Linux Mint: Watchdog configuration
From fit-PC wiki
1. Find out watchdog kernel module name for your platform, possibly using using google
- For all Compulab Intel products, it should be named - "iTCO_wdt"
2. Verify it can be loaded successfully information on the device appears in dmesg output
$ sudo modprobe iTCO_wdt
$ dmesg | tail
- output:
iTCO_wdt: Intel TCO WatchDog Timer Driver v1.11 iTCO_wdt: Found a Intel PCH TCO device (Version=4, TCOBASE=0x0400) iTCO_wdt: initialized. heartbeat=60 sec (nowayout=0)
3. Install watchdog program, it should run in the background automatically on each system start
- $ sudo apt install watchdog
4. Modify the following configuration files:
- /etc/watchdog.conf
uncomment line: watchdog-device = /dev/watchdog
- /etc/default/watchdog
change: watchdog_module="none" to: watchdog_module="iTCO_wdt"
- /lib/systemd/system/watchdog.service
- add "WantedBy=default.target" line under [Install] header, as per below:
[Install] WantedBy=default.target
- NOTE: this a bugfix that required for LinuxMint18.3.
5. Reboot
6. Verify the the driver is loaded automatically:
- $ dmesg | grep wdt
7. Simulate kernel panic (as root user):
$ su Password: $ echo 1 > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq $ echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger
- As a result, the watchdog mechanism should reboot the system within 60 seconds.