RHBA-2009:1600 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

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

Description

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.

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 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 532030 - kdump fails on dom0 when using bonding
• BZ - 533793 - EXPERIMENTAL EX/MC: Empty vmcore file using kdump on Boxboro-EX

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)