What is a sysreport and how to run it in Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Issue

The support tech I was working with asked me to run a sysreport, what is a sysreport and how do I run it?

Environment

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5 and earlier, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 (not in later releases of RHEL 5)

Resolution

"sysreport" is a script that collects information about a system, such as what kernel is running, what drivers are loaded, and various configuration files for common services. It has been depreciated in favor of the new and improved sosreport.

To run a sysreport you will first need to have the sysreport package installed. If you have registered the system with Red Hat Network (RHN) it can be installed using up2date command for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4:

# up2date sysreport

If you do not have your system registered with RHN, you can install the sysreport package from your CDs using RPM:

# rpm -Uvh sysreport-<version>.<arch>.rpm

Once the package has been installed, issue the following command as root user:

# sysreport

Once completed, sysreport will generate a compressed tar file in /tmp. Provide this file to your support representative.

WARNING: During the running of the command sysreport you will be prompted for your name and/or case number, use ONLY letters and/or numbers when filling out this field. Adding other characters could damage the system or render the sysreport unusable!