Kdump Service Fails to Load Due to Dump Target Configuration Error

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Issue

  • The kdump service fails to start with the following error:

    Jul 26 21:20:39 hostname kdumpctl[5393]: kdump: No kdump initial ramdisk found.
Jul 26 21:20:39 hostname kdumpctl[5393]: kdump: Rebuilding /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-553.63.1.el8_10.x86_64kdump.img
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname kdumpctl[5539]: kdump: "/dev/mapper/rootvg-crash" have a wrong type config "ext4", expected "xfs"   <<<
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname kdumpctl[5393]: kdump: mkdumprd: failed to make kdump initrd
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname kdumpctl[5393]:Unit lvm2-activation.service could not be found.
kdump: Starting kdump: [FAILED]
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname systemd[1]: kdump.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname systemd[1]: Failed to start Crash recovery kernel arming.

Resolution

  1. Confirm the correct filesystem type for the kdump dump target location.

    $ lsblk -f
NAME                   FSTYPE      LABEL UUID                                   MOUNTPOINT
[...]
rootvg-var             xfs               44af7e2f-fb02-45dc-a6a2-4b4c63546117   /var
rootvg-tmp             xfs               eb6467b4-2e83-4b96-8fe3-1e6b900b25dc   /tmp
rootvg-opt             xfs               7b50a88c-ea66-4a2b-b5b5-558a055a54f4   /opt
rootvg-home            xfs               cdfe8b84-4e48-45cc-9905-8a4c8e4c889f   /home
rootvg-data            xfs               f968925e-75e0-4707-9d55-db3e27dc633b   /data
rootvg-apps            xfs               9a267d82-f9c2-4bbd-9adb-8321e42cb4a3   /apps
rootvg-crash           xfs               3144e190-12cf-482d-a2d1-5e40c8e84b49   /var/crash   <<<

  2. Update /etc/kdump.conf to include correct filesystem type.

    # vi /etc/kdump.conf

  3. Update the filesystem type.

    xfs /dev/mapper/rootvg-crash

  4. Rebuild the kdump initrd.

    # mkdumprd -f

  5. Restart the kdump service.

    # systemctl restart kdump

Root Cause

Misconfiguration of the dump target location filesystem type.

Diagnostic Steps

  1. Check the journalctl output for a similar message as indicated below.

    Jul 26 21:20:39 hostname kdumpctl[5393]: kdump: No kdump initial ramdisk found.
Jul 26 21:20:39 hostname kdumpctl[5393]: kdump: Rebuilding /boot/initramfs-4.18.0-553.63.1.el8_10.x86_64kdump.img
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname kdumpctl[5539]: kdump: "/dev/mapper/rootvg-crash" have a wrong type config "ext4", expected "xfs"   <<<
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname kdumpctl[5393]: kdump: mkdumprd: failed to make kdump initrd
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname kdumpctl[5393]:Unit lvm2-activation.service could not be found.
kdump: Starting kdump: [FAILED]
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname systemd[1]: kdump.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Jul 26 21:20:41 hostname systemd[1]: Failed to start Crash recovery kernel arming.

  2. Review /etc/kdump.conf for configured filesystem type.

    $ grep -v ^# etc/kdump.conf | grep -v ^$
ext4 /dev/mapper/rootvg-crash
core_collector makedumpfile -l -d 31
path /

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