure

  • Run the sos collect command and follow the on-screen instructions.

    Note

    By default, sos collect tries to identify the type of cluster it runs on to automatically identify the nodes to collect reports from.

    1. You can set the cluster or nodes types manually with the --cluster or --nodes options.
    2. You can also use the --master option to point the sos utility at a remote node to determine the cluster type and the node lists. Thus, you do not have to be logged into one of the cluster nodes to collect sos reports; you can do it from your workstation.
    3. You can add the --upload option to transfer the sos report to Red Hat immediately after generating it.
    4. Any valid sos report option can be further supplied and will be passed to all sos reports executions, such as the --batch and --clean options. 
    [root@primary-rhel8 ~]# sos collect --nodes=sos-node1,sos-node2 -o process,apache --log-size=50

sos-collector (version 4.2)

This utility is used to collect sosreports from multiple nodes simultaneously.
It uses OpenSSH's ControlPersist feature to connect to nodes and run commands remotely. If your system installation of OpenSSH is older than 5.6, please upgrade.

An archive of sosreport tarballs collected from the nodes will be generated in /var/tmp/sos.o4l55n1s and may be provided to an appropriate support representative.

The generated archive may contain data considered sensitive and its content should be reviewed by the originating organization before being passed to any third party.

No configuration changes will be made to the system running this utility or remote systems that it connects to.


Press ENTER to continue, or CTRL-C to quit


Please enter the case id you are collecting reports for: <8-digit_case_number>

sos-collector ASSUMES that SSH keys are installed on all nodes unless the
--password option is provided.

The following is a list of nodes to collect from:
    primary-rhel8
    sos-node1
    sos-node2


Press ENTER to continue with these nodes, or press CTRL-C to quit


Connecting to nodes...

Beginning collection of sosreports from 3 nodes, collecting a maximum of 4 concurrently

primary-rhel8 : Generating sosreport...
sos-node1  : Generating sosreport...
sos-node2 : Generating sosreport...
primary-rhel8 : Retrieving sosreport...
sos-node1  : Retrieving sosreport...
primary-rhel8  : Successfully collected sosreport
sos-node1 : Successfully collected sosreport
sos-node2 : Retrieving sosreport...
sos-node2 : Successfully collected sosreport

The following archive has been created. Please provide it to your support team.
    /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-04-15-pafsr.tar.xz

[root@primary-rhel8 ~]#

Verification steps

  • Verify that the sos collect command created an archive in the /var/tmp/ directory matching the description from the command output. 

    [root@primary-rhel8 ~]# ls -l /var/tmp/sos-collector*
-rw-------. 1 root root 160492 May 15 13:35 /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr.tar.xz

Additional resources

1.5. Cleaning an sos report

The sos utility offers a routine to obfuscate potentially sensitive data, such as user names, host names, IP or MAC addresses, or other user-specified keywords. The original sos report or sos collect stays unchanged, and a new *-obfuscated.tar.xz file is generated and intended to be shared with a third party.

Note

You can append the cleaner functionality to the sos report or sos collect commands with the --clean option:

[user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos report --clean

Prerequisites

  • You have generated an sos report or an sos collect tarball.
  • (Optional) You have a list of specific keywords beyond the user names, host names, and other data you want to obfuscate.

Procedure

  • Run the sos clean command on either an sos report or sos collect tarball and follow the on-screen instructions.

    1. You can add the --keywords option to additionally clean a given list of keywords.

    2. You can add the --usernames option to obfuscate further sensitive user names.

      The automatic user name cleaning will automatically run for users reported through the lastlog file for users with an UID of 1000 and above. This option is used for LDAP users that may not appear as an actual login, but may occur in certain log files. 

      [user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos clean /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr.tar.xz
[sudo] password for user:

sos clean (version 4.2)

This command will attempt to obfuscate information that is generally considered to be potentially sensitive. Such information includes IP addresses, MAC addresses, domain names, and any user-provided keywords.

Note that this utility provides a best-effort approach to data obfuscation, but it does not guarantee that such obfuscation provides complete coverage of all such data in the archive, or that any obfuscation is provided to data that does not fit the description above.

Users should review any resulting data and/or archives generated or processed by this utility for remaining sensitive content before being passed to a third party.


Press ENTER to continue, or CTRL-C to quit.

Found 4 total reports to obfuscate, processing up to 4 concurrently

sosreport-primary-rhel8-2022-05-15-nchbdmd :      Extracting...
sosreport-sos-node1-2022-05-15-wmlomgu :      Extracting...
sosreport-sos-node2-2022-05-15-obsudzc :      Extracting...
sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr :                   Beginning obfuscation...
sosreport-sos-node1-2022-05-15-wmlomgu :      Beginning obfuscation...
sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr :                   Obfuscation completed
sosreport-primary-rhel8-2022-05-15-nchbdmd :      Beginning obfuscation...
sosreport-sos-node2-2022-05-15-obsudzc :      Beginning obfuscation...
sosreport-primary-rhel8-2022-05-15-nchbdmd :      Re-compressing...
sosreport-sos-node2-2022-05-15-obsudzc :      Re-compressing...
sosreport-sos-node1-2022-05-15-wmlomgu :      Re-compressing...
sosreport-primary-rhel8-2022-05-15-nchbdmd :      Obfuscation completed
sosreport-sos-node2-2022-05-15-obsudzc :      Obfuscation completed
sosreport-sos-node1-2022-05-15-wmlomgu :      Obfuscation completed

Successfully obfuscated 4 report(s)

A mapping of obfuscated elements is available at
    /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr-private_map

The obfuscated archive is available at
    /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr-obfuscated.tar.xz

    Size    157.10KiB
    Owner    root

Please send the obfuscated archive to your support representative and keep the mapping file private

Verification steps

  • Verify that the sos clean command created an obfuscated archive and an obfuscation mapping in the /var/tmp/ directory matching the description from the command output. 

    [user@server1 ~]$ sudo ls -l /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr-private_map /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr-obfuscated.tar.xz
[sudo] password for user:

-rw-------. 1 root root 160868 May 15 16:10 /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr-obfuscated.tar.xz
-rw-------. 1 root root  96622 May 15 16:10 /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr-private_map

  • Check the *-private_map file for the obfuscation mapping: 

    [user@server1 ~]$ sudo cat /var/tmp/sos-collector-2022-05-15-pafsr-private_map
[sudo] password for user:

{
    "hostname_map": {
        "pmoravec-rhel8": "host0"
    },
    "ip_map": {
        "10.44.128.0/22": "100.0.0.0/22",
..
    "username_map": {
        "foobaruser": "obfuscateduser0",
        "jsmith": "obfuscateduser1",
        "johndoe": "obfuscateduser2"
    }
}
Important

Keep both the original unobfuscated archive and the *private_map files locally as Red Hat support might refer to the obfuscated terms that you will need to translate to the original values.

1.6. Generating an sos report and securing it with GPG passphrase encryption

This procedure describes how to generate an sos report and secure it with symmetric GPG2 encryption based on a passphrase. You might want to secure the contents of an sos report with a password if, for example, you need to transfer it over a public network to a third party.

Note

Ensure you have sufficient space when creating an encrypted sos report, as it temporarily uses double the disk space:

  1. The sos utility creates an unencrypted sos report.
  2. The utility encrypts the sos report as a new file.
  3. The utility then removes the unencrypted archive.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the sos package.
  • You need root privileges.

Procedure

  1. Run the sos report command and specify a passphrase with the --encrypt-pass option. You can add the --upload option to transfer the sos report to Red Hat immediately after generating it. 

    [user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos report --encrypt-pass my-passphrase
[sudo] password for user:

sosreport (version 4.2)

This command will collect diagnostic and configuration information from
this Red Hat Enterprise Linux system and installed applications.

An archive containing the collected information will be generated in
/var/tmp/sos.6lck0myd and may be provided to a Red Hat support
representative.

...

Press ENTER to continue, or CTRL-C to quit.

  2. (Optional) If you have already opened a Technical Support case with Red Hat, enter the case number to embed it in the sos report file name, and it will be uploaded to that case if you specified the --upload option. If you do not have a case number, leave this field blank. Entering a case number is optional and does not affect the operation of the sos utility. 

    Please enter the case id that you are generating this report for []: <8-digit_case_number>

  3. Take note of the sos report file name displayed at the end of the console output. 

    Finished running plugins
Creating compressed archive...

Your sosreport has been generated and saved in:
/var/tmp/secured-sosreport-server1-12345678-2022-01-24-ueqijfm.tar.xz.gpg

Size    17.53MiB
Owner   root
md5     32e2bdb23a9ce3d35d59e1fc4c91fe54

Please send this file to your support representative.

Verification steps

  1. Verify that the sos utility created an archive meeting the following requirements:

    • File name starts with secured.
    • File name ends with a .gpg extension.

    • Located in the /var/tmp/ directory. 

      [user@server1 ~]$ sudo ls -l /var/tmp/sosreport*
[sudo] password for user:
-rw-------. 1 root root 18381537 Jan 24 17:55 /var/tmp/secured-sosreport-server1-12345678-2022-01-24-ueqijfm.tar.xz.gpg

  2. Verify that you can decrypt the archive with the same passphrase you used to encrypt it.

    1. Use the gpg command to decrypt the archive. 

      [user@server1 ~]$ sudo gpg --output decrypted-sosreport.tar.gz --decrypt /var/tmp/secured-sosreport-server1-12345678-2022-01-24-ueqijfm.tar.xz.gpg

    2. When prompted, enter the passphrase you used to encrypt the archive. 

      ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Enter passphrase                                     │
│                                                      │
│                                                      │
│ Passphrase: <passphrase>                             │
│                                                      │
│       <OK>                              <Cancel>     │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

    3. Verify that the gpg utility produced an unencrypted archive with a .tar.gz file extension. 

      [user@server1 ~]$ sudo ls -l decrypted-sosreport.tar.gz
[sudo] password for user:
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 18381537 Jan 24 17:59 decrypted-sosreport.tar.gz

Additional resources

1.7. Generating an sos report and securing it with GPG encryption based on a keypair

This procedure describes how to generate an sos report and secure it with GPG2 encryption based on a keypair from a GPG keyring. You might want to secure the contents of an sos report with this type of encryption if, for example, you want to protect an sos report stored on a server.

Note

Ensure you have sufficient space when creating an encrypted sos report, as it temporarily uses double the disk space:

  1. The sos utility creates an unencrypted sos report.
  2. The utility encrypts the sos report as a new file.
  3. The utility then removes the unencrypted archive.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the sos package.
  • You need root privileges.
  • You have created a GPG2 key.

Procedure

  1. Run the sos report command and specify the user name that owns the GPG keyring with the --encrypt-key option. You can add the --upload option to transfer the sos report to Red Hat immediately after generating it.

    Note

    The user running the sos report command must be the same user that owns the GPG keyring used to encrypt and decrypt the sos report. If the user uses sudo to run the sos report command, the keyring must also be set up using sudo, or the user must have direct shell access to that account. 

    [user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos report --encrypt-key root
[sudo] password for user:

sosreport (version 4.2)

This command will collect diagnostic and configuration information from
this Red Hat Enterprise Linux system and installed applications.

An archive containing the collected information will be generated in
/var/tmp/sos.6ucjclgf and may be provided to a Red Hat support
representative.

...

Press ENTER to continue, or CTRL-C to quit.

  2. (Optional) If you have already opened a Technical Support case with Red Hat, enter the case number to embed it in the sos report file name, and it will be uploaded to that case if you specified the --upload option. If you do not have a case number, leave this field blank. Entering a case number is optional and does not affect the operation of the sos utility. 

    Please enter the case id that you are generating this report for []: <8-digit_case_number>

  3. Take note of the sos report file name displayed at the end of the console output. 

    ...
Finished running plugins
Creating compressed archive...

Your sosreport has been generated and saved in:
/var/tmp/secured-sosreport-server1-23456789-2022-02-27-zhdqhdi.tar.xz.gpg

Size    15.44MiB
Owner   root
md5     ac62697e33f3271dbda92290583d1242

Please send this file to your support representative.

Verification steps

  1. Verify that the sos utility created an archive meeting the following requirements:

    • File name starts with secured.
    • File name ends with a .gpg extension.

    • Located in the /var/tmp/ directory. 

      [user@server1 ~]$ sudo ls -l /var/tmp/sosreport*
[sudo] password for user:
-rw-------. 1 root root 16190013 Jan 24 17:55 /var/tmp/secured-sosreport-server1-23456789-2022-01-27-zhdqhdi.tar.xz.gpg

  2. Verify you can decrypt the archive with the same key you used to encrypt it.

    1. Use the gpg command to decrypt the archive. 

      [user@server1 ~]$ sudo gpg --output decrypted-sosreport.tar.gz --decrypt /var/tmp/secured-sosreport-server1-23456789-2022-01-27-zhdqhdi.tar.xz.gpg

    2. When prompted, enter the passphrase you used when creating the GPG key. 

      ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Please enter the passphrase to unlock the OpenPGP secret key:  │
│ "GPG User (first key) <root@example.com>"                      │
│ 2048-bit RSA key, ID BF28FFA302EF4557,                         │
│ created 2020-01-13.                                            │
│                                                                │
│                                                                │
│ Passphrase: <passphrase>                                       │
│                                                                │
│         <OK>                                    <Cancel>       │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

    3. Verify that the gpg utility produced an unencrypted archive with a .tar.gz file extension. 

      [user@server1 ~]$ sudo ll decrypted-sosreport.tar.gz
[sudo] password for user:
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 16190013 Jan 27 17:47 decrypted-sosreport.tar.gz

Additional resources

1.8. Creating a GPG2 key

The following procedure describes how to generate a GPG2 key to use with encryption utilities.

Prerequisites

  • You need root privileges.

Procedure

  1. Install and configure the pinentry utility. 

    [root@server ~]# yum install pinentry
[root@server ~]# mkdir ~/.gnupg -m 700
[root@server ~]# echo "pinentry-program /usr/bin/pinentry-curses" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

  2. Create a key-input file used for generating a GPG keypair with your preferred details. For example: 

    [root@server ~]# cat >key-input <<EOF
%echo Generating a standard key
Key-Type: RSA
Key-Length: 2048
Name-Real: GPG User
Name-Comment: first key
Name-Email: root@example.com
Expire-Date: 0
%commit
%echo Finished creating standard key
EOF

  3. (Optional) By default, GPG2 stores its keyring in the ~/.gnupg file. To use a custom keyring location, set the GNUPGHOME environment variable to a directory that is only accessible by root. 

    [root@server ~]# export GNUPGHOME=/root/backup

[root@server ~]# mkdir -p $GNUPGHOME -m 700

  4. Generate a new GPG2 key based on the contents of the key-input file. 

    [root@server ~]# gpg2 --batch --gen-key key-input

  5. Enter a passphrase to protect the GPG2 key. You use this passphrase to access the private key for decryption. 

    ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Please enter the passphrase to                       │
│ protect your new key                                 │
│                                                      │
│ Passphrase: <passphrase>                             │
│                                                      │
│	 <OK>                             <Cancel>         │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

  6. Confirm the correct passphrase by entering it again. 

    ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Please re-enter this passphrase                      │
│                                                      │
│ Passphrase: <passphrase>                             │
│                                                      │
│	 <OK>                             <Cancel>         │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

  7. Verify that the new GPG2 key was created successfully. 

    gpg: keybox '/root/backup/pubring.kbx' created
gpg: Generating a standard key
gpg: /root/backup/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created
gpg: key BF28FFA302EF4557 marked as ultimately trusted
gpg: directory '/root/backup/openpgp-revocs.d' created
gpg: revocation certificate stored as '/root/backup/openpgp-revocs.d/8F6FCF10C80359D5A05AED67BF28FFA302EF4557.rev'
gpg: Finished creating standard key

Verification Steps

  • List the GPG keys on the server. 

    [root@server ~]# gpg2 --list-secret-keys
gpg: checking the trustdb
gpg: marginals needed: 3  completes needed: 1  trust model: pgp
gpg: depth: 0  valid:   1  signed:   0  trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u
/root/backup/pubring.kbx
------------------------
sec   rsa2048 2020-01-13 [SCEA]
      8F6FCF10C80359D5A05AED67BF28FFA302EF4557
uid           [ultimate] GPG User (first key) <root@example.com>

Additional resources

1.9. Generating an sos report from the rescue environment

If a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) host does not boot properly, you can boot the host into a rescue environment to gather an sos report.

Using the rescue environment, you can mount the target system under /mnt/sysimage, access its contents, and run the sos report command.

Prerequisites

  • If the host is a bare metal server, you need physical access to the machine.
  • If the host is a virtual machine, you need access to the virtual machine’s settings in the hypervisor.
  • A RHEL installation source, such as an ISO image file, an installation DVD, a netboot CD, or a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) configuration providing a RHEL installation tree.

Procedure

  1. Boot the host from an installation source.

  2. In the boot menu for the installation media, select the Troubleshooting option.

    Screenshot of the RHEL Anaconda Installer screen with the Troubleshooting option selected

  3. In the Troubleshooting menu, select the Rescue a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system option.

    Screenshot of the Troubleshooting screen with the Rescue option selected

  4. At the Rescue menu, select 1 and press the Enter key to continue and mount the system under the /mnt/sysimage directory.

    Screenshot of the Rescue screen prompting you to continue and mount the target host under /mnt/sysimage

  5. Press the Enter key to obtain a shell when prompted.

    Screenshot of the Rescue screen prompting you to press the Enter key to receive a rescue shell prompt

  6. Use the chroot command to change the apparent root directory of the rescue session to the /mnt/sysimage directory.

    Screenshot of the Rescue session after using the chroot command to change the apparent root directory to /mnt/sysimage

  7. Optional: Your network will not be up in the inital Rescue Environment, so make sure you set it up first. For example, if the network requires static IP addresses, and you want to transfer the sos report over the network, configure the network:

    1. Identify the Ethernet device you want to use: 

      # ip link show
…​
2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:74:79:56 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

    2. Assign an IP address to the network interface, and set the default gateway. For example, if you wanted to add the IP address of 192.168.0.1 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0, which is a CIDR of 24, to device enp1s0, enter: 

      # ip address add <192.168.0.1/24> dev <enp1s0>
# ip route add default via <192.168.0.254>

    3. Add a nameserver entry to the /etc/resolv.conf file, for example: 

      # nameserver <192.168.0.5>

  8. Run the sos report command and follow the on-screen instructions. You can add the --upload option to transfer the sos report to Red Hat immediately after generating it.

    Screenshot of the sos utility prompting you to press the Enter key to continue running an sos report

  9. (Optional) If you have already opened a Technical Support case with Red Hat, enter the case number to embed it in the sos report file name, and it will be uploaded to that case if you specified the --upload option and your host is connected to the internet. If you do not have a case number, leave this field blank. Entering a case number is optional and does not affect the operation of the sos utility.

    Screenshot of the sos utility prompting you for an optional Red Hat Technical Support case number

  10. Take note of the sos report file name displayed at the end of the console output.

    Screenshot of the sos utility reporting the location of the resulting archive
  11. If your host does not have a connection to the internet, use a file transfer utility such as scp to transfer the sos report to another host on your network, then upload it to a Red Hat Technical Support case.

Verification steps

  • Verify that the sos utility created an archive in the /var/tmp/ directory.

    Screenshot of a terminal window displaying the results of a file listing of the /var/tmp/ directory

Additional resources

1.10. Methods for providing an sos report to Red Hat technical support

You can use the following methods to upload your sos report to Red Hat Technical Support.

Upload with the sos report command

You can use the --upload option to transfer the sos report to Red Hat immediately after generating it.

  • If you provide a case number when prompted, or use the --case-id or --ticket-number options, the sos utility uploads the sos report to your case after you authenticate with your Red Hat Customer Portal account.

  • If you do not provide a case number or you do not authenticate, the utility uploads the sos report to the Red Hat public SFTP site. Provide Red Hat Technical Support Engineers with the name of the sos report archive so they can access it. 

    [user@server1 ~]$ sudo sos report --upload
[sudo] password for user:

sosreport (version 4.2)

This command will collect diagnostic and configuration information from
this Red Hat Enterprise Linux system and installed applications.
...

Please enter the case id that you are generating this report for []: <8-digit_case_number>
Enter your Red Hat Customer Portal username (empty to use public dropbox): <Red_Hat_Customer_Portal_ID>
Please provide the upload password for <user@domain.com>:
...

Attempting upload to Red Hat Customer Portal
Uploaded archive successfully
Upload files via the Red Hat Customer Portal

Using your Red Hat user account, you can log into the Support Cases section of the Red Hat Customer Portal website and upload an sos report to a technical support case.

To log in, visit Support Cases.

Upload files using the Red Hat Support Tool

With the Red Hat Support Tool, you can upload a file directly from the command line to a Red Hat technical support case. The case number is required. 

[user@server1 ~]$ redhat-support-tool addattachment -c <8-digit_case_number> </var/tmp/sosreport_filename>

Additional resources

Chapter 2. Generating and maintaining the diagnostic reports using the RHEL web console

Generate, download, and delete the diagnostic reports in the RHEL web console.

2.1. Generating diagnostic reports using the RHEL web console

Prerequisites

  • The RHEL web console has been installed. For details, see Installing the web console.
  • The cockpit-storaged package is installed on your system.
  • You have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the RHEL web console. For details, see Logging in to the web console.
  2. In the left side menu, select Tools >> Diagnostic reports.

  3. To generate a new diagnostic report, click the Run report button.

    Screenshot of the Run report screen
  4. Enter the label for the report you want to create.

  5. (Optional) Customize your report.

    1. Enter the encryption passphrase to encrypt your report. If you want to skip the encryption of the report, leave the field empty.
    2. Check the checkbox Obfuscate network addresses, hostnames, and usernames to obfuscate certain data.
    3. Check the checkbox Use verbose logging to increase logging verbosity.
  6. Click the Run report button to generate a report and wait for the process to complete. You can stop generating the report using the Stop report button.

2.2. Downloading diagnostic reports using the RHEL web console

Prerequisites

  • The RHEL web console has been installed. For details, see Installing the web console.
  • You have administrator privileges.
  • One or more diagnostic reports have been generated.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the RHEL web console. For details, see Logging in to the web console.
  2. In the left side menu, select Tools >> Diagnostic reports.
  3. Click the Download button next to the report that you want to download. The download will start automatically.

Next steps

For the methods on how to provide Red Hat Technical Support team with your diagnostic report, see Methods for providing an sos report to Red Hat technical support.

2.3. Deleting diagnostic reports using the RHEL web console

Prerequisites

  • The RHEL web console has been installed. For details, see Installing the web console.
  • You have administrator privileges.
  • One or more diagnostic reports have been generated.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the RHEL web console. For details, see Logging in to the web console.
  2. In the left side menu, select Tools >> Diagnostic reports.
  3. Click the vertical ellipsis by the Download button next to the report that you want to delete, then click on the Delete button.
  4. In the Delete report permanently? window, click the Delete button to delete the report.

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