Linux Mint: Watchdog configuration

From fit-PC wiki
Revision as of 12:28, 20 June 2018 by Denis (Talk | contribs) (List of tested devices)

Jump to: navigation, search

List of tested devices

  • The guide was tested on a systems with the specs listed below, but should be easily adaptable
Device: fitlet2
BIOS: 05/14/2018 American Megatrends Inc. FLT2.0.40.01.00
OS: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic
Kernel module: iTCO_wdt
Device: IPC2
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4300U
BIOS: 05/30/2017 Compulab Ltd. IPC2_3.330.5
OS: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic
Kernel module: iTCO_wdt
Device: fitlet1
BIOS: 11/30/2015 American Megatrends Inc. SBCFLT_0.08.08
OS: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic
Kernel module: sp5100_tco


  • Notes for fitlet1: kernel module i2c_piix4 should be blacklisted

Add the following lines to the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

# fitlet1: sp5100_tco conflicts with i2c_piix4 for I/O address 0x0cd6
blacklist i2c_piix4

Then, unload i2c_piix4 and update initramfs

$ sudo modprobe -r i2c_piix4
$ sudo update-initramfs -u


Usage example

  • The following usage example represented on fitlet2 with kernel module iTCO_wdt
    • For fitlet1 use kernel module sp5100_tco


  • 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"
/etc/watchdog.conf
uncomment line:        watchdog-device  = /dev/watchdog
  • NOTE: bugfix required for Linux Mint 18.3
/lib/systemd/system/watchdog.service 
add "WantedBy=default.target" line under [Install] header, as per below:

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

  • Try watchdog service and ensure it is running correctly
$ sudo systemctl start watchdog
$ sudo systemctl status watchdog
● watchdog.service - watchdog daemon
  Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/watchdog.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Active: active (running) since Tue 2018-04-17 03:30:58 EDT; 3min 3s ago
Main PID: 1143 (watchdog)
  CGroup: /system.slice/watchdog.service
          └─1143 /usr/sbin/watchdog

Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: int=1s realtime=yes sync=no soft=no mla=0 mem=0
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 systemd[1]: Started watchdog daemon.
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: ping: no machine to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: file: no file to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: pidfile: no server process to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: interface: no interface to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: temperature: no sensors to check
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: test=none(0) repair=none(0) alive=/dev/watchdog heartbeat=none to=root no_act=no force=no
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: watchdog now set to 60 seconds
Apr 17 03:30:58 denis-fitlet2 watchdog[1143]: hardware watchdog identity: iTCO_wdt
  • Enable autostart of the watchdog service
$ sudo systemctl enable watchdog
Synchronizing state of watchdog.service with SysV init with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install...
Executing /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable watchdog
  • Reboot
  • Verify the the driver was 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.