RHBA-2009:1586 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated kernel-utils package that addresses a system clock drift problem
when running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 as a virtualized guest under the
KVM hypervisor is now available.

Description

The kernel-utils package contains several utilities for controlling and
monitoring the Linux kernel or a machine's hardware. The package includes
the following tools: cpuspeed (for changing the CPU speed dynamically on
CPUs that support this capability); dmidecode (returns information about
the BIOS and motherboard revision); irqbalance (for evenly distributing
interrupt load across CPUs); microcode_ctl (able to update the microcode on
Intel CPUs); rng-tools (hardware random number generation tool); and
smartctl (for monitoring the health of your hard disks).

This update fixes the following bug:

• in some circumstances, virtualized instances of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

4 running under KVM on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or under Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization can experience quick and significant clock drift.
This updated kernel-utils package includes a new shell script --
fix_kvm_guest_clock_drift.sh -- that adds kernel command line
parameters to address this. (BZ#524304)

Note: the fix_kvm_guest_clock_drift.sh script is installed to /usr/sbin/
and must be run manually; by design it does not run automatically.

All users running virtualized instances of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8
under KVM on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or under Red Hat Enterprise
Virtualization should install this updated package, which addresses this
issue.

Solution

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

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 4.8 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.8 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.8 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 4.8 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 524304 - need script to set kernel parameters that help mitigate clock drift

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)