RHBA-2012:0479 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated kexec-tools packages that fix one bug and add one enhancement are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The kexec-tools package contains the /sbin/kexec binary and utilities that
together form the user-space component of the kernel's kexec feature. The
/sbin/kexec binary facilitates a new kernel to boot using the kernel's kexec
feature either on a normal or a panic reboot. The kexec fastboot mechanism
allows booting a Linux kernel from the context of an already running kernel.

This update fixes the following bug:

• When running kdump after a kernel crash on the system using the ext4 file

systems, the kdump initrd could have been created with the zero byte size. This
happened because the system waits for several seconds before writing the changes
to the disk when using the ext4 file system. Consequently, the kdump initial
root file system (rootfs) could not have been mounted and kdump failed. This
update modifies kexec-tools to perform the sync operations after creating the
initrd. This ensures that initrd is properly written to the disk before trying
to mount rootfs so that kdump now successfully proceeds and captures a core
dump. (BZ#773358)

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement:

• The kdump utility does not support Xen para-virtualized (PV) drivers on

Hardware Virtualized Machine (HVM) guests in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Therefore, kdump failed to start if the guest had loaded PV drivers. This update
modifies underlying code to allow kdump to start without PV drivers on HVM
guests configured with PV drivers. (BZ#808466)

All users of kexec-tools are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which
fix this bug add this enhancement.

Solution

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

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red
Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.2 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 6.2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 6.2 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 6.2 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.2 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 6.2 i386
• Red Hat Storage 2.0 x86_64
• Red Hat Gluster Storage Server for On-premise 2.0 x86_64
• Red Hat Storage for Public Cloud (via RHUI) 2.0 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 6.2 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)