Linux Mint: Watchdog configuration

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  • For all Compulab Intel products, watchdog kernel module name is: iTCO_wdt
  • Verify it can be loaded successfully and information about the device appears in dmesg output:
$ sudo modprobe iTCO_wdt
$ dmesg | grep -i iTCO
[   34.741071] iTCO_vendor_support: vendor-support=0
[   34.742749] iTCO_wdt: Intel TCO WatchDog Timer Driver v1.11
[   34.742824] iTCO_wdt: Found a Apollo Lake SoC TCO device (Version=5, TCOBASE=0x0460)
[   34.742993] iTCO_wdt: initialized. heartbeat=30 sec (nowayout=0)
  • Install watchdog program, it should run in the background automatically on each system start
$ sudo apt install watchdog
  • Modify the following configuration files:
/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.

  • Reboot
  • Verify the the driver is loaded automatically:
$ dmesg | grep -i iTCO

  • 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 30 seconds.