RHBA-2006:0037 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated netdump-server and netdump packages that fix various bugs are now
available.

Description

The netdump server listens to the network for crashed kernels to contact
it. It then writes the oops log and a memory dump to /var/crash before
asking the crashed machine to reboot. The netdump client sets up the kernel
to send crash dumps to a remote system.

The following netdump-server bugs have been addressed:

• Previously, removal of the /var/crash subdirectory followed by a

netconsole log message or system crash caused the netdump-server daemon
to fail the operation. It is now possible to create /var/crash on the fly
if needed.

• The netdump-server package no longer keeps the vmcore file open while

executing the netdump-reboot script upon exit. This is because the
reboot-script may require access to the vmcore file (for example, it may
need to compress the file).

• If any netdump-server script fails, a syslog message will be issued.
• If a requested page from a netdump client consists of all zeroes,

then sparse file space will be used in the vmcore instead of writing
out a page of zeroes.

• The source code has been cleaned up for warning-free compiles.

The following netdump client bugs have been addressed:

• The netdump.spec file now specifies the config(noreplace) attribute,

which prevents the /etc/sysconfig/netdump file from being overwritten
when updating the netdump package.

• If a properly configured server was set in the /etc/sysconfig/netdump

file but was unreachable or was unresolvable at module load time, netdump
no longer fails.

The following documentation has been updated:

• The netdump package README file now indicates that the netdump-server

scripts must have executable permission.

• The netdump.8 man page was invisible in certain environments due to

an embedded copyright character, which has been removed.

• The netdump package README.client file has added information regarding

the use of alt-sysrq-c or /proc/sysrq-trigger for forcibly generating
kernel crash dumps.

Users of netdump-server and netdump should upgrade to these updated
packages, which resolve these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 3 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 3 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 3 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 160785 - netdump manpage not visible
• BZ - 165100 - netdump keeps vmcore file descriptor open while executing reboot script
• BZ - 178048 - Generate syslog messages if any script fails to execute
• BZ - 178052 - Use sparse file space in vmcore if page is zero-filled
• BZ - 178053 - Update README.client re: usage of alt-sysrq-c for forced crashes
• BZ - 178056 - cleaned up numerous compiler warnings seen in Fedora build environment

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)